Several of our friends have completed their Ph.D.'s in their late 40’s and 50’s. It is much easier to do at a directional university, and if you have not been in school recently you may want to take a few classes. Trying to be admitted with a long gap in education at an elite college is extremely difficult. They all did it when their kids were HS age or later.
Not a true statement. I suspect this varies by field but if your PhD is from a “legit” institution than I suspect nobody would care if you did it part-time or full-time.
Most of the major institutions around Washington DC offer part-time PhD in programs in Public Policy/Government which are aimed at folks actually working in policy fields during the day
Those programs are different for the following reasons:
- They're pre-professionally oriented and targeted towards their prospective students as such unlike academic PhDs(including STEM).
- They often have lower research requirements compared to their academic PhD program counterparts due to the pre-professional orientation and part-time status.
- Unlike the academic PhD programs, the pre-professionally oriented PhD programs you're referencing are viable because they may actually serve as viable cash cows for the university as many of the part-time PhD students' studies are likely being mostly/completely funded by their public sector employers....not from the universities through fellowships.
In that respect, it’s no different from many pre-professional Masters programs like MBAs or professional Masters programs like the ones some relatives/friends earned part-time while working for their employers or in one case, as a “thank you” for being a good organizational business consultant associate for 2 years*.
- One perk BCG and other organizational business consulting firms offer to associates who completed 2 years right after undergrad successfully is full funding to any graduate program the successful associate is able to qualify for admission. This was how one in-law managed to earn a top-3 MBA while having it completely funded by one such firm after completing her 2 year associate stint there.
@Cobrat-- Can you cite some facts to go with your assertions?
On #2-- looking at the websites of at least 2 of the programs, there is no difference in degree requirement for full/part-time enrollees.
On #1- limited to my personal experience I wouldn’t call these pre-professional. The folks I’ve known entered the workforce for a number of years and then decided that the challenge of the program was something they wanted to do.
3-- the programs maybe cash cows but I don't think it is becauseagencies are funding them. Again based on my limited experience, training offices wouldn't approve the use of funds for degree programs-- only for classes that are directly related to current job projects.
Pharmacy, like medicine and dentistry is a profession. This is not the same as a PhD program. Educational requirements for pharmacists have changed for many job opportunities and it may be beneficial to get the more advanced degree while still working as a pharmacist. Once the generation of BS degreed pharmacists has all retired the need for part time Pharm D programs likely will disappear.
Right. Nobody need even know.
If one’s hoping to land a tenure-track academic job, they will know as soon as they review the PhD student transcript which is required for all applicants for such jobs.
This could vary by government agencies.
For instance, the US Armed Forces does defray most/all costs of PhD programs of junior/field grade officers they sponsor to attend academic MA/MS/PhD programs as full-time students for advancement/to qualify for the 3 year FSA Prof stint. This came from the military officers being sponsored by their services.
Also, some civilian Federal Agencies do sponsor employees to attain Masters and even PhDs in Public Policy and related fields such as IR in the same ways some private corporations sponsored that in-law in getting her top-3 MBA. .
And they would care why? I know, I know, because relatives and acquaintances.
On topic, I don’t think that is where OP is going.
I review hundreds of applications every year for tenure track jobs. The PhD transcript is not important. At all. Full or part time is not a consideration. Having a PhD, from where, and publications - these are important.
^Does it matter how long it took? Or the applicant’s age?
How long it took is somewhat relevant, 4 years or 8 years will give a different impression. And age is relevant. A 50 year old with a new PhD looking for a tenure track assistant professor may be problematic. But a couple of outstanding papers could swing it.
Outstanding being as such compared to other PhD graduate peers from peer/better ranked graduate programs in the same field/subfield.
And even then, there is an issue of age discrimination in many departments, including some engineering fields. A reason why my engineering PhD holding cousin and some Profs in a variety of fields have strongly recommended students that while it’s ok to take a few years in between undergrad and PhD, to not wait too long to start.
Yes and that’s becoming more important as many hiring committees and grad departments are becoming less tolerant of grad students taking more than 7 years to complete their PhDs.
A few universities such as Princeton has been ahead of the curve in this respect by having a stipulated 5 year limit for full fellowship funding while leaving it up to individual departments to decide whether to allow students who exceeded that limit to continue by being funded by outside sources as was the case with a friend who took 9.5 years to finish his PhD in the Math department or an older undergrad classmate’s father whose department had a policy of kicking students who exceeded that limit out and thus, forcing them to finish their PhDs elsewhere.
A close friend of mine from grad school went back to get her PhD at 56. She moved across the country to do it, including living away from her husband (their children are grown), and subsisting on the same $20k a year assistantship as the rest of us. She will hopefully graduate this year at 61 and is applying for faculty jobs now. Her situation was a bit unusual, as she had met her advisor at a professional development training, and her advisor strongly advocated for her to get in (she had wonderful experience working in the field and some adjunct teaching experience but no real research experience). The research learning curve was a very steep one for a while, as was being back in school for the first time in 30 or so years, and the massive pay cut she took. But it was something that she really wanted to do, and she had her advisor’s complete backing every step of the way.
This may be a bit sideways, but would teaching at a college level satisfy that PhD hankering? With two engineering degrees, I would think it would be possible to be a professor at most colleges…
(and I should add that I’m all for going back to college as an adult learner-I’m one right now and I LOVE it.)
^Speaking just for myself, just the opposite was true. Being in the company of all those other PhD’s was a motivation to pursue my own. At previous engineering positions, there were few or no PhDs.
While one can technically teach college-level classes with a Masters, there are enough PhDs…even in engineering that unless OP is in an area where there aren’t many engineering PhDs chasing after the college-level teaching positions, he may find it harder going unless he knows someone at a given college with the influence to get his foot in the door. Especially if he wants it to be a permanent ongoing gig alongside or in lieu of his current job.
While I’ve managed to act as a substitute instructor at a local community college with only a Bachelor’s, my getting that subbing gig was mainly due to my knowing the instructor and said instructor having a great working relationship with the departmental chair to the point said chair approved me sight unseen. Not the usual or best way to get an ongoing gig.
I recently accepted a 44 year old into a full-time, fully-funded 4 year PhD program. He will be coming in from a very different country, but has some experience, and an adventurous attitude, that should strengthen his research work.
Did the OP say he was looking for a college teaching job? Sounded like he just wanted a challenge, or maybe the kick of being called “doctor.” Nothing wrong with that. There are some universities , including some abroad, that offer doctorates that are mostly online. Not sure about engineering, but how about education (teaching of STEM) or physics?
I think the OP wants the substantial achievement of a real PhD. Anyone can buy one for 50 bucks.
I think it depends on the field. Some fields require sharp and active young brain to be effective while others may benefit more mature experienced brain.