Posts Tagged ‘phd’
I enrolled in the PhD program in Organization and Management at Capella University in 2000. I had been working in business/finance, but my bachelor’s degree was in communication and my master’s degree was in Human Resource Development.
One of the best parts of Capella is that all my master’s degree credits transfered in as electives, so I was required to complete only the core courses of the program to earn the degree. This certainly helped shorten the required timeframe for degree completion.
For a while, I was also working on a specialization in leadership, but I found that specialization added to the required timeframe for coursework, and in the end, I would still have a PhD, whether there was a specialization or not. So eventually, I dropped the specialization even though I had completed some of that coursework.
What I did find is that if I had an MBA rather than a MA, these PhD-level core courses would have been a lot easier to navigate. I had never taken an finance class, or a graduate-level marketing class. I found that compared to many of my classmates, I was way behind on the core business concepts. If I could go back, I don’t know if I would have done anything differently, but it is certainly something that I was aware of. I had to invest a lot more time in those courses and had to solicit help from experts in those courses to get up to speed swiftly.
I did think that my MA prepared me sufficiently for the PhD coursework. I do wish I’d have endeavored to write a Master’s Thesis, which was optional for my degree program, now that I’m working on the dissertation. That experience would serve me well at this point.
Time management is an oxymoron. We don’t manage our time, we manage our tasks to fit the time available. In doing so, we often are trying to fit more tasks into that finite amount of time.
When I started school, I convinced myself that it was the perfect timing. I was young(er), single, no kids, settled in a job, etc. My plan was that I would start and finish my PhD by the time I was 30 (in 2003).
I was determined not to let school get in the way of my life - I didn’t want to change any habits. I still wanted to work full time (plus overtime), hang out with my friends, date, spend time with family, etc. I actually didn’t talk much about being in school, keeping it quiet meant that it wasn’t intruding into anything.
I found that I was able to plan ahead for my classes. I often spent lunch hours doing reading or participating in online class discussions. That way I was able to enjoy my free time.
As time went on, school took up more time. I found that when the end of the term came, I needed to take 1-2 days off work to finish the final projects for the term. That process actually worked well for a while.
I really needed (and appreciated) the structure of the coursework. I needed deadlines.
As time went on and I progressed, the work became less structured and required more self-discipline. That’s where I’ve fallen short. It is now 2009. I finished my comprehensive exam in 2006 and officially became a PhD candidate. For the last 2-3 years, I’ve been working on TDD (That Damn Dissertation). The self-paced nature of this work has been a real challenge for me, and I hope to make significant progress with this throughout this year.
I would encourage everyone to become aware of how you best accomplish tasks and try to make the most of your time.
When I was selecting a school, I did consider whether the school had a local presence or not. In my area, there weren’t a lot of options for PhD programs. I could choose to do a face-to-face program at our public universities - one was close by, the other was about 90 miles away. Neither school had exactly the program I was looking for. The online schools I was considering had no local campus presence anywhere, they were fully online. So my options were somewhat limited, but that made the decision easier.
I know that it can be reassuring to have a local campus nearby. Several of the schools I teach for have online and face-to-face components. The students do feel a benefit from being able to go to a campus, see real people, and get the help they need.
In my situation, that wasn’t the case. That’s not to say that having some resources close by wouldn’t be helpful, but we’re so accustomed to doing correspondence via the phone or the web, that in-person contact seems to be a thing of the past.
I actually treasure the fact that my school is fully online and has no local campuses. It puts everyone on the same playing field. We all have access to the same resources. Knowing what I know now, I would still choose Capella.
When I decided to return to school, I knew that I would have to go into more debt to do it. I looked for a school that was reasonable in terms of cost, but that was still about $1000 a month for school. That was money I didn’t have, so student loans were again necessary.
I had worked while going to school for my bachelor’s degree, but wound up taking student loans to supplement my lifestyle. I think the same thing happened with my master’s degree. While my employer paid 75% of the cost, I still took some student loans. I hadn’t planned to pursue my PhD at that time, so I thought I would just pay off the balance as I progressed in the workplace.
The limits for the federal student loans do go up as the type of the degree increases. So I knew the limit for Stafford Loans was about $140,000. I am pretty close to that limit at this point. Now that I’m nearly at the end of my degree program, my cost is reduced to approximately $1000 per quarter and I pay that out of pocket.
I know I should have looked for scholarships, but there just wasn’t time. Also, there didn’t seem to be as many scholarships targeted toward my demographic, field of study, or degree level. I also didn’t think my school provided many resources for financing - they basically presented the bill and expected the student to figure it out.
Knowing what I know now, I do wish I had been more fiscally responsible and minimized my loans (and my lifestyle). I am now still in deferment, but make small payments each month to help bring this balance in line before I graduate.
Going back to school was a big decision for me. I decided that it was a good time to start - I was in my late 20’s, no kids, no significant other, life was easy. I wanted to finish school before my life got too complicated. While that sounds very neatly packaged, I had several fears about returning to school. Could I do the work? Could I balance the schoolwork with my work and social life? Could I afford it? Would I stick with it? What happens if I’m not good at it? I had to work through each of those quesitons (and still do have to work through them) as I am still working on my degree.
Could I do the work? I think we are all afraid of failure to some degree. While I enrolled in a PhD program, I wasn’t sure I was ready. My master’s degree program came relatively easy for me - I got a 4.0. One reason I selected the school I enrolled in was because they graded on a Pass/Fail basis. That meant I didn’t have to strive for the A’s, but could do the best I could and likely would pass. That took some of the stress off.
Could I balance the schoolwork with my work and social life? While I was working on my courses, I took every opportunity to do my schoolwork. I read chapters during my lunch at work. I often stayed late at work to post or write papers (I was more focused at work and tended to slack off - oops, I mean become less disciplined - when I got home. I found that discipline was the most important key to success. My social life took a hit, but I tried not to lose too much of that. I didn’t want to miss out on all the fun - then being in school might have been too much for me.
Could I afford it? Money was a big challenge. It was costly to return to school and I wasn’t making a lot of money. I took out students, but I knew that if I did that for the whole degree, I would run out of available loan money. I have always paid my way through school and wasn’t going to start asking for handouts for this degree. I did eventually move in with my best friend to save on some living costs - that was a huge help!
Would I stick with it? Honestly, this was where the discipline came in. My track record has been, if it gets tough, get out. Why put myself through the pain if there was an easier way out. It has continued to be a long, challenging road, but I am determined to finish. I want those letters (PhD) after my name!
What happens if I’m not good at it? This was another major hurdle. I did not get a lot of feedback on the quality of my work. I thought it was good, but was it PhD level? I really didn’t find out for sure until I completed the Comprehensive Exam and was successful. That was my validation that I was good at this. Too bad that came after several years of classes.
I’m still afraid - but now I’m afraid of not finishing. I’ve put a lot of time, money, sweat, and tears into this pursuit. I think if I stopped now, I’d be letting myself down as well as those who have supported me. So I must persist. It’s still scary, but it’s doable.
