PhD Paying/Funding a Ph.D.: University Research or Outside Work?

[Qazwsx16]

Hi everyone,

I was accepted to my Ph.D. program in Public Health (specializing in Epidemiology) this past week and have a quick question in terms of funding. Here are my two options:

1. I currently work as a biostatistician for my state government and was just promoted to a supervisory position overseeing the activities of all biostatisticians within our bureau. My boss said they would allow me to drop my hours to 30 a week and retain my health insurance so I could continue my education.
2. The program offered a 20 hour position doing research-related activities under my advisor' supervision (it was somewhat vague in my acceptance letter). It does include waiving tuition fees, health insurance, and a monthly stipend. This is guaranteed for the first 2 years.

This is a full-time program requiring me to complete it within four years. After I graduate I was planning on moving up where I currently work and/or eventually (or immediately) go into academia.

From your experiences during and after completing your doctoral programs, which option would you suggest and why? I'm leaning more towards option #1, because I get an opportunity to continue working with all of our State's data and grow as a supervisor with real-world experience, but at the same time I don't want to miss out on the opportunities this Ph.D. has to offer.

Please let know if I can provide additional information!
Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Stories]

Seems like the first option is a good bet. Work experience + advancing your degree. And you have supervisory/managerial duties.

 

[Qazwsx16]

Seems like the first option is a good bet. Work experience + advancing your degree. And you have supervisory/managerial duties.

Thanks, Stories! Once again, I'm not too familiar with what "research activities" means (which I sent an e-mail to them about), but from your experience (and anyone else reading this), what did do you do with your time as a research/graduate assistant, and how did it benefit your career? I'm worried that by splitting my time between work and school instead of research and school that my exposure to research would be limited. Thoughts?

After following these forums for the past two years, the general understanding I had was that one should apply to programs that are fully funded. Would working and paying for a Ph.D. be bad? As a side note, from a financial standpoint, both costs in both scenarios are about the same after factoring the cost of tuition by going to the work route.

As always, thank you!

 

[Qazwsx16]

Also, is it possible to change the title of this thread? I was thinking it might be more appropriate to have something along the lines of: "Paying/Funding a Ph.D.: University Research or Outside Work?"

 

[Stories]

Thanks, Stories! Once again, I'm not too familiar with what "research activities" means (which I sent an e-mail to them about), but from your experience (and anyone else reading this), what did do you do with your time as a research/graduate assistant, and how did it benefit your career? I'm worried that by splitting my time between work and school instead of research and school that my exposure to research would be limited. Thoughts?

After following these forums for the past two years, the general understanding I had was that one should apply to programs that are fully funded. Would working and paying for a Ph.D. be bad? As a side note, from a financial standpoint, both costs in both scenarios are about the same after factoring the cost of tuition by going to the work route.

As always, thank you!

Really, work that leads to publication of an abstract, poster, paper. Something that is out in the public domain. Journal articles at the gold standard, I would say. Additional work experience is just fine, I would say, if it's in a research-related capacity (i.e. disseminating new information and describing how you got there).

As to what you do, working in someone's group/lab lets you understand better the methods and ways that research is needed in specific areas. You become an expert in that field as you work in more and more. Academic research is very much a "deep dive" and so you get to be very familiar with that specific area.

Working during PhD is uncommon, but isn't a bad thing. It's a little bit harder time-wise, since your work isn't directly related to your dissertation, but it's just a bit more time.

 

[vanilladicedicebaby]

Hi everyone,

I was accepted to my Ph.D. program in Public Health (specializing in Epidemiology) this past week and have a quick question in terms of funding. Here are my two options:

1. I currently work as a biostatistician for my state government and was just promoted to a supervisory position overseeing the activities of all biostatisticians within our bureau. My boss said they would allow me to drop my hours to 30 a week and retain my health insurance so I could continue my education.
2. The program offered a 20 hour position doing research-related activities under my advisor' supervision (it was somewhat vague in my acceptance letter). It does include waiving tuition fees, health insurance, and a monthly stipend. This is guaranteed for the first 2 years.

This is a full-time program requiring me to complete it within four years. After I graduate I was planning on moving up where I currently work and/or eventually (or immediately) go into academia.

From your experiences during and after completing your doctoral programs, which option would you suggest and why? I'm leaning more towards option #1, because I get an opportunity to continue working with all of our State's data and grow as a supervisor with real-world experience, but at the same time I don't want to miss out on the opportunities this Ph.D. has to offer.

Please let know if I can provide additional information!
Thank you!

Depending on what program you're in - please continue working! Real life experience is so much more valuable than just being a slave to the university. I managed a hospital research institute and worked on my PhD full time - almost went crazy. Plus, the data you have access to makes you a valuable asset to the department.