Good observations on doctoral programs

This article, which seems to be written for people outside the US or UK contemplating graduate study in the US or UK, has some good points:

http://www.infozee.com/channels/ms/articles/doctoral.htm.

The overall http://www.infozee.com website also appears to be quite good. This is useful, especially for a topic which generates so much useless noise and huckstering.

The doctoral degree (also referred to as a Ph.D.) is the highest degree awarded by the universities, and is done so after an extensive program of study and research in a specialized subject. The degree signifies a capability to assimilate the most advanced and recondite level of knowledge in the subject. The degree is crowned with a doctoral thesis, which is expected to be a thorough and intensive contribution to a specialized subject based on original research and inquiry.

As is obvious from the above, a prerequisite for pursuing a doctoral degree is an active interest in, and the inclination to do, intensive research work. It requires putting in long and laborious hours of study at a microcosmic level on a specific subject. In this way, a doctoral degree is quite an antithesis of the master's degree, which covers a broad range of subjects in a particular field of study.

Eligibility : A common misconception is that a master's degree is a prerequisite for the doctoral degree. It is an advantage but is not necessary. For 3-year degree holders, it is not possible to enroll directly for a Ph.D program. Some universities do consider admission into a Ph.D directly after a Bachelors degree, if pre-requisite scores, academics and experience are sound. You must demonstrate an inclination towards research and exhibit a good academic record.

Experience of atleast two to three years in the relevant field is considered important for admission into a Doctoral program, by most universities.

How the Doctoral Application Process works :

The application process has to be initiated atleast one year to eighteen months in advance before the proposed date of reporting at the university. This is necessary since identification of professors, interaction with them and finalizing the program of research with necessary financial assistance can take a long time.

For any graduate programme, more so for a doctoral, the applicant has to contend with two sets of requirements - those set by the graduate school and those set by the graduate department. You have to meet up with the eligibility requirements of the university and also find a match between your area of specialisation and the research interests of the department you will be studying in.

Choose your subject : The first step towards applying is deciding on a subject for your doctorate. The essential aspect here is to focus on as specific a field of study as you possibly can; thus saying that you wish to do a doctorate in Electrical Engineering is not good enough, you have to be more specific than that (say, doctorate in Power Transmission and transmission losses, which is a specific field within the broad ambit of Electrical Engineering). Spend time on deciding this - the critical factor here is a very high level of interest in the specific field you choose. In fact, some experts recommend that you should have a rough idea of what your research topic in the doctoral program is going to be even before you apply for admission.

Prepare for the standardised tests : The GRE is required for most doctoral programs in the engineering and other non-management related fields. In the top graduate schools, securing a doctoral berth is a tough proposition because they are very choosy about admitting research candidates. In fact, most schools have a strict ceiling of the number of doctoral candidates they admit, which can be as low as five students in a calendar year. Most universities require the general GRE test as well as the Subject GRE test, with excellent scores. Check this with the university you intend to apply to. You will also be required to take the TOEFL and the TSE.

Choose Universities : Along with your test preparation for GRE, Subject GRE, TOEFL and TSE, you must start identifying universities that are good in the area that you want to specialise in. You must check the research interests of the department under which your research area falls.

Contact the departments and Professors : After identifying a suitable list of universities and their departments, you should identify Professors who could be interested to work with you in your research area. You could do so by visiting the university web sites and getting the names and contact email IDs of the professors.

Start corresponding with the professors by indicating your interest to work under them. Indicate as clearly as possible the subject of your research and what qualifies you to be successful at it.

You must initiate this process with as many universities as you can. There will be some Professors who will not be interested in your research area. Identify those that are, and go ahead and complete the application procedure of those universities.

Follow the Application process of the university : Submit your application to the university, follow their time deadlines, and comply with all requirements.

Project yourself well : An essential part of the application is the statement of purpose (SOP) which all graduate schools require you to write. This statement should clearly bring out your interest in the field in which you wish to do a Ph.D. Any previous research experience in that field will work to your advantage.

Financing your Doctoral Study : Getting financial aid for a doctoral programme is fairly easy. Most universities will give you a full financial aid, which will cover your tuition fees and living expenses. The aid is given either semester wise or on yearly basis. You have to apply for financial aid by indicating your interest in your admission application form.


The content of the Doctoral Programme

The doctoral programme is divided into two parts, pre-dissertation study and the doctoral thesis. Once admitted, you are required to spend the first year or so in acquiring a solid foundation in the advanced knowledge of your chosen field. This entails regular course work - you might have to attend lectures and seminars with the master's degree students of your stream. This course work culminates in a "qualifying examination", on clearing which you are formally admitted to candidacy for a doctoral degree.

In the second and final stage of the pre-dissertation study, you are expected to acquire expertise in a specialized field within your chosen discipline. Thus, if your doctoral subject was organisational behaviour, you may have narrowed down your research interest to "leadership", an important element within organisational behaviour. This stage too ends in an examination, including an oral one, upon passing which you are considered ready to begin work on your thesis.

The Doctoral Thesis : This final stage of the doctoral study is usually regarded as the most important, during which you have to complete a dissertation (a detailed study on a topic, which can be as specific as "Employee motivation at the XYZ Corporation", but should contribute to the existing level of knowledge in that field of study. During the research, you will be assigned to an advisor with whom you are required to work in close association. This advisor is usually a faculty member most knowledgeable about the special area of dissertation research.

Thesis research and preparation is a highly cognitive process. The culmination of the process is in the form of the final thesis defense, in which you are presumed to be an expert in your field and are supposed to literally defend your findings and conclusions on the subject in front of a committee. The completed dissertation becomes a public document, placed in the university library and also often published in the university journal or even on its web site in some cases.

How long does it take?

The entire process of getting a doctorate degree usually takes a minimum of three-and-a-half years, nearly two of which are spent exclusively in preparing the thesis. The degree usually leads to employment in the academic world, but in recent years, more and more doctorates are finding employment in the professional world at par with or even ahead of other professionals.

Practical and not-so-practical counsel from Richard Bolles

Richard Bolles and the What Color Is Your Parachute books have been around for a while: http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/.

They sell for around 18-19 bucks a copy and the market must perceive value in them despite their being a pricey, large-ish volume which doesn't fit well in a briefcase or vest pocket. Whether because of the value of their counsel or because they are entertaining or both, they continue to sell well.

I find the Parachute books hard to read. Maybe that's partly because I think a basic premise of them is seriously, annoyingly wrong. The Parachute books encourage one to navel-gaze until one finds one's perfect vocation. I think for many people, as a practical matter, the perfect vocation isn't discernible within the finite bounds of a human lifetime - it ain't there, they'll never find it, and they'll never get off their backside and engage with life "until they find themselves." I know far too many people who are inclined that way, and Parachute unfortunately validates that inclination.

Perfection is the enemy of the good enough. A career strategy has to be part of a life strategy. For such people, the key can be to find a job you don't hate too much which enables you to arrange your life the way you want it.

That all said, Bolles makes a very useful observation about A Philosophy Of Work, p. 56 of the 2006 edition, viz:
1. The typical job these days is best viewed as a temp job. ...
2. The typical job these days is best viewed as a seminar.. ...
3. The typical job these days is best viewed as an adventure. ...
4. The typical job these days is best viewed as one where the satisfaction lies in the work itself. ... [goes off the track a bit - gets a little masochistic]
5. You need to approach any job with the philosophy that it can be transformed. ... [Maybe. But also check out what Peter Drucker says about "widowmaker" jobs.]

More on Life Coaching - podcast

Interesting interview of one David Wood on Michael Senoff's Hard to Find Seminars website:
http://find.hardtofindseminars.com/category/experts/david-wood/.

Actually, the interview was pretty hard to find on that website, too. I found it through iTunes searching against "coach".

The audio was also pretty marginal. If Michael Senoff wants attract people to those podcasts, he should invest a bit in improving that.

David Wood also has a visually appealing website at http://www.life-coaching-resource.com/.

With an unregulated, not heavily-credentialed, subjectively evaluated field, there's a lot of potential for fraud in life coaching, so I don't know if this guy was on the level or not. But he gave at least one interesting response to a question: What is the difference between psychotherapy and life coaching? Answer: Psychotherapy is like getting someone with broken legs to where they can walk. Life coaching is like getting a person who can walk to where they can run a four-minute mile.

So David Wood thinks the two are related. An obvious corollary, which they never pursued, would be that a person with some background in psychotherapy should be off to a good start if they wanted to consider life coaching. They did claim that "psychotherapists" generally need a license, whereas "life coaches" generally don't in most or all US states.

In fact, as mentioned in earlier posts, "psychotherapists" generally don't need a license either.

David Wood did mention that there were now university programs in life coaching. That's a new one - it will have to be the subject of a later post.

Jargon alert: something that seemed to come up a lot on the Senoff website was "HMA" consulting. HMA stands for Hidden Marketing Asset. Hadn't heard that one before today.

The Big Obstacles - Cost, Time, and Distance

The "Big Obstacles" to a midcareer graduate school credential project seem to fall into these three buckets:
1. Time
2. Distance (related to time, but not quite the same thing)
3. Cost

Any others?

If your employer offers a fully paid onsite degree program for employees which doesn't require a boss signoff on every course, you should jump on that unless there's a really compelling reason not to. It's the best setup you'll ever get with respect to time, distance, and cost with that employer. Plus usually some bigwig at the employer has invested some credibility in advocating that plan and they'll appreciate you making them look good.

(Note: one doesn't see these so much any more, because they have a notoriously high dropout rate. Usually they start with a lot of people and end up with no completions or just a couple. )