Careers – is there anything you can actually do with a PHD?

Been a while since I blogged, been finishing term and handing in bits of work and now in the process of preparing for exams in May. A number of articles caught my attention in the meantime. The decision to give up four to five years paid employment in order to get a PHD is a pretty daunting. Ive actively tried to stop thinking about lost earnings and opportunity costs and focus on enjoying the ride. It seems however, that there are some diverse opinions out there about the value of the PHD.

Without even getting into relative value of disciplines and university brands the very nature of the qualification gets a good kicking in this article in the economist. http://www.economist.com/node/17723223

It raises some good points about oversupply in the market quoting that the US will produce “100,000 doctoral degrees between 2005 and 2009. In the same period there were just 16,000 new professorships.” – Whilst there are lots of qualifications to this argument, PHDs have a broader career path available to them than academia and growing markets for PHDs may well be outside the US etc etc, the numbers do point to severe competition in the academic job market.

On a related issue the Times Higher point to the increasing trend in the UK for universities to solely http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=415203&c=1 hire PHDs for academic positions. This may sound surprising but the article quotes that “The proportion of UK academic staff with doctorates rose from 48 per cent in 2004-05 to 50.1 per cent in 2009-10”. So PHDs are now becoming standard entry requirements for academic careers in the UK and I would guess increasingly other markets. Im not sure this really addresses the issue of oversupply but at least it provides a little succor in terms of delineating the PHD as a minimum for these career paths. Whether there are jobs available and you are good enough to make the cut is one thing, at least you know that if you want to get into academia you have to go this route.

The issue of using PHDs as a cheap labor source is quite an interesting debate. It seems to be part and parcel of the deal, particularly in the US and to be honest I think most PHD students regard it as an acceptable quid pro quo. There is a suggestion in both articles that the increasing need for high quality teaching at University may have interesting repercussions for PHD students, in terms of the value of building teaching skills.  Im certainly interested in getting classroom experience as I enjoy teaching but it also looks like an increasingly good way of differentiating in the career market.

Life back at school

After a hectic first term it’s nice to sit down and think about how everything has gone on my return to study. The change from work to academia has been quite smooth, and I have enjoyed the return to determining my own schedule. Unlike my undergraduate years I feel much more capable in managing my own time and schedule. Having never viewed myself as being particularly disciplined in terms of time management, years of work do seem to have drilled into me a more robust commitment to getting stuff done on time.

This has proved a pretty handy trait as there has been a lot of work to get through. In these first two terms I have six taught modules, each of which has weekly seminars, presentations, essays and exams to contend with. These range from classes on research methodology, theory and specific topic areas. This certainly keeps me busy and for the most part has been extremely interesting. Alongside the classes I am also working on a dissertation for this year which involves putting together a research proposal and will eventually turn into a 15,000 word paper by the end of the academic year. I have been trying to ensure that this paper is linked to my overarching research aims and utilise theory and methodology that is going to be relevant. So there are a number of short, medium and long term goals to work towards this year.

An average week has consisted of three two hour seminars and a two hour lecture in terms of direct contact with Profs. Each seminar has specific readings, usually five or six papers or book sections. Based on these readings we submit a written response, analysing the arguments which we discuss in the seminars. For each module there is what’s known as a formative essay, basically it is ungraded but comes back with feedback. All grades are determined in the summer exams which is quite daunting. As well as working on my dissertation which involves a significant amount of time in archives, I reckon there is about 50+ hours of work in an average week. The dissertation will count for 40% of my final year grade with the rest made up from the module exams. I have to achieve a specific grade to progress next year, so there is not much scope for taking things easy. It does feel quite frantic and pressured this year, in many respects no different from some of the more pressured projects I have worked on in the last few years. Im sure 2011 will prove to be an interesting and exciting year!

Selecting an institution or Brand, Brand, Brand!

Which ones for me?

Most of my career has been spent working with Business Schools and more specifically MBA programs and students. This is probably the most brand conscious strand of higher education, where a Schools perceived brand is perhaps the single biggest pull factor for potential students. Of course the brand is constructed of many elements (faculty, facilities, student services, rankings, alumni etc) but at the end of the day the vast majority of MBA students don’t chose a school based on its academic output. Being a top 10 ranked school with a careers service that have an open door to Goldman Sachs is the clincher for many applicants.

Initially I thought that choosing an institution to study for a PhD would be a much more difficult task. There were no PhD rankings for a start (Whose number one?!?!). I asked a couple of friends with PhDs how they had selected their institutions and a number of factors kept cropping up. Primarily finding the right person to supervise you, in a good/respected department seemed to be the main areas of focus. There was much debate about who the “right person” might be. A high profile prof with a publishing record the length of a small book, might seem very appealing in terms of learning from the best and basking in reflected glory. Of course, someone who writes that much and has such high profile may well not have much time to spend talking to the lowly PhD student. The consensus seemed to fall on finding someone who you respect, has a good reputation and perhaps most importantly who you will get on with.

Then I spoke with a colleague at a big school in the US. In a very interesting conversation he basically said just go to the school with the biggest brand (obviously different perspectives on this) and leverage that when you graduate. Talking to another friend confirmed this to some extent. He said that although he got to study with one of the best known academics in his field he really regretted not going to a big brand institution and felt that this would be a drag on his career.

Hmmmm, so choosing an MBA and a PhD might not be so different after all. For myself I did spend a lot of time looking at individual departments (ascertaining their approaches and interests) and faculty (reading their papers) to try and find a good match. However, being honest, I made a first cut based on the broader institutional brand (rankings, perception of myself and friends) and tried to target places that I felt would be known internationally. I eventually applied to five institutions, spreading my bets. Im not sure I was particularly scientific with this approach, but if you are going to spend four to five years somewhere there will always be a fairly subjective element in the decision making. Where will you enjoy living? Do you feel a good fit with the institution?  Its quite a complex set of factors and worth spending a lot of time thinking about.

First day back at school

Ten years after graduating from my first degree this week I returned  to University as a student once again. Despite numerous exams, job interviews, launching a company, first dates, and life in general I really felt that I was beyond nerves, but walking into my first class I felt the tingles and stomach churning return. To be honest I really wasn’t sure what I was nervous about, it felt slightly ridiculous; after all I was surely not going to get bullied in the playground?

I guess deep down two things worried me. Is this really what I want to do and am I really good enough to do it?

After a week of lectures I have to say that my first fear has been allayed. I enjoyed every minute of being back in the classroom, returning to lectures, seminars and reading. I feel immensely fortunate to be back in an environment of learning and to have time to devote to thinking. With regards to the second question I guess I will have to wait a little longer. With three taught modules this term I will have a number of essays and eventually exams in the summer. Im hoping that I will be significantly more diligent and planned in my reading and preparation this time round, though I am fully expecting to pull numerous all nighters to get the essays done. It felt a little odd being back on campus, but it didn’t take long to get back into the swing of things; a mid-day start in the library followed by the pub in the evening. I will certainly savour these days before the real work kicks in.

The Economist on Economic History

“So how should the teaching of economics change? That’s easy. While mathematical fluency is very useful, it should not be at the heart of economics instruction. That place should be reserved for economic history.”

http://www.economist.com/economics/by-invitation/guest-contributions/economic_history_should_be_heart_economics_instruction

My choice of degree – Economic History
Maybe this bet might just come off!!

Preaching to the converted

Although your studies have to be self-satisfying there is another key audience who have to take an interest in your work for it to go anywhere. The whole point of the PhD is to produce an original academic contribution to an area of study. The extent to which your topic does this will be decided by other academics. So from an early stage you need to make sure that you are going to be heading into a useful area. The best people to do this are obviously academics, so you are going to have to interact with them. My advice is to do this as early as possible.

To decide whether my area of research was really interesting to me and potentially to other academics I sat down and wrote a 2000 word research proposal. I saw that this was part of the admissions process for many universities, but I decided to do this way in advance of applying for two reasons. Firstly I wanted to really get into my topic in its academic context. This involved a lot of reading and general research to get a reasonable outline of what was out there already, and if my interests were going to have a fit. I found this process extremely helpful as it helped me to get deeper into my subject, opening up new avenues of exploration and really confirming my interest. It also gave me lots of pointers about the key academics in the field.

The second reason; finding academic buy-in for the project. Having looked over numerous university admissions pages, mainly in the UK but also in Europe, it is both implicitly and explicitly outlined that you will need a level of commitment from an academic at the institution to have any chance of making a successful application. Basically you require an internal sponsor, who will agree to supervise your project, and to make the admissions process easy it really helps if you have this prior to submitting your application form. Some universities will specifically ask you which profs you have spoken to, or who you would like to work with in the admissions process. So doing the legwork early and finding out who you might want to work with from an early stage can really pay off later on.

Pulling together the proposal gave me a lot of pointers. The next step was to start contacting different profs whose work I enjoyed. I thought this was going to be quite daunting and I didn’t expect many responses but I was pleasantly surprised to receive lots of very encouraging replies. As I already had some ideas written down in a reasonable format many of the people I sent it out to where very kind to read over it and make suggestions. These ranged from ideas about the topic, the formatting of the proposal, the application process in general, and the institutions I might want to apply to. In the end I applied to five institutions and specifically to five academics who I discussed the project with at some length and who gave positive feedback on the proposal

Tell them what they want to hear!

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Self-Satisfaction

Also a good PhD student?

I always liked the phrase fret-board masturbation, usually applied to some particularly long, tedious, guitar solo. It neatly encapsulated a sense of self-indulgence and absorption normally accompanied with a complete disregard for the audience and their enjoyment. It also suggested a certain degree of pointlessness, a band failing to have any real direction or talent for song writing, relying on some guitarist to riff out for ages.  (Having been born as punk emerged, fortunately by the time I started getting into music the age of long haired, bearded men twiddling their knobs for twenty minutes had mostly disappeared).

Sometimes when I talk with academics or indeed think about my own research interests I get a very similar vibe. The commitment of four years to a PhD or, indeed a lifetime to the research of often very esoteric, niche areas of interest requires a certain level of commitment and dedication that can often lead to introspection and introversion. Explaining what Im planning on writing about to my friends tends to induce a greater sense of catatonic calm into a conversation than dosing them with Prozac. But, and Im sure this really thrills them, it’s a topic I really love and am happy to expand on at length. The more I think about it, the more excited I get. For the next four years I am going to really indulge my inner geek.  Numerous academic friends warned me that the PhD is an extremely lonely experience. Its you, the library, the books and that’s pretty much it. Basically an intellectual wankathon. The topic has to be something that is really going to sustain your interest, because a 100,000 words and four years is an awful lot of time and effort if you are not really into it. The phrase “self-starter” was never more true.