As a PhD...

[Requiem]

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How would you describe your career in terms of day to day activities?

Do you mostly lecture, have office hours and advise undergrad/grad students or is it predominantly research with a bit of lecturing thrown in there?

With that asked, is the percentage of time devoted to teaching/researching made by the individual, or is there a typical percentage that seems to be followed throughout universities?

I'm looking into pursuing a PhD with hopes of doing a lot of lecturing/teaching, and was wondering if you felt that was what you could focus on, if so desired.

Thanks for any input guys

 

[gbwillner]

How would you describe your career in terms of day to day activities?

Do you mostly lecture, have office hours and advise undergrad/grad students or is it predominantly research with a bit of lecturing thrown in there?

With that asked, is the percentage of time devoted to teaching/researching made by the individual, or is there a typical percentage that seems to be followed throughout universities?

I'm looking into pursuing a PhD with hopes of doing a lot of lecturing/teaching, and was wondering if you felt that was what you could focus on, if so desired.

Thanks for any input guys

Unfortunately, you question, while well-intentioned is too vague to be answered in any satisfactory way. There are a lot of different career paths for PhDs. Lots of PhDs out there do no teaching or even no research at all. Perhaps what you meant is an academic professor. Typically any teaching you do is on the side and your main focus will be your research. It is probably possible to secure a job where all you do is teach, but I don't know anyone like this, and job opportunities may be relegated to smaller community colleges or something, I don't know.

If you are not interested in research or a very specific PhD career do not do a PhD.

 

[Neuronix]

MD/PhD or PhD only? MD/PhDs typically focus on research or clinical work. Teaching is NOT lucrative. You could choose to do mostly teaching as an MD/PhD for a dramatic pay cut if you so chose, but it's quite rare. It seems to me most are less than 10% teaching, unless you call having medical students follow you around "teaching".

PhDs have a wide variety of potential tracks. A common one is where you go to small or community college and teach your basic undergrad courses like chem/bio/physics/whatever you're into. These jobs are often heavy teaching positions or only teaching. They typically pay on the order of $60k/year to start depending on the position, but it's a lot easier to get than hardcore research jobs.

You can also find the hardcore research jobs and everything inbetween. It's too generic a question to answer and depends on the university and your own personal goals. Remember that teaching doesn't earn you honors/tenure/promotions/good pay and you'll be ok. Teaching undergrads can be frustrating and is not as intellectually stimulating as you'll just teach the same stuff over and over again. It does earn you a less stressful and competitive lifestyle.

 

[GWD]