<p>Hi, I've never posted in FinAid before. I hope I'm doing it right.</p>
<p>I want to get a PhD in Philosophy and be a professor. I'm wondering how much money would be an appropriate amount to take out in loans for an education for such a job?</p>
<p>Well, i’ve learned from CC that the formula to understanding how much debt you should take on is by this formula:</p>
<p>Total Student debt < first year expected salary</p>
<p>From googling, the starting salary of a philosophy professor is $30k-60k. Lets say it is $45k.</p>
<p>That means you should not take on more than $45,000 worth of debt for undergrad and graduate school. Definitely not more than $60k.</p>
<p>If you are not good enough to be offered full support for that PhD program (usually some combination of fellowships and teaching assistantships) then the department is saying that they don’t think you have what it takes to make it in an academic career. The faculty positions you ultimately would be competing for are few and far between. Do not take out loans that you might not be able to pay off.</p>
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<p>And even those who do have what it takes and get a PhD on full support face an unhill battle. Son of a friend spent almost 10 years earning a PhD in physical chemistry from Berkeley. That was about a decade ago. He’s currently making a living hacking code.</p>
<p>happy is right. Schools will fund PhDs for students they think are worth it. Don’t take out loans.</p>
<p>What are your stats? GPA? GRE scores?</p>
<p>Apply broadly…acceptance rates are quite low for PhD programs.</p>
<p>Never take out loans for a PhD in philosophy. Get a fellowship, or don’t go.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the rule of thumb, wmurphy126.</p>
<p>I’m currently an undergrad, and I expect/hope to have my PhD paid for. I’m not sure if I’d have to get an MA though.</p>
<p>If you are good enough to get in, you should be admitted to the PhD program. Part way through, you might get an MA but this depends on the program. Some only award MA degrees to students who decide they don’t want a PhD and leave the program early.</p>
<p>No don’t go for a MA, not for philosophy and not with the intention of becoming a prof. Go straight for a PhD.</p>
<p>x-posted w/hm1</p>
<p>You apply for your PhD as a senior in college. If accepted, you will be funded and at some point awarded a masters and then your PhD.</p>
<p>Have you taken your GRE yet?</p>
<p>OP, what the others are saying is correct, do not get a PHD in philosophy unless it is funded with tuition plus a stipend. The stipend will be tough to live on but try to live “poor.” Even with such funding, the job market is brutal and no guarantees you will have a job with which you can pay back your loans.</p>
<p>I agree. The odds of actually becoming a full time (and tenured especially) philosophy prof are not good. There is such an excess of candidates for the jobs available that top program grads are begging for part-time, very low paying adjunct jobs.</p>
<p>Have you found a school to transfer to yet?</p>
<p>Wow, thank you all so much for the responses! Yes, I’ve been accepted to transfer to UNC at Chapel Hill, which is a great school for Philosophy. I’d be transferring from FSU, which is an OK school for Philosophy. </p>
<p>I currently go to FSU for free, and I’d have to take out 50-80,000 dollars in loans (I think, I’ll hopefully get a more precise number today). </p>
<p>That’s a lot of money… It’s quite scary.</p>
<p>So $50,000 - $80,000 of undergrad loans. If you go straight to graduate school are the loan payments deferred? If so does the interest accumulate during the deferment?</p>
<p>I know colleagues in their 40s who are still paying off their student loans from their undergraduate years. Academe is not a high paying field, and if you do happen to get into a funded PhD program and if you do happen to be one of the rare and lucky ones who gets a tenure-track or even full-time instructor position with benefits, you won’t be making much money. While you are in graduate school, you will need all of your stipend to pay for your living expenses. You will have no extra cash to make debt payments.</p>
<p>Take out as little debt for undergraduate as possible. It would be nice if your parents could help you so you could graduate debt free.</p>
<p>There are very few tenure track jobs in philosophy. You will only get one if you get into a top ten program. The top programs will FUND your graduate study if you’re good enough. The only people who pay for PhD’s are the people who weren’t good enough to get funding – therefore, they are also the least likely to get good jobs afterwards. If you don’t get funding, you should read that as a signal from the universe that you aren’t good enough to go into the profession. For more on this, please read the forums at the Chronicle of Higher Education.</p>
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<p>Might that be a bit too categorical? On the UW-Madison website (I picked the school pretty much at random), the PhDs of the 12 full professors in the philosophy department are shown as being from:</p>
<p>Harvard (2)
Cornell (2)
Columbia (2)
Penn
Michigan
USC
Western Ontario
UCSB
Arizona</p>
<p>I’m not sure what qualifies as a “top 10” program, but I would guess at least several of those full profs probably have their degrees from outside that august group.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with the advice given - don’t go into debt for undergraduate school on the assumption that you (a) will get into a top program, (b) will get a tenure track job thereafter, and (c) will make enough money to pay off your student loans.</p>