Dear Dissertation Coach,
I’m thinking of starting a doctoral program because I want to use the PhD for credibility in my corporate career. Perhaps I’ll teach classes when I retire. What do you think of that idea?
Sincerely,
Possible doctoral student
Dear possible doctoral student,
You have to understand what faculty members in classic doctoral programs believe they are doing for doctoral students. Their fundamental belief is that they are training future academics and researchers. This is true in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Texas at Austin where I went to school. This does not mean that every student who graduates with a doctoral degree must go into academics or even does, but that’s what students are being trained to become.
How do you determine whether the departments you are thinking of applying to have that mindset? Look at the course work that you would be expected to take. If it is heavy on theory and methods AND you have to write a research-based dissertation, then you are being set up to be a research academic. If doing that kind of course work sets your brain to singing, then great, this is the place for you. If not, then I can tell you the four or five years you will spend slogging through course work and doing your research is going to be just that, slogging. You will not be happy nor will your academic faculty members.
I’ll tell you honestly that if you put on your application to a research university that you want a doctorate to give your corporate career credibility, the odds are small that you’d be admitted anyway. Most graduate school applications ask for an essay in which students state their reasons for wanting to go to graduate school. A graduate school essay that tells the faculty members that the student loves research, has a research program in mind, and that the faculty at this particular university have the perfect members to teach this student what she wants to learn will be the application that rises to the top.
I do not want to imply that there is anything wrong with either path, that is, training future academics or wanting a doctorate for credibility. I do want to make it clear that the two would not be a happy mix.
Hopefully, I have answered your question.
Sincerely,
Susan
Dissertation Coach
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