In general academia is competitive and productivity matters. You are evaluated relative to other academics at similar stages of their career. Finding a good me

In general academia is competitive and productivity matters. You are evaluated relative to other academics at similar stages of their career. Finding a good mentor will be tough if you cannot commit full time. Advisors basically have to decide which students Will have their limited time for mentoring. So you’re competing with full time students who often have no family and willing to work every waking hour of their life. I think going part time route will depend on how much more productive you think you can be compared to other PhD students.