<p>(I originally posted this to the college search and selection thread, but thought it to be more appropriate here after finding out that this forum even existed.) </p>
<p>I know this website is dedicated more to undergrad than grad school, however I do have some questions regarding doctoral programs, questions I haven't found the answer to anywhere else. From what I've researched, PhD programs take around 7-8 years on average to complete. My question then is, what do you do the whole time regarding your career? It seems ridiculous to not really make money until you're 30-32 years old. How do you, for lack of a better term, survive while obtaining a PhD? Is it possible to work full or even part time and still complete the work in time? (I know it varies) I don't know anything on the subject really, and I'm probably making assumptions, so any answer would be valued!</p>
<p>Ideally you would work 20 hours a week as a research or teaching assistant during your PhD studies. In some fields, students in the dissertation stage do go out and find a full time job, but that can add years to your degree. Not everyone takes 7-8 years. Five years was the average in my field and many completed the degree in four.</p>
<p>If you are in an STEM field, and you are not offered full support (free tuition & fees, and a stipend sufficient to cover books, materials, and living expenses for a single person who has a modest lifestyle) then the institution is telling you that you aren’t really good enough to make a career in the field. To collect all of the money, you will be someone’s teaching and/or research assistant. But if you are a research assistant, then you will be getting paid to slave away in the lab on your Ph.D. project so that isn’t so bad. If you are in the humanities, money will be a bit harder to come by, but it’s likely that you will be able to cobble together an income by working as a teaching assistant and maybe another outside part-time job. The key of course, is to be willing to live like the proverbial church mouse.</p>
<p>Some people do hold down decent paying full-time jobs while they pursue graduate studies part-time. Just about every teacher you have ever met is or has done just exactly that. However, the time to degree becomes even longer. </p>
<p>Most PhD programs provide a living stipend (ave. $20,000-$30,000/year) for at least 5 years. In addition there are many fellowships that are available to provide additional money. Depending on your program, some schools will extend your stipend for another year or two to allow you dissertation time. Also, some candidates are able to find teaching/research positions once they are ABD (all but dissertation), provided they still complete the dissertation on time. While most programs discourage outside employment - my H also did a little consulting on the side while D plans to do nannying/babysitting. </p>
<p>It has been a number of years now for us, but my husband and I did PhDs at the same time. We survived with graduate assistanceships and student loans. We also had summer jobs that included basic room and board. We survived at a level far below poverty averages for years. But when there is a will there is a way. We believed in what we were doing and our graduate school years were some of the best in our lives. </p>
<p>The track is different for STEM and humanities/social sciences. My spouse is a humanities prof-- his experience was, students who are admitted to programs typically are awarded full funding for tuition and may get a living expenses stipend the first year. The first year or two are spent taking classes and developing relationships with professors. You probably start working as a TA in the second or certainly third year. TAs are paid. By year 3, you are working on your dissertation proposal and, depending on your project, you are working on your dissertation for 2-4 years. You will continue to work as a TA each year, getting paid – that covers your living expenses. Tuition is always waived for sometime they are interested in being part of their program. You may apply for university or outside funding to cover travel for research for your dissertation etc. My spouse finished his program in 6 years. That was considered efficient but not impossible. Depends on the field. </p>
<p>Also, what field? If it’s a field without much in the way of prospects outside of academia, you think sit and think very, very hard and seriously about whether you really ought to pursue it. The academic job market is and is likely to stay utterly brutal in nearly every discipline (the latest downturn took even fields that had been doing pretty well, like chemistry and linguistics, down with no real recovery in sight), and the length of time to degree for a PhD produces a very real and lasting opportunity cost for those who end up without a position requiring the degree.</p>
<p>Thank you for the answer! What about Evolutionary Biology/Human Ecology? Would a PhD be required to work in the public or private sector, and not a university? Or would a PhD over qualify you to work in a non-academic setting and actually decrease your hirability?</p>
<p>My son is a Ph.D. student in this field and he is looking at consulting positions in the environmental field after graduation. Another option might be with the Forestry services. There are, of course post-doctoral research positions available too and the academic track is possible after a post-doc position or two. Being in an academic position does not necessarily mean a research university. There are community colleges and other 4-year schools which are primarily undergraduate and who need faculty.</p>
<p>I know this website is dedicated more to undergrad than grad school, however I do have some questions regarding doctoral programs, questions I haven’t found the answer to anywhere else. From what I’ve researched, PhD programs take around 7-8 years on average to complete. My question then is, what do you do the whole time regarding your career? It seems ridiculous to not really make money until you’re 30-32 years old. How do you, for lack of a better term, survive while obtaining a PhD? Is it possible to work full or even part time and still complete the work in time? (I know it varies) I don’t know anything on the subject really, and I’m probably making assumptions, so any answer would be valued!</p>
<p>I think your original thread in CS&S was moved to the Grad School forum, so I have merged the two together here.</p>
<p>As for your last question, no, it is not really possible to work full-time and still finish the PhD on time. Some students work full-time after they complete their coursework - particularly during the dissertation phase. But it will impact your time to degree completion unless your job is 100% related to finishing graduate school (e.g., if you work as a project coordinator in the same research lab in which you are conducting your dissertation research).</p>
<p>Many students work part-time during the degree though. Ideally, you’d be working on something related to your degree - like part-time consulting for an environmental firm or substitute teaching biology classes or something. But you might not need to; your fellowship support might be enough.</p>
<p>The academic job market for the life sciences has been dismal for quite a while—on the order of a couple decades. (They were the first of the science fields to feel the pinch.) There are some non-academic outlets for a PhD in the fields you mention in places like non-profits focusing on conservation or environmentalism, government aid program research and administration, even zoos and the occasional pharmaceutical company—but there aren’t nearly enough of them to take up the slack. You might want to look at what you could do with a master’s instead.</p>
<p>Caveat: I am not in the biosciences. You should really talk this through with a trusted mentor(s) in the life sciences, preferably one (or several!) who doesn’t have a vested interest in your future career trajectory so as to get as neutral an opinion as possible.</p>