Is a part-time PhD feasible? 1

[Enginerd424]

Hey everyone

I'm a 3rd year fully-funded PhD student and I obtained my MS degree last year (along the way of the PhD). I am considering leaving the department due to outside pressure. However, I want a PhD even though it is not necessarily useful to industry.


I'm considering a new plan: To begin working, and get a PhD part-time at a "lower" less demanding university. Is this feasible? By the way, I'm in Aerospace Engineering and would like to obtain a doctorate in a computational field ("engineering mechanics", "Computational mechanics", "applied math", etc). I have a few questions on this plan



1) Is a part-time PhD an irresponsible endeavor? A dissertation could constrain my ability to reach deliverables on my actual job at the same pace as my colleagues. Note that I plan on going to a lower, more flexible university (not a Cambridge or MIT)



2) Is there anyway I could convince my employer to help pay for it? I'm sure I would initially need to self-fund the PhD (by taking a mere 1-2 courses a year), but after slowly establishing myself maybe I could convince them?



3) Do you know anyone who has done a part-time PhD while working full-time as an engineer? Is it feasible?


4) Is a PhD at a low-ranked university a poor choice? Currently I'm at a top-ranked school - but I could not do a part time PhD here (I would loose funding and my advisor would loose any interest in me). I noticed a lot of high profile CTOs have PhD's/MS's at low-ranked schools.


Basically, I want a PhD. I find the courses enjoyable, and I've never struggled with the curriculum. However, I'm aware that a PhD is not the most practical endeavor in the engineering world.

Thanks for any input!

 

[GregLocock]

Basically a PhD is a full time job, and then some. I doubt you'd really manage to balance work and a PhD - my brother in law took 3 years to write his thesis once he started work, and it was a real blight on his life.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[ctopher]

It can be practical if you make it so.
It's full time if you want it sooner.

Chris, CSWA
SolidWorks '15
SolidWorks Legion

 

[Ron]

Outside the initial "impact", a PhD is a PhD in engineering. It ultimately makes very little difference whether your PhD is from MIT or from some other less prestigious state school. In academia, it makes a difference....in reality and practice...not so much.

If you can find a part-time PhD program...go for it.

 

[MikeHalloran]

I've worked alongside a couple of PhD candidates and one MD candidate. Their education was funded by the company for its own reasons.

The company provided them work on low-visibility or low-priority or low-probability projects. Some of those projects happened to be mine. I could extract an occasional hour or two from those candidates, but I could not rely on them for any sort of extended effort. Their attention was focused mostly on their studies, as it should have been.

I don't think it's possible to study with the intensity that a PhD or MD deserves, and also hold a full time job, unless the job is, ahem, not really full time.

My then employer was fine with that. I should note that none of those supported candidates were new employees, and most left for new horizons soon after achieving their goal.

Given the time you've already invested, I'd suggest continuing your studies, instead of interrupting them for what could turn out to be ten years.




Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[IRstuff]

We have had one PhD that was company funded. Not sure how long it took, but it was a while. Obviously, there has to be some sort of quid pro quo for a company to invest that kind of time and money into someone

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Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
There is a homework forum hosted by engineering.com:

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[Maui]

At the very least, finish your coursework before you make a decision. Once the coursework is completed, you'll just need about 30 hours of research credits. And they are no big deal to earn - you just have to do the work. Then you'll need to complete the dissertation (this can take a while) and defend your thesis in order to graduate.

If you plan to transfer to another program you better have a good idea of where that is going to be before you give your advisor the bad news. They may not accept all of your coursework credits (or any of them) for transfer. You may actually set yourself back quite a bit by going to another program at a different university. And it sounds like you have a free ride where you are now.

Why are you considering doing this? What is the outside influence that is creating this issue for you?

Maui

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Don't forget about studying for and passing the exam to get accepted... many folks struggle to pass, especially if they've been out of the academic world for a while. And researching your thesis material can go nowhere, leading to a new thesis subject... seen that one happen on multiple occasions, unfortunately. I watched one guy in my team take 9+ years to do his (though I believe he was milking it for the medical), and another change professors after his topic ended up going in opposite directions. Then writing the actual paper can take quite a while in and of itself, especially if you have a picky professor.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[tkordyban]

It can be done. My father started his PhD in 1961 and finished in 1969. He also got married and had six kids. On Sundays he would take the kids to the park. My most common memory is him sitting under a tree asleep with a fat textbook open on his chest. If you do it, don't get married and don't have kids. They are the ones who will pay the price. You will be at the office or in the lab 24/7 for years.

That said, it is not unusual for a candidate to combine the thesis with a project from the employer, especially if the employer has a funding relationship with the university. That way one can knock off two birds with one stone.

 

[GregLocock]

...at which point Mike's observation kicks in, you have a body on site but their head is off in PhD land.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[lacajun]

Wish I had a Ph.D. You may not think it matters in the engineering world but in some arenas it matters a great deal. If you can stay where you are, that would be a good plan. I worked and got a MS. I wouldn't want to do a Ph.D. that way. Courses, dissertation, and work would be too much for my pea brain.

Some of my profs were paid to get their Ph.D.'s but their jobs were really along the lines of their dissertations and full time was not expected of them. They had worked for those companies long enough to prove themselves intellectually. They stayed long after the Ph.D., too. They couldn't have gotten the doctorate any other way and they were grateful.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[btrueblood]

From experience: Nothing motivates you to finish your post-grad study like the prospect of x more years eating ramen noodles while your "BS & out" brethren are eating steak and living large in the outside world.

 

[Maui]

The outside world is [italic]nothing[/italic] like the academic world you live in while pursuing the PhD. After you graduate and start that first job, it's like taking the ice bucket challenge every single day.