Just a dream? (Doctorate...)

[Dinosauraddict]

I have always wanted my doctorate. It's completely a vanity project as I don't need it for my career (and have no desire to change careers) but I have always wanted to do one. I want to be Dr Dino and want that damn floppy hat. I also want to show my DS that you can follow your dreams. DH keeps telling me to 'get a hobby' but all I come back to is why can't this be a hobby PT? I work FT (in a well paid but stressful role), we have 2Ddogs, one DS (2.5) and a pretty hectic life but I have studied on/off throughout my career. Last month I graduated with a PGCert in a related subject which I did since having baby. I wouldn't be able to do it unless I got funding, and I know it would be tough (6-7 years PT). Has anyone done either a PhD or a Prof Doc in these circumstances? Am I being daft for considering it? I'd like to start next Sept (I have one course to do between now and then at a much lower level which I am due to start in Nov)...

Hard to get pt funding. About the feasibility, yes you can do it. Is it worth it? The jury is out. Not much return on investment, in all honesty.

Regarding the funding hurdle - I’m sure you’re aware of this:

www.gov.uk/doctoral-loan

Obviously institutional funding would be gratifying, but the government loan might be an option.

People do PhDs in all sorts of circumstances!

I'm doing a self funded part time PhD and love it. However, I am self-employed so can choose to work limited hours. I would not do it if I had kids or a full time job.

I’m about to submit- it’s taken me 5 years while also working PT, plus kids and dogs. I was fully funded.

Are you proposing to carry on working FT or would you cut back? What’s your field?

It’s worth thinking about exactly what it is you’re hoping to gain. If it’s just something you’d enjoy and a challenge then fair enough, but it’s quite a major commitment for something that’s just a hobby- it’s much more of a commitment than a taught Master’s, say. If it’s career advancement, it’s worth thinking about exactly what you intend to gain and whether that’s realistic. The world is full of PhDs who aren’t quite sure what the point of it all was. I am not saying this to discourage you but rather to encourage you to do it with your eyes open and to understand what, for you, is the desired outcome.

I had to add my two-penneth here as I am currently doing a part-time, self-funded doctorate. I read a lot of threads on here and posted a couple of times, but the overwhelming message was very negative, for all the reasons already mentioned on this thread. For several years I hummed and haahed, not sure what to put in my proposal to make it sufficiently cutting-edge and letting the research-council deadlines pass by. In 2019 I decided that it was 'now or never', put together a proposal on the topic that spoke most closely to my interests and was offered a place that summer at a well-regarded institution that is a research council doctoral training centre. (I had previously put in an application for a specified funded project at another university. I didn't get that, but going through the process was a useful dry-run.) Ultimately, I found that I needed to stop agonising and start doing it.

The most useful thing I read on here was someone who had gone through the process and who wrote: 'You will get there in the end'. The other was a post on LinkedIn where someone wrote about setting personal goals and what holds us back. It was far better expressed in the article, but it came down to: do you want to say, 'I would love to learn French but I can't for X reason' more than you actually want to learn French? If not, then you will do it.

Yes there have been ups and downs, but it has been a very rewarding experience so far and I am now in my second year, about to start fieldwork. I am open with myself that this is simply a very expensive hobby - most doctoral research is arguably a rather self-indulgent process. But my research is no less valid than that of my fellow students who are in receipt of RC funding - we are all working at a very similar level, with the same doubts, complexities, barriers and challenges. Ultimately, the university and supervision system is there to support us through the process.

I wish I could give your post some sort of prize, MaybeDoctor …

Agree with MaybeDoctor. I went down the self-funded part-time route, alongside a full-time job and being a single parent and I did complete. I suppose I'm a bit disappointed - I wasn't looking to become an academic, but I thought it would help me back into a field I'd had to leave when I had a child and it didn't really. That's many, many years of weekends spent on a laptop when I could have been doing something else. The thrill of being "Dr" does wear off in the end. And I don't feel like an expert - the whole process of doing the PhD rubs your nose in the face of how much is out there and how little you know and how unknowable the world is. At the same time, I wouldn't exactly say I regret it - I have complicated feelings about it.

Thank you everyone, that's really helpful to hear. I did know about the doctoral loan from the Gov but unfortunately with cost of living squeeze and other priorities like childcare I just can't commit to the repayments. I would be hoping for employer funding rather than doctoral training centre/institution but it's definitely not guaranteed. Lots to think about re whether it's worth it!

As the main reason I'd want a PhD is the title, I think it'd be cheaper for me to simply change my name by deed poll.

My friend has a phd and she pointed out that she found being a mum a thousand times harder than doing her phd, and she didn’t get a title or award ceremony for that 😂