PhD confusion

[slapcabbage]

I've just finished my PhD but I'm having a family dispute about what to call myself.
I started under my maiden name and got married halfway through. I changed everything, passport, bank etc to my new name except at uni where I kept my maiden name because I already had publications in that name.
So I'm Dr maiden name but am I Dr married name too? DH says not and that I am Mrs married name even though he gets to use Dr on everything by virtue of never having been daft enough to change names.
Any clever mumsnetters out there with PhD's know the answer?

...and on MN obviously

DrDaddy, don't justify yourself. You worked hard to get your PhD and you earnt the right to call yourself Dr. Do not be ashame to use it. If others don't like it, that is their problem. Stuff 'em!

My parents are from Jamaica and I was the first in the family to go to university. They and my DBs are proud of what I have accomplished and so am I because I worked damn hard for it.

I justify myself to no one!

Bu88er, just lost a big post, time to go, really though, lighten up guys.

eh?

I am highjacking this thread to tell you all to SHUT UP! (as suggested!)

As I plod slowly and unsteadily through 6 years of study with the OU with the carrot of a possible (single! solitary!) degree dangling at the end of a very long dark tunnel, I feel the sudden urge to waste an hour or three making rude anagrams out of all the collective letters after your names.. you feckin boffins!

[throws up and faints dead away at mere thought of 120,000 word thesis]

Aw, don't be like that, Shiny. We might be able to help:

a. brow mopping
b. cheering (pom poms optional)
c. pedantry

I'm sure all the docs on here have many skills.

Wow - finally found time to get back to my thread after a hard day at work and you've all been very busy!

For those of you who asked my PhD is in geochemistry and I've been viva-ed and thanks for all your congratulations - haven't had much time for basking in the glory so that was nice. It was hard work but I did enjoy it and I'm feeling modestly proud of myself that I managed to do it in the same time it took DH AND had DS in my 3rd year and wrote up part time.
My mum is keen for me to be Dr Maiden name for obvious reasons, although sis is Dr maiden name (medical). MIL is keen for me to be Dr Married name to go with DH, BIL has just stopped being Dr married name and gone back to Mr because he is a surgeon!

All very complicated but it is funny that everyone assumes Drs are medics and don't mind medics using Dr in everyday life but they are the ones actually using an honorary title whereas with a PhD it seems to be a bit of a minefield of apologising for using a 'real' title.

Roll on the day I become Dame Slapcabbage!

And stick at slalomsuki - good luck.

Make sure you bask in the glory. You deserve it!

Hi Waswondering I don't think it's the same job as I don't do real proper admin. I'm an academic doing research 95% of the time, but I am the postgraduate convenor for our institute and run workshops for students who are about to start writing up, that kind of thing. QAA is a stranger to me I'm afraid, but I do know the rules pretty well, partly from the workshops and partly from having done so very many vivas...

blimey, what a minefield, i finnished my phd a year ago and only will be able to use the title when i graduate in july. i rather enjoy telling people im a Dr as to be fair, they look bloody stunned

I don't know if i will bother much with the title though, which is contrary to how i felt when i was working for it, it was a big deal to me then for some reason. I can see how it will be useful with the bank though.

I wonder if i have to change the name for the inland rev though?

Congratulations Dr Slapcabbage and welcome to the club! You have worked very hard and deserve to feel proud of what you have achieved. You call yourself Dr whatever because you are entitled to so.

I wish more people in the is country would celebrate academic achievement instead of knocking it. If sport people and entertainers can be celebrated for their contributions by being called Sir or Dame, then why the gripe about cerebral achievement and reward?

Congratulations again.

I guess it depends on the areas you move in - 90% of the people I know at work are PhDs (quite a few are professors too) - it never occurrs to me to think they may be medical Drs.

In the outside world I rarely use my title - I generally assume that if I meet someone in every day life who uses the title routinely then they are medical doctor.

I do agree to some extent with the implication of dumming down (maybe I am just getting old ?) - I do tend to feel the quality of many PhD theses (in my subject area at least) are not quite what they used to be, and the postgrads are not quite as on the ball as we were when I did mine (), and I can honestly say that I certainly know some professors who I don't think warrant that status. Maybe as you get closer to a given status your awe of the people who have it decreases.

oops - dumbing down - can I claim a science background as my excuse for illiteracy ?

I'm curious now about everyones fields. Following info please (copy and add)

Discipline and are you still in a related filed?

Diplidophus: Behavioural neuroscience and Yes

Theatre Studies and no.

Polymer chemistry and partly

I agree throckenholt, and don't think it's just because I'm getting older. I do think the pressure on the universities from outside sources is that people should not fail or if they do it is their supervisors fault. Obviously this may be the case sometimes, but i have known of a couple of occasions where imo (and others) a PhD was not up to scratch, and yet they were passed. Still don't know what supervisors can do about those who don't finish writing up - I guess the next stage will be that they have to do that for the students.

Loshad , Throckenholt, you are making the assumption that all PhDs in the past were also up to scratch and I bet there were some that were not. I also bet there are a lot of PhDs now that are far superior to many that were written many years ago too but for some reason, tainting the efforts of most because of a few bad apples seems to be an acceptable past-time.

Throckenholt , Absolutely ! That's what I always blame my spelling or grammatical errors on and I take no offence at all if secretarial staff re-phrase things I've given to them to deal with.

Speedymama, Polymer chemistry , if so we have slightly more in common than you might assume. I couldn't stomach a future in that sort of thing though and took another path career wise.

Re-reading yesterday's posts, chip on shoulder and projection are bandied about but I'd say the tone of my post of 16.44 came across as arrogant in places although I'm genuinely not.

Happy debating, who'd have thought this thread would stretch to almost 200 posts and keep popping up in active conversations so frequently.

Social psychology and yes.

Really really have no urge to be mistaken for a medical doctor. I nearly did medecine at uni, before discovering philosophy and psychology instead. If I'd wanted people to think I was a medic I'd have gone and become one.

Diplidophus: Behavioural neuroscience and Yes
Fennel: Social Psychology and Yes
SpeedyMama: Polymer Chemistry and Partly
Blackduck: Theatre studies and No

environmental science and not directly now - but moved sideways into a technical support role.

I don't think I am "tainting the efforts of most because of a few bad apples " - but my general impression from the people now support is that need more handholding than when I did mine. In my field for example people now use packages that are point and click and "black box like" so that they have in general very little understanding of what is actually being done. When I did mine in general there were no packages so you had to write your own - maybe not as sophisticated but you really had to understand what you were doing.

to put it another way - maybe there are more people who go through the process now and come out with a PhD - but there are a few who stand out as being really good - maybe they are the ones who would have done PhDs previously whereas the others would have stopped at BSc/MSc level.

On the professor level - there are more lecturers and more students now - so by definition there will be more professors - but they can't all be top of their field as professors where say 30 years ago.

The cream are still there - but they have been joined by the not-quite-cream too.