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What to expect from a phd schedule.

Take a look at a current student’s schedule and get the insider perspective from doctoral students and coordinators on what to expect from a PhD schedule.

The life of a PhD candidate can be stressful as you adjust to a rigorous academic and research schedule. Penn and Wharton offer a variety of resources to help support you in the transition to PhD life.

Wharton’s sense of community offers a level of comfort when reaching out to faculty as well as fellow students to help solve problems. Doctoral students and coordinators give the insider view on what to expect from a PhD schedule.

Class and Research First

The first two years of a PhD program are mainly made up of classes and the beginning stages of research. Deborah Small , the doctoral coordinator for the Marketing program , said, “It starts with heavy duty coursework and a lot of specific requirements. At the end of your first year, there are qualifying exams on all the core marketing courses. Second year they still have a lot of coursework to do, but more of that is elective with a focus more on their interests. During those years they’re expected to get started on research.”

In addition to taking classes and getting started with research, the Marketing program requires students to write two papers. The first research paper is due at the end of the second year, the other is due at the end of the third year.

The Real Estate and Business Economics and Public Policy programs run like the Marketing program. Fernando Ferreira , coordinator for the programs, said, “During the first year they complete six core courses. In the second year, the focus shifts to field courses and to independent research. They have two professors advising them in that year.”

After completing the main courses, students shift to conducting independent research. For REAL and BEPP students this means writing three dissertation chapters during the third and fourth years.

Time for Conferences and Seminars

Because coursework is usually completed by the second half of the program, there’s time for students to attend lectures and seminars. Andrea Contigiani , a fifth year student in the Management program, said, “In my fourth year, I usually attended a seminar around lunchtime. Wharton has an incredible seminar series throughout the year, with a good seminar happening almost everyday. Occasionally, I attended other events, like MBA events or speaker series. I then go back to research for most of the afternoon.”

Prof. Small said, “Students are expected to actively participate in seminars and activities. They’re also encouraged to go to academic conferences and try to present their work at those conferences. It is similar to the expectations of being a faculty member, minus teaching.”

Classes take up the majority of the first two years of the programs. When the focus then switches to research, you’re expected to work independently. Sometimes that can be intimidating. You become your own boss, which is an adjustment from being told what to do and when to do it.

So how do you manage it? Get advice from students and coordinators.

Posted: August 4, 2017

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Doctoral Programs

Matthew caulfield.

Hometown Ocean City, New Jersey

Concentration Management and Legal Studies & Business Ethics

Doctoral Stage Second Year

Typical Day at a Glance

8:30 am Wake up and get ready for the day

9:15 am Get to PhD Offices, respond to emails, check philosophy blogs and read news

10:30 am Journal article readings

11:30 am Meet with advisor

12:00 pm Attend departmental seminar speaker and lunch

1:30 pm Attend Wharton Social Impact Doctoral Community meeting

3:00 pm Attend business ethics seminar

5:00 pm Read for class

7:00 pm Meet with nonparametric statistics study group

8:00 pm Complete homework

12:00 am Go home

1:00 am Bedtime

What is your favorite part about Wharton?

First, the faculty are excellent. They are often leading experts in their fields, and they can offer advice that would be hard to find elsewhere.

Second, the other PhD students are just as passionate about research as you would hope. A huge part of my scholarly development has been due to the discussions I have had with other graduate students.

Third, the Wharton name can offer you serious advantages. In the course of research, I think industry practitioners as well as other academics have been more willing to talk or correspond with me because I am a graduate student at Wharton.

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How the PhD Program Works

Program Overview

Completing your doctorate at Wharton requires 5 years of full-time study. The first 2 years in the program prepare you for admission to candidacy by taking courses, qualifying exams, and starting research projects. In the last few years, you are primarily conducting research full-time including writing and defending your doctoral dissertation.

Admission to candidacy.

You begin by taking courses required for your program of study. All programs requires a preliminary exam, which may be either oral or written.

Some programs may have further requirements, such as an additional exam or research paper. If you enter with a master’s degree or other transfer credit, you may satisfy the formal course requirements more quickly.

Beginning the Wharton PhD Curriculum How the first two years of the Wharton program helped students discover their interests, learn the tools of the profession, and fuel their passion for teaching.

The Doctoral Dissertation

Upon successful completion of coursework and passing a preliminary examination, you are admitted to candidacy for the dissertation phase of your studies.

Your doctoral dissertation should contain original research that meets standards for published scholarship in your field. You are expected to be an expert in the topic you choose to research.

You are admitted to candidacy for the dissertation phase of your studies upon successful completion of coursework and passing a preliminary examination, but you can start thinking about and working on research of relevance at any time.

The dissertation process culminates with a “defense,” in which you defend the proposal orally before your dissertation committee.

While working on your dissertation, you interact extensively with Wharton faculty. Together with interested faculty, you create your own research community that includes your dissertation advisor and dissertation committee.

Policies and Procedures

Get more detailed explanation of course requirements, academic standards, the Teacher Development Program, time limits, and dissertation procedures and requirements.

Sample Program Sequence

Years 1 & 2.

Coursework Examination Research Papers Research Activities Field-Specific Requirements

Directed Reading & Research Admission to Candidacy Formulation of Research Topic

Years 4 & 5

Continued Research Oral Examination Dissertation

Hear From Our Doctoral Community

Closing the tenure gap for business faculty of color.

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Why I Chose Academic Research Instead of Consulting

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The Diverse Skill Set You Need to Become a Professor

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PhD Programs

• Accounting & Management
• Business Economics
• Health Policy (Management)
• Organizational Behavior
• Technology & Operations Management

Students in our PhD programs are encouraged from day one to think of this experience as their first job in business academia—a training ground for a challenging and rewarding career generating rigorous, relevant research that influences practice.

Our doctoral students work with faculty and access resources throughout HBS and Harvard University. The PhD program curriculum requires coursework at HBS and other Harvard discipline departments, and with HBS and Harvard faculty on advisory committees. Faculty throughout Harvard guide the programs through their participation on advisory committees.

How do I know which program is right for me?

There are many paths, but we are one HBS. Our PhD students draw on diverse personal and professional backgrounds to pursue an ever-expanding range of research topics. Explore more here about each program’s requirements & curriculum, read student profiles for each discipline as well as student research , and placement information.

The PhD in Business Administration grounds students in the disciplinary theories and research methods that form the foundation of an academic career. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program has five areas of study: Accounting and Management , Management , Marketing , Strategy , and Technology and Operations Management . All areas of study involve roughly two years of coursework culminating in a field exam. The remaining years of the program are spent conducting independent research, working on co-authored publications, and writing the dissertation. Students join these programs from a wide range of backgrounds, from consulting to engineering. Many applicants possess liberal arts degrees, as there is not a requirement to possess a business degree before joining the program

The PhD in Business Economics provides students the opportunity to study in both Harvard’s world-class Economics Department and Harvard Business School. Throughout the program, coursework includes exploration of microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, probability and statistics, and econometrics. While some students join the Business Economics program directly from undergraduate or masters programs, others have worked in economic consulting firms or as research assistants at universities or intergovernmental organizations.

The PhD program in Health Policy (Management) is rooted in data-driven research on the managerial, operational, and strategic issues facing a wide range of organizations. Coursework includes the study of microeconomic theory, management, research methods, and statistics. The backgrounds of students in this program are quite varied, with some coming from public health or the healthcare industry, while others arrive at the program with a background in disciplinary research

The PhD program in Organizational Behavior offers two tracks: either a micro or macro approach. In the micro track, students focus on the study of interpersonal relationships within organizations and the effects that groups have on individuals. Students in the macro track use sociological methods to examine organizations, groups, and markets as a whole, including topics such as the influence of individuals on organizational change, or the relationship between social missions and financial objectives. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program includes core disciplinary training in sociology or psychology, as well as additional coursework in organizational behavior.

Accounting & Management  

Business economics  , health policy (management)  , management  , marketing  , organizational behavior  , strategy  , technology & operations management  .

After a PhD

Learn about life after a PhD, from employability statistics to career prospects. Find out the skills you’ll gain, how to apply these to a range of professions and how to continue enhancing your profile as a researcher.

Key Resources

Postdocs: The Definitive Guide

A postdoc can be a crucial stepping stone to a successful career after completing a PhD. Find out what they are, what they involve and much more.

Transferable PhD Skills You Can Use in Any Career

From communication to time management, you will gain a large variety of transferable skills from completing a PhD. Learn what these are and how to use them in your CV.

Life After a PhD: What Can You Do?

Find out the most common career paths for doctorates both within and outside of the academic world.

Supporting Resources

What is a Research Assistant?

Research assistants are employed by research institutes to assist with academic or private research. Find out all you need to know about the role.

Lecturer and Professor Salaries – Explained

Thinking about becoming a University Lecturer? If so, you’re going to want to learn all about the teaching and researching life, including the salary you can expect!

The Journal Peer Review Process

The journal peer review process to publish a research paper can take several months to complete. Learn more about all the different steps involved here.

What You Can Expect as a New University Lecturer

Starting a career as a university lecturer can be one of the most rewarding highlights of your academic journey. Learn more about what to expect in this demanding role.

What Can You Do with A PhD in Public Health?

Studying public health is a wonderful choice for those who wish to dedicate their career to advancing healthcare delivery and improving the health and wellbeing of the public.

What Can You Do With A PhD In Sociology?

A PhD in sociology provides insight into social concepts and requires a strong understanding of statistics and data; learn more about career options afterwards.

Turn Your PhD Thesis Into a Paper

There may be opportunities to convert your thesis into a form ready for peer-review. Here’re a few tips to help you on your paper writing journey.

Gain valuable insight from our collection of exclusive interviews with both current and past PhD students. Learn from their best advice, personal challenges and career path after completing their doctorate.

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What to do after getting your phd: 5 next steps, published by steve tippins on february 11, 2019 february 11, 2019.

Last Updated on: 2nd February 2024, 05:47 am

What to do after finishing your PhD is a surprisingly common challenge for students who have recently graduated. So if you’re asking this question, you’re not alone.

After years of hard work and passing on enjoyable opportunities to get your writing done, you have finished your dissertation. This is quite an accomplishment. But what do you do now that you’ve finished?

This is something that few doctoral programs prepare you for. How do you take what you have learned and capitalize on it? How do you start your new career or use your PhD to take the next step in your existing one?

What to Do After Getting Your PhD

Based on my own experience and my experience coaching countless recent graduates, I’ve come up with an answer. Here is what to do after PhD is officially part of your title.

Step 1: Take a Breath

It may be tempting to rush right into the next thing. You finally have your PhD, now you get to use it! Apply for a thousand jobs, become a postdoctoral fellow, take a research trip to Indonesia with your favorite professor, launch a consulting firm, and publish a Nobel-Prize-worthy paper in an academic journal. All before breakfast.

Or not. In fact, my advice is to slow down. Not for too long–of course you have to take the next steps in your career. But once you start your career, it’s that much more difficult to take a break. Relax for a moment, and then take a good long deep breath. You are at the summit of one of the largest (proverbial) mountains you’ve ever climbed. Take a moment to appreciate the view. Then, get back to work.

Step 2: Set your Goals

After taking a break, the first thing you need to do is figure out what your goals are . You employed a great deal of discipline to get to this point. Use that skill to determine how you want to move forward. Your doctoral degree is an asset, so try to maximize the return that you get. Getting clear on your goals will determine your next steps and provide a map of what to do after completing your PhD.

When setting your career goals, it’s important to remember your life goals. Remember why you started this journey in the first place. How have you changed? How have your goals changed? What is most important in your life, and how will your next steps support this? Considering how your career fits into your life as a whole will help you make decisions about how to move forward.

Here are some of your options:

Do you want to publish? Think hard about this. You are now an expert on your topic, it would be great if you shared that expertise with the world. Think about your goal in publishing. Is your goal to see your name in print so that your mother can brag about her child being a published author? Do you want to spread the findings of your dissertation across the world to help humanity? Different goals will lead you in different publishing directions.

What a noble profession. Many people want to use their degree to help shape the future by teaching. If this is a path for you, think about the following questions: Do you want to teach full time or part time? Would you prefer to teach online or in a traditional classroom setting? Are you bound to one geographic location or are you willing to go anywhere? Do you want to prioritize teaching over research or vice-versa? Each choice offers various, but different, opportunities.

Outside of Academia

Are there non-academic alternatives available to you? Are you looking for a promotion at your current job? Do you want to speak at conferences? How about a new job? Maybe consulting is the path that you want to take. Your degree puts you in a very small group outside of academia; use it as best you can, remembering that you will be seen as the expert in most settings.

There are many things that you might want to do with your degree. Stop and take the time to determine your goals and then you can see how all of the hard work that you put in to get your degree can get you there. If you find yourself stuck, or want support realizing your full potential, career coaching can help.

Step 3: Prepare your Material

No matter what you choose to do after getting your PhD, you will have to put together a package of material that represents you. This is true whether you want to apply for academic jobs, work outside academia, or start your own business as a consultant. This is the first thing that most employers or potential clients will see of you, so make sure it represents the best of who you are.

You will need a resume and to be ready to answer all kinds of questions. It’s important to update your resume after finishing your PhD, adding relevant accomplishments and experience besides your new degree.

Prepare to answer common questions (for example, “Why did you get a PhD?” “Can you tell me about a situation where you worked well with others?” and “Can you tell me about a situation where you were able to work with someone who was difficult to work with?”).

Also, remember to highlight the unique strengths and skills that you have as a newly minted PhD. Having spent the past few years in the company of other people who either already have PhDs or are trying to get them, it’s easy to lose sight of your uniqueness. Remember the grit and persistence you’ve shown, the critical thinking skills you’ve had to cultivate, and the balanced ability to simultaneously take direction from committee members and forge your own unique research path.

Remember that you are a member of a small group of people with an exceptionally useful skill set, and a degree to prove it. You have proven your capacity to innovate, learn, and work with others. Take a look at Catherine Sorbara’s excellent article on this subject.

Inside of Academia

Work on creating a CV (curriculum vitae) that fits the standards of your discipline. You will probably need to submit documents that cover your teaching philosophy, a list of references, a research agenda, and copies of teaching evaluations, if available.

If you get a campus visit interview, you will need to prepare a presentation about your research and may be asked to teach a class or give a seminar to interested students. Do not take these two steps lightly, as the search committee will get feedback from everyone who participates in these sessions about your suitability for the position.

Find research interest connections at prospective universities. Look within the department you are applying for professors who share your research interests, but also look more widely — to the college and to other colleges within the university — for others doing related studies that may dovetail with your work. The potential for collaborative research and interdisciplinary studies will catch the attention of university administrators and may well give you an edge.

Seek advice. Make sure you are prepared for all of this and get well-acquainted with norms. Your professors and advisors are an excellent resource to help you prepare for this, as are my career coaching services .

Step 4: Search for a Job

When people ask what to do after PhD completion, they’re usually trying to skip ahead to this step–but it’s vital to take the time to set your goals and prepare your material before looking for a job . Now that you’ve done that, you can set your sights on your new (or improved) career. Many people use their PhD as a springboard to an exciting new career path. Here are some insights to help you do that.

The Chronicle of Higher Education is a great place to start. The Chronicle posts jobs daily online for most disciplines. You can also look at HigherEdJobs which tends to have jobs that may not make it to the chronicle.

Conferences within your discipline are a very good place to find out about jobs. Also, the professors within your program may be a good source of contacts who may know about jobs. Remember, most academic jobs start in August/September and postings may come out as much as 11 months before a job starts.

Some professions specifically recruit PhDs. If you are in the sciences this may be the case. Consultancy firms also seek PhDs. Outside of these areas the job search may include networking, sending out resumes, and using the services of recruiters. Your committee chair may be able to connect you with former students in your field who would be willing to make introductions. Most universities have career centers that offer assistance with networking and other job-seeking skills.

Step 5: Stay on Track

Periodically reevaluate your goals–both whether you’re meeting them and whether the goals themselves need to change. Perhaps you started out wanting to pursue research but have fallen in love with teaching. Or maybe you started off teaching but found that consulting is much more enjoyable. Whatever your goals are, they’re subject to change as you learn and grow.

However, if your goal was to teach but you find yourself getting bogged down in research projects due to the pressure to publish, take some time to reflect on how you can better achieve the goals that are most fulfilling to you. Would you prefer an instructor’s position? Or perhaps looking at universities that emphasize teaching over research would be your solution.

What to Do After PhD Completion: A Summary

Getting your PhD is a huge accomplishment. However, if you’re wondering what to do after your PhD is complete, you’re not alone. Once you finish your PhD, take a breath and allow some space in your life. Next, determine your goals and create a plan for how to proceed. Once you are clear on your goals, prepare your materials and apply for jobs. Finally, periodically re-evaluate your goals to see whether you’re meeting them and whether they’re still relevant.

Many recent graduates use a career coach to help them in this process. If you are interested in this kind of coaching, feel free to take a look at my services page or get in touch.

Steve Tippins

Steve Tippins, PhD, has thrived in academia for over thirty years. He continues to love teaching in addition to coaching recent PhD graduates as well as students writing their dissertations. Learn more about his dissertation coaching and career coaching services. Book a Free Consultation with Steve Tippins

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Doctoral Program - Coursework

PhD students register for 10 units in each of the autumn, winter and spring quarters. Most courses offered by the department for PhD students are three units, including the core courses of the first year program. In addition to regular lecture courses on advanced topics, reading courses in the literature of probability and the literature of statistics are available each quarter. Students working on their dissertation may register for up to 10 units of directed research in each quarter. Students should also register for selected courses outside the statistics department in order to fulfill the  breadth requirement .

Prerequisites

Equivalents of Math 113, Math 115; Stats 116, Stats 200; CS 106A. (Descriptions of these courses may be viewed on Stanford's  ExploreCourses  course listings pages.

Previous experience has shown that before starting the core courses students need to have mastered the material in the prerequisite courses (or their equivalents at other universities), as demonstrated by very strong and relatively recent grades. Where this background is missing or not recent, admission to the PhD program will involve working with the Graduate Director to design an individual program to make up the necessary courses.

Core Courses

Statistics 300A, 300B and 300C systematically survey the ideas of estimation and of hypothesis testing for parametric and nonparametric models involving small and large samples.

Statistics 305A is concerned with linear regression and the analysis of variance. Statistics 305B and 305C survey a large number of modeling techniques, related to but going significantly beyond the linear models of 305A.

Statistics 310A, 310B and 310C are measure-theoretic courses in probability theory, beginning with basic concepts of the law of large numbers, and martingale theory.

Although the content of the first year core courses is specified by the department, the order in which topics are studied and details of the presentation are left to the instructor and will vary from year to year. Unusually well prepared students may place out of Statistics 305A. Students who do not have a sufficient mathematics background can, with approval from the Graduate Director, take the 310 series after the first year. All core courses must be taken for a letter grade.

Literature/Work In Progress Course

Stats 319 is a literature course in statistics and probability that is offered each quarter. The course is generally taken by students in the second and third years, and may be taken repeatedly. It serves two connected purposes:

• to expose students to a variety of topics of current research interest, for example, to help identify dissertation topics. Students are expected to read a number of articles and to write a short paper related to the reading that is presented to the class. The paper can be a synthesis of the reading material, or it may mark the beginning of research in the area. Reading assignments are made in consultation with any faculty member, especially the course instructor.
• to fulfill the Work in Progress requirement. Each post-quals and pre-orals student gives a 50 minute talk once a year. This requirement gives the student practice in giving and receiving feedback on talk technique, and keeps the department informed on the student's work. The talk can be on dissertation work in progress, on an ancillary project (consulting, RA work), or on a selection of papers that the student has recently read. The instructor of the literature course, along with the student's course peers, provide feedback on the talk, and can also provide guidance in topic choice where needed.

All students who have passed the qualifying exams but have not yet passed the Dissertation Proposal Meeting must take Stats 319 Literature of Statistics at least once per year.

Advanced Courses (Depth Requirement)

Students are required to complete a depth requirement consisting of a minimum of three courses (nine units) of advanced topics courses offered by the department. Courses for the depth and breadth (see below) requirements must equal a combined minimum of 24 units. Recommended advanced topics courses include the following:

• In troduction to Time Series Analysis (Stats 307)
• In formation Theory and Statistics (Stats 311)
• Advanced Statistical Methods (Stats 314A)
• Modern Applied Statistics: Learning (Stats 315A)
• Modern Applied Statistics: Learning II (Stats 315B)
• Stochastic Processes (Stats 317)
• Modern Markov Chains (Stats 318)
• Machine Learning Methods for Neural Data Analysis (Stats 320)
• Function Estimation in White Noise (Stats 322)
• Multivariate Analysis (Stats 325)
• Topics in Probability Theory (Stats 350)
• Topics in Mathematical Physics (Stats 359)
• Causal Inference (Stats 361)
• Monte Carlo (Stats 362)
• Design of Experiments (Stats 363)
• Statistical Models in Genetics (Stats 367)
• Bayesian Statistics (Stats 370)
• Convex Optimization I (EE 364A)
• Convex Optimization II (EE 364B)

In any given year only some of these courses will be offered.

These courses are normally taken after the first year and may help students to find dissertation topics.

Consulting Workshop

Students taking the consulting workshop, Stats 390, provide a free consulting service to the Stanford community. Researchers from all areas of the University drop in to discuss their problems. This course allows students to assimilate the material from their first year courses, especially Stats 305A/B/C.

The consulting is executed by teams of students, in which inexperienced students are matched with those more experienced. The course is offered each quarter and may be taken repeatedly. Students are encouraged to participate in the formulation of the consulting problems and in any data analysis which may be involved.

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5 routes to getting a Doctorate

While most of those studying for a PhD take the PhD by thesis pathway, there are five viable routes to achieving a Doctorate degree

PhD by thesis

This is the most common means of getting a Doctorate degree. Over the three or four years of research at university, your PhD supervisor will support you as you aim to produce a thesis based on your research proposal .

A thesis is typically 60,000-90,000 words in length - although this can vary between institutions. For instance, the University of Glasgow's College of Social Sciences expects a thesis to be 70,000-100,000 words including references, bibliography and appendices, while the University of Cambridge has set an upper limit of 80,000 words.

Once completed, you'll need to defend your PhD thesis in front of a panel of examiners during your viva voce .

PhD by publication

This route involves submitting previously published work - such as books, book chapters and journal articles, which together form a coherent body of work and show evidence of an original contribution to a particular field of study.

It's often taken by mid-career academics that haven't had the opportunity to undertake a standard Doctorate degree.

Generally, a minimum of five to eight published pieces are required, but this varies between institutions and depends on their length. The published work will be assessed to the same rigorous standards as a traditional PhD by thesis.

You must also provide a written supporting statement, which can range from 5,000 to 20,000 words, and present your work to an academic committee. A supervisor will assist you with selecting which publications to submit and with the supporting statement.

Some universities accept only their own graduates for a PhD by publication, while others restrict this route to their academic staff. In general, you should have graduated from your first degree at least seven years ago to be eligible.

For example, The University of Manchester has published its own Guidance for the PhD By Published Work , with eligibility only extending to current members of staff.

Professional Doctorate

Geared primarily towards current professionals in vocational sectors such as healthcare , teaching and education , and engineering and manufacturing , this type of Doctorate degree includes a significant taught component and a smaller research project.

Professional Doctorates are often taken on a part-time basis and can last between two and eight years. Like their standard PhD counterparts, they usually begin in October or January.

While you won't typically be looking to get an academic job , your research is expected to contribute to theory as well as professional practice. Projects often revolve around a real-life issue that affects your employer.

Several professional Doctorates, such as the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy), are accredited by a professional body - for instance, the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) and The British Psychological Society (BPS) - and may also lead to a professional qualification .

Common titles for graduates of professional Doctorate degrees include:

• Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
• Doctor of Education (EdD)
• Doctor of Engineering (EngD)
• Doctor of Medicine (MD).

Unlike many professional Doctorates, the EngD is typically offered as a full-time course and is aimed at young engineering graduates with little or no professional experience.

Explore what's currently available at Find a Professional Doctorate .

Integrated PhD

This four-year qualification, also known as the New Route PhD, involves studying a one-year research Masters degree (MRes) before progressing onto a three-year PhD.

Offered by a select number of universities across the UK, integrated PhDs are supported by the government and the British Council through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) . Visit Research Council funding for further information on research and funding for different types of PhD.

The integrated PhD involves a combination of taught materials, practical experience and advanced research. This allows you to learn subject-specific methodologies, while building the transferable skills that will enable you to become a leader in your chosen profession.

Institutions can also develop personalised integrated PhD programmes to meet each student's needs. For example, universities may offer you the opportunity to gain a postgraduate certificate (PGCert) in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education - perfect if you're considering a career as a higher education lecturer .

As PhDs are based primarily on independent research rather than time spent in lectures and seminars, distance learning has always been a viable route for many Doctoral students.

PhDs by distance learning offered by course providers such as The Open University are therefore a good option to consider if you've got family or work commitments or are an international student - as this gives you the chance to undertake Doctoral research without having to live close to your chosen institution. It's also a suitable mode of study if your subject requires you to be based in a specific location away from the university.

For the most part, you'll be in touch with your supervisor by phone, email or Skype/Zoom. You'll need to bear in mind that even if you opt for this form of research, you'll generally still need to attend university for one or two weeks of each academic year for meetings and to receive research skills training. Your final examination may be undertaken either face-to-face or virtually.

With online PhDs, you can usually register as a full or part-time student. The level of fees you pay varies between institutions - some charge the same as for a standard PhD while others offer a reduced rate.

Check that any funding you plan to apply for is available to distance learning students, as this isn't always the case.

Search for distance learning PhDs .

Find out more

• Explore what is a PhD?
• Sort out funding for postgraduate study .
• Consider what to do after completing your PhD .

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What to Do After PhD? – Pros and Cons of Pursuing Postdoc

“Received my PhD. Where do I go from here? What to do after PhD?”—is one of the most common challenges for students who have recently graduated. So if you’re stuck at this point of deciding whether to go ahead with academia or switch to a non-academic career, you’re not alone! How do you plan on taking what you have learned in your PhD and capitalize on it? How do you start your new career or use your PhD to take the next step in your existing one?

What to Do After PhD?

After having spent endless hours conducting your research and passing up enjoyable opportunities to complete your dissertation, you have finally attained the coveted doctorate degree. It’s a remarkable feat! But one struggle that holds on to you is—what do you do now that you’ve finished your PhD?

Be it from your seniors at the university or just having heard it from scholars in your field, one thing you may have realized is that tenure-track positions in academia are hard to come by.  Despite the “default” propensity of PhD graduates pursuing academic research positions, they’re now moving beyond it. Additionally, an uncertain future in academia is a factor of concern amongst all. Here we shall discuss what to do after PhD?—and focus on the pros and cons of pursuing postdoc to make a calculated decision.

Should I Pursue Postdoc?

Navigating through the career waters after PhD can be quite treacherous. Moreover, with the job market in academia being intensely competitive, even students with excellent academic caliber aren’t assured of getting a position.

While the competition is persistent, doing a postdoc is becoming a prerequisite for a successful career. However, your zeal and confidence of wanting to stay in academia can take you a long way. The preliminary postdoc benefits to consider while applying for postdoc are:

• Additional time to expand your research through funding.
• Publish more research work to support or expand your research conducted during Phd.
• More opportunities for networking and collaboration.

Pros of Pursuing Postdoc

While the answer to “What to do after postdoc?” can vary for every researcher depending on their interests, the undeniable benefits of a postdoc position can’t be overseen.

1. Career Development Prospects:

Pursuing career as a postdoc fellow allows you an extended period to work on your research after your PhD. Furthermore, it offers you more flexible opportunities to leverage laboratory facilities than you could during your PhD. It allows you to travel freely for conferences, which lead to meeting scholars from your field and making newer professional connections. Additionally, a postdoc fellow gets opportunity to upskill themselves in their research field and allied domains.

2. Advanced Research Opportunities:

Given the immense value that a postdoc position poses, it opens doors to newer research opportunities. This is not just restricted to independent research but also to collaborative research. Consequently, due to lesser teaching and administrative responsibilities, it will provide you with time to publish more research work. Additionally, it allows you to revise your project cycle, begin a new project, and gain expertise in a given subject. Furthermore, it lets you collaborate with international researchers to work on similar projects. More importantly, as a postdoc your chances of receiving grants increases based on your success as a researcher during PhD.

 3. Technique Development Opportunities :

As a postdoc fellow, you have more time to acquire new technology and research skills. In addition, it lets you gain experience in allied fields that you work in with your colleagues. This leads to an excellent opportunity to perfect your distinctive set of skills and learn advanced techniques in growing times.

4. Intellectual Development:

A postdoc fellowship is a distinguished phase in your career to focus exclusively on your intellectual development. Moreover, it is an important and most influential part of your research training. Therefore, choosing a postdoc can bolster your ability to pursue an advanced and successful research career.

Cons of Pursuing Postdoc

Despite the impressive benefits, considering the flip side of pursuing a postdoc position is imperative before taking the big decision.

1. No Tenure-track Guarantee

The uncertain career prospects in academia does not guarantee a tenure-track position even after completing your postdoc. According to a survey, only 30% of postdocs in the United States, and 20% postdocs in the United Kingdom succeed in acquiring a long term academic position. Moreover, some even have to climb through a series of postdoc positions before reaching a stable academic position. This predicament often leads many postdocs to quit academia and move to an industrial career.

2. Lack of Support

As postdocs are expected to work as an independent researcher, they often receive little to no professional advice or training from experienced researchers at the university. On the contrary, some institutions take advantages of the postdoc fellow as a teaching or researching captive. Furthermore, you may also experience poor working conditions as a result of being neglected by your department and surviving postdoc position becomes difficult.

3. Monetary Challenges

One of the major disadvantages of pursuing a postdoc position is meager salaries. The financial situation of postdoc fellows is so critical that an assistant professor is paid more than them, although fractionally, but yes!

4. Over-qualification

After struggling to acquire a stable academic position, postdocs often try to switch to industrial jobs. In this process, it is found that postdocs are over-qualified for industrial jobs and have to begin from scratch in the new field.

It’s undoubtedly a great feat to have successfully defended your PhD dissertation. How do you decide? What to do after PhD? What do you choose? Let these pros and cons help you in taking a well thought out decision. Tell us how this article helped you in the comments section below! You can also visit our Q&A forum for frequently asked questions related to different aspects of research writing and publishing answered by our team that comprises subject-matter experts, eminent researchers, and publication experts.

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‘There are no jobs’: PhD graduates struggle to build careers in academia

For the first time in decades, Ian Corbin has dental insurance.

Over the past 15 years, Corbin has been a doctoral student, an adjunct professor, and a postdoctoral fellow. And trying to scrape together a living has been tough. “I was always hustling,” he says.

When Corbin — who holds a PhD in philosophy from Boston College and works at the intersection of ethics and medicine — was a postdoc at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2019, he earned about $50,000 a year and had kids to support. “So I was always teaching classes in the evening and publishing articles as fast as I could. Just taking on really anything that anyone would give me,” he says.

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Corbin’s story isn’t unusual. For many of those with doctorates, who typically spend between four and seven years in graduate school, the employment picture is increasingly bleak, especially for jobs in academia.

Maren Wood, who founded a firm that helps those with doctorates find jobs, says that the market for full-time professors has collapsed. Between 2007 and 2020, the number of openings in philosophy dropped by roughly half. The number of openings in English fell by about 60 percent .

Universities staffed up to accommodate millennials, she says, and now they’re trying to cope with declining enrollments, which are predicted to continue indefinitely . “There’s nothing wrong with a PhD,” says Wood, chief executive of Beyond the Professoriate, whose platform is currently used by Harvard and BC . “The problem is there are no jobs.”

Wood holds a PhD in history, and her breaking point was in 2011 when she came in second place for a job thousands of miles away. The gig was a one-year position. In Reno. And she was told the pay wouldn’t even be enough to live on.

The woman doing the hiring encouraged Wood. “You came in second place!” she exclaimed.

“For what?” Wood asked.

Wood had hoped to be a professor. She had been a top student and earned her PhD from the University of North Carolina. But it didn’t take long to realize: Despite the fact that she had a prestigious degree, there were virtually no decent jobs in universities.

Often, those with doctorates serve as adjunct professors — sometimes while they look for a more permanent gig. To students, adjuncts and tenure-track faculty may appear to be the same. They have PhDs. Students call them “professor.”

But when it comes to stability, they’re worlds apart. Adjuncts rarely get health care. They’re generally paid between $3,000 and $7,000 per class, and you might have to drive considerable distances to get from one job to another.

Over 30 percent of nontenure-track educators in higher education make under $25,000 a year, according to a 2019 survey by the American Federation of Teachers . Another 30 percent make between $25,000 and $50,000 a year. But over the past few decades, the number of adjuncts has grown much faster than the ranks of full-time faculty.

The dearth of jobs has been particularly tough on those in the social sciences, humanities, and some sciences, including biology. Richard Larson, a professor of data, systems, and society at MIT, has noted that many professors churn out lots of doctoral students over the course of their careers — and a good chunk of those students would like to be professors themselves.

But the math simply doesn’t work. Only a few of those grad students — fewer than 20 percent — can get the sort of job that their advisers have. (Though there are certainly disciplines — including chemical engineering and computer science — in which graduates can find jobs fairly easily, often in industry.)

Kristina Aikens, who earned her PhD in English from Tufts University, initially tried to piece together a living as an adjunct. For a year and a half, she says, she was teaching four or five classes in two or three locations, which is a common — though brutal — workload.

Aikens doesn’t believe that doctoral students — particularly in humanities — understand the real threat of finding themselves in an unstable position. “I think people think it won’t happen to them,” she says. “It’s not because they think that they’re better than anyone else. It’s just a denial that they’re in.”

But the threat of job instability is considerable. Massachusetts is not only the state with the highest percentage of people with undergraduate degrees; it also has the highest percentage of those with graduate degrees . And while many of those degree holders are thriving, too many live in precarious situations — situations made all the more precarious by the extraordinarily high cost of housing in the Boston area.

So if the supply of academic jobs has waned, why don’t doctoral programs simply slim down and admit fewer students?

Most of the people I spoke with noted that professors may be loath to give up their graduate students because they genuinely enjoy working with them. Grad students can talk about esoteric areas of scholarship, built on years of deep study.

“I think that faculty want to believe that they’re doing good,” says Wood. “I think that graduate deans generally believe that graduate education does good. And the fact that universities have paid so little attention to career outcomes means that they don’t actually have good data to work with.”

It’s also possible that schools’ reluctance to admit fewer graduate students is financially motivated. Universities often run on the work of grad students, as the Boston University strike has demonstrated . Grad students teach sections of large classes. They work in labs. They perform in-the-field research.

“The business model only works with a lot of cheap labor,” Corbin says. “I think it’s bad. I think it’s bad for students. I think it’s bad for the classroom. I think it’s bad for the grad students and the perennial adjuncts.” But, he believes, doctoral students represent an enormous pool of untapped talent.

Corbin is now a tenure-track researcher in neurology at Harvard Medical School, with a secondary appointment in bioethics. It’s a job he likes, and life feels much more stable. “It’s becoming less desperate,” he says.

Aikens — who now serves as the program director of writing support at Tufts — says she doesn’t regret getting a doctorate, and she doesn’t think we should preclude people from pursuing that sort of intense study.

Coming from a working-class background in West Virginia, she had wanted to see if she could do it. And the six years she spent getting a PhD were hard. But she knew that success wouldn’t necessarily lead to employment:

“At my graduation, literally at the ceremony, I turned to my friend and said: ‘Should I apply to law school? Because I don’t think this is going to work out.’”

Follow Kara Miller @karaemiller .