3 ms·

Could always work for me. I tell applicants to leave off their education credentials and to show me their previous work history and projects. Hired a dropout w

Could always work for me. I tell applicants to leave off their education credentials and to show me their previous work history and projects. Hired a dropout who ended up producing sports science research that probably could have netted him a Ph.D. We're out there hiring.

TeMPOraL 9y ago
> Hired a dropout who ended up producing sports science research that probably could have netted him a Ph.D. Is there any way he could turn that into actual Ph.D.? I ask out of curiosity, because many people do things in their professional lives that are equivalent of achievements in academic work, and I wonder if there's a way to turn former into the latter.
- pas 9y ago
  He/she can start publishing papers. Basically that's the only important thing to become a researcher/scholar. (You can be an independent scholar, so not associated with any research institute/university/group. But of course being in a group helps a lot.) And then various universities and doctorate schools have various requirements for a PhD. There are doctorate schools that don't require undergrad degrees or anything. And some don't require completing courses if you have enough publications. So in theory it's possible to just do a couple exams and a thesis (which can - and usually is - just a bit more in depth aggregation and exposition of your previous research). Is it worth it? Well, sure, if you want to have a PhD, but that part is much easier than producing great scientific papers, so if the person in question has good ideas and a sort of constant "scientific output", then why not?
  - icelancer 9y ago
    >There are doctorate schools that don't require undergrad degrees or anything. AUT in NZ (as I said in another comment) seems to be one. Do you know of others to investigate? Within 2 years I should have at least 5 peer-reviewed papers published in open journals [PlosONE/PeerJ] (and probably 1-2 in closed, "elite" journals... something I'm opposed to but... business...), and I wouldn't mind looking into it.
    - pas 9y ago
      It seems that admission requirements are ... very formal nowadays, but also (higher) academia is all about who knows who. So if you have a good reputation "in the field", getting into a PhD program would be a matter of asking. Also, usually young/child prodigies were able to skip undergrad and go straight to a PhD, but that's a bit different. See also: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17841/phd-without-previous-academic-degree-truth-or-myth https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17841/phd-witho... https://www.quora.com/Can-one-earn-a-Ph-D-without-having-a-Bachelor-degree/answer/Laurence-Benjamin-Arnold https://www.quora.com/Can-one-earn-a-Ph-D-without-having-a-B...
- wccrawford 9y ago
  You can buy degrees that turn "work experience" into credits, but nobody respects them, so it's not really worthwhile unless you really just want some letters after your name.
  - icelancer 9y ago
    Shrug. I don't really respect the letters or degrees that people have anyway. Only reason I would do it is to help my employees get better opportunities.
- icelancer 9y ago
  Potentially. We've obtained IRB approval for some other studies we are working on. His particular research will almost certainly go into another paper and he'll be credited with multiple published works, and probably get cited quite a bit. He has very little interest in starting up Ph.D. work, same as me (we're both college dropouts). However, AUT in NZ has offered to examine work for their Ph.D. program which is remote and based solely on research contributed. We might look into that. I have essentially no interest in dealing with the machine that is academia, so unless it's minimal work, I'll probably pass. My employee feels the same.

TeMPOraL 9y ago

> Hired a dropout who ended up producing sports science research that probably could have netted him a Ph.D. Is there any way he could turn that into actual Ph.D.? I ask out of curiosity, because many people do things in their professional lives that are equivalent of achievements in academic work, and I wonder if there's a way to turn former into the latter.

pas 9y ago
He/she can start publishing papers. Basically that's the only important thing to become a researcher/scholar. (You can be an independent scholar, so not associated with any research institute/university/group. But of course being in a group helps a lot.) And then various universities and doctorate schools have various requirements for a PhD. There are doctorate schools that don't require undergrad degrees or anything. And some don't require completing courses if you have enough publications. So in theory it's possible to just do a couple exams and a thesis (which can - and usually is - just a bit more in depth aggregation and exposition of your previous research). Is it worth it? Well, sure, if you want to have a PhD, but that part is much easier than producing great scientific papers, so if the person in question has good ideas and a sort of constant "scientific output", then why not?
- icelancer 9y ago
  >There are doctorate schools that don't require undergrad degrees or anything. AUT in NZ (as I said in another comment) seems to be one. Do you know of others to investigate? Within 2 years I should have at least 5 peer-reviewed papers published in open journals [PlosONE/PeerJ] (and probably 1-2 in closed, "elite" journals... something I'm opposed to but... business...), and I wouldn't mind looking into it.
  - pas 9y ago
    It seems that admission requirements are ... very formal nowadays, but also (higher) academia is all about who knows who. So if you have a good reputation "in the field", getting into a PhD program would be a matter of asking. Also, usually young/child prodigies were able to skip undergrad and go straight to a PhD, but that's a bit different. See also: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17841/phd-without-previous-academic-degree-truth-or-myth https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17841/phd-witho... https://www.quora.com/Can-one-earn-a-Ph-D-without-having-a-Bachelor-degree/answer/Laurence-Benjamin-Arnold https://www.quora.com/Can-one-earn-a-Ph-D-without-having-a-B...
wccrawford 9y ago
You can buy degrees that turn "work experience" into credits, but nobody respects them, so it's not really worthwhile unless you really just want some letters after your name.
- icelancer 9y ago
  Shrug. I don't really respect the letters or degrees that people have anyway. Only reason I would do it is to help my employees get better opportunities.
icelancer 9y ago
Potentially. We've obtained IRB approval for some other studies we are working on. His particular research will almost certainly go into another paper and he'll be credited with multiple published works, and probably get cited quite a bit. He has very little interest in starting up Ph.D. work, same as me (we're both college dropouts). However, AUT in NZ has offered to examine work for their Ph.D. program which is remote and based solely on research contributed. We might look into that. I have essentially no interest in dealing with the machine that is academia, so unless it's minimal work, I'll probably pass. My employee feels the same.