Masters, PHD

schumacher

Hi. I have a few questions. Basically I want to do a Phd sometimes in the future. Obviously I need to do a masters first. I was wondering is it better to do a masters by research or a taught one?

Q2 Is a part time masters as good as a full time one.

Q3 Is it hard to get accepted to do a PHD.

Q4 What are the chances of becoming a lecturer if I do a PHD. I know noone can say I would or wouldnt get to become one but a rough guess. My intention is obviously not to rely on becoming a lecturer as I know its very hard so I will obvioulsy try to make it in industry. Accounting is my field.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Tom Dunne

schumacher wrote: »

Obviously I need to do a masters first.

Not necessarily. Some PhDs you can go straight into, however some offer a masters qualification part-way through, so that if you give up, you still come out with something.

schumacher wrote: »

I was wondering is it better to do a masters by research or a taught one?

It depends on a lot of things, I would think.

schumacher wrote: »

Q2 Is a part time masters as good as a full time one.

Define good. You still come out with the same level 9 award either way, so from an academic qualification perspective, they are the same.

schumacher wrote: »

Q3 Is it hard to get accepted to do a PHD.

I don't think it is, but I can't say for certain. Maybe throw a few of these questions up on the Postgraduate forum.

schumacher wrote: »

Q4 What are the chances of becoming a lecturer if I do a PHD. I know noone can say I would or wouldnt get to become one but a rough guess. My intention is obviously not to rely on becoming a lecturer as I know its very hard so I will obvioulsy try to make it in industry. Accounting is my field.

Slim to none, I would say. Then again, I am bitter. I am sure you know the state of things at the moment in Ireland. I have three Irish guys working with me here in Bahrain who have PhDs and can't for the life of them get a lecturing job at home. And that's just the school of ICT.

Dionysus

schumacher wrote: »

Obviously I need to do a masters first. I was wondering is it better to do a masters by research or a taught one?

In recent years you have been allowed to go straight into a PhD if your degree (or perhaps even life experience) is good enough. More usual is that you do a research masters (a 2-year course), submit a chapter or so after the 1st year and if your supervisory committee deem it PhD quality you can transfer over to the PhD/make your masters into a doctorate. In my case I had to transfer over by a certain date in order to receive a 3-year scholarship which I had applied for in the 1st year; you have to do a PhD in order to access the vast majority of postgrad funding.

schumacher wrote: »

Q2 Is a part time masters as good as a full time one.

I don't see why it shouldn't be.

schumacher wrote: »

Q3 Is it hard to get accepted to do a PHD.

Nope, but there's a very good reason for that. In fact, many very good reasons for it. A PhD will probably be the most isolating experience of your life. Just think of how unnatural it is for humans, inherently social animals, to be locked away researching. There are many deeply rewarding aspects to it, but the isolation is not for everybody. Finally, after many bad times, I embraced the isolation, effectively became a hermit and absolutely loved my research. Aside from this issue of your personal temperment, what is the PhD's financial value to your career; is it worth the years you are putting into it? This is a serious question, one which I overlooked at the outset as I was simply passionate about my subject and determined to reach the highest academic level in it. I could have become a solicitor, barrister or chartered accountant in this period. As it happens, thanks to the recession I am glad I followed my heart and stayed with the PhD - but I think it is also a huge stroke of luck!

schumacher wrote: »

Q4 What are the chances of becoming a lecturer if I do a PHD. I know noone can say I would or wouldnt get to become one but a rough guess. My intention is obviously not to rely on becoming a lecturer as I know its very hard so I will obvioulsy try to make it in industry. Accounting is my field.

I didn't even try to become a lecturer, but then again I didn't start the PhD with that in mind: it was always clear that the number of pipedreams far exceeded the number of places. At the moment there are too many people doing the "post-doc merry-go-round" and feeling very disillusioned about it. My heart goes out to them as they are torn between their dream and the reality that the permanent tenured position will probably never happen. And taking generally terribly badly paid contract positions in universities during their post-docs. Having said that, if your subject is unique and important enough it's worth going for. There is a dreadful amount of luck, not to mention politics, involved in whether or not you get a permanent tenured appointment.


Overall, only do a PhD for the right reasons. And remember: the PhD has to be part of your longer-term life plan. Where is its place in your future? Think hard about that before dedicating these years to it.

schumacher

Hey thanks for all the advice. I dont think I would be able to do one with the chance of not getting a job. I dont want to hold my career up like that for years which would ruin it. I guess Il just have to try a different career path.

avalon68

If you are willing to go abroad it may be easier to get a lecturing position. Be realistic about getting a position here - Ireland is a very small country and therefore there are limitations on the numbers of available lecturing positions. Also, a lot of the positions go to academics from other countries, or irish academics with significant experience abroad. I believe during the duration of my PhD only 2 lecturers were apointed to the department, and neither of these were permanent posts. It isnt particularly difficult to gain entry into a PhD programme....but the knock on effect of this is that it is very difficult to find a permanent academic job due to saturation of the job market with many highly qualified applicants. Bottom line - if your sole career aim at the end of the PhD is a lecturing position it probably isnt worth it

Esmereldina

I think most academics/PhD students accept they wil have to go abroad at least for a few years if they want to have a chance at a permanent position. However even then the market is saturated and there is no guarantee...

Tom Dunne

For me, the primary reason for moving abroad was simply to get a job lecturing (I have been working in industry for the past number of years). I've been trying to get a full-time lecturing job in Ireland for the past number of years and the best I could get was a few hours here, a few hours there. Certainly not enough to pay the mortgage.

So, as others said above, if the sole purpose of you studying for a PhD is to get a job lecturing, you might want to re-think it. (should point out that I don't have a PhD. Not yet. ) Though I am amazed at the amount of Irish guys I work with who have PhDs.