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I work in a statistical field. I am less than a year into this field, so I am pretty junior. I hold a Master's in Public Administration and a Master's in Information Technology. I have had some training in Statistics during my undergrad and MPA, but I am finding I am filling in some holes, since neither degree focus was on statistics for analysis per se. I still study and read as much as I can. I am returning to school in Fall to take one or two specific courses statistics for my job and it occured to me:
Should I return to college for a PhD in Statistics? How helpful do you feel this would be for me? And is it possible to earn this degree while working a full-time job?
before you ask, I will answer these:
Do you want to be a career student? No, I do not like being a career student. I actually enjoy working. I have not jumped in blindly in respects to a PhD because I am fully aware of the responsibility. I do not believe in beginning a degree program and then walking away.
What was your undergraduate degree? My undergrad degree was Criminology.
Why would you want a PhD? I want to gain more knowledge in my field. I am exploring whether the benefits outweigh the negatives.
Are you an overachiever? Yes.
Are you interested in teaching? Later in my career I would be. But I am not interested in becoming a tenured professor, never have been. I would be fine with teaching at a community college. I really do enjoy working full-time and do not want that to change until I near or in retirement.
I would just ask please keep this dicussion respectful. If you do not have anything helpful to add, then please do not bother posting on this thread. I didn't post this thread to brag about myself, I am simply asking for advice.
Last edited by jabber_wocky; 04-27-2015 at 02:04 PM..
Any good Phd program will expect you to go full-time and not work any jobs outside the university. The trade-off would be that you should not have to pay one cent for the cost but you would be expected to work as an teaching assistant while attending classes.
In most fields, a Phd is not worthwhile unless you are planning to teach at the college level. You have to ask yourself if your field is one where a Phd would open doors to enough new high-paying jobs to make the Phd worth attaining; for all but a few fields the answer would be no. My question to you is why do you want a Phd in statistics? Will you have a tough time moving up the job ladder in Statistics without one or do you just want more knowledge? If you just want more knowledge there are much easier ways to obtain it than taking a couple of years out of your life for a Phd, especially since you don't seem to know if it would even be helpful for your current field.
You say you aren't interested in being a career student but you sure sound like one. Anybody who already has two Masters in unrelated fields and is talking about getting a Phd in yet a third unrelated field without a specific plan for actually using that Phd in the workplace sounds like a career student to me.
Last edited by patches403; 04-27-2015 at 01:55 PM..
Any good PHd program will expect you to go full-time and not work any jobs outside the university. The trade-off would be that you should not have to pay one cent for the cost but you would be expected to work as an teaching assistant while attending classes.
In most fields, a PHd is not worthwhile unless you are planning to teach at the college level. You have to ask yourself if your field is one where a Phd would open doors to enough new high-paying jobs to make the Phd worth attaining; for all but a few fields the answer would be no. It sounds like you just desire some additional statistics education which is something you can get on your own with self-education or a class.
My question to you is why do you want a Phd in statistics? Are you looking at switching careers or do you just want more knowledge? If you just want more knowledge there are much easier ways to obtain it than taking a couple of years out of your life for a Phd, especially since you don't mention what you would intend to do with it.
I just want to gain more knowledge at this point. I find that I am lacking in my field, and this is why I will be taking some graduate level statistics courses at the university. There was just alot that I did not learn or I am simply inexperienced with. I really like what I do and want to be as knowledgable in this as I can. I would actually like to teach community college later in life or perhaps maybe even within the next 10 years.
I really don't think a PhD would be the right choice unless you have a specific interest in research or research applications. Going for a PhD is generally a good idea if it allows you to pursue something you are passionate about, however getting a PhD for economic or career advancement is less certain. While I don't have direct experience with statistics programs, in the physical sciences you are looking at 4-6 years for a PhD. And while it is paid, it is not paid much. Are you really up for that sort of commitment to fill in the gaps in your knowledge? Maybe look for a certificate program or continue as you are and take graduate classes here and there.
For teaching at the community college level you don't need a PhD, your masters and some experience would generally be sufficient.
It seems as though my question has been answered. I will fill in the gaps with certifications (I have been doing that) and just taking some courses here and there to learn new methods or just refresh. I am finding there is always something new to learn. Not being able to work full-time is not an attractive option for me because I do enjoy being able to pay my bills and not have to rent rooms or live with roommates.
For many fields, you can teach community college with a Masters degree.
I have noticed that many of my prior community college professors had Master's degrees. Some did have PhD's though. But the quality of education was not any different whatsoever.
I really don't think a PhD would be the right choice unless you have a specific interest in research or research applications. Going for a PhD is generally a good idea if it allows you to pursue something you are passionate about, however getting a PhD for economic or career advancement is less certain. While I don't have direct experience with statistics programs, in the physical sciences you are looking at 4-6 years for a PhD. And while it is paid, it is not paid much. Are you really up for that sort of commitment to fill in the gaps in your knowledge? Maybe look for a certificate program or continue as you are and take graduate classes here and there.
For teaching at the community college level you don't need a PhD, your masters and some experience would generally be sufficient.
A statistics PhD would be roughly the same length of time. And no, it probably would not advance my career much.
What is the local availability of a PhD program? As someone above mentioned most program like to have the resident student. However, that said, more programs are starting to support the returning non traditional student with more flexible programs.
I too have a job that has transformed into way more statistics than I ever wanted. So I have taken a couple of grad level courses in stats, as well as a certificate program. But I do wish I knew more. Maybe it's statistics themselves, but I just don't have the same comfort with them as with the hard science and math.
If you can get the PhD part time, then go for it. It may be worthwhile to you just from a knowledge perspective. But only you can decide that.
I just want to gain more knowledge at this point. I find that I am lacking in my field, and this is why I will be taking some graduate level statistics courses at the university. There was just alot that I did not learn or I am simply inexperienced with. I really like what I do and want to be as knowledgable in this as I can. I would actually like to teach community college later in life or perhaps maybe even within the next 10 years.
Any job you take, even with a PhD will require more knowledge. No jobs are same, even if they are in same filed. No job matches a degree 90% or even 80%. Very few people obtain job related to their PhD thesis. Everyone has to learn all over again once they start working. That knowledge is not gained by getting another degree, there is a knowledge difference between industry work vs. college study. The new knowledge is gained by hands on work, attending industry specific short courses, reading book/journals, learning from peers.
you are going at it the wrong way. You don't need to be in PhD program to read books or look up ladies journal or trade magazine. Everyone in work force does that to keep up with innovation.
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