PhD’s: Do you have one? Would you consider doing one? ?

DH and I both started PhDs in our 50s. We worked part-time at the university to help fund them, but finances were very tight for a while.

We studied a subject that is a hobby of ours and finished in time to retire!! We still use our knowledge and expertise (?) with local groups.

It was very enjoyable learning new things and mixing with other postgrads of all ages.

However.....many family and friends have forgotten, or failed to register, that we should be addressed as 'Dr' .....

I know several people who have PhDs and none of them have ever considered being addressed as Dr... by friends and family.

I did one in my later 20s. It took five year full-time. I was lucky to have some independent financing. I passed it but it didn’t set the academic world alight!
It has to be something you’re passionate about. I did an undergrad degree. In the last two years we had to choose specialist subjects. I chose one that seemed interesting. For one of them the students had to choose a topic from a list and give a presentation on it. I noticed there was a topic with only one book and a few articles on the reading list, so close to do that one, to be honest I think I was being lazy. I mentioned to the lecturer that there wasn’t much on the reading list for it, and he said that’s because not much had been written on the subject. So that is what set me off to do the PhD on it. Of course once you start digging you find more has been written on the topic than you initially thought, with lots of little articles here and there.

I got a fabulous thread juxtaposition when I opened up GN just now! ???

Well spotted SueDonim ???

Dinahmo

I know several people who have PhDs and none of them have ever considered being addressed as Dr... by friends and family.

I’d insist upon it at all times!

DD has a PhD in Biochemistry and now leads a research team at the university. I remember it meant a great deal of work and expense. Everything she needed for her thesis cost money, although it did look very impressive when it was finished and professionally bound. She only uses her title when writing papers or giving talks, but does have it on things like her driving licence and credit cards. She went straight on to do the PhD after her BSc so was very young and used to get funny looks when she used a credit card. People were obviously thinking "Hmm, who's she stolen this from?"

Hi Fanny, I've never thought of working towards a doctorate as a bit like writing a book! I guess it depends on the area of research or study. Do you already have a masters?
I have a science based PhD which involved many years of original research ( I also worked part time to pay my way), and eventually writing up my thesis and a viva with experts in the field. The writing up part took longer than expected but was really only a very small part of the work. It was several decades ago, before the internet could call up other peoples work so easily or computers could whizz and count so fast, so I spent a lot of time counting and measuring cells, plotting graphs, and messing with statistics - things that could be counted by machine now!
Many people do achieve PhDs whilst working part time alongside- but it was not easy. I'm rather out of date as I left academia decades ago- others will be more useful.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

ShropshireMiss ‘five years full time’
Wow. Well done.
I’m sure that I’d be absolutely sick to death of the subject by then

We sometimes point it out to officialdom if we think it's important, but I can't see any need to to upset friends and family by pushing it, especially as we acquired the title so late. They'd just think we were showing off.

I do get annoyed by websites that only give you the options of Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms, though. There must be lots of people who have other titles.

When I worked at a college aftwards they did address me as Dr when they used my surname. When I started at the college there were a fair few of the teachers with PhDs working there and they were always called. Dr Surname.
However now I’ve changed careers it’s not really relevant so I haven’t mentioned it, and everyone uses first names anyway. However all my official documents have Dr as my title, apart from dental and medical stuff as I didn’t want any confusion there.

Margi sorry, the book reference was meant in the sense that you think you ‘have it in you’; but do have the necessary discipline or passion.
But, I do think that in my case (if it ever becomes a case) , it probably would be a bit like writing a book

To pass it has to make ‘an original contribution to knowledge’ in the opinion of the two professors who read it and then give you an oral exam on it.

You can do an MPhil or similar which still involves the research and writing up, but doesn’t have quite the same stringent requirement of ‘making an original contribution to knowledge’.

Thankyou SM
That’s helpful. When I did my MA (20 odd years ago) my supervisor said that mine was more of a PhD type thesis as I had to do so much original research.
I spent a month at the British Library.
At the time, and even now, I had a nagging suspicion that I was doing some donkey work for him

I'm currently finishing off my second Masters, (graduated with first one in 2019) and I'm hoping to do a PhD next year.

I love all the studying and it's become part of who I am now, I'm a few months off 60.

Three years in I was sick of the subject. But luckily had a second wind and got it completed.

I did one following a year spent in industry after graduating, so I suppose I was quite young. It was in one of the sciences, and I spent three years in a dark basement with a piece of electrical equipment that was older than me, that I had to discharge every night with a big screwdriver, so that the cleaning lady wouldn't electrocute herself accidentally . You'd never get away with it now.

I used the topic of the PhD directly for a few years but then moved into another area. When I was first entitled to be called Dr I was thrilled, but I don't use it now.

One of my external examiners was a Nobel Prize winner.

I have a PhD in common sense, quite happy with that ?

Shinamae

I have a PhD in common sense, quite happy with that ?

I scraped a GCSE grade C in that

Completing the PhD at a prestigious university and getting the Dr title felt like a really big thing at the time. Now I just feel like it’s nothing and doesn’t matter and so what. Probably would have been better to do something that would have earned more money. But I suppose I was following my star at the time, and it did enable me to get a nice job at a college with a good pension.

SueDonim

I got a fabulous thread juxtaposition when I opened up GN just now! ???

Love it!

No and no. I don’t think I’d have the stamina. I’ve written technical manuals and training manuals in the course of my career in software development but not really interested in writing per se.

I was contemplating doing a masters in comparative religion after my husband died but have never found the time.

I thought a masters was the usual precursor to a PhD Fanny.

Having worked with students doing both I have to say that there is a vast range in quality, especially at PhD level.