Posters with a PhD? Advice?

[sequins]

PDQ

[joy]

I was not allowed to hold an outside job while they paid me a stipend. They want you poor and available. Lol.

Does the tuition include health insurance? Dental? Vision? My program covered health but not the other two.

Congrats!! What is this a PhD for?

[joy]

Ooooh - be clear on taxes. I moved to a special grant at some point that did not remove taxes. I didn’t realize and owed at tax time. That was unpleasant.

[namasteak]

DH was also in a PhD program at that school and in addition to tuition/stipe d they included health insurance for him. It was stupid expensive to add me so I had a separate policy.

He did tutoring on the side and there weren’t issues. Idk if that is still the policy though.

[sequins]

Feb 8, 2019 20:36:42 GMT -5 joy said:

I was not allowed to hold an outside job while they paid me a stipend. They want you poor and available. Lol.

Does the tuition include health insurance? Dental? Vision? My program covered health but not the other two.

Congrats!! What is this a PhD for?

Well, I'm glad you mentioned this. This would definitely be a problem! I'll check this thanks! Mine will be in cancer research.

[blondemoment123]

I don’t have a PhD, but can I just say how much you rock? I’ve always admired you and your undertakings.

Promise this wasn’t supposed to sound creepy lol.

[lilafowler]

Ughhh...is your H ready to be a PhD widower?

I was one and it was....🤔😭👍🏻😂

[katfco]

Congratulations! One thing I wish I had known with my PhD stipend was how many years is it for? My PhD took 5 years, and the funding was available for 4 years, which was a surprise to me at year 3.9. It resulted in a lot more loans than I would have liked to take out to finish the final year.

Is the stipend a fellowship or a graduate associateship?

[lilafowler]

Also it may have just been my husband but having a child really slowed down his progress. It probably extended his time by 3-4 years. But that’s entirely situational and specific to field/whatnot. We didn’t have unlimited resources for travel/childcare like some do.

ETA: I work full time and we could not afford daycare. We had to bend our schedules and the fact that H lived in Boston but was working on his doctorate and teaching at UConn was super stressful for us. He was gone for part of the week and it sucked. But your experience might be completely different.

[sequins]

Feb 8, 2019 20:58:04 GMT -5 blondemoment123 said:

I don’t have a PhD, but can I just say how much you rock? I’ve always admired you and your undertakings.

Promise this wasn’t supposed to sound creepy lol.

Aww, thank you. <3

[sequins]

Feb 8, 2019 21:19:51 GMT -5 lilafowler said:

Ughhh...is your H ready to be a PhD widower?

I was one and it was....🤔😭👍🏻😂

Our marriage is in a crappy place now so who knows where we will be at the end of it! LOL


Obligatory LOL to lighten the mood but things are pretty crappy right now. 

[rupertpenny]

Congrats!

I do not have a PhD but did one of my MAs with a graduate assistantship that paid me for 20 hours/week of work and came with a tuition waiver.

As if the waiver covers any fees and see how much they are. I was still out of pocket several hundred dollars per course for fees as they weren’t covered. Also see how many years it covers and how many credits per semester. Do those numbers actually add up to you being able to complete all the coursework on the waiver? I will say my department increased my waiver from 9 to 12 credits for two semesters so that I could graduate in the timeframe of my one year assistantship. So it never hurts to ask if there is any wiggle room.

[lilafowler]

I’m projecting so much! Please take what I say with a bitter grain of salt.

[katfco]

Feb 8, 2019 21:22:59 GMT -5 lilafowler said:

Also it may have just been my husband but having a child really slowed down his progress. It probably extended his time by 3-4 years. But that’s entirely situational and specific to field/whatnot. We didn’t have unlimited resources for travel/childcare like some do.

ETA: I work full time and we could not afford daycare. We had to bend our schedules and the fact that H lived in Boston but was working on his doctorate and teaching at UConn was super stressful for us. He was gone for part of the week and it sucked. But your experience might be completely different.

This. DD was born at the end of my first year (I was actually working on a final paper when I realized I was in labor) and while it was nice not having to put her in full-time childcare, I wasn't able to maximize everything the program offered. DH didn't make enough to pay for her being in daycare. 

[wildrice]

My H is almost done with his PhD. He will be done at the end of June. It's been a long haul and very stressful for us both, though probably worse for him. If you would like to stay married, I would not recommend it because it's not going to make an unstable marriage any better. I'd say my marriage is solid and there are days I wonder wtf I was thinking signing up for this.

Though I hate the idea of a smart woman holding herself back for a man so...idk.

What is your residency in? What will you need a PhD for? How long will it take? Does the stipend cover summer (if you take courses then)? We have had to pay out of pocket every summer. We are also paying out of pocket while he is on internship (essentially a 1 year residency but he is enrolled so there is like $800 a semester he still has to pay). What happens if you don't finish on a certain timeline?

I wouldn't worry too much about being unable to hold another job while getting a stipend. You won't have time anyway, especially of you are doing a residency too. Phds are pretty all consuming.

Obviously if you need a PhD to meet your career goals, it is a great idea. If you don't or aren't sure, I wouldn't recommend it. It's a ton of work. Having been through one with a partner I would never go for my own PhD. However I'm not super into being a student so... Maybe if you are it would be different.

[W.T.Faulkner]

Congrats on your acceptance!! I hope things with your H get better. I’m sorry to hear it’s been rough.

[bronxgirl]

I don't have any advice, but congrats on your acceptance! You are amazing. I'm sorry to hear about the state of your marriage. I hope things get better. Big hugs.

[smock]

Congrats! Probably the best thing you can do is talk to current doctoral students. Ask about the program, funding, and your advisor(s). I did a Ph.D and loved my program plus my advisor. It wasn't bad for my marriage, but that was pre-kids. There were some rough patches (probably every Ph.D student thinks they should drop out at some point), but I'm glad I earned the degree.

[anonymous]

When you say residency, does that mean an md/PhD? I have my PhD...I would ask what the terms of the stipend are and if they are flat out from your advisor for the entrieery of the program or if it would involve serving as a TA too. And if so, for how long would you have to be a TA.

[sequins]

Feb 8, 2019 23:10:46 GMT -5 anonymous said:

When you say residency, does that mean an md/PhD? I have my PhD...I would ask what the terms of the stipend are and if they are flat out from your advisor for the entrieery of the program or if it would involve serving as a TA too. And if so, for how long would you have to be a TA.

thanks. I'm doing a dental specialty and PhD

[atexan]

Huh. I did no research. I just wanted to stay in school. I had a vague idea that it would take 5-6 years and I would have to take out a fuck ton of loans.

Maybe they should come take it back, lol. In fairness, I was utterly unemployable with my undergrad degree alone so I didn't have a ton of options.

#helpful

[gretchenindisguise]

We both have PhDs and they were so different. Sounds like your field is closer to my husband's, which is way better. He had no out of pocket costs his entire time there. My program on the other hand was a bit of bait and switch and I have a shit ton of student loans.

If I were to do it again, I'd make sure to ask if the assistantship covers the whole cost of the course load and how many years is it good for.

We didn't have any kids during mine, but had L during his. He missed out on a lot when she was younger because of that. We went into it with eyes wide open, knowing what to expect, but you and your H need to go into it with conversations and expectations that he will be the primary parent at times, and make sure you're both up for it.

In your field, the other thing you should think about is post-doctoral fellowships and what that will look like. We moved for Hs and it turned from an expected 2 year fellowship into a 5 year fellowship. So it wasn't until roughly 9 years later (4 years of school) that he was making a decent salary again.

[wesleycrusher]

Feb 8, 2019 23:10:46 GMT -5 anonymous said:

When you say residency, does that mean an md/PhD? I have my PhD...I would ask what the terms of the stipend are and if they are flat out from your advisor for the entrieery of the program or if it would involve serving as a TA too. And if so, for how long would you have to be a TA.

Yes, check to see how long the stipend is guaranteed. My DH went for his PhD and his advisor (who was also his undergrad advisor) left the school after DH had completed 2 years. DH lost all his research, as no one else in the school was researching that same topic. He lost his stipend, which included his health insurance and paid tuition, because it was only guaranteed for 2 years. Also the school was not responsible for helping find another advisor.

He is in a different field so maybe type of thing doesnt apply to your degree. He went into his PhD program straight for undergrad. We were young and didn't think of researching any of this.

[joy]

Feb 8, 2019 20:46:23 GMT -5 sequins said:

Feb 8, 2019 20:36:42 GMT -5 joy said:

I was not allowed to hold an outside job while they paid me a stipend. They want you poor and available. Lol.

Does the tuition include health insurance? Dental? Vision? My program covered health but not the other two.

Congrats!! What is this a PhD for?

Well, I'm glad you mentioned this. This would definitely be a problem! I'll check this thanks! Mine will be in cancer research.

👍🏻 My PhD is biological chem and my whole dissertation was drug discovery/cancer based. My lab was in a NCI designated institute. If you have any specific questions, let me know!

[chloesilverado]

Will you be taking classes but have tuition waived? If so, can tuition be counted as taxable income? I’m not sure it can but just wondering...

[SusanBAnthony]

Be really wary.

Understand exactly what you are hoping to get out of it, and why a PhD is necessary to achieve that.

However long they tell you it will take, assume it will take longer. Your major profesor can hold you hostage as long as he/she wants to.

You are at the mercy of your professor. If they are the world's worst boss, you can't just quit and find a new job (well you might be able to but it'll delay you by years)

Takes long hard look at what the job will look like. Do you want to spend 5 years on a PhD plus 2-5 on post docs and fellowships, then compete ruthlessly for a position, then spend 10 more years working endlessly to get research funding? Be really realistic about what that looks like.

If you're like "nah, I'm going to find a job in industry" then skip the PhD and just go get a job.

If you go do research on how horrible academia is, and still want to do it, then maybe you should. But professors and programs will absolutely mislead you about the reality. They are the 1% who beat the system and won. Odds are you won't be.

[5thofjuly]

I had a great experience with my PhD (and in getting academic jobs, though I've always looked for more teaching-intensive positions than R1s.) I'd say another thing to ask about would be the possibility of summer work/summer funding if that's something you need. Also, if you take longer than the stipend is guaranteed for, what percentage of those students get funding? Finally, what's the average time to completion?

[timorousbeastie]

I have my PhD in the same field as what you are looking into. My number one piece of advice would be to make sure you have a reason for why you want to go into the program. If you don’t have a defined goal of what you want to do with the degree, that can only be done with the degree, then don’t do it. I’ll be perfectly honest in saying that the only reason I started my program was because I had just been diagnosed with cancer, was going to age out of being on my parents’ insurance, and I desperately needed the health insurance the school offered. I didn’t at all think through the long term plan. After 6 years to get the degree and 4 years as a postdoc, I walked away to be a SAHM with nothing gained other than a gigantic case of imposter syndrome.

Does your program offer the option to master out if you get a few years in and decide for whatever reason you just can’t do it anymore?

[outnumbered]

I know that you said you are getting your PhD in oncology research. Does this mean you will be doing research and a dissertation or is this a clinical-based PhD?
Is this a specialized program that allows you to pursue the PhD and do your residency at the same time? Are you admitted to a school and have to choose the lab you will work in or is the lab pre-selected due to a specialized program? If it is not a specialized program will the PI be on board with you taking time away from your research to do your residency?
Does your stipend require you have to teach undergrad labs and courses?

Sorry for all my questions, just trying to clarify what you will be doing. In my experience I would not have had any time outside my research to do anything else. I was in the lab from early in the morning until dinner time.
I often had to go in on the weekends. If this is not a program that allows you to work outside of your dissertation work I am not sure it possible to do both at the same time.

[yaga]

Feb 9, 2019 8:31:46 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

Be really wary.

Understand exactly what you are hoping to get out of it, and why a PhD is necessary to achieve that.

However long they tell you it will take, assume it will take longer. Your major profesor can hold you hostage as long as he/she wants to.

You are at the mercy of your professor. If they are the world's worst boss, you can't just quit and find a new job (well you might be able to but it'll delay you by years)

Takes long hard look at what the job will look like. Do you want to spend 5 years on a PhD plus 2-5 on post docs and fellowships, then compete ruthlessly for a position, then spend 10 more years working endlessly to get research funding? Be really realistic about what that looks like.

If you're like "nah, I'm going to find a job in industry" then skip the PhD and just go get a job.

If you go do research on how horrible academia is, and still want to do it, then maybe you should. But professors and programs will absolutely mislead you about the reality. They are the 1% who beat the system and won. Odds are you won't be.

I ended up deciding the PhD route wasn't for me, mostly because of all this. I still worked in labs for almost 5 years and did an MPH. I work at a well known cancer research center on the clinical research administration side. Those around me who haven't worked in a lab with grad students and post docs don't really understand my strong feelings about it.

Cancer research is extra difficult in that it's competitive and because faculty positions are basically nonexistent, many post docs end up doing 2 3-year stints or one super long one to get good publications.

(Joy and I actually worked at the same place 10ish years ago and I was working with the workload and expectations of a post doc AS A TECH, something my PI regularly told me. She knows him as well and can attest that I'm not lying about this. So I sort of had the post doc life, which led to me leaving the lab after only 18 months.)