Job Discussion Forums

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

It seems to be the hot topic of the month at the uni where I work. Lots of people want them, though I think most of them just talk about it. We'll see if they follow through. To date, no one has.

I would like to have one, though I don't know if I want to do one in Education, in fact I'm sure I don't. On my second MA now, this one more geared towards Professional Educaiton and Training, I like it more than the first, TEFL, but still not sure if I like it enough to get a PhD. Maybe something more towards management. Time will tell. By the time I finish this MA we should already have a kid or two, so that's something else to consider.

tttompatz

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

I think you hit the nail on the head. Seems like a lot people I work with want it, just to say they have it. If you're ABD, how many years did it take you to get there? ABD all biut dissertation basically means that you did the coursework and research, but simply haven't written up the dissertation?

mozzar · Joined: 16 May 2009 Posts: 339 Location: France

What would be the benefits of having one? Could they open up any new areas of work?

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

You could get tenure as a uni professor.
Bulk up your CV.
Impress other people

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

If you're competing in a job market where there are many MA holders, an Phd could be quite useful.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Very true. I think you also have to consider where you get them. MAs are the new BAs and PhDs are the new MAs. Seems like there are a LOT more PhD holders now than before. If you've got the money, well, getting a PhD might be easier than for those that don't

mspxlation · Joined: 13 Jul 2007 Posts: 44 Location: USA

I don't know how the situation is in other countries, but I would not advise an American to get a Ph.D. nowadays.

When I got mine, there was still a full-time job market, but now, unless your degree is in a field with a lot of vacancies and few degree holders, you're condemning yourself to eking out a living with a string of part-time jobs that require more time than a full-time job but don't pay as much when you put them all together. This pattern is now the norm in the humanities and social sciences.

The corporate mindset has taken over U.S. universities, and the administrators' attitudes toward the teaching staff have changed. A faculty of highly qualified professors who devoted their lives to the university was once considered a university's greatest asset. Now a lot of universities think of the teaching faculty as an expensive liability, so that vacant positions are reclassified and filled by part-time instructors who can be paid in peanuts and are ineligible for the university's pension and health insurance plans or by temporary instructors on limited-term contracts just short enough to prevent the instructors from qualifying for the university's pension plan.

You may argue that this is an indication of financial responsibility on the part of the university (although they keep hiring more and more full-time administrators who do nothing but call meetings), but from the point-of-view of the Ph.D. who is desperate for a job, it's a highly undesirable situation.

When my last teaching job was eliminated, I looked at job openings all over the U.S. and saw that the majority were two-year and three-year appointments in places where I didn't want to live.

I left academia.

That was several years ago, and the situation is even worse now.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

I thought about it when I was finishing up by MA, but I quickly dropped the idea. I really don't see the practical use for it--right now, I am doing exactly what I want to be doing, and I have exactly the right qualifications do be doing it. I don't think it'll help me in the US either--I don't want to teach university courses--TESOL-y stuff. I am quite happy to be in a language classroom.

d

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

mspxlation, what do you do now?

mspxlation · Joined: 13 Jul 2007 Posts: 44 Location: USA

I've now been a free-lance Japanese-English translator for longer than I was a professor.

tttompatz · Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 4:04 am Post subject:

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

ttompatz, didn't mean to upset you. Those reasons are just ones that I've heard in my office for reasons to get a PhD. There is one thing I don't understand. If you've done all the legwork and research, why not just write up the dissertation?

tttompatz · Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 12:44 pm Post subject:

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

I suppose the hardest thing is getting started. I have a reserach paper due, very shortly and have just started. I've had it hanging over my head. Just the thought of it makes me cring. BUt once I get started I really enjoy it and it's hard to tear myself away