<p>So, I'm starting a PhD in the fall, and I just had this crazy idea that I want to learn something completely different from my original field of interest, just for fun. And the school I'm going to is in the top tiers for this new interest, so I figured why not? I've occasionally seen older people take courses in a college as part-time students, but do grad students do it too? Do they sometime get another degree by taking courses as graduate students?</p>
<p>Don't take this post too seriously. I should concentrate on my field (and that's what I'll probably end up doing, instead of taking random courses in a random field), but I am curious of the answer nonetheless.</p>
<p>Like ThePhilosopher said you can take classes on your own but unless you’re pursuing a PhD in Futile Studies I don’t think you could manage another bachelors out of it.</p>
<p>If you are self-funded, perhaps - few departments will tell you how to spend your own money. But if you are taking department money, they explicit or implicit control over your studies - most will not allow you to take courses not directly relevent to the PhD. Even if you are self-funded, you will find that (1) many universities are not interested in admitting current PhD students to their undergrad courses or departments, (2) most programs are not going to continue a student for PhD candidacy who cannot decide on their field, and (3) combining the two is a ridiculuous time commitment over those years - it would either severely extend your PhD (which the department would NOT pay for) or else it would require you go 4-8 years with neither distractions nor sleep.</p>
<p>So talk to your advisor, he/she might let you take a few out-of-scope courses out of sympathy, but that would be it.</p>
<p>I agree that actually getting a degree might be difficult or impossible logistically, but second the idea that you should be able to easily audit a class or two.</p>
<p>Incidentally, I had a friend who earned a master’s in aerospace engineering while simultaneously earning an online MBA. But I got the impression that he did this a little under the table.</p>
<p>This depends on your PI and your program. I have heard [could be urban legend] who pulled off getting a MBA while doing his Phd in Micro at my current university four years ago. If this actually happened, it would have only been because of the setup of my current university where there is a research campus, a closely related research institution and a college campus, all in different locations around the city that grad students routinely work at, so that there could have been a lack of oversight by this individual’s PI.</p>
<p>Here at Columbia (and at many schools) a Ph.D student can take any class his or her advisor lets him take, but honestly, you won’t have <em>time</em> to take enough extra classes to earn a degree. Or, if you are doing it right, you shouldn’t have time. Usually people take 2-3 graduate classes a semester (sometimes 4 – in my program we all take 4), in addition to doing research and teaching and reading and writing. When I finish all of the stuff I need to be doing in a day to work on my Ph.D, I just want to sleep or crash, not take a class in another field. (And the classes I wanted to take were actually relevant – I thought I’d brush up my French or learn Spanish.)</p>