What do you think of those with PhD?

[whyyyyyisitmonddayy]

Particularly those in non-stem fields. Just curious!

And in real life 🙄. Most medical doctors will offer the respect a PhD deserves. They know that the title means something, PhD or bachelor of medicine.

any clinician I have met will use my title when they find out I have a PhD out of respect.

Friends generally is a lesson on how not to treats someone’s achievements. Why would you take the piss out of anyone’s education or qualification. It’s not as if Ross shoves it down people’s throats- it’s only brought up when they been to put him down.

That makes sense - although presumably some people take a degree in a subject they think will help them in employment. I didn’t go to university myself, just picked up on the thread in active. My first response was that I hadn’t ever given it a thought. Probably I shouldn’t have bothered replying!

I mean, I wouldn't be taking too many life lessons from Friends in general. Or from sitcoms in general.

I've worked with a considerable number of people, Professors. Doctors, and I am impressed by how they use what they've studied and learned, rather than the fact they have a piece of paper. One of the most intelligent people I've ever met had no formal qualifications and given the cost of study, I think we have many that can afford to study with qualifications rather than the brightest and best in some fields.

I think it shows tenacity, but I've met some fairly dim people who have a PhD in areas like gender studies.

I’m hugely impressed and very jealous.

I do wonder how many people would genuinely persure a PhD because they want to study something so deeply, or do they do a PhD so that they can call themselves Dr.
If the title Dr wasn't linked to it, I do wonder how many people would actually do one.
I have worked with colleagues in academia who have shared widely that they will be known as Dr X once they have completed their studies (often many years later), but have struggled to talk in depth about their actual research plans.

@pimplebum Some are funded, mostly stem. The students get a stipend for the duration and work very hard, they are often employed as paid Graduate Teaching Assustants and markers too. Not for the faint -hearted for sure

They must have been able to talk in depth about their research at some point otherwise they’d have failed their viva!

Sadly, in academia having the title is very important so that is part of the motivation for existing or aspiring academics.

The market is paying true value, that's why they're not earning much. As my boss used to say, too much writing not enough doing.

I envy their writing ability.

Threatened, no. Sick of being patronised by people who have them, yes.

doubtful

I don't think anything. I know plenty of people with PhDs. You don't have to be particularly bright to get one, just good in your area. I don't see it as any different to someone who might have completed an apprenticeship or something else. It's time given to learn. Some people choose to spend that time in other ways. They chose to do a PhD. Good on them but it's just another degree to me.

I was enrolled for a PhD and then decided it wasn't for me. I had other priorities for my time. Never regretted it.

I'm guessing your boss doesn't know a lot about PhDs.

The market does not pay true value for anything - that’s half the problem with the world

if we payed the price for climate change damage we wouldn’t be using oil any more

and is the true value of a person designing algorithms to trade money faster to get marginally more on share dealing really higher than that of a care home assistant never mind a person designing cancer cures on their PhD

Your boss knows nothing then. Showing his ignorances

my PhD was 3 years at the bench, doing experiments, culturing cells, looks down microscopes counting cell death, seeing which drugs in which conditions had the best effect. Visiting other labs and scientists to learn techniques or use million pound pieces of equipment to analyse DNA and visualise results. Modelling results and deciding where to take the research next…

I’d say 90% was practical, 10% was the writing up. Even then it’s still very much pro active, referencing, learning about the wider topic, how to pull research together and present it, calculating statistical significance…

Worth looking up R J Smyth's PhD thesis. Quite short. Age related macular degeneration. Aston Univetsity

Well, if you go about banging on about their worthlessness a lot, I imagine you make yourself look pretty silly.

To be fair, they are unlikely to be designing cancer cures on their PhD (though they may be contributing to research in that area). However, on their PhD they are learning the skills required to lead independent research at the hand of an existing expert. That PhD will then show they've learned skills to start learning how to lead research. Scientific research is very collaborative and you need to develop skills in self-management, imagination to see where the research could go next, collaboration with people in different areas, writing, presenting. As a pp said, in STEM it tends to be seen as an apprenticeship in research.

Most of my PhD was also practical. A scientist who can understand theory, but is useless in the lab is generally not much use.

I'm an ex-tenured academic who also worked in industry and in pharmaceutical research you hit a glass ceiling fairly quickly without a PhD.

It wasn't until I left academia that I knew particularly many people without one, so for me that was just normal and not particularly impressive at all.

But is it? The PhDs I know are truly academic. They are employed by museums and art galleries. Brilliant in their field, whatever that might be. I spent today at a wonderful conference: 16 short lectures from early career researchers focusing on the British country house. Some lectures I loved, others less so. Most presented by PhD students or just passed.

I had lunch yesterday with a friend who has a PhD. My DH has a PhD. I had dinner three nights ago with someone who has a PhD. I am surrounded by PhD and academia, even though I dropped out of my own PhD with no regrets. I just see a PhD as 'the next thing to do' for those who did it. They really aren't that special and I think people can learn a lot and be well educated without even a bachelor degree.