Part Time PhD
Typically part-time doctorates are spread over five or more years, which can be a long time to balance all the demands on your life.
It is important to think through all your own potential challenges with a part-time doctorate before you embark on it; the following suggestions come from the experience of others who chose the part-time route:
* Make a commitment with yourself to set aside particular chunks of time for your research; Consider setting aside a couple of evenings each week, every other week-end, specific bank holidays etc, when you are ‘unavailable’ for other activities. Some people find it helpful to plan in 6 month blocks, so that they can see ahead to specific time slots
* It can also be helpful to have longer blocks of time - say 3 consecutive days, rather than 1 day every three weeks, as it means you won’t waste time catching up with where you left off
* If possible, choose a research topic that is related to your work. In this way, the transition between the two will feel more natural, and each can feed the other
* Maintain regular contact with your supervisor and research department. It will keep you in touch and be a constant reminder for you
* Ensure that family and work colleagues are aware of your programme, and supportive of it, before you start out
You can't beat perfect
Minh Nguyen earned his Ph.D. last fall after an experience that challenges many common assumptions. He completed his coursework and dissertation on communications traffic analysis and interference cancellation for avionic systems in just three years - as a part-time graduate student holding down a full-time engineering job.
...Nguyen tried to weigh the economic cost and the benefits of getting a Ph.D. “Was the degree only for personal satisfaction, or would it help me thrive in my career? I had no answer to that.” The option of keeping his job and going to school part time was intriguing. “I talked to 10 people, however, who all said the same thing: that doing a part-time Ph.D. is impossible.”
...His biggest challenge in pursuing both activities simultaneously was “heavy-duty multi-tasking. I had to balance my workloads between work, school, and family - and each one could be considered a full-time commitment.” His advice for others considering a similar path: “Eliminate the word ‘procrastination’ from your dictionary! If you have a research idea in the middle of the night, get up and work on it immediately. Give it further thought or you might lose important ideas forever. There are many things to distract a part-time Ph.D. student and you must maintain focus.”
It is important to think through all your own potential challenges with a part-time doctorate before you embark on it; the following suggestions come from the experience of others who chose the part-time route:
* Make a commitment with yourself to set aside particular chunks of time for your research; Consider setting aside a couple of evenings each week, every other week-end, specific bank holidays etc, when you are ‘unavailable’ for other activities. Some people find it helpful to plan in 6 month blocks, so that they can see ahead to specific time slots
* It can also be helpful to have longer blocks of time - say 3 consecutive days, rather than 1 day every three weeks, as it means you won’t waste time catching up with where you left off
* If possible, choose a research topic that is related to your work. In this way, the transition between the two will feel more natural, and each can feed the other
* Maintain regular contact with your supervisor and research department. It will keep you in touch and be a constant reminder for you
* Ensure that family and work colleagues are aware of your programme, and supportive of it, before you start out
You can't beat perfect
Minh Nguyen earned his Ph.D. last fall after an experience that challenges many common assumptions. He completed his coursework and dissertation on communications traffic analysis and interference cancellation for avionic systems in just three years - as a part-time graduate student holding down a full-time engineering job.
...Nguyen tried to weigh the economic cost and the benefits of getting a Ph.D. “Was the degree only for personal satisfaction, or would it help me thrive in my career? I had no answer to that.” The option of keeping his job and going to school part time was intriguing. “I talked to 10 people, however, who all said the same thing: that doing a part-time Ph.D. is impossible.”
...His biggest challenge in pursuing both activities simultaneously was “heavy-duty multi-tasking. I had to balance my workloads between work, school, and family - and each one could be considered a full-time commitment.” His advice for others considering a similar path: “Eliminate the word ‘procrastination’ from your dictionary! If you have a research idea in the middle of the night, get up and work on it immediately. Give it further thought or you might lose important ideas forever. There are many things to distract a part-time Ph.D. student and you must maintain focus.”