Work or Study (PhD)..Suggestions thoughts Opinions..and more

I'm getting into a bit of a dilema, just wish to know what suggestions people would have on this.

After Masters, what should be done? My options are doing a PhD or start working.

Scenario 1: Job offer, and reasonably paid (£20000-£30000).
Scenario 2: PhD since that what be the peak of academics/education.

The dilemma is that, i'd need to spend 3 years doing the PhD and would not get much income in that period. Though after PhD scope increases even more.

Take up the job offer and forget about PhD for now. I dont how long a gap you can have, after doing your Masters, before starting PhD. Also, i'm just keen to know if people do get into family/married life then start PhD. Or would that be too late (age wise)? Anybody happy to share their experiences. Do you know anyone who may be doing or have done thier PhD and are/were in their 30s?

I think it would be goood to start working and then perhaps come back to PhD in late 30's or does that sound stupid. Does anybody think do PhD first?

Positive thoughts appreciated, anyone please?
 
 

My mom is a first year PhD student, and she's nearly 60.  I finished my masters at 24, and am thinking about starting a PhD when I'm around 33.  It's never too late.  In some cases, it's actually better to have a few years in the workforce rather than just being a student non-stop for ten years (ie BA+MA+PhD).  A lot depends on the field you're in, though.  Would your future studies benefit from a few years of work experience?   

I don't think it matters what age you are when you start the PhD. My only advice is that you should really, really, really want to do it. It is a huge commitment and will be stressful for everyone in your life. I've seen a lot of people start their Masters and PhD and quit because they just don't have it in them. Depending on what your subject is, getting the PhD can be a really lonely experience. You could be in front of a microscope for hours without communicating with people, you could be in the attic of a country house reading the family documents...regardless, you should truly love what you're doing since you'll be doing it all the time.

It's really up to you which route you want to take. I thought about doing my Master's straight out of undergrad, but things didn't work out that way and I ended up working for 10 years before doing my Master's in a totally different subject than I did for my undergrad. Hind sight is 20/20 and it was definitely the best decision. I think if you're having thoughts about working first then doing the PhD, you should go with that. There's definitely nothing wrong with doing your PhD in your 30s and depending on where you're working, your employer may contribute to your education in some way if it benefits your job. 

Best of luck!

I got my BFA at 22, my first Masters at 28, my second at 31 and I started my PhD at 31. I'm 38 now, but marriage and 2 kids, plus my husband doing a PhD and me working have slowed down my progress - though certainly not halted it indefinitely. I hope to finish it in the next year or so. There is no reason to think a 'gap' is a problem. Many PhD students are older or have worked for a while.

xposted with Bmore - that's excellent advice from her!

My mom is a first year PhD student, and she's nearly 60. 

Ok, i'd interpret that as: Its not an embarrassment to be a student later.

....and am thinking about starting a PhD when I'm around 33.

i'm also thinking some thing along similar lines.

It's never too late.

May be i should stop thinking it would be embarrasing to be a student later.

In some cases, it's actually better to have a few years in the workforce rather than just being a student non-stop for ten years (ie BA+MA+PhD). A lot depends on the field you're in, though.  Would your future studies benefit from a few years of work experience? 

Yes and No. Yes, because i would then hopefully have more experience and that would be beneficial in many ways. Its what i was thinking anyway.

Historyenne: I appreciate your thought. Does anyone have a differing opinion?
In my case,the PhD (cant discuss Top Secret,  ) may well be in a completely different field to my current qualifications (Technology). Does that matter? Why? How?...
 



 

I finished my bachelors at 22 and started my masters at 23, finishing at 24. I then went straight into a PhD in the US a week later (PhD was in a different subject area than my bachelors degree... I was a Physicist working in the Geology department!) - and absolutely hated it (a mixture of being homesick for the UK and not enjoying my research), so I quit the PhD at 25 and moved back to the UK.

I am considering maybe trying a PhD again at some point in the future - it's something I might go back to in 5, 10 or even 20 years. A lot of the PhD students I was working with in the US were much older than me, several of them married and in their 30's/40's. Also, on my masters course, we had 14 students ranging from age 22 right through to 53 (we had 2 students in their 30's  - one was an Italian guy and the other an Indian lady with a husband and 2 kids - and the 53-year-old was a former Maths teacher who decided to get a masters degree and is currently in the middle of getting her PhD).

There's definitely not anything strange or embarrassing about doing a PhD when you're older - look at Brian May from Queen... he started a PhD in the 1970's, then gave it up when Queen became famous and eventually went back to it 30 years later - he was awarded his PhD in Astrophysics in 2007, aged 60!

I don't think it matters what age you are when you start the PhD. My only advice is that you should really, really, really want to do it. It is a huge commitment and will be stressful for everyone in your life.

yes, this thing about stress on my family worries me.I dont like that. But my parents and acquaintances joke, that i'm a boffin anyway so should carry on become a scientist. Its going to be tough one.

I've seen a lot of people start their Masters and PhD and quit because they just don't have it in them.

interesting, i'm hoping this wont apply to me.

You could be in front of a microscope for hours without communicating with people, you could be in the attic of a country house reading the family documents...regardless, you should truly love what you're doing since you'll be doing it all the time.

...This is what divides me. If i carry on, i'm likely to achive something truly up there. But then potentially it would come at the cost of my family. Damn why does the world have to be like this, cant i have both my way?. Perhaps, go with my instincts now and then cross the bridge when i get there...Yup, thats whats been tinkering in this head at the moment.
Thanks for your thought Bmore_2_Uk

to argue the flip side, sometimes a phd can be easiest to complete before you have family obligations and the like... also, from my own experience, it can be hard to go back to the student way of life after being in the work force and earning good money.  i received my BA at 22, a terminal master's at 25, and a second master's at 28, but now that i've been working and established a career, recently gotten engaged, and plan to start a family within the next 3 or 4 years, i can't see myself entering a full-time phd program like i had once planned to do.  looking back, i wish i had entered a phd program at 25 straight out of my first master's (the second was earned while working because my employer paid for it).  i guess i can never say never and may one day go back to a phd somewhere in my 30s, but i've got a whole lot more to consider these days than i did at age 25...

Well, if you like living here, you could work for a few years until you can qualify for home tuition, then do the PhD. Age and/or gap wouldn't be a problem, especially if there is a difference in discipline.

.... Depending on what your subject is, getting the PhD can be a really lonely experience. You could be in front of a microscope for hours without communicating with people, you could be in the attic of a country house reading the family documents...regardless, you should truly love what you're doing since you'll be doing it all the time....Best of luck!

Subconciously this is now stuck in my head....I'm about to go to sleep thinking about this.....in front of a microscope...lol.

Bmore I appreciate this honest opinion. May be i'll get up early morning tomorrow, and still have this rumbling in my head . still some way to go though before i definitely latch on to PhD. But ambition, is their in me naturally. God knows how i'll go.   

My DH is a scientist. He spent almost a year hunched over a microscope and it was very lonely. He submitted and defended this past March and is now completing his corrections. I won't lie. It was hard as hell for him and his family. We are still dealing with another 5 weeks of hell while he completes this last hurdle and I am OVER IT. It took him 5 years, some of which was part time though he had never intended to go part time or take so long. If you are married with kids and start a PhD, that is probably a bit easier to transition to doing a PhD. But if you get married and have the kids while working on the PhD, expect delays.

Subconciously this is now stuck in my head....I'm about to go to sleep thinking about this.....in front of a microscope...lol.

Bmore I appreciate this honest opinion. May be i'll get up early morning tomorrow, and still have this rumbling in my head . still some way to go though before i definitely latch on to PhD. But ambition, is their in me naturally. God knows how i'll go.   

It wasn't my opinion, it was two real experiences, one of those being my husband. I did my MA on the doctoral experience and reflections on this by former students. As you can imagine, the results were all over the place. There are so many variables which can affect someone's experience, so it is too hard to predict how you will find it.

I wasn't trying to make you feel bad or tell you that you shouldn't do a PhD. It's just that I've worked with a lot of undergraduate and Master's students who when asked what they're going to do with their degree, it's always 'well, get my PhD and teach of course!' Explore your options, understand that this isn't really a viable career choice anymore, and look for funding opportunities so you don't have to stress about money on top of everything else.

Quote from: Bmore_2_UK on Today at 08:47:24 AM

I wasn't trying to make you feel bad or tell you that you shouldn't do a PhD. It's just that I've worked with a lot of undergraduate and Master's students who when asked what they're going to do with their degree, it's always 'well, get my PhD and teach of course!' Explore your options, understand that this isn't really a viable career choice anymore, and look for funding opportunities so you don't have to stress about money on top of everything else.

How nice of you. You haven't made me feel bad at all, in fact i appreciate the honesty of what you have had to say. I agee with you, that the decision will depend on alot of parameters, including funding. I also think, this point about whether you've got it or not to do the PhD, is also a strong parameter indeciding whether to do it. I do have this 'want' to do it.

There are suggestions that if you go older your want to do it may diminish. I hope i develop immunity to that notion. In any case i'm more likely to work after the Masters, than do a PhD.

ksand24 on Yesterday at 07:28:52 PM

.....a mixture of being homesick...

The feeling is/was mutual when i moved to the UK. But for me, i have and can stick it out. Of course i still miss home, as part of me is here and another is there. I guess its only natural, you miss home.

I am considering maybe trying a PhD again at some point in the future - it's something I might go back to in 5, 10 or even 20 years.

While I'm also in the 'maybe boat', i'm more sure of what i'd like to do. In my case, i succeed if i follow my instincts, and tumble if i disregard it. I think its more to do with how much you like what you are doing (as Bmore put it), in addition to having the ability to do it. Good luck to you if you go for it again.

I think an awful lot depends on your own motivation for doing the PhD. For me, it was a no-brainer: I wanted to be a theoretical physicist, and that's just not possible without a PhD. So I went straight from my bachelor's into a PhD program. Since I knew what I wanted to do, it didn't make sense to faff about doing something else for a few years.

Other people have different goals, or don't have the same kind of clear direction I did. I've known a number of people who've gone back to do a PhD later on, either because they wanted a career change or because they had personal ambitions to reach that level of education.

I agree with Bmore_2_UK that you should be sure that you want to do it first, but I would add that you need to clearly understand why you want to. It's important to understand what you're getting into, not only the degree programme itself, but the job prospects and career progression you can expect afterward. One of my classmates spent 5 years on his PhD and ended up as a laser salesman, because he decided a research career wasn't a good fit for him.

I got married before I started, and although it was nightmarish at times, we're still happily married. My husband even went back and did his master's while I was working on my PhD. No kids, though--not a chance. I've had male colleagues who've managed to have kids and get through a PhD at the same time, but it's much harder for women. (Disclaimer: I suspect that could differ among disciplines. There still aren't many women in physics.) I wish it were otherwise.

ksand24 on Yesterday at 07:28:52 PM The feeling is/was mutual when i moved to the UK. But for me, i have and can stick it out. Of course i still miss home, as part of me is here and another is there. I guess its only natural, you miss home.

For me, it was just knowing that I made the wrong decision to move to the US (I knew it the day I arrived, but in the end stuck it out for almost 8 months before deciding I really couldn't stay any longer) - it wasn't just culture shock for me though, as I had already lived in the US for a year in 2003/04, studying at the same university I attended last year (one of my professors from 2004 became my PhD supervisor in 2008) and I had also spent a total of 6 months in the US on vacation (visiting relatives) between 1995 and 2006.

The annoying thing was that the first time I lived there, it was the best year of my life, but the second time I realised that I'd made the wrong decision (I think I was nostalgic for the amazing time I had in 2003/04 and then it hit home when I got there that it wasn't going to be the same). I'm not completely ruling out the idea of maybe moving back to the US in the future, but it won't be anytime soon... and I don't think I'll be attempting a PhD there again (way too much work compared to a UK PhD in terms of teaching/grading/classes/research pressure/time it takes to complete the degree).