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

GrammarGrandma

I did look into it, as I got a poor degree, because of personal circumstances. But here in Oxford (my nearest university) it would cost £4-5K per annum just to be affiliated to a college, let alone tuition fees, so I just can't. (But I do have over 120 books published so not quite a hopeless case).

If someone has not got a first or upper second class honours degree but has a degree and some experience some universities may offer a Master of Philosophy only registration, so no possibility of transferring to a PhD registration.

However, once the Master of Philosophy degree has been obtained the person is eligible for a PhD registration.

Please remember that there is also Oxford Brookes University, which was once Oxford Polytechnic.

I did look into it, as I got a poor degree, because of personal circumstances. But here in Oxford (my nearest university) it would cost £4-5K per annum just to be affiliated to a college, let alone tuition fees, so I just can't. (But I do have over 120 books published so not quite a hopeless case).

Drina01

I did my degree late in life at 40 then a masters a few years later. It’s kept me in work - still working at 69. However in 2008 ish I started a Doctorate part time self funded as work wasn’t interested. I did 5 years - it wasn’t easy when work wasn’t interested and tbh I felt that the Uni I did it with was only interested in the fees. I put it on hold due to illness for a few years and tried to resurrect it a while ago. The Uni said none of the modules I did towards it were transferable and I would have to start again. Needless to say I lost the will to live. !

My timeline and experience match yours, except that once I retired I realised that I wouldn't be able to complete. The original spec had said that if you drop out after 2 or more years, you can claim a master's. Obviously you needed a master's to get on the course. I claimed it because I'd paid my own fees and...
The certificate is still upstairs, still in its envelope, still unopened.

Drina01 - can you transfer what you have done to another university or at last resort accept a "lesser" degree?
PhDs are generally in "parts" so you ought to be able to negotiate this I would have thought.

Just an idea.

DDiL is doing the PhD/working/children thing at the moment. She has had to extend the period it takes her to complete her PhD as in current economic circumstances, working as close to full time as possible is essential. The plus is that, even though her PhD is not complete, it has got her her quite unique job.

I did my degree late in life at 40 then a masters a few years later. It’s kept me in work - still working at 69. However in 2008 ish I started a Doctorate part time self funded as work wasn’t interested. I did 5 years - it wasn’t easy when work wasn’t interested and tbh I felt that the Uni I did it with was only interested in the fees. I put it on hold due to illness for a few years and tried to resurrect it a while ago. The Uni said none of the modules I did towards it were transferable and I would have to start again. Needless to say I lost the will to live. !

I failed my 11+ and left school on my 15th birthday never having taken an exam. At 38 I graduated and followed this with an A Level finishing with the very difficult DipSW social work qualification. Then an O level, all topsy turvey but I had to grab the opportunity.
I was pleased to have done it but it did not really benefit my career.

My dd is on the midst of a Masters which with s full time job and two young rather demanding children and having young children myself at the time I was studying know how hard and expensive it can be,
We paid first tranche and she is currently trying to get funding elsewhere, it’s costing thousands of £s..

One of the useful things about a doctorate (as DD found) is that electricity suppliers tend to think it means a medical doctor who must have their power restored as soon as possible.

I remember spending hours typing up DD's index for her. Mainly obscure scientific terms which had to be typed accurately on pain of death!

Congratulations!

Hi
I gained my doctorate at 64 and had my ceremony last week. I already have a first degree in psychology, MSc in occupational psychology and MBA. The last gained in 1998 so it had been a while!

What I loved about studying at 60+ was to research my chosen topic - how people find meaning in life after full-time work - because I wanted to, not for career progression.

It does need grit, determination and resilience.

I have already had 6 books published and will be writing this up for my next book. then more research!

I have read all of this thread Firstly, I do admire the work people who earned their PhD put in. Secondly, it is good to know that so many Grans have reached this level in subjects you would need to love to put in all the necessary work. I genuinely had no idea we had so many members who are or were employed in Academia. You really need great determination to give the time and effort required.

I am one of those who did not go on to study for a PhD. My great interest has been in female criminality and my Masters thesis was on that subject. My supervisor wanted me to take the subject further and thought I should get a job in a women’s prison. I would have done that, but we had a small business and my husband really needed my help and the youngest child was still in secondary school and so I went back to teaching part time. I learned today that my MSc was not awarded by the University of London but by the College I attended. When I get back to London I will look that up.

Thank you for such an interesting thread. So often walking down the road people just do not recognise that those silver haired people they pass maybe intellectual titans

And I will have to learn to treat Volver with greater respect even if we disagree about many subjects.

Both my masters degrees were self-funded, one w as done part time and as I worked part time I had time to get the money together. The second was part of my redundancy package. It included a retraining grant, but that only covered fees, the course I wanted to do was at a university 100 miles away so I had maintenance costs, incidental study costs, running a car, and up to 4 nights accommodation a week.. I went home at weekends.

A member of my family has a PhD and it seems to me quite pretentious of him to always use the Dr title, even in a non-professional context.

It is important to remember that very often there are many applicants for one job and often a recruiting team is required to only interview some number of candidates.

So, if, say, a short list of six candidates has to be chosen from amongst hundreds of application forms where many people have good qualifications and experience, then even if it is not a job where a PhD is needed, having a PhD can be what gets an interview.

Do I have a PhD?....No. But my son does. He is now a senior research scientist and I dont think he would have achieved this without it. In some careers it is a necessary qualification.

I have a Masters and I stopped there!

I know lots of people with PhDs. It has made little to no difference to their career prospects, with the exception of 1 nuclear physicist and 1 astrophysicist!

However, I don’t get the impression that you want it for a specific job role?

If you have the time (and 5 years is about right), the money and you already know a lot about the subject you are planning to study, then go for it.

I will be in full admiration of you!

Of the PhD theses I have read some insist that you write in a certain academic style. Check before you sign up!

I completed a masters in 2005 whilst working full time . It was a year in practical teaching and 6 months to do a 20,000 word dissertation in pure research . I decided pretty quickly that doing a PHD after that was not for me, I’m not really interested enough in the research bit. My MA is in CBT and counselling research.

ShropshireMiss

The publication route is normally a higher doctorate rather than PhD and is for someone already with a distinguished record of publication.

I may not be correct in this but it may be that higher doctorates (DSc and DLitt) were once the only degrees that could be awarded by the prior publications route yet that that was later extended to also there being the possibility of obtaining a PhD by a prior publications route as well.

I expect that most PhDs are awarded as the result of supervised research that takes place after registration for the degree, registration requiring being offered a registration after having applied.

Yet where someone has, for example, worked in an industrial research laboratory and has published papers in learned journals over a number of years, a PhD by previously published work can sometimes be awarded, after registration for a shorter period after submitting the publications together with a thesis-like document that reviews the publications that is examined and passed and by passing a viva voce examination.

Yet publications resulting from working in an industrial research laboratory is just one possibility, just mentioned here as an example.

Fanny, do you have a masters already? It may be worth doing that first if you don't to see how you get on.

One of the cleverest people I know found the PhD drove him mad as everything he read took him further and he was therefore constantly re-writing as he felt the updated info was critical if his work was to be accurate.
He was a fast and voracious reader so was reading all the time he was writing up!

My husband on the other hand just slogged through his writing-up and tried not to allow his brain to be side-tracked or to add any "new" nuance.
I think most PhDs must be out-of-date by the time they are written.

Interestingly Gordon Brown always liked to be called Mr Brown, even though he has a PhD.

A PhD friend was being patronised at a garage. When the man was filling in a form he asked ‘Miss or Mrs?’
Somehow the reply ‘Actually I’m ‘Doctor’” prompted him to become courteous and respectful. She assumed he thought she was medically qualified…

When my D was at school ( infants) she had a little friend whose father was always referred to as Dr.
His D used to tell everyone that actually he was a “ double doctor”
We heard it so many times that after a while he was referred to as Double Dr B.
He died a couple of years ago after several years with dementia like my H.
That dreadful illness doesn’t differentiate in intellectual or not.

FannyCornforth

Grandpanow why did you and your DH choose to do ‘multiple’ PhDs? And how many is multiple? Thank you (as I said - nosy)

We both only have one. But we both worked with people with multiple. I think it’s becoming even more common in academia now than it was previously because of a push for interdisciplinary work. One man I worked with had 3 in 3 unrelated fields.

volver

My mum addresses our Xmas cards to Prof and Dr Volver.

Makes her happy

I bet it does

I have done some proof reading for my Dd's PhD and I am amazed that she has managed to fit it all in whilst also being a foster parent and an inspector of children's homes. She has had to say "no" to many social invitations and has made many sacrifices financially. You have to be prepared for this and also be able to take critical feedback in your stride. Worth it in the end though. Best of luck if you decide to do it.