can a doctor do phd

Doctorate vs. PhD: Understanding the Key Differences [2024]

If you’re interested in pursuing a doctoral degree, you may wonder about the differences between a doctorate vs. PhD.

A doctorate and a PhD are both terminal degrees that allow you to develop specialized knowledge and skills in your chosen field. But these degrees typically have different areas of focus, requirements, and career outcomes.

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Understanding the difference between PhD and doctorate can help you pick the degree that most aligns with your career aspirations and interests.

What’s the Difference Between Doctorate vs. PhD Degrees?

A doctorate and a Ph.D. are the highest college degrees students can earn. Graduates of both types of programs receive the title of “doctor” and may qualify for specialized careers in their fields.

But, while doctorate programs focus on professional competencies and knowledge, PhD programs prioritize academic research.

What Is a Doctorate Degree?

A doctorate degree is a professional degree that enables students to become experts in a specific field or industry. This degree focuses on applying academic research and theories in the workplace to improve performance and solve problems.

Courses vary by field and program but typically emphasize professional skills like collaboration, leadership, and project management. Additionally, many doctorate programs require students to complete a capstone project that addresses real issues affecting their industry.

Graduates often qualify for advanced administrative, leadership, and managerial positions in their fields.

What Is a PhD Degree?

A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree is an opportunity to strengthen your academic research skills and generate original knowledge. This degree trains students to become independent scholars who conduct cutting-edge research in their areas of expertise.

PhD curriculums cover advanced concepts and theories in a discipline. They also teach students qualitative and quantitative methodologies to design studies and conduct research. Additionally, most PhD programs require students to produce a dissertation that contributes fresh knowledge to the field.

Current professionals with PhDs often work as academic researchers and professors. They may also secure government and industry jobs.

Key Differences Between a PhD vs. Doctorate Degree

What’s a PhD degree ? What’s a doctorate degree? The main difference between a doctorate and a PhD is their area of focus. A doctorate prioritizes applied knowledge and professional skills, while a PhD emphasizes academic research. Let’s compare some more differences between a professional doctoral degree vs. PhD.

A doctorate enables students to become expert practitioners in their discipline. Students study existing concepts and theories and learn how to apply these ideas in the workplace.

By contrast, a PhD prepares students to conduct innovative research and educate others.

Goals and Outcomes

Doctorate programs help prepare students for senior administrative and leadership positions in their industries. They also help students enhance their professional competencies and tackle industry-specific challenges.

Students who pursue PhDs aim to advance their disciplines by generating new knowledge. They may also publish peer-reviewed research and teach undergraduate courses.

Student Population

Doctorate degrees are designed for current or aspiring working professionals who want to become industry leaders. These programs also enable students to increase their knowledge and credibility.

PhD programs attract students who want to expand their knowledge of research methodologies and theories. These learners also frequently pursue academic careers.

Admissions Requirements

Doctorate and PhD programs typically require students to have bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Additionally, prospective doctorate students may be asked to provide evidence of work experience, while PhD students might demonstrate their research abilities with a writing sample.

Program Length

Requirements vary by program, but full-time students typically complete a doctorate in 3 to 5 years. Programs that require a capstone project may take longer. For those considering quick degrees, a number of universities now offer accelerated doctoral programs online.

PhD programs often take 4 to 7 years to finish. The speed at which students research and write their dissertations can significantly impact the timeline.

The curriculum for doctorate programs typically centers on practical skills and contemporary issues in the field. Topics may include communication, ethics, and leadership.

PhD programs offer classes on research methods, theories, and disciplinary trends. Students also learn how to write journal articles and present at conferences.

Assessment and Completion Requirements

Doctorate and PhD students both complete 2 or more years of coursework. They also demonstrate their knowledge during comprehensive exams.

Doctorate students may produce a capstone project that applies their knowledge to real problems. By contrast, PhD students write dissertations based on original research.

If You Have a PhD, Are You a Doctor?

Is a PhD a doctor ? While graduates who earn a PhD are referred to as doctors, a PhD is different from a Doctor of Medicine (MD).

Doctors with MDs are medical doctors who can legally prescribe medications, perform surgery, and treat patients. They typically apply existing medical knowledge instead of conducting research. Doctors with PhDs don’t have any of these abilities. Instead, they have specialized knowledge and perform academic research in a particular field.

PhD or Doctorate Degree – Which Is Right for You?

Understanding the difference between a doctorate and a PhD can help you select the right degree for you.

Professional doctorate degrees help students become leading practitioners and problem solvers. By contrast, PhD degrees enable students to hone their research skills and learn advanced concepts. Both degrees allow you to enrich your understanding of your chosen discipline or profession. They also help you boost your credentials and develop new skills.

After you decide between a doctorate degree vs. PhD, you can explore program options from accredited schools to find the best fit.

• October 11, 2023
• Education Advice

Ph.D. vs. Doctorate: What are the Differences?

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For those who have a deep-seated attitude, pursuing a doctoral degree can be a tough yet beneficial journey. Currently enrolled in a doctorate program means that a person has already scooched over college admissions, went through high stake tests and exams, and finished all those research papers and long hours spent in university libraries hitting the books. While studying for a doctorate entails asserting oneself to an extensive amount of quality time and money , its significance and purpose usually pave the way to a lucrative end.

After having finished the Master’s Degree , students begin to think about their next step in their academic career. Then, paradoxically, while navigating through academia, they find themselves baffled by the immense terms and terminologies used to label specific degrees. Because the terms “Doctorate” and “Ph.D.” are somehow interlocked and overlap, and because “PhD” is sometimes used inconsistently, it can lead to considerable confusion. Ph.D. vs. Doctorate? You might wonder what their difference is, and why they are important. E xplaining what each of these terms stands for, the difference between them, and why they are valuable, can help you steer yourself down the right path from the outset.

Doctorate Degree vs. Ph.D.

At first glance, it is pretty easy to confuse these two terms. But it is important for everyone to be able to make a distinction between the two. In this article, we will discuss the difference between Ph.D. and Doctorate in detail in order to get rid of any confusion you may have. In the academic world, the terms Doctorate and Ph.D. are currently used interchangeably. Both of them are the top cap of the ladder. However, a doctorate is mostly used as an umbrella term covering many fields ranging from professional degrees, humanities, and scientific disciplines.

A Ph.D. or Doctor of Philosophy, on the other hand, is a subcategory of a doctoral degree, it is much more distinct and clear-cut and is usually narrower in nature encompassing only humanities and scientific fields. In plain English, when someone says they are enrolling on a doctoral degree, it means they are doing a Ph.D. in a specific field. So, technically, in common parlance, there is no difference between the two terms.

But at the other end of the spectrum, one should be careful not to confuse a professional doctoral degree with a Ph.D. The former is more practical and is designed to prepare students to apply existing knowledge to find solutions to real-life problems and has a direct application to a particular profession.

A Ph.D. is theoretical by nature and is more academic and research-focused. it is often fixed on disseminating knowledge by conducting authentic research which means reviewing and identifying gaps in current literature and evaluating the relevance of existing and emerging theories within a particular field.

What Is a Ph.D. Degree and Why Should You Go for It?

Students who acquire a Ph.D. are justly proud — they wear it as a badge of identity in the academic elite. Traditionally, a Ph.D. was associated with teaching, which from Latin licentia docendi meant “license to teach”. However, the concept of Ph.D. has been on shifting sands nowadays and has become a more general term that isn’t necessarily confined to teaching only.

The Value of a PhD

Obtaining a Ph.D. helps you capitalize on the emerging academic opportunities making you more easily identifiable to employers or businesses seeking to fill professional, higher-level job positions. Many of these career options, conversely, are not available to those who do not belong to the Ph.D. club. While pursuing a Ph.D. requires devoting a tremendous effort and time and making significant personal sacrifices pushing the boundaries of knowledge, it’s all in service of the area of study you’re most passionate and zealous about. Ultimately, once you’ve attained your Ph.D., you will have achieved the pinnacle of education— something not too many people have or are able to accomplish.

FREE RESOURCE

A Guide to Choosing and Applying to Ph.D. Programs

Learn everything you need to know about selecting and applying to Ph.D. programs. Learn tips and tricks for a successful application and find your ideal program today!

What Is a Doctorate Degree?

A doctoral or doctorate degree is usually the most advanced degree one can earn in an academic discipline. Many pursue a doctorate degree to increase their professional credibility, be acknowledged as an expert in a specific field, and improve their resume.

A doctorate degree is a graduate-level credential that is usually earned after multiple years of graduate school. Earning a doctoral degree requires a significant level of research and work. In order to get this degree, one has to research a subject thoroughly, conduct new research and analysis, and provide a solution or interpretation into the field. But what types of doctoral degrees are available?

Types of Doctorate Degrees

There are two categories of doctorate degrees: an academic degree and a professional doctorate degree. An academic degree focuses on research, data analysis, and the evaluation of theory. A professional doctorate degree, on the other hand, is considered a terminal degree, which means that one has achieved the most advanced degree in the field. This degree is specifically designed for working professionals who want to grow in their careers.

Professional Doctorate Degrees

A professional doctorate is designed for working professionals who have experience in the field and want to increase their knowledge, improve their credibility, and advance their careers. This degree focuses on applying research to practical issues, coming up with interpretation and solutions, as well as designing effective professional practices within a particular field.

Professional doctoral degrees include:

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

The DBA degree is ideal for students who already have a general business background and are interested in delving deeper into the practical and theoretical aspects that underpin business education. More to the point, in DBA you will develop the ability to solve real-life problems, discover the relevant expertise to innovate and uphold complex business issues and so much more. Upon completion, DBA students will possess enhanced leadership and strategic skills as well as the tools to propel their careers in today’s marketplace. The Business Administration industry is keen on finding such graduates with business skills and this is indicated by the immense job positions currently available.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

If you are interested in setting your eyes on creating lifelong learning among your students, making a positive influence in educational culture, contributing to the growing body of research in the education realm , or just enhancing your subject matter expertise, the Doctor of Education program ticks all the boxes. This degree maintains a rigorous approach in academic education that prepares graduates to showcase the skills and expertise to devise solutions in tackling the challenges in contemporary education practice and become transformational leaders in the industry.

Doctor of Computer Science (DCS)

The demand for computer scientists has reached its peak and it is among the most sought-after positions nowadays. With a degree in DCS, you will have the opportunity to design, apply innovative experiments, predict trends and, ultimately, develop a richer understanding and contribute to your area of expertise. After all, who doesn’t want an exciting and financially stable career?

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Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)

The Doctor of Medicine degree is designed to prepare you for various medical challenges in different settings nationally and internationally. This program will further develop your critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills required for safe, high-quality medical practices. It will also improve your leadership, communication, and teamwork skills for collaborative patient care.

Doctor of Optometry (O.D.)

This professional degree typically requires four years of study. It focuses on basic biological sciences such as anatomy and physiology, microbiology, neuroanatomy, and so on. This doctoral degree will prepare, educate, and train professionals to practice at the highest level of proficiency, professionalism, and integrity.

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The Doctoral of Psychology degree concentrates on the clinical and applied aspects of psychology. This type of doctorate prepares students for professional practice and clinical placement. This degree will be highly beneficial when working directly with patients who need psychology services. In addition, this degree allows doctors of psychology to confidently function as researchers and clinicians.

How to Choose a Ph.D. Program?

Choosing a Ph.D. program can be pretty challenging; it is a big academic decision and investment that requires commitment and perseverance. But how can you pick the right Ph.D. program for you? Well, there are some tips to help you choose the best fit for your goals and preferences:

• Think about the reasons why you want a Ph.D., what you expect to gain from it, and whether it is compatible with your professional goals.
• Consider your research environment.
• Take your time to research, compare, and consider multiple opportunities carefully.
• Pick a subject that interests and motivates you but is also practical.
• Ask your professors and other scholars in the field for advice.

All in all, the terms “Doctorate’’ and “Ph.D.” are in essence the same, which means all Ph.D. students are Doctoral students as well. On the other hand, earning a Ph.D. degree is no joke. If anything, Ph.D. students have the tenacity, patience, persistence, and years of hard work that you can vouch for. Ultimately, deciding what type of doctoral degree you should hop on, depends on your career goals, what you are passionate about and how you are going to achieve it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a doctorate and a ph.d..

In academic contexts, the terms “Doctorate” and “Ph.D.” are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction. A Doctorate is an umbrella term covering a wide range of fields, including professional degrees, humanities, and scientific disciplines. A Ph.D., or Doctor of Philosophy, is a specific type of doctoral degree, typically focused on research and academic pursuits in the humanities and scientific fields.

Why should I pursue a Ph.D.?

Pursuing a Ph.D. can be a valuable endeavor, as it opens up academic and research opportunities, enhances your expertise in a specific field, and makes you more attractive to employers seeking candidates for high-level positions. It’s a chance to push the boundaries of knowledge and become an expert in your chosen study area.

What are the benefits of a professional doctorate?

Professional doctorate degrees, such as Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) or Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), are designed for working professionals who want to apply research to practical issues in their field. These degrees can enhance your career prospects, leadership skills, and problem-solving abilities within your profession.

How do I choose the right Ph.D. program?

To choose the right Ph.D. program, consider your career goals, research environment, and personal interests. Take your time to research and compare programs, seek advice from professors and experts in your field, and ensure that the program aligns with your professional aspirations.

What are the main differences between academic and professional doctorate degrees?

Academic doctorate degrees focus on research, theory evaluation, and data analysis, often leading to careers in academia or research. Professional doctorate degrees are more practical, designed for working professionals, and concentrate on applying research to real-world problems within a specific field.

Can I earn a Ph.D. in any field?

Ph.D. programs are available in various fields, including humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, and more. However, the specific availability of Ph.D. programs may vary by field and university.

Is a Ph.D. a challenging journey?

Yes, pursuing a Ph.D. can be a challenging journey that requires dedication, patience, and years of hard work. It involves conducting original research, writing a dissertation, and often teaching or assisting in courses. It’s a significant commitment, but it can be highly rewarding.

What are the potential career opportunities after earning a Ph.D.?

With a Ph.D., you can pursue careers in academia as a professor or researcher, work in research and development roles in various industries, or take on leadership positions in organizations. The specific career path will depend on your field of study and personal interests.

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| Daily Briefing

Who gets to be called 'doctor?' Why the controversial question divides journalists, academics, and more.

Editor's note: This popular story from the Daily Briefing's archives was republished on Jul. 18, 2023.

Read Advisory Board's take: How this mirrors the debate over what to call APPs

The public's perception of who qualifies as a "doctor" can be heavily influenced by the media, but few news outlets apply the title to experts who hold doctoral degrees, such as Ph. D's in science—and one epidemiologist in blog for the Scientific American argues this oversight diminishes the authority of experts with advanced degrees.

Why news outlets do not refer to PhD holders as doctors

Several publications—such as NPR and Scientific American —follow the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, which outlines English grammar, usage, and style and lays out standards for referring to experts who hold a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.).

Elizabeth Jensen, NPR's ombudsman and public editor, in an opinion piece explained how NPR and many other publications apply the AP Stylebook's standards when referring to doctors and Ph.D. holders. Jensen wrote, "Longstanding NPR policy," based on the standards in the AP Stylebook, "is to reserve the title of 'Dr.' for an individual who holds a doctor of dental surgery, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, or veterinary medicine."

Jensen noted the AP further clarifies, "If appropriate in the context, Dr.   also may be used on first reference before the names of individuals who hold other types of doctoral degrees. However, because the public frequently identifies Dr. only with physicians, care should be taken to ensure that the individual's specialty is stated in first or second reference. The only exception would be a story in which the context left no doubt that the person was a dentist, psychologist, chemist, [or] historian."

One epidemiologist's argument against AP Stylebook guidelines on doctors

However Beth Lina, an infectious disease scientist with a Ph.D. in epidemiology, in the Scientific American argues the AP Stylebook's standards for referring to doctors and Ph.D. holders are not appropriate.

Lina writes, "I was extremely disheartened and disappointed to learn that news organizations follow such a simplistic, flawed, and misguided recommendation, particularly as national sentiment suggests that experts are increasingly unnecessary." Lina argues, "By refusing to use the titles scientists have earned, news outlets contribute to the delegitimization of expertise."

According to Lina, NPR's use of the AP standard is at odds with the publication's mission "to create a more informed public, one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and culture within the United States and across the globe," because the rule fails to inform the public.

In fact, Lina writes the AP rule "stand[s] to create potential harm to the scientific method and to the individuals who dedicate their lives to acquiring expertise and advancing science and policy." Lina notes "Dr." is not an "honorifi[c] or simple job descriptio[n]." She writes the title "is earned only upon demonstration of a deep independent understanding of a specific narrow topic."

Lina notes, "The academic credential is particularly important in the case of women in science, as many face extra obstacles to success that most men don't have to contend with."

"But this isn't just a feminist issue," Lina writes, adding, "It's an issue of recognizing achievement and knowledge." She concludes, "If news organizations strive to be leaders in creating a more informed public, it is incumbent upon them to lead by example. Though our titles are not why we continue to pursue scientific discovery, it is only appropriate to recognize us for the experts we are. We have doctorates of philosophy. Please call us 'Doctor'"(Linas, " Observations ,"  Scientific American , 10/22; Jensen,  NPR , 9/28).

Editor’s note: In case you’re curious, the Daily Briefing’s practice is not to use the title of ‘Dr.’ as an honorific, but rather to cite an individual’s degrees or training as appropriate to the story.

Advisory Board's take

Julie Riley , Practice Manager , Physician Practice Roundtable and Sarah Hostetter , Consultant , Physician Practice Roundtable

As this debate shows us, titles can have tremendous power—particularly in the health care field where expertise and trust are so important. When I think about titles in health care, I think about another important question that I often get from members: What should nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) be called in medical practices?

“Many of the alternative terms can belittle their important contribution to the care team”

We know that this group can be essential to expand access, improve quality, and offset physician workloads, and NPs and PAs are increasingly taking on more autonomous roles in practices.  So while they’re often taking on this provider role, they are not doctors by training—and we shouldn’t call them doctors. However, many of the alternative terms that are often used can belittle their important contribution to the care team.

For instance, terms like 'mid-level provider' and 'physician extender' seem tied to an outdated understanding of the role these practitioners actually play in care delivery. More specifically:

• 'Mid-level provider' suggests that they have either a lower hierarchical standing (relative to 'high-level' physicians) or offer lower quality care. But our research has shown that across the country, these practitioners are assuming greater autonomy and taking on their own panels , while evidence demonstrates that APPs offer care of  comparable quality  to that of physicians; and
• The term 'physician extender' is even less applicable, since it fails to capture the provider-level work that APPs frequently perform. Indeed, where medical groups use APPs to just "extend" the physician, they likely are underutilizing their APPs, and could task RNs, LPNs, or others with those assistant duties.

“While this nomenclature may seem inconsequential, we know that names have power”

While this nomenclature may seem inconsequential, we know that names have power—both over the existing culture and the culture that your practice wants to build. There's a clear rationale for choosing a more empowering term. Our research suggests that medical groups that use their APPs most extensively and effectively also bestow titles commensurate to their role and value. Indeed, groups that are working toward deploying APPs consistently at top-of-license consider a change in terminology as part of their broader effort.

In our research, we use the term 'advanced practice provider' (APP), though some organizations prefer 'advanced practice clinicians' or other variants on the theme. This helps convey the value of APPs and highlights their role within the organization—to themselves, their care teams, and patients.

Want to learn more about how to make the most of your advanced practice providers? If you're a Physician Practice Roundtable or Medical Group Strategy Council member, view our toolkit to access resources to help you develop a high-value, scalable, APP model.

Access the Toolkit

Not a part of those memberships? View our slide deck and on-demand presentation on How to Get the Most Value from Your Advanced Practice Providers.

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Posted on November 30, 2018

Updated on July 18, 2023

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Session 247

Dr. Maureen Leonard discusses her journey to medicine and her life as a physician-scientist. Dr. Leonard spends 70-80% of her work time doing research with “just” an MD. Find out why she thinks you don’t need to have a dual degree to do a lot of research as a physician.

A lot of students think that because they want to do research, they need to get an MD/PhD or a DO/PhD. Maureen is “just” an MD and now has a Master’s degree, too. We talk about her journey into medicine and the advice she got when doing research as an undergrad with a PhD advisor. She talks about all the things she’s done throughout her career as a premed, as a medical student, and now as a physician scientist. If you’re thinking about doing a dual degree, maybe today’s episode will change your mind.

Listen to this podcast episode with the player above, or keep reading for the highlights and takeaway points.

[05:45] Her Interest in Medicine

Maureen knew she wanted to be a doctor when she was in her senior year of high school. She initially wanted to be a dancer, but it didn’t seem to be working out. She realized she likes people and science, so she decided to go down the medicine path. To make sure it’s what she really wanted to do, she did volunteer work at a neighboring hospital throughout high school. She also took a part-time job doing filing at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Her Premed Journey and First Research Projects

The hardest part of being premed for Maureen was the workload. She wanted to make sure she had a lot of experience to be ready for medical school, so she spent a fair amount of time doing research. Her major was psychobiology, which has been renamed as neuroscience. She did research projects with rats throughout her time in college. Like many people, she got her EMT license. She was shadowing and volunteering.

She was basically the typical premed when she was in college. She got advice from her premed advisor. Although her psychology advisor thought research would be helpful for medical school, Maureen was also interested in doing research. So she was encouraged to do both research and clinical experience.

[08:40] Research Project Tickling Rats

Her major required students to do research for their psychology degree and a thesis for their biology degree. They had a small class and Maureen’s mentor at that time did a lot of research. So she got invited to do research with her and tried it out. She ended up really liking it. She likes the ability to ask questions and design how to answer that question and watch it all unfold.

The first research she did was identifying what the vocalization in rats meant. Maureen reveals that their research suggests that rats made a 55-kilohertz ultrasonic vocalization for laughter. You can elicit this vocalization if you tickle the rats. So she spent hours a day tickling rats to be able to elicit vocalization.

They eventually did place preference studies to confirm that these vocalizations meant that they were happy. They didn’t work with cute rats but old, grumpy rats which they tickled morning, noon, and night. She obviously put this on her med school application, and it did come up during her interviews.

[12:05] Why She Didn’t Choose the MD/PhD Path

Maureen’s psychology advisor throughout her entire college experience was very adamant that she should do MD/PhD. Of the four people they worked with, two of them went to medical school and one did the MD/PhD.

Maureen was told she should do the MD/PhD. Her advisor made it clear that she would be making a huge mistake if she didn’t apply. Her advisor thought she could do more with the MD/PhD and, since she was interested in research, it could open so many doors.

But Maureen decided not to go that route. She hoped research was going to be part of her life, but at that time, she didn’t know what she wanted to specialize in. She couldn’t imagine agreeing to a seven or nine-year program when she didn’t even know what her focus in medicine was going to be. So she took a gap year before applying and did basic science research with mice.

Why She Didn’t Pursue a PhD, Even Though She Liked Research

Part of her thought process was that in doing the PhD, you’d be delving into a specific question you have for three or four years. But she didn’t have any question yet because she didn’t know what she was going to specialize in. For her to be excited about spending so much time on a project, she knew she had to feel passionate about it. Until she knew what she wanted to specialize in medicine, she couldn’t commit to something for that long.

[17:15] Exploring Global Health Work

Maureen thought research might be a part of what she wanted to do, but she actually spent the extra time she had in medical school on global health work, rather than research. For example, in the summer that medical students have off between first year and second year, instead of doing research, she did a global health trip.

She did this out of curiosity and not knowing what she wanted her life as a doctor to look like. It was something she wanted to experience. She wanted to spend her time in medical school examining what she was interested in doing long term. She wanted to see what felt right to her.

During medical school, research stayed on the shelf. She went to internship and pediatric residency at Tufts University in Boston. She still liked global health and research. At this point, she put both back into her mix. She wanted to do both to help her make an informed decision about how to spend her time as a doctor.

In her internship year in the first year of residency, she did retrospective chart review with a pediatric gastroenterologist. She felt it was what she wanted to get into. Then in the second and third years of residency, her program allowed her to spend a month each year in Haiti. She was doing global health work related to cholera and general pediatric medicine.

[21:44] Fellowship and Research Mentorship

As a pediatric gastroenterologist, Maureen got involved in studying celiac disease and all the gut microbiome issues involved with that. She had gotten interested in studying autoimmune diseases during medical school and did a lot of reading about them. She came to understand that the gut is a very important organ in the development of autoimmune diseases.

Her reading during medical school and her experience in internship and residency helped her identify where her research interest was. Applying for fellowships, she looked into different programs that had either mucosal immunology or some sort of autoimmune group within their GI group. This is how she landed at Massachusetts General Hospital—they had a mucosal immunology and biology research center.

When she was applying for fellowship, Maureen was reading all of her mentor’s research which she found very interesting. She didn’t reach out to him until he moved to Massachusetts General Hospital. So he sort of became her virtual mentor at that time.

[Related episode: What Is Pediatric Gastroenterology? (Another Interview with Dr. Leonard!) ]

[25:10] She’s “Just” an MD and Does Research Most Days

Maureen says that 70% to 80% of her week is dedicated towards research, which means three and a half to four days a week. She sees patients one day a week.

Since she was focusing on research, she applied for a Master’s degree in clinical and translational investigation. She had some training in statistics and clinical trial design. But because in pediatric gastroenterology they had two years to focus on research, that’s what she did. Maureen gained a lot of experience during those two years. She wrote papers and had a mentor who gives her a lot of opportunities. So she has been able to become a translational investigator.

Because of her training as an MD, she’s able to obtain clinical samples from patients and then collaborate with the lab guys. She does some work on her own, too, and answers questions which she finds clinically interesting.

Options for Doing Research as a Physician with “Just” an MD

Maureen feels that “just” having her MD hasn’t held her back. Because she did specialty training where she had time to focus on research, she had an advantage. At this point, Maureen can see that she can continue down this academic physician-scientist path. It was her plan in the first place, and she loves doing it. She likes that she gets to see patients, do research, and collaborate with so many people. She likes that every day is different.

On the other hand, she has the opportunity to make a change and become a full-time clinician if she chooses. She thinks the Master’s degree has helped her, as well. Maureen can go to a pharmaceutical or a device-manufacturing industry and be a medical director. She can also become a translational scientist at a startup up company in Boston.

[29:10] What It Would’ve Been Like If She Did MD/PhD

Maureen thinks that if she did the MD/PhD route, it would look similar, and she would look a little bit older.

The balance of research and clinical medicine works for her because everything she does is based on celiac disease and gluten-related disorders. So she’s able to see patients one day a week. Then she gets to do the research. She adds that all the patients she sees could possibly be research subjects or inspire research questions. She’s extremely focused, which allows her to see patients and do research.

Additionally, Maureen doesn’t want to lose any of her skills, so she does an extra half day every other week doing procedures. She could do less clinic and do more research. But she doesn’t want to give up seeing patients because she likes it and they help her with all of her research.

[Related episode: Bench to the Bedside: Interview with a PhD/MD Student ]

Balance Between Clinical and Research as a Physician

So if you go the MD/PhD route, you still have to make choices on how much time you want to spend being a clinician or being a scientist. For Maureen, she couldn’t see herself doing less clinical work than she’s doing now.

Maureen has gotten to where she is now, not because of the letters after her name. She has just followed her interests. She has also been very intentional with the life and the practice and the setting she wanted to create for herself.

[32:22] NIH Loan Repayment Program for Physicians Doing Research

Maureen currently has an award from the  NIH and a grant from NIH. Because she does more than 50% research, she is eligible to apply for the NIH Loan Repayment Program. As long as you are doing more than 50% research and you have a research project in line with the NIH, you can write a grant and be awarded up to $35,000 a year for two years. That money goes straight to your loans. They also pay some federal taxes on that.

Just this past week, Maureen received her third and fourth year of that award. This means the NIH has put over $140,000 straight to her loans. It’s basically free money. Maureen stresses how helpful this is.

More NIH Research Grants

The NIH is also paying a fair amount of Maureen’s salary through a mentored research grant called an NRSA for F (Individual Research Fellowships) grant. She didn’t initially know about all these grants. This is a mentored grant, so she has this grant for three years. She has already completed the first year of the grant.

She’s now beginning to apply for the next NIH grant. It’s a K award, a five-year grant that pays 75% of your salary. Sometimes, you may even need to do a little bit less clinical work to really focus during that mentored career award.

In order to be awarded a mentored grant, you need a mentor who’s going to oversee all of your work and support you with the rest of the salary the NIH isn’t covering. So basically, she’s not an independent researcher at this point in the NIH’s eyes. Rather she’s a mentored grantee. So in these grant titles, the K means you’re developing your own independent projects, and the R is an independent investigator award.

Grant Writing to Fund Your Research

Although the funding environment is very difficult, Maureen has worked very hard and been lucky. She has gotten several grants but applied to many more than she received. Say, out of fifteen, she only got three. So a lot of time is spent on writing, and it’s difficult.

Maureen is realistic and she loves what she does. She wants to keep doing this. So she’s always writing more grants, and she’s going to continue to do that. And as long as she has funding, she’s going to stay in research, whether that be on the academic path or through the pharmaceutical industry. She basically feels good about her options.

[38:10] The Nuts and Bolts of Writing Grants

Maureen explains that writing grants varies. Some grants will ask for letters of intent. You can write a two- or three-paged letter about what you want to do. Then they’ll invite you to write a full grant. For others, no letter is needed, and you just need to write a full grant. In a grant, you’re writing your summary of the research you want to do.

Usually in the first page, you write about what you’re exactly going to do. Then you write another five to six pages about why you’re going after those research aims and how you’re going to do it. You also include your file sketch that contains about five pages of your background and your contributions to science. They want to see your publications and awards. You may also provide bio sketches for anybody supporting you in this grant. That can be your mentor, anybody you’re working with, or anybody who’s going to train you if you need to learn certain techniques to complete the research.

You need to provide letters of recommendation from one to four people, and you have to give details on your budget: How much you’re going to spend, where, and when. And you need to provide a timeline for when you’re going to do all of this. In general, Maureen does pilot funding. A pilot grant might be 20-30 pages in total. Her  NRSA grant was closer to 60 pages because a lot of documents needed to be included.

Writing a grant can take a long time… It can take months to ask around for feedback. The more people you can send it to, the more feedback you can get, the better. She usually gives herself a couple of months.

[41:42] Recommended Classes for Premeds to Become Better Researchers

Maureen recommends trying to take some basic statistics courses as a premed. She doesn’t do statistics frequently, so she gets help with it. But taking those courses has helped her understand how to plan a study and what kind of analysis she can do.

She thinks it’s great to have a better understanding of how research works. Clinical trial design is a good class to take as well. Ultimately, try to read research in the area you’re interested in, and look into what people are doing. For premed students interested in research, check out PubMed or Google Scholar —just start searching keywords.

Deciding Between MD/PhD and “Just” MD

If you’re trying to decide on whether a single degree or dual degree is right for you, Maureen says you can really accomplish all your goals with an MD. If you find that you need the PhD for some reason, that’s always an option to do after your MD. There are also other degrees like a Master’s that might help you if you need or want more training.

Maureen thinks it’s certainly possible to have a career focused on research with just an MD. Her mentor has a very productive lab, and he’s just an MD. So it’s definitely possible. Either way, you’re going to have to determine how you’re going to spend your time. There are only so many hours in a week.

[Related episode: MD/PhD Medical School Program Director Shares What You Need to Know ]

[44:55] Time Management as a Physician Who Does Research

Maureen says it’s hard to figure out how to manage your time when you’re doing research and being a clinician. There are always more grants to write. There are always papers to write or a chapter to write. So she’s had to really actively try to manage her time and take time off. She’s still working on this.

Maureen is always trying to prioritize which grants make the most sense to apply for and what papers must be written. She has been able to manage her time a little bit better recently. But in research, you can always keep writing and reading more, so you have to draw some lines in the sand for yourself.

[Related episode: Time Management for a NASCAR-Driving Medical Student ]

Advice for Premed Students

Maureen wants to tell premeds out there: It’s so worth it. She gets to manage her time the way she wants right now. The premed years when you’re trying to reach your goals are the hardest years. But she loves her job and the balance she has now. She loves doing procedures and seeing patients. She loves being able to answer questions she finds so interesting. So it’s totally worth it. Keep it up.

[46:55] Final Thoughts

As Maureen has said, you don’t need to have a dual degree to do research as a physician. If you want to do research as a physician, you can do research. You don’t need a PhD to do it. Not having a PhD doesn’t hold you back.

Dr. Leonard is at one of the top academic medical and research institutions in the country. She has”just” an MD, and her mentor has “just” an MD, and they’re out there doing amazing things. They’re doing a ton of research and are successful at it. They have not been held back by not having PhD’s.

If you’re that student who loves research and can’t see yourself doing anything else, go ahead and get that PhD. But if that’s not quite you, or you’re still unsure like Maureen was, now you know that you don’t have to.

Links and Other Resources

• Check out my Premed Playbook series of books (available on Amazon) , with installments on the personal statement , the medical school interview , and the MCAT .
• Related episode: Is Research More Important Than Clinical Experience?
• Related episode: Do I Really Need to Do Research as a Nontrad Premed?
• Need MCAT Prep? Save on tutoring, classes, and full-length practice tests by using promo code “MSHQ” at Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep) !

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• Master’s vs PhD | A Complete Guide to the Differences

Master's vs PhD | A Complete Guide to the Differences

Published on November 27, 2020 by Lauren Thomas . Revised on May 10, 2024.

The two most common types of graduate degrees are master’s and doctoral degrees:

• A master’s is a 1–2 year degree that can prepare you for a multitude of careers.
• A PhD, or doctoral degree, takes 3–7 years to complete (depending on the country) and prepares you for a career in academic research.

A master’s is also the necessary first step to a PhD. In the US, the master’s is built into PhD programs, while in most other countries, a separate master’s degree is required before applying for PhDs.

Master’s are far more common than PhDs. In the US, 24 million people have master’s or professional degrees, whereas only 4.5 million have doctorates.

Table of contents

Master’s vs phd at a glance, which is right for you, length of time required, career prospects, costs and salaries, application process, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about master's and phd degrees.

The table below shows the key differences between the two.

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A PhD is right for you if:

• Your goal is to become a professor at a university or some other type of professional researcher.
• You love research and are passionate about discovering the answer to a particular question.
• You are willing to spend years pursuing your research even if you have to put up with a lot of dead ends and roadblocks.

A master’s degree is the better choice if any of the following apply:

• You want to continue studies in your field, but you’re not committed to a career as a professional researcher.
• You want to develop professional skills for a specific career.
• You are willing to pay a higher upfront cost if it means finishing with your degree (and thus being able to work) much faster.
• You want the option to study part-time while working.

The length of time required to complete a PhD or master’s degree varies. Unsurprisingly, PhDs take much longer, usually between 3–7 years. Master’s degrees are usually only 1–2 years.

Length of a master’s

Master’s degrees are usually 2 years, although 1-year master’s degrees also exist, mainly in the UK.

Most of the degree consists of classes and coursework, although many master’s programs include an intensive, semester-long master’s thesis or capstone project in which students bring together all they’ve learned to produce an original piece of work.

Length of a PhD

In the US, a PhD usually takes between 5 and 7 years to complete. The first 2 years are spent on coursework. Students, even those who choose to leave without finishing the program, usually receive a master’s degree at this point.

The next 3–5 years are spent preparing a dissertation —a lengthy piece of writing based on independent research, which aims to make a significant original contribution to one’s field.

Master’s degrees tend to prepare you for a career outside of academia, while PhDs are designed to lead to a career in research.

Careers for master’s graduates

There are two types of master’s degrees: terminal and research-intensive. The career prospects are different for each.

Terminal master’s degrees are intended to prepare students for careers outside of academia. Some degrees, known as professional degrees, specifically prepare students for particular professions; these include the Master of Public Policy (MPP), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), and Master of Public Health (MPH) degrees.

Other master’s degrees, usually Master of Arts (MA) or Master of Sciences (MS or MSc) degrees, do not necessarily lead to a specific career, but are intended to be a final degree. Examples include an MS in Communications or MS in Data Analytics.

In research-intensive master’s programs, students take coursework intended to prepare them for writing an original piece of research known as the master’s thesis . Such programs are usually intended to prepare for further study in a doctoral program.

Careers for PhD graduates

As research degrees, PhDs are usually intended to lead to an academic career. A PhD can be thought of like an apprenticeship, where students learn from professional researchers (academics) how to produce their own research.

Most students aspire to become a university professor upon the completion of their degree. However, careers in academia are highly competitive, and the skills learned in a doctoral program often lend themselves well to other types of careers.

Some graduates who find they prefer teaching to producing research go on to be teachers at liberal arts colleges or even secondary schools. Others work in research-intensive careers in the government, private sector, or at think tanks.

Below are a few examples of specific fields and non-academic careers that are common destinations of graduates of those fields.

• Computer Science
• Lab Sciences

Many government jobs, including economists at a country’s central bank, are research-intensive and require a PhD. Think tanks also hire economists to carry out independent research.

In the private sector, economic consulting and technology firms frequently hire PhDs to solve real-world problems that require complex mathematical modeling.

Graduate students from the humanities are sometimes hired by museums, who can make use of their research and writing skills to curate exhibits and run public outreach.

Humanities PhDs are often well-suited to research and grant-writing roles at nonprofits. Since so much of research is funded by grants, PhD students often gain a lot of experience applying for them, which is a useful skill in the nonprofit sector.

There are a wide range of non-academic research jobs for lab scientists with doctorates in subjects like chemistry, biology, ecology and physics.

Many PhD graduates are hired by pharmaceutical companies that need to perform research to create and test their products. Government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), also hire lab scientists to work on research projects.

Job prospects after graduation vary widely based on the field. In fields like management, computer science, statistics, and economics, there’s little underemployment—even graduates from less well-known programs can easily find jobs that pay well and use the skills they’ve gained from the PhD.

However, in other fields, particularly in the humanities, many PhD graduates have difficulty in the job market. Unfortunately, there are far more PhD graduates than assistant professor roles, so many instead take on part-time and low-paid roles as adjunct instructors. Even non-academic careers can sometimes be difficult for PhDs to move into, as they may be seen as “overqualified”  or as lacking in relevant professional experience.

Because career options post-PhD vary so much, you should take the time to figure out what the career prospects are in your field. Doctoral programs often have detailed “placement” records online in which they list the career outcomes of their graduates immediately upon leaving the program. If you can’t find these records, contact the program and ask for them—placement information should play an important role in your choice of PhD program.

Although PhDs take far longer to complete, students often receive a living stipend in exchange for being a teaching or research assistant. Master’s degrees are shorter but less likely to be funded.

Both master’s degrees and PhDs lead to increased salaries upon graduation. While PhDs usually earn a bit more than those with a master’s degree, in some fields, the wages are identical, meaning that no financial benefit is gained from going on to a PhD.

Cost of a master’s

The upfront cost of a master’s degree is usually higher than a doctoral degree due to the lower amount of financial aid available. However, increased salaries also arrive faster than with a doctoral degree, because people graduate much earlier from a master’s program.

Some master’s students do receive stipends for their degrees, usually as compensation for being a teaching or research assistant. In addition, many people complete master’s degrees part time while working full-time, which allows them to fund their living costs as well as tuition.

The cost varies significantly by school and program. Public schools are usually cheaper than private ones. Some master’s degrees, such as MBAs, are notoriously expensive, but also result in much higher wages afterwards that make up for the high cost.

The master’s wage premium , or the extra amount that someone with a master’s degree makes than someone with just a high school diploma, is 23% on average. Many universities provide detailed statistics on the career and salary outcomes of their students. If they do not have this online, you should feel free to contact an administrator of the program and ask.

Cost of a PhD

PhDs, particularly outside the humanities, are usually (though not always) funded, meaning that tuition fees are fully waived and students receive a small living stipend. During the last 3–5 years of a PhD, after finishing their coursework (and sometimes before), students are usually expected to work as graduate instructors or research assistants in exchange for the stipend.

Sometimes students can apply for a fellowship (such as the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Program in the United States) that relieves them of any obligations to be a teaching or research assistant. Doctoral programs in the US tend to be better funded than in the rest of the world.

Sometimes, PhD degrees can be completed part-time, but this is rare. Students are usually expected to devote at least 40 hours a week to their research and work as teaching or research assistants.

The main cost of doctoral programs comes in the form of opportunity cost—all the years that students could be working a regular, full-time job, which usually pays much better than a graduate school stipend.

The average wage premium for PhDs is 26%, which is not much higher than the master’s degree premium.

In the US, the application process is similar for master’s and PhD programs. Both will generally ask for:

• At least one application essay, often called a personal statement or statement of purpose .
• Letters of recommendation .
• A resume or CV .
• Transcripts.
• Writing samples.

Applications for both types of programs also often require a standardized test. PhDs usually require the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), which tries to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative, critical thinking , and analytical writing skills. Many master’s programs require this test as well.

Applying for a master’s

Master’s degrees programs will often ask you to respond to specific essay prompts that may ask you to reflect upon not just your academic background, but also your personal character and future career ambitions.

Northwestern University’s Kellogg Business School requires Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) applicants write two essays, one about a recent time they demonstrated leadership and the second about their personal values.

Who you should ask for your letters of recommendation varies by program. If you are applying to a research-intensive master’s program, then you should choose former professors or research supervisors. For other programs, particularly business school, current work supervisors may be a better choice.

Some professional master’s programs require a specific test. For example, to apply to law school, you must take the Law School Admissions Test, or LSAT. For business school, you must take either the GRE or the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT).

Applying for a PhD

When applying for a PhD, your resume should focus more on your research background—you should especially emphasize any publications you’ve authored or presentations that you’ve given.

Similarly, your statement of purpose should discuss research that you’ve participated in, whether as an assistant or the lead author. You should detail what exactly you did in projects you’ve contributed to, whether that’s conducting a literature review, coding regressions, or writing an entire article.

Your letters of recommendations should be from former professors or supervisors who can speak to your abilities and potential as a researcher. A good rule of thumb is to avoid asking for recommendations from anyone who does not themselves have a PhD.

If you want to know more about college essays , academic writing , and AI tools , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.

College essays

• College essay examples
• College essay format
• College essay style
• College essay length
• Diversity essays
• Scholarship essays

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Avoiding repetition
• Literature review
• Conceptual framework
• Dissertation outline
• Thesis acknowledgements
• Burned or burnt
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A master’s is a 1- or 2-year graduate degree that can prepare you for a variety of careers.

All master’s involve graduate-level coursework. Some are research-intensive and intend to prepare students for further study in a PhD; these usually require their students to write a master’s thesis . Others focus on professional training for a specific career.

A PhD, which is short for philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy in Latin), is the highest university degree that can be obtained. In a PhD, students spend 3–5 years writing a dissertation , which aims to make a significant, original contribution to current knowledge.

A PhD is intended to prepare students for a career as a researcher, whether that be in academia, the public sector, or the private sector.

This depends on the country. In the United States, you can generally go directly to a PhD  with only a bachelor’s degree, as a master’s program is included as part of the doctoral program.

Elsewhere, you generally need to graduate from a research-intensive master’s degree before continuing to the PhD.

This varies by country. In the United States, PhDs usually take between 5–7 years: 2 years of coursework followed by 3–5 years of independent research work to produce a dissertation.

In the rest of the world, students normally have a master’s degree before beginning the PhD, so they proceed directly to the research stage and complete a PhD in 3–5 years.

A master’s degree usually has a higher upfront cost, but it also allows you to start earning a higher salary more quickly. The exact cost depends on the country and the school: private universities usually cost more than public ones, and European degrees usually cost less than North American ones. There are limited possibilities for financial aid.

PhDs often waive tuition fees and offer a living stipend in exchange for a teaching or research assistantship. However, they take many years to complete, during which time you earn very little.

In the US, the graduate school application process is similar whether you’re applying for a master’s or a PhD . Both require letters of recommendation , a statement of purpose or personal statement , a resume or CV , and transcripts. Programs in the US and Canada usually also require a certain type of standardized test—often the GRE.

Outside the US, PhD programs usually also require applicants to write a research proposal , because students are expected to begin dissertation research in the first year of their PhD.

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Who gets to be called ‘doctor’?

Go to med school, earn an m.d. and the “dr.” honorific gets tacked on to your last name. some women — and ph.d.s — say they get the courtesy title, and respect, less often..

We call physicians "doctor." Should we do the same for people with PhDs? (Credit: Bigstock)

This story is from The Pulse , a weekly health and science podcast.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.

Molecular biologist Adam Ruben has a Ph.D.

There was one time when he made a conscious choice to refer to himself as Dr. Ruben — when he emailed an airline to complain about a messed up flight.

“We had to spend a night in some city and I was trying to get a refund for our hotel bill, so I signed the email Dr. Ruben,” he said. “And I know that’s kind of an icky thing to do but I have heard that you get better service when you use the term doctor.”

It kind of worked: He got his refund — after three months.

“It’s not outright wrong and the world should forgive me,” he said.

Ruben has been thinking about the doctor honorific for a while. He polled his friends and acquaintances with Ph.D.s on Facebook and Twitter about whether or not they call themselves doctor.

Some said they’ve earned it. Others said it seems a little pretentious.

“A surprising number of people all had the same concern about using the term doctor: if they were going to be on an airplane when somebody needs a doctor,” Ruben said.

This sort of happened to Ruben several years ago, but when he was on the ground.

Besides being a biologist, he’s also a writer and comedian. He was at a Story Collider storytelling event, performing for an audience of mostly graduate students.

“And somebody actually had a medical emergency in the middle of the show. He fainted and needed an ambulance,” Ruben recalled.

As he described it at the time, someone asked if there was a doctor in the room and about 200 people with Ph.D.s kind of looked around at each other frantically.

Some EMTs helped the guy.   He was okay in the end and the show went on .

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After checking in on social media, Ruben wrote about his informal poll for the journal Science. He heard from female engineers with Ph.D.s who said they are under-represented in their field, and feel like they need to put doctor in front of their names to get the same respect that male engineers get.

Epidemiologist Beth Linas also earned a Ph.D., and she wants media outlets to refer to people with Ph.D.s as doctor, especially if we’re interviewing them about their area of expertise.

“Someone comes up [to me] on the street and says hello to me, they can address me as Beth, but if I’m being called upon for my background in infectious disease, epidemiology or digital health which is the other area that I study, I think I should be recognized as Dr. Beth Linas.”

Linas has been thinking about this issue and wrote a commentary about the congressional hearings with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school.

“There was a lot of chatter online and on Twitter about how in written media, she wasn’t being addressed as Doctor Ford, I started noticing it in other publications and other outlets,” said Linas.

Some NPR listeners complained about the “insidious bias” of the radio network calling Kavanaugh “Judge Kavanaugh” but not calling Ford “Dr. Ford.”

The NPR ombudsman explained that like many media outlets, NPR follows the Associated Press stylebook, which says if someone practices medicine, NPR calls them doctor. If it’s someone with a Ph.D., it’s up to the individual media outlet.

On the radio, we don’t have a lot of time, and every word counts. Saying someone is a doctor or saying they have a Ph.D. can be a little vague. Ultimately that doesn’t give the listener much information. So for clear and efficient communication, our policy at “The Pulse” is to introduce someone as an epidemiologist, or pediatrician — being specific about a person’s expertise when we can.

Linas said her concern comes from an issue of representation.

“There are a lot of women, and particularly women of color that really struggle to make their way in science and stay in science, and we face a lot of obstacles, and I think it’s important for women also to be recognized.”

There’s a study that backs her up: researchers found that male doctors introduce their male colleagues as “Dr.” around 70 percent of the time, but introduce their female colleagues as doctor a little less than half the time.

Linas says if media outlets refer to people with Ph.D.s as doctor, especially when we’re interviewing them about their area of expertise, then it shouldn’t be that hard to tell who is the kind of doctor who can help you when someone needs an ambulance — and who’s best suited to give you statistics on the next flu outbreak.

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Should All Ph.D.'s Be Called 'Doctor'? Female Academics Say Yes

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On the first day of class, Debbie Gale Mitchell, a chemistry professor at the University of Denver, introduced herself to her students, telling them about her Ph.D. and her research. She told her students they could call her either “Dr. Mitchell” or “Debbie.” A male colleague had told her that he went by his first name and that students were friendlier as a result, so Mitchell decided to try it. Many students chose to call her “Debbie.”

Then one day a student asked if she thought she’d ever get a Ph.D.

“I discovered that for me, the use of my title is VITAL to remind students that I am qualified to be their professor,” Mitchell wrote on Twitter.

Mitchell’s story was just one among hundreds shared last summer on social media calling attention to the way gender affects how professionals are addressed, especially those who hold a doctorate.

The discussion comes at a time when research studies into gender bias are increasingly confirming that how a person is addressed is linked to perceptions of their status.

The Twitter conversation branched from multiple roots. On June 7, Eric Kelderman, reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education, sent out a critical tweet of a female academic who responded to his media inquiry by suggesting that he should have used “Professor” or “Doctor” (the tweet has since been deleted). The next day, a doctor from the U.K., David Naumann, criticized doctors, medical or otherwise, who use their title in a nonprofessional setting. And a few days later the Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, announced revised style guidelines wherein only medical doctors would be referred to using “Dr.”, a convention that is already used most of the time by the Associated Press and news outlets that follow AP Style  (including KQED). What followed was an explosion of opinions and experiences revolving around titles, expertise, and gender and racial bias.

Many Ph.D. holders are fine with reserving the title for medical doctors in common parlance, viewing insistence on the title as arrogant and elitist, and do not use their titles even in a scholarly setting. But for women and people of color, an academic title can be a tool to remind others of their expertise in a world that often undermines it.

Some Ph.D. holders who insist on titles say that they actually prefer their first names. But given the discrepancy in usage, some women feel they must use and defend their titles, especially where the alternative is a gendered title like “Ms.”, “Mrs.”, or “Miss”. Fern Riddell, a Ph.D.-holding historian, wrote:

My title is Dr Fern Riddell, not Ms or Miss Riddell. I have it because I am an expert, and my life and career consist of being that expert in as many different ways as possible. I worked hard to earned my authority, and I will not give it up to anyone. — Dr Fern Riddell (@FernRiddell) June 13, 2018

Following backlash to the tweet, which described her as “arrogant” and “immodest,” Riddell coined the hashtag #ImmodestWomen, encouraging hundreds of women to change their Twitter handles to include “Dr.” or share experiences of bias. Riddell later wrote about the rationale behind the hashtag, saying that “we define women by their ability to be well behaved.” #ImmodestWomen was “retaliation.”

The tweets show “Dr.” is preferred by many women because it is both unrelated to marital status and gender-neutral, unlike “Mrs.”, “Miss”, or “Ms”. Several tweets described situations where a woman’s husband or colleague was referred to as “Dr.” (whether or not he actually had a doctorate) while she got “Mrs.” or a first name.

My pastor has her PhD. She was interviewed by a local newspaper along with another male member of clergy, NOT a PhD.. HE was referred to as “Reverend Smith”, SHE was called “Paula”. Seriously. — Head To Toe Organizers (@HTTOrganizers) June 11, 2018

In other anecdotes, female doctors (M.D. and Ph.D. alike) were met with utter confusion when they answered the phone to a caller looking for “Dr.”, or presented an airline ticket bearing the title. Even in 2018, with women making up 34 percent of active physicians and more than half of medical school matriculants and doctorate recipients , many people assume that “Dr.” refers to a man.

Bias in forms of address and use of titles is not limited to gender, many participants in the Twitter discussion pointed out. People of color with doctorates are also often not given the courtesy of their title, which echoes a long history of racially biased uses of titles. History professor Charles W. McKinney wrote:

Wanna know why my students will always call me “Dr. McKinney”? Because one day in 1980 I went to the store with my 75 yr old Grandmother Melida Thomas. Clerk greeted two 20 yr old, white women in front of us with “Mrs” and said “Well, hello Melida” to my Grandmother. That’s why. — Charles W. McKinney (@kmt188) June 10, 2018

The bias reflected in these stories is backed up by data. Last year, a study from the Mayo Clinic found that female doctors were introduced by their first names, rather than a professional title, much more often than male doctors. And on June 25, researchers from Cornell University published results showing that female professionals are half as likely as their male colleagues to be referred to by their last names, a practice that is associated in the study with lower status.

“The way that we speak about others influences and is influenced by the way that we think about them,” wrote Stav Atir and Melissa J. Ferguson, authors of the recent paper.

Atir and Ferguson described eight different studies, covering forms of address in professor evaluations, talk radio and under experimental conditions. Across the board, female professionals were less likely to be referred to solely by their last name. They even found that fictional researchers who were described with last name only were perceived as better known, more eminent, higher status, and more deserving of awards.

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The researchers proposed several explanations for their results. It may be more culturally common to refer to men by their last names because they are thought to be more permanent, since women may change their last names when they marry. Alternatively, it could be that speakers use first names to identify a subject’s gender, and this is more common for women in male-dominated professions, where male is the assumed default. This type of bias could even result from attempts to highlight women’s participation by identifying their gender using first names.

“The consequences may be ironic,” wrote Atir and Ferguson, “leading to lower judgments of eminence, status, and deservingness.”

As Mitchell, the chemistry professor from the University of Denver, and other academics related on Twitter, one way of fighting this type of bias is to insist upon the title “Dr.”

But other Ph.D. holders question whether insisting on titles is the best strategy. Meena Kandasamy, a poet and writer with a Ph.D. in sociolinguistics, rarely uses her title and did not change her Twitter handle. She questioned the practice of elevating those who earned doctorates over those who have not had the opportunity to do so:

For every one of us who has managed to float up and breathe from that cesspool with a doctorate degree above our heads–we must remember our sisters sent home, their dreams crushed, their futures messed up, academia behaving like one petty thug-gang to have the backs of a few men — meena kandasamy (@meenakandasamy) June 14, 2018

Critics argue that titles do not necessarily reflect how hard one has worked or even level of expertise, and that the most equal solution is fewer titles, not more. But supporters say that claiming the titles is the best choice under the present circumstances. Elissa Harbert, a musicologist, wrote:

I support #ImmodestWomen . As a PhD and professor, I currently use Dr. as my title professionally. My relationships with students improved when I switched to Dr., even though in a perfect world I’d use my first name. It’s not a perfect world. — Dr. Elissa Harbert (@KyrieElissa) June 14, 2018

In some instances, women are less likely to exhibit bias in form of address. The Mayo Clinic study found female medical doctors introduced both men and women with a title more than 95 percent of the time. Men introduced their female colleagues with a title 49 percent of time, compared with 72 percent of the time for a male colleague. In the Atir and Ferguson study, male speakers on talk radio referred to women by last name less than half as often as they did for men, while female speakers did not have such a strong contrast. In other research on gender bias in academia and medicine, women were just as likely to treat men and women differently. As research epidemiologist Chelsea Polis related, implicit bias can extend to usage of titles for speakers and writers of any gender:

I was once quoted in a story where all men w/PhDs were “Dr. X” & all women w/PhDs were untitled. Writer (a woman) was mortified when I pointed it out. Claiming our titles publicly raises consciousness than women can/do have these credentials. I want young girls/women to see that. — Chelsea Polis, PhD (@cbpolis) June 10, 2018

While the evidence points to persistent bias in professional forms of address, the solution is not so clear. Highlighting women with doctorates, medical or otherwise, may provide an important reminder that woman are now earning nearly half of medical and research-based doctoral degrees. But bias in use of doctoral titles is just one example of the larger issue of gender bias, as Atir and Ferguson’s study demonstrates.

“We find evidence of a gender bias in the way that we speak about professionals in a variety of domains,” wrote Atir and Ferguson. Addressing the problem may require attention to bias in all arenas, from the classroom to the boardroom.

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Is a PhD a Doctor? [The full guide]

The term “Dr” is very prestigious and projects expertise and respect in those who use it. There is a long and complicated history with the doctor title and who should (and shouldn’t) use it. Medical doctors, lecturers, and other medical professionals use it, but where did it come from and is a PhD a doctor?

Yes, a person with a PhD is a Doctor and use the “Dr” title before their name. This is not to be confused with a medical doctor. There is a complex history with this term but is currently accepted for people who hold a PhD as well as a wide range of other professions.

I have a PhD in chemistry and I call myself Doctor Stapleton in professional settings and when I want to let certain entities know that I have been awarded a PhD. In my experience, other PhD holders mainly use their titles in a similar way.

This article will cover everything you need to know about the Dr title and who can and cannot use it.

There have been people who have argued that the term doctor should be reserved for people who have studied and are practising medicine so that there is little confusion about the people suitably qualified to make health care decisions for you.

However, as you will see through this article the doctor title has a very long history that has nothing to do with the medical field at all.

Where the term Doctor comes from

For those that love a little bit of word history:

The word doctor comes from the Latin verb ”docere” which means to teach or is used to refer to a scholar.

In history the doctor title was invented to signify that a person was an imminent scholar. The doctorates date as far back as the 1300s and those who were able to get the doctor title in front of their name were rewarded with a lot of respect and prestige.

These people were often the lecturers of their day and would therefore teach many students in their areas of expertise.

Therefore, I think it is reasonable to conclude that the original intended use of doctor was for academics and scholars.

As time went on, the doctor title was awarded to other professions that wanted to elicit the same level of respect and prestige.

Health professionals receive an undergraduate degree in medicine and can call themselves doctor. However, these are professional degrees (undergraduate qualifications) and not really considered doctorates in the true sense of the word – it is more of an honorary title.

I don’t think that anyone with a PhD really cares about who is using it and accept that the majority of the public think that anyone with a doctor title has a medical degree.

I know that I was very excited to receive my doctor title but the excitement soon wears off when you realise that it doesn’t really matter in everyday life – but it still makes you and your parents proud.

These days, the doctor title is used by a variety of non-academic professions and it can get a little bit confusing.

So let’s have a look at who can actually use the doctor title and where it came from.

Who can use “doctor”

Even though the original use of the doctor title was for imminent scholars, nowadays there are several different professional qualifications that can use the doctor title.

It’s no surprise that more professional qualifications want to use the doctor title as it indicates many years of study, status and makes parents very proud.

A 2016 peer-reviewed publication submitted to the Canadian Medical Association Journal asks who is entitled to the title of Doctor?

Exactly who can use this term is starting to get a little bit confusing for the public.

There are many honorific doctor titles, including those found in the table below.

The use of the doctor term for many healthcare-related qualifications can cause a fair bit of confusion about what qualification the person has achieved.

That is why the title of a person is only the second most important thing to look at.

If in doubt, have a look at the letters after their name to really understand what the doctor title is referring to.

There are some interesting deviations in the doctor title and interestingly, in the UK, surgeons do not refer to themselves as doctor but rather use the term Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms etc. I had a family friend who was a brain surgeon who was a medical doctor and, after becoming a surgeon, changed back to Mr – a prestigious indicator in the medical field.

It’s strange to me how each field has its own customs to denote prestige.

There are arguments that in a professional and medical setting that the term doctor should be reserved for those who are medical doctors.

This can be difficult as many other healthcare professionals have also received doctorates in their specialisation and would want recognition for that effort and achievement.

In a 2011 article in the New York Times , physicians said that they were worried about losing control over the title of doctor because it could lead to a loss of control over the perception of the medical profession itself.

Anything that makes it more difficult for patients to make an informed decision about their healthcare could be very dangerous.

However, the fact that they are using this doctor title at all is a deviation from its original intention. Here is why the doctor title really is only meant for holders of a Doctor of Philosophy.

PhDs – the original doctors(?)

PhD stands for Doctor of Philosophy and, arguably, accounts for the only true use of the doctor title.

Being awarded a PhD means that you have completed postgraduate original and/or applied research that adds a significant contribution to the knowledge in a particular field.

It could be a PhD gained at a university or a professional doctorate but should signify that the owner of the title has completed the highest qualification obtainable in their field.

I talk about this in my short YouTube video:

You don’t necessarily have to use your doctor title after you have your PhD.

I know that there are many people who only use their Dr title in professional settings or as a way to stand out in other settings.

I only use my PhD title when I am in a setting where it is traditionally used. For example, I use my doctor title if I am giving a talk at a university or I am applying for funding within my field of expertise.

Some PhD holders find it a little bit awkward using their Dr title in everyday life whilst others use it on everything from rental applications to restaurant bookings.

How people use their Dr title once they have one is completely up to personal and individual choice. Initially, I was very excited to use my doctor title in as many situations as possible but quickly became wary of using it when it wasn’t required.

However, one of my guilty pleasures is seeing my doctor title on a plane ticket – I’m not quite sure why that is!

What you should call a PhD holder/your lecturers

One of the most common questions that I get asked when I am lecturing at a university is what students should call their lecturers.

Students can get confused with all of the formalities – especially if they have never been in a university before.

Professors, associate professors, doctors, lecturers, researchers – what does it all mean and how should you refer to academics?

Ultimately, it depends on the person.

Some PhD holders who lecture in a university want to be called by their official title and surname during every interaction.

Other lecturers and PhD holders are happy with students calling them by their first name. I certainly didn’t mind people calling me Andy during my workshops or lectures.

Also, some cultures are much more formal than others and wish to show respect by always using the official title of an academic.

Feel free to use whichever mode of interaction you wish – but, as a general rule, always err on the side of caution and use the more formal term for safety. Quite often, I have seen academics prompt students to use their first name as they also feel a little bit awkward being called their professional titles.

Doctor vs professor

When you graduate from a PhD you are entitled to call yourself by the doctor title.

All PhD holders are called Doctor in their professional setting. This can be on business cards, newsletters, websites, and other official documentation.

Universities in some countries also have a graduated career progression title system which denotes the expertise and seniority of the academic.

For example, in Australia the academic system is graduated like this:

• Senior lecturer
• Associate Professor

Therefore, in Australia it is not always appropriate to call someone in a university professor. Even if they are teaching your subject.

Professor is reserved for those who have achieved demonstrated expertise and outcomes in a variety of academic areas such as administration, teaching, research, and community outreach.

In other countries, however, you are automatically deemed a professor if you are teaching at a university. For example, in America your students will refer to you as a professor no matter your seniority in your university.

One of the first things you should do if you want to talk to your lecturer in a university setting is ask what their preference would be to be called.

Ask your lecturer about their preference

Whenever I gave a lecture, I would always start by saying that people can call me by my name (Andy), or they can choose to use Dr Stapleton if they feel that is more appropriate.

In my experience, most academics will not mind if you call them by their first name and, in countries like Australia, it seems to be the most common way for students to interact with their teachers.

It is not uncommon for the opposite to be true – and, like I have mentioned above, always start with the formal interactions. It is likely that you will be invited to call the PhD holder by their first name.

Outside of a formal setting most PhD holders really don’t mind how you talk to them.

The things a PhD student needs to do to become a doctor

The reason a PhD can call themselves doctor is because they have been awarded the highest qualification possible in their field.

A PhD requires you to perform research and produce a thesis or dissertation. The new information must contribute significantly to the field and report novel and new findings.

The PhD thesis is examined by other experts in the field (known as peers) and these other experts are responsible for telling the university whether or not you have satisfied the criteria to become a PhD.

There are other, more modern, ways of reporting your findings including peer-reviewed journals and professional doctoral reports.

Either way, admission to a PhD requires many years of hard work and dedication to answering a unique and unanswered question in your field.

I think that this satisfies the original use of the term doctor and is a great accomplishment for anyone.

It’s hard work but with the right guidance and dedication it is achievable by almost anyone.

Wrapping up

This article has covered everything you need to know about whether a PhD is a doctor.

The original term was introduced in the 1300s to denote an imminent scholar. This scholar would teach and pass on information to their students.

In modern times, the term doctor has been used as an honorary title for other professional careers in recognition of the hard work that they have put in to achieve their position.

However, there are fears that the doctor title is slowly becoming used for too many health professional areas leading to confusion around who is a medical doctor and who has other health-related qualifications such as dentistry, naturopathy, and others.

Nonetheless, people without an understanding of the convention can still get confused between medical doctors and holders of a higher degree PhD.

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

Thank you for visiting Academia Insider.

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When can you call yourself doctor?

I just passed my dissertation defense. This means there is nothing left but paperwork to get my doctorate. Among the various congratulations I've received a couple have termed me: Dr. My assumption was that I'm not really a doctor until I go through the graduation ceremony, but now I'm wondering. Is there a convention as to when exactly I can call myself Doctor?

• 26 It is apparent from your question that, you are excited to hear people calling you Dr. Ewert! Congratulations. –  user1162 Commented May 11, 2013 at 3:42
• 15 This may be country-dependent. In some places (such as the US), use of the Doctor title is merely a question of etiquette and may be subjective; but in others (e.g. Germany) it is actually governed by law. –  Nate Eldredge Commented Nov 27, 2013 at 3:36
• 16 “The name I chose is ‘The Doctor.’ The name you choose is like a promise you make.” — Doctor Who –  F'x Commented Nov 27, 2013 at 7:16
• 4 Following up on @NateEldredge, in Germany some (not all) universities grant successful PhD defendants the right to hold a "Dr. des." (Doctor designatus) until the degree is officialy conferred. –  non-numeric_argument Commented Nov 27, 2013 at 10:50
• 6 I have a PhD and rarely use my title (Dr). Happy to give it to those who clamour for the title. Any takers? –  user25277 Commented Dec 8, 2014 at 3:18

8 Answers 8

Writing as an Administrator:

It is appropriate to use the title when you are a graduate, ie, when the degree is conferred either in notice by letter or by ceremony (which ever comes first). Prior to that your status is that of a graduand. If you've been using the work-title PhD Candidate you might consider changing to PhD Graduand to indicate this status: that you're awaiting conferral but you've met the substantive criteria for fulfillment of your degree. Additional source: Swinburn on Postnominals .

Congratulations by the way!

• 56 But in practice, nobody but lawyers and administrators will object if you claim to have a PhD once your thesis has been approved and deposited. The graduation ceremony is just a play. –  JeffE Commented May 11, 2013 at 19:56
• 13 Following up on what JeffE said, in my experience it is quite common practice (but not one I agree with) for people other than the student to start using the title "Dr." from the moment the dissertation defense is passed. –  David Z Commented May 12, 2013 at 22:20
• 11 While this is somewhat tangential to the question, if you are applying for jobs, a letter (usually from the University Registrar) or an official transcript that indicates that you have "fulfilled all requirements for conferral of the degree of Ph.D." is usually sufficient to indicate proof that you have a Ph.D degree. –  Irwin Commented May 13, 2013 at 16:54

First, Congratulations! Second, in about two weeks you'll forget about the whole issue with when to call yourself a doctor, simply because it will have been overcome by the events of your actual graduation. That is to say: at this point, it doesn't really matter, and no one is going to care one way or another; the gray area between when you pass your defense, and when you are officially conferred the degree is a short, finite time.

The bigger question may be, When should you call yourself a doctor (even after graduation)? Or, What is the proper way to address yourself . I recommend being tactful when considering introducing yourself as "Doctor X," because that can come across as pretentious, and you don't want that as a first impression.

On a lighter note, a professor I know stopped selecting the "Dr." salutation for airline flights after a flight attendant asked her to help with a medical emergency. Her reply to the request was, "unless the medical emergency can benefit from intricate knowledge of computer architecture, I'm not the doctor you're looking for!"

• 1 Thanks. The time period is actually longer in my case because I've defended too late to graduate this semester, so I'm actually graduating in August. –  Winston Ewert Commented May 11, 2013 at 5:25
• 4 @WinstonEwert Same thing happened to me -- either way, it is a matter of months, and not really long enough to stress about (though for official documents, I would refer to Samuel Russell's answer). My committee chair congratulated me with "Dr. Gregg" immediately after I came back into the room after defending, and that night to dinner I wore a "Trust me, I'm a doctor" t-shirt I was given. To the extent that you can, live it up now! :) –  Chris Gregg Commented May 11, 2013 at 6:08
• I'm not really stressed about it, I'm just thinking I'm going to have a lot of people ask me about over the next months, and I'd like to have the correct answer. –  Winston Ewert Commented May 11, 2013 at 13:35
• Congratulations! Also, from a lighter side, I am about 6 months off completion of my PhD, and are already called 'Dr. D' by my colleagues and 'Doc' by my students (ama high school teacher). –  user7130 Commented May 22, 2013 at 11:44

In British universities, the relevant point is when the result of the viva (thesis defence) is published. This usually takes the form of the result being pinned on a board in a corridor somewhere in the adiministration building - I like to think of the corridor being subterranean with the sound of constant dripping water, the only visitor ever to enter being the person who pins the results up. This is normally about a week or so after the viva, if you pass without corrections, or a similar period after the examiners have said that you have corrected the thesis to their satisfaction. Then you can call yourself doctor and have all your bank cards changed! The graduation could be 6 months after you pass, and when you get your certificate the date of the award will be the publication date rather than the date of the graduation ceremony.

• 4 This may be the case at some British universities, but it is not universal (compare universities where graduation is the ceremony that confers the degree, rather than simply marking the change in status; then one is not a doctor until one has been made a doctor; a notice of results is just an announcement that this is going to happen). –  dbmag9 Commented Jun 4, 2015 at 11:14

Quoting Yogi Berra, "it ain't over till it's over". Just because someone feels the degree has been earned, does not mean it will be conferred. After a successful dissertation defense, the graduand likely has some additional obligations to the institution.

Should you state that you are 'married' just because your wedding is near? Same thing for degrees. You do not have it until you have it.

I defended my final dissertation defense two weeks ago, and my chair congratulated me and called me Dr. Woo! I always thought it was until when the title is conferred in a doctoral commencement, they can call you Dr. But on the contrary, you are called Dr. the moment you pass your dissertation defense.

• 7 I'm not so sure if it's technical/legally correct, but it certainly is a common thing for committee and friends to do after the defense. I remember, it feels good! –  F'x Commented Nov 27, 2013 at 7:17

In most German universities, you're not a doctor before you've published the dissertation, typically a book. Another year to make it exciting. But at least you can call yourself Dr. des. (doctor designatus) in the meantime.

• 1 In Germany, it is technically a criminal offence to call yourself a "Doktor" without the final certificate. –  Karl Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 0:56

This depends on the country. Luckily there is a long Wikipedia page dedicated to the use of the Doctor title .

In the United States, the title Doctor is commonly used professionally by those who have earned a doctorate-level degree.

So in theory you're not a doctor till you get some paper attesting you earned your doctorate-level degree.

• 1 I'm not sure that I would jump from what Wikipedia says is "commonly used" to an "in theory" assertion ;-) –  Flyto Commented May 30, 2018 at 8:44

This varies by institution. I haven't heard that attending the actual graduation ceremony is obligatory anywhere, but I haven't checked around. Where I got my degree, the University of Minnesota, the rule was that the degree takes effect on the last day of the month in which all the paperwork gets completed by the candidate and the institution, and there was no obligation to attend the ceremony. But a few years earlier, it was done quarterly rather than monthly.

As to when you can call yourself "Doctor", I would think it depends on the context and purpose. At a party you can tell someone you just finished your Ph.D. In more formal contexts, you can say you finished your Ph.D., to be effective April 31st.

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What is a PhD?

• Types of Doctorates
• A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the highest globally recognized postgraduate degree that higher education institutions can award.
• PhDs are awarded to candidates who undertake original and extensive research in a particular field of study.
• Full time PhD programmes typically last three to four years, whilst part time PhD programmes typically last six to seven years.
• A PhD can lead to an academia teaching role or a career in research. A PhD can also equip you with skills suitable for a wide range of jobs unrelated to your research topic or academia.

Definition of a PhD – A Doctor of Philosophy (commonly abbreviated to PhD , Ph.D or a DPhil ) is a university research degree awarded from across a broad range of academic disciplines; in most countries, it is a terminal degree, i.e. the highest academic degree possible.

PhDs differ from undergraduate and master’s degrees in that PhDs are entirely research-based rather than involving taught modules (although doctoral training centres (DTCs) offer programmes that start with a year of lecture-based teaching to help develop your research skills prior to starting your project).

In most English-speaking countries, those that complete a PhD use the title “Doctor” (typically abbreviated to Dr) in front of their names and are referred to as such within academic and/or research settings. Those that work in fields outside of academia may decide not to use the formal doctor title but use post-nominal letters (e.g. John Smith PhD); it’s unusual though for someone to use both the Doctor title and post-nominal letters in their name.

PhD vs Doctorate

A PhD and a professional doctorate are both research-based terminal degrees.

However, where a PhD focuses on original research mostly around theoretical concepts, a professional doctorate focuses on examining existing knowledge to solve real-life, practical problems.

While there is much crossover between the two, a PhD is generally better suited for an individual to wants to advance the knowledge and understanding in their field, and a professional doctorate degree is better suited to a working professional who wants to better be able to apply knowledge and understanding to their field.

What Are the Entry Requirements for a PhD?

To be accepted on to a PhD programme, students usually need to hold at least a high ( 2:1 and above ) undergraduate degree that is related to the field of research that they want to pursue. A PhD candidate may also be expected to hold a Master’s degree , however, this does not mean you must have one, as it is still possible to enrol into a PhD without a Master’s .

Self-funded courses may sometimes be more relaxed in relation to entry requirements . It may be possible to be accepted onto a self-funded PhD programme with lower grades, though these students typically demonstrate their suitability for the role through professional work experience.

Whilst a distance learning project is possible , most PhD candidates will carry out their research over at least three years based at their university, with regular contact with two academic supervisors (primary and secondary). This is particularly the case for lab-based projects, however, some PhD projects require spending time on-site away from university (e.g. at a specialist research lab or at a collaborating institution abroad).

How Long Does a PhD Take?

Typically, full-time PhDs last 3-4 years and part-time PhDs last 6-7 years. However, at the discretion of the university, the thesis writing-up period can be extended by up to four years.

Although most doctoral programmes start in September or October, they are generally much more flexible than taught-courses and can start at any time of the year.

How Much Does a PhD Cost?

Tuition fees for UK and EU students vary between £3,000 and £6,000 per year, with the average tuition fee of £4,712 per year for 2023/24 programmes.

Tuition fees increase considerably for international students, varying between £16,000 to £25,000 per year, with an average tuition fee of £19,600 per year .

Nonetheless, most students will secure PhD funding in the form of studentships, scholarships and bursaries to help pay for these fees. These funding opportunities can either be partial, which cover tuition fees only, or full, which cover both tuition fees and living expenses.

UK national students can also apply for Doctoral Loans from Student Finance England if they are unable to secure funding.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

What Does a PhD Involve?

To be awarded a PhD, a doctoral student is required to produce a substantial body of work that adds new knowledge to their chosen field.

A PhD programme will typically involve four key stages:

Stage 1: Literature Review

The first year of a PhD involves attending regular meetings with your supervisors and carrying out a search on previously published work in your subject area. This search will be used to produce a literature review which should set the context of the project by explaining the foundation of what is currently known within the field of research, what recent developments have occurred, and where the gaps in knowledge are. In most cases, this will be an extension of your research proposal should you have produced one as part of your application. The literature review should conclude by outlining the overarching aims and objectives of the research project. This stage of setting achievable goals which are original and contribute to the field of research is an essential first step in a successful PhD.

The supervisor is the main point of contact through the duration of a PhD – but remember: they are there to mentor, not to teach, or do it for you . It will be your responsibility to plan, execute and monitor your own work as well as to identify gaps in your own knowledge and address them.

Stage 2: Research

The second year (and prehapse some of your third year) is when you work on your research. Having identified novel research questions from your review of the literature, this is where you collect your data to help answer these questions. How you do this will depend on the nature of your doctoral research: for example, you may design and run experiments in a lab alongside other PhD students or visit excavation sites in remote regions of the world. You should check in regularly with your supervisors to update them and run any ideas or issues past them.

Have the structure and chapters of your thesis in mind as you develop and tackle your research questions. Working with a view of publishing your work will be very valuable later on.

Stage 3: Write up of Thesis

The next key stage of a PhD is writing a doctoral thesis , which typically takes from anywhere between three months to one year. A thesis is a substantial body of work that describes the work and outcomes of the research over the previous two to three years. It should tell a detailed story of the PhD project – focusing on:

• The motivations for the research questions identified from the literature review.
• The methodologies used, results obtained, and a comprehensive analysis and discussion of the findings.
• A detailed discussion of the key findings with an emphasis on the original contributions made to your field of research and how this has been impactful.

There is no universal rule for the length of a PhD thesis, but general guidelines set the word count between 80,000 to 100,000 words.

For your thesis to be successful, it needs to adequately defend your argument and provide a unique or increased insight into your field that was not previously available.

Stage 4: Attending the Viva

A viva voce , most commonly referred to as just a ‘ viva ‘, is an interview-style examination where the PhD student is required to engage in a critical appraisal of their work and defend their thesis against at least two examiners. The examiners will ask questions to check the PhD student has an in-depth understanding of the ideas and theories proposed in their thesis, and whether they have developed the research skills that would be expected of them.

The viva is one of the final steps in achieving a PhD, and typically lasts at least two hours, but this duration can vary depending on the examiners, the university and the PhD project itself.

Once you have done the viva – you’re on the home stretch. You will typically be asked to make some amendments to your thesis based on the examiner’s feedback. You are then ready to submit your final thesis for either:

• PhD – If you pass the requirements you will be awarded a PhD degree (most common outcome),
• MPhil – If you failed to meet requirements for a PhD, you may be downgraded to an MPhil degree (uncommon outcome),
• Fail – No award is given, typically for cases of plagiarism (extremely uncommon outcome).

What Is It Like to Undertake a PhD?

We’re often asked what it is like to undertake a PhD study. Unfortunately, this isn’t a simple answer to this question as every research project is different.

To help give insight into the life of a PhD student, we’ve interviewed PhD students at various stages of their programmes and put together a series of PhD Student Interviews . Check out the link to find out what a PhD is like and what advice they have to offer you.

What Are the Benefits of A PhD?

A PhD is the highest globally recognised postgraduate degree that higher education institutions can award. The degree, which is awarded to candidates who demonstrate original and independent research in a particular field of study, is not only invaluable in itself, but sets you up with invaluable skills and traits.

Career Opportunities

First, a PhD prepares you for a career in academia if you wish to continue in this area. This takes form as a career in the Higher Education sector, typically as a lecturer working their way to becoming a professor leading research on the subject you’ve studied and trained in.

Second, a PhD also enables the opportunity for landing a job in a research & development role outside of the academic environment. Examples of this include laboratory work for a private or third sector company, a governmental role and research for commercial and industrial applications.

Transferable Skills

Finally, in possessing a PhD degree, you can show to employers that you have vital skills that make you an asset to any company. Three examples of the transferable skills that you gain through a PhD are effective communication, time management, and report writing.

• Communication – presenting your work in written and oral forms using journal papers and podium presentations, shows your ability to share complex ideas effectively and to those with less background knowledge than you. Communication is key in the professional environment, regardless of the job.
• Time management – The ability to prioritise and organise tasks is a tremendous asset in the professional industry. A PhD holder can use their qualification to demonstrate that they are able to manage their time, arrange and follow a plan, and stick to deadlines.
• Report writing – Condensing three years of work into a thesis demonstrates your ability to filter through massive amounts of information, identify the key points, and get these points across to the reader. The ability to ‘cut out the waffle’ or ‘get to the point’ is a huge asset in the professional industry.

Aside from the above, you also get to refer to yourself as a Doctor and add fancy initials after your name!

What Can I Do After a PhD?

One of the most desirable postdoctoral fields is working within independent Research and Development (R&D) labs and new emerging companies. Both industries, especially R&D labs, have dedicated groups of PhD graduates who lead research activities, design new products and take part in crucial strategic meetings. Not only is this a stimulating line of work, but the average salaries in R&D labs and emerging start-ups are lucrative. In comparison, an undergraduate with five years of experience within their given field will, on average, likely earn less than a new PhD graduate taking on a R&D position.

It’s a common misunderstanding that PhDs only opens the door for an academic career such as university lecturers and training providers. Although obtaining a PhD opens these doors, the opportunities extend far beyond educational roles. In fact, recent data from the UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) indicates only 23% of PhD graduates take a position in educational roles . This low percentage is primarily because PhD graduates have a wide range of skills that make them suitable for a broad spectrum of roles. This is being seen first hand by the increasing number of PhD graduates who are entering alternative roles such as research, writing, law and investment banking.

How Do I Find a PhD?

We appreciate that finding a PhD programme to undertake can be a relatively daunting process. According to Higher Education Student Statistics , over 22,000 PhDs were awarded in 2016/17 within the United Kingdom alone. Clearly there are a huge number of PhD programmes available. This can sometimes be confusing for prospective doctorates, particularly when different programmes are advertised in different places. Often, it is difficult to know where to look or where to even start. We’ve put together a list of useful sources to find the latest PhD programmes:

• A great place to start is with our comprehensive and up-to-date database of available PhD positions .
• Assuming you are still at university, speak to an existing PhD supervisor within your department.
• Attend as many postgraduate open days as you can. Whilst there, speak to current PhD students and career advisors to get an awareness of what PhDs are on offer.
• Visit the postgraduate section of university websites and the PhD Research Council section of the UKRI website.

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Doctoral Degrees

A doctoral degree requires the satisfactory completion of an approved program of advanced study and original research of high quality..

Please note that the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Doctor of Science (ScD) degrees are awarded interchangeably by all departments in the School of Engineering and the School of Science, except in the fields of biology, cognitive science, neuroscience, medical engineering, and medical physics. This means that, excepting the departments outlined above, the coursework and expectations to earn a Doctor of Philosophy and for a Doctor of Science degree from these schools are generally the same. Doctoral students may choose which degree they wish to complete.

Applicants interested in graduate education should apply to the department or graduate program conducting research in the area of interest. Some departments require a doctoral candidate to take a “minor” program outside of the student’s principal field of study; if you wish to apply to one of these departments, please consider additional fields you may like to pursue.

Below is a list of programs and departments that offer doctoral-level degrees.

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1-Year PhD Doctoral Programs Online - Explained Everything

Kopal Srivastava Sep 16, 2024 1K Reads

A PhD is one of the highest academic degrees you can achieve. But what does it really take to earn the title of "Doctor"? How much work is involved? Are PhD programs really as challenging as people say? Most importantly, how long does it take to get one, and is it worth all the effort? Let’s break it down in simple terms.

What Is a PhD?

A PhD, or Doctor of Philosophy , is an advanced research doctorate degree. It’s for people who want to become experts in a specific field of study. Whether in arts, science, or another subject, the goal of a PhD is to make an original contribution to your field. This means you’ll be doing a lot of research, writing, and problem-solving.

A PhD takes a minimum of 3 to 6 years to complete, depending on the subject, the country, and how fast you work. In some cases, it could take even longer. On average, most students finish in about 4 to 5 years.

• First Year: In your first year, you’ll usually focus on coursework and learning more about your field. You’ll also start thinking about your research topic.
• Second Year: In the second year, you’ll start working on your research. This means gathering data, conducting experiments, or studying existing theories.
• Third Year and Beyond: The last few years are all about writing your thesis or dissertation. This is a long paper (often hundreds of pages) that presents your research and findings.

There are very few universities of foreign are there which offer a doctorate program that has a duration of 18 -24 months. Moreover, you can opt for an Online DBA, it stands for a Doctor of Business Administration and it is the perfect alternative for you if you want to complete your doctorate in a minimum of 3-5 years. Moreover, you can add a “Dr” title before your name that too without relocating to another country.

There are various universities that are offering you an online DBA. Some of the universities are: 

• Golden Gate University 
• Rushford Business School 
• ESGCI Paris School of Management 

What is a 1-Year PhD Doctorate Program? And is it possible? 

A 1-year PhD program is not available in Indian universities. PhD programs in India usually take 3-5 years to complete. This is because of the required coursework, deep research, and time needed to write and defend a dissertation. If you find a PhD program that promises completion in one year, be cautious.

Always check if the program is accredited by recognized educational bodies. This will help you know if the degree is valuable. Also, check the university’s ranking and reputation. A good institution with proper accreditation ensures that your PhD is respected by employers and academic institutions.

A PhD is a big commitment. It takes years of hard work, research, and study. Completing it too quickly may mean important parts are being skipped. Before joining any program that promises quick results, do thorough research. A good PhD program will give you the knowledge, skills, and recognition you need to succeed in your career.

How Long Does It Take to Complete a PhD Program? 

A PhD, or doctorate, is the highest degree you can earn in fields like psychology, engineering, education, and mathematics. Because of its level of difficulty, it usually takes longer to complete than a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

While many PhD programs are designed to be completed in three to five years, the reality is that most students take longer. This is often due to the time needed for research and writing a dissertation.

In 2020, for example, PhD students took anywhere from six to twelve years to finish their degrees. By comparison, a master’s degree usually takes one to three years. Also Read | PhD Duration In India !

What does UGC say about the Duration of the PhD Program? 

A PhD program must be completed in a minimum of two years excluding the time spent on coursework, and can take up to six years, and hence a PhD in one year is not accepted by the UGC The minimum time to complete a PhD is two years, but it can take as long as six years.

This timeframe allows students to focus deeply on their research and dissertation. The flexibility in duration recognizes that research can be unpredictable, and students need time to produce original, high-quality work.

Six years gives students room to complete their research without rushing, ensuring they meet the academic standards required for a PhD.

However, it is important to note that while the maximum is six years, most universities encourage students to finish sooner if possible. This range of time allows for a balance between academic rigor and practical considerations.

If students face challenges, institutions often have mechanisms to offer support or extensions, but completing the program within the six-year limit is the goal. Also Read | UGC PhD Regulations !

A well-planned PhD journey within this timeframe helps students maintain focus and ensures they have the necessary time to contribute valuable work to their field.

If you need more time beyond six years, the institution's specific rules will apply, but it cannot be extended by more than two additional years. For women and persons with disabilities (with more than 40% disability), an extra two years of relaxation is allowed.

Women candidates can also take Maternity Leave or Child Care Leave for up to 240 days during their PhD. Students may also be granted leave for research purposes after the first year:

• For short research trips (less than one month), permission is required from the supervisor and head of the department.
• For longer research missions (over one month), approval is needed from the Research Advisory Committee.
• Exchange programs, both within India and internationally, must also be approved by the Research Advisory Committee.

1- Year Online PhD Program: Is an online PhD valid? 

As I told you earlier, 1- one-year PhD is not accepted by the UGC , A PhD program must be completed in a minimum of two years excluding the time spent on coursework, and can take up to six years.

In simple words, you must have to spend at least 2- years in your PhD. You can not complete it in only 1 year. Now, let’s talk about if an online PhD is valid or not.

I would like to tell you that an online PhD is also not approved by the UGC (University Grants Commission) because the PhD is considered a practical program and hence it is not allowed in an online mode. 

UGC states “ Notwithstanding anything contained in these Regulations or any other Rule or Regulation, for the time being in force, no University/College shall conduct Ph.D. programs through distance education mode/online mode”. 

If you are looking for an Online PhD, then you can opt for an Online Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) is a specially designed doctorate program for working professionals who have experience in corporate. 

Moreover, they can pursue this program in an online mode. In simpler terms, you can pursue this program without quitting your job and without even relocation to another country. Various universities offer you an Online DBA.

Some of them are mentioned below :

1-Year PhD Global 

How long it takes to get a PhD depends on where and what you study. In the UK , most students take around 3 to 4 years to earn a PhD . However, in the US , the average time is much longer about 5.8 years . Different universities and countries have different timelines, so it’s important to do your research, especially if you're thinking of studying abroad. Certain subjects, especially technical ones, can take even longer.

For example, physics PhD students often spend up to 8 years working on their research before earning their degree. The same goes for psychology, where students often need to complete long practical placements in medical settings before finishing their doctorate.

Architecture is another field where earning a PhD is a long process. If you want a PhD in architecture, you could be studying for around 10 years. This is because architecture requires a lot of detailed research and practical experience.

On the other hand, some subjects require less time. For instance, PhDs in the biological sciences often take less time to complete compared to other fields.

You can opt for an Online DBA if you want to complete your doctorate without quitting your job or even without relocating to another country. Online DBA is also a doctorate program that adds up the “Dr” title before your name. Moreover, you can easily complete an online doctorate in a minimum of 3-5 years only.

What to Expect During Your PhD Journey Global 

If you're considering doing a PhD, it’s important to understand that it’s a big commitment. Most programs involve several stages, including coursework, research, and writing a dissertation.

The dissertation is a long research paper that you will need to defend in front of a panel of experts. It can take years to gather enough data, analyze it, and write it up properly. In technical fields like physics and engineering, your research might involve working in a lab or doing complex experiments, which takes time.

In fields like psychology, it may involve real-world placements in hospitals or clinics. Both types of work are time-consuming, which is why these programs tend to be longer.

A PhD is a serious commitment that requires time, effort, and dedication. The length of time it takes to complete depends on the subject, the country, and the university. Make sure to do your homework before choosing a program so you can plan for the journey ahead.

The path to earning a PhD may be long, but for many, the knowledge and opportunities gained make it worth the time.

Why should I do a PhD?

People choose to do a PhD for many different reasons. For some, it’s the biggest step towards a long career in academia. They aim to become professors, researchers, or experts in their field.

For others, a PhD helps them dive deeper into a specific topic, which could lead to exciting and profitable discoveries. Many groundbreaking ideas started as PhD research projects.

For example, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin met while working on their Ph. D.s at Stanford University. There’s also the story of physicists Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov, whose work at The University of Manchester led to the discovery of graphene.

Graphene is an atom-thin material that’s incredibly strong and highly conductive. Their research, supported by a team of PhD students, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004.

While Geim and Novoselov were already established professors, it was the contribution of PhD students that made the discovery possible.

Some students pursue a PhD simply for the love of learning. These curious individuals might not have a specific career in mind but enjoy expanding their knowledge and exploring new ideas. For them, a PhD is the best way to satisfy their curiosity and engage with the academic world.

In many cases, a PhD can open doors to innovative careers in research, industry, or even entrepreneurship. It’s not just about teaching; it’s about contributing to real-world solutions, starting new businesses, or making discoveries that change the way we live.

Whether you’re passionate about academia or excited by the possibility of creating something new, a PhD offers the freedom and tools to pursue your goals at the highest level.

Is there any way I can qualify sooner?

A small group of students managed to complete their PhDs in two years. Even fewer elite students can finish in just 12 months. This is extremely rare and impressive, but it's possible with the right approach.

The key to fast-tracking your PhD is building a strong academic background before you even start. One of the best ways to stand out is by publishing your work in academic journals as a master's student.

This shows professors your academic abilities and dedication. If you manage to get your PhD in two years or less, you'll be in remarkable company. One example is Professor Stephen Wolfram, who earned his PhD in particle physics from the California Institute of Technology in less than a year.

He was only 20 years old at the time. Before that, he had dropped out of Oxford University at just 17 because he found the lectures too easy. His achievements show this wasn’t just youthful overconfidence. Wolfram went on to create a new computer programming language and introduced groundbreaking ideas in algebra and artificial intelligence.

Achieving a PhD so quickly isn’t easy. It takes exceptional talent, hard work, and focus. You need to stay highly motivated, manage your time well, and build a strong academic portfolio early on. If you can do this, you might join the ranks of brilliant minds like Wolfram. However, keep in mind that this fast-track path is rare. Most PhD students take three to five years or more to complete their studies because of the depth of research and the time needed to write a solid dissertation.

Finishing a PhD in such a short time is impressive, but it’s important not to rush the process at the expense of quality. A PhD is about learning, growing, and contributing to your field in a meaningful way. While it’s inspiring to hear stories of people like Stephen Wolfram, each student’s journey is unique, and taking the time to produce solid, well-researched work is what truly matters in the end. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, a PhD is a big commitment that requires time, effort, and dedication. While some students finish quickly, most take several years to complete. It's important to focus on quality research and learning, not just speed. Make sure to choose a program that fits your goals and timeline. Moreover, a 1-year PhD program is not accepted by the UGC.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

⭐ can i finish a phd in 1 year in the uk.

It's possible but very rare. While some students finish in 12 months or two years, it's not something to realistically aim for. Most PhDs take at least three years in the UK.

⭐ Can I complete a PhD in 1 year?

Yes, but it's extremely rare. Only a few elite students manage this, and they usually have a very strong academic background before starting. Moreover, in India the minimum years to complete the PhD is 3-5 years but you can also complete it in 2 years but you can not complete your PhD in 1 year. 

⭐ How long does a PhD take in the UK?

A full-time PhD takes 3-4 years. If you're studying part-time, it usually takes 5-6 years.

⭐ What is the quickest PhD to get?

PhDs like the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) can be completed in 2-3 years. These focus more on practical work and less on research.

⭐ Is 25 too late for a PhD?

No, 25 is not too late. Many students finish their PhDs by 25 if they start after completing their bachelor’s at 21 or 22.

By Kopal Srivastava

10 Years of Experience / Storyteller / Research-driven Writer

Loves to create story and narrating them through a Podcast

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