PhDs?!

elenetxu

Good lord ladies, things are coming out in the "expert" thread.

Let's be nerds. How many of you are PhDs?? In what? Are you happy you did it? 

katrina_pharmd

I don't have a PhD, I have a PharmD.  Yes, I am really glad I did it b/c I love love love my job.  And I feel lucky that I can practice both in California and New Zealand.

80s junkie

My PhD is in management. I love it!!!

kelly321

I'm getting my PhD in poli sci. I feel passionate about the topic (still), which is good, but my goodness will I be happy when I'm done. I didn't say I was an expert in the topic I'm doing because I don't feel like one yet. Maybe when I'm done... Oh, and all you Excel expert ladies -- I may be coming back to you when I get to my multiple regression analysis because I'm trying to do as much as I can in Excel.

bugabean

I'm a PhD dropout. lol I'm glad I stopped.

Mrs.E.07

not a PhD, but I will hopefully be an MD in a little over 2 years :-)

ebartzen

Do two Masters count for a PhD? First one was Library Science, working on a Masters in Education now. 

I started doing the second one just to get a work permit in SA. Now we're permanent residents and I got offered a full time job. I'm afraid I might lose steam and never write my dissertation. But I'll try my hardest. It can only benefit me, I feel.  

ooolalalolo

I'm not a PhD, but I have an MSc in comparative politics with a focus in nationalism and ethnicity (from a snobby uni). I love what I studied--nationalist movements in Basque Country, Catalonia and Spain--but I really hated the programme.

Actually, it's why I went back to my former career instead of going on to get a PhD.

Now, the JD dream doesn't seem to die, but I won't do that until I feel like I am 100% on board with being an attorney. (And that work-life balance, well, it doesn't exist for people like me in law, really.) 

welshgirl

I'm a PhD. In history. I'm happy I did it - even though it means that I'm definitley economically worse off (in many ways), and I'm not quite using it. (Although I was undercontract to get my dissertation published, and was quite close to the final draft when the economy meant funding was cut.) I just always wanted to do it. History wasn't a wise choice, academia wasn't a sensible option, but I had a passoin (and still do, burried deep beneath my mummy-ness.) Also, if I hadn't done my PhD, I wouldn't have met DH.

NLfoodie

I don't. I was supposed to, but then I got a job and a life and didn't get into it anymore.

FH is a PhD dropout. He was asked to join the program by a specific professor he really wanted to work with after he finished 3 masters (2xMSc and 1MA) at once when he was 22 (and summa *** laude to boot, this guy is super smart!)

The professor he liked retired and the research was going in a different direction and he got offered a really cool job, so he quit.

Titles like that really don't mean that much to me anymore though. I know a couple of people who received PhD's who worked really really hard, are crazy smart and really know a lot about a subject. Then there is the other bunch where in their field a PhD really isn't all that hard, they're kinda dumb and all they do is shout that they are a doctor. (Answering or making calls starting 'hi this is doctor so and so.) 

I say, go for a PhD because you like studying a subject more and when you're convinced of the fact that it'll give you more knowledge and whatever it is you find important than a job. Don't just do it for the title!

(this semi-rant was sponsored by NLfoodie who's spending 2 weeks with her parents who drive her bonkers, especially her stepmom, who's killing herself with her weird diet, doesn't know how to do laundry, has no friggin idea how to deal with other people (like her husband's children), but can't let any option go by to tell people that she has an EdD (and often actually says PhD, while it is an EdD).