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Wow another overwhelming "no don't do it"! From someone who's been there and done it. So, genuine questions: why did you do it? and what were your reasons? And

Wow another overwhelming "no don't do it"! From someone who's been there and done it. So, genuine questions: why did you do it? and what were your reasons? And finally if you could go back in time, would you decide to do it again?

nagrom 16y ago
I did it because I had a degree aged 20, and my options were a PhD including international travel, freedom and the chance to stay (nominally) at Uni - or take a general management job or jump into a consultancy. I lacked imagination ;-) If I could go back in time, I would...hah! So I just sat here for 5 minutes. I honestly don't know. I jumped in head-first and gave up everything at home for my PhD. Doing my PhD allowed me to live in three different countries, meet a whole load of new people, live through some intense experiences (30 hour 'days', travelling and working through 8 countries in 8 days, become an expert in subject X and give a presentation on it to world experts in 3 days etc. ;-) and grow up. I learned a lot about myself. The physics and computing and mathematics were incidental, almost. But I gave up a huge opportunity cost in going into finance or starting a company. But who knows what I would have amounted to, otherwise? From what you're saying, none of those experiences would apply to you. You're not used to living on $15k per year, and would be working a day job along side the studies. Since you'd hold onto your regular life, you wouldn't travel for renumeration amounting to just under the cost of living and you're probably too experienced to tolerate the amount of crap a grad student gets on a daily basis. I'm not negative about doing a PhD, I think. I'd recommend it to you heartily if you were in your early twenties and wanted to go do something unique, exciting and demanding. But from your post, you're not talking about going all-in. You're talking about doing it as a hobby, almost - a help to what you really want to do. It doesn't (or shouldn't) work like that. My advice would be to do what you really want to do, and not worry about getting an external boost or credit - which is what a qualification is about, I guess. In fact, from what you've written, it sounds to me like you don't enjoy getting your own projects done because you are busy achieving stuff during the day. I don't think that anyone can be focused and productive 15 hours a day. Try changing jobs, taking a less intense day job to concentrate at home or finding some way to roll your own projects into your day job properly. A word of caution: I don't know anyone who did a PhD part-time. My advice is worth what you paid for it ;-) You may get lucky and have an awesome advisor who cares about your topic. You might have some incredible idea that needs academic help to bring to fruition. If you know exactly what you want to do and can find an advisor who is as enthusiastic as you, go for it! But from your post, I guess that's not the case.
- profgarrett 16y ago
  Re: part-time. I was able to finish part-time, but did a ton of work full-time for the first couple of years. My research suffered, but because my job linked with the research, it worked out well. One thing that's not well known is how much you'll be working while in school on grant-funded projects. You'll be working no matter what, it's just a matter of getting a good one to work on.
- throwaway1 16y ago
  Your first paragraph alone is a great advertisement for a phD! But you are right in what you say in the third paragraph. The qualification is the last reason why I want to do it. I do see it as a potential way to transition into a different lifestyle - a startup maybe? But I guess I haven't got the guts to go all in at this stage and risk so much (a disadvantage I have), and I see this as a safer way of entering that arena. If (and most likely) it doesn't get that far I guess I will have 'accomplished' a body of work. Oh and my brother has completed a phD part-time in the biomedical sciences. I will consult him on his views too.

nagrom 16y ago

I did it because I had a degree aged 20, and my options were a PhD including international travel, freedom and the chance to stay (nominally) at Uni - or take a general management job or jump into a consultancy. I lacked imagination ;-) If I could go back in time, I would...hah! So I just sat here for 5 minutes. I honestly don't know. I jumped in head-first and gave up everything at home for my PhD. Doing my PhD allowed me to live in three different countries, meet a whole load of new people, live through some intense experiences (30 hour 'days', travelling and working through 8 countries in 8 days, become an expert in subject X and give a presentation on it to world experts in 3 days etc. ;-) and grow up. I learned a lot about myself. The physics and computing and mathematics were incidental, almost. But I gave up a huge opportunity cost in going into finance or starting a company. But who knows what I would have amounted to, otherwise? From what you're saying, none of those experiences would apply to you. You're not used to living on $15k per year, and would be working a day job along side the studies. Since you'd hold onto your regular life, you wouldn't travel for renumeration amounting to just under the cost of living and you're probably too experienced to tolerate the amount of crap a grad student gets on a daily basis. I'm not negative about doing a PhD, I think. I'd recommend it to you heartily if you were in your early twenties and wanted to go do something unique, exciting and demanding. But from your post, you're not talking about going all-in. You're talking about doing it as a hobby, almost - a help to what you really want to do. It doesn't (or shouldn't) work like that. My advice would be to do what you really want to do, and not worry about getting an external boost or credit - which is what a qualification is about, I guess. In fact, from what you've written, it sounds to me like you don't enjoy getting your own projects done because you are busy achieving stuff during the day. I don't think that anyone can be focused and productive 15 hours a day. Try changing jobs, taking a less intense day job to concentrate at home or finding some way to roll your own projects into your day job properly. A word of caution: I don't know anyone who did a PhD part-time. My advice is worth what you paid for it ;-) You may get lucky and have an awesome advisor who cares about your topic. You might have some incredible idea that needs academic help to bring to fruition. If you know exactly what you want to do and can find an advisor who is as enthusiastic as you, go for it! But from your post, I guess that's not the case.

profgarrett 16y ago
Re: part-time. I was able to finish part-time, but did a ton of work full-time for the first couple of years. My research suffered, but because my job linked with the research, it worked out well. One thing that's not well known is how much you'll be working while in school on grant-funded projects. You'll be working no matter what, it's just a matter of getting a good one to work on.
throwaway1 16y ago
Your first paragraph alone is a great advertisement for a phD! But you are right in what you say in the third paragraph. The qualification is the last reason why I want to do it. I do see it as a potential way to transition into a different lifestyle - a startup maybe? But I guess I haven't got the guts to go all in at this stage and risk so much (a disadvantage I have), and I see this as a safer way of entering that arena. If (and most likely) it doesn't get that far I guess I will have 'accomplished' a body of work. Oh and my brother has completed a phD part-time in the biomedical sciences. I will consult him on his views too.