Many of us have known this scholar: The hair is well-streaked with gray, the chin has begun to sag, but still our tortured friend slaves away at a masterwork intended to change the course of civilization that everyone else just hopes will finally get a career under way.
We even have a name for this sometimes pitied species — the A.B.D. — All But Dissertation. But in academia these days, that person is less a subject of ridicule than of soul-searching about what can done to shorten the time, sometimes much of a lifetime, it takes for so many graduate students to, well, graduate. The Council of Graduate Schools, representing 480 universities in the United States and Canada, is halfway through a seven-year project to explore ways of speeding up the ordeal.
For those who attempt it, the doctoral dissertation can loom on the horizon like Everest, gleaming invitingly as a challenge but often turning into a masochistic exercise once the ascent is begun. The average student takes 8.2 years to get a Ph.D.; in education, that figure surpasses 13 years. Fifty percent of students drop out along the way, with dissertations the major stumbling block. At commencement, the typical doctoral holder is 33, an age when peers are well along in their professions, and 12 percent of graduates are saddled with more than $50,000 in debt.
Holy Crap! You can do it 4 years. If me, Mungowitz and Mrs. Angus all did, you can too. 5 is ok I guess but an average of 8.2 years? People, you will never get those years back. And, if it's taking you that long you probably aren't cut out for it and will not look back fondly on the investment.
I will note one pernicious thing in graduate education in economics that probably contributes to long ABD sojurns and that is our incredible, inordinate emphasis on test taking. We give hard exams in all the first year classes, then hard qualifying exams before the beginning of the second year, then hard field exams in the second or third year, then we say "ok young eagle go do some high quality independent research and writing".
Two things you can be sure of: (1) after two years in an econ grad program you will be an expert at taking tests. (2) This skill will be of ZERO use to you in your career.
7 comments:
Are these figures from the BA/BS or from the master's? Either way, it's disturbing.
I did my PhD in 5.5 years from the BA, and it probably could have been 4.5 if I hadn't been quite as lazy.
Ah well, at least I was only 27 and 364 days when I finished :)
when the I listen to the indigo girls tune "closer to fine" I often substitute my numbers for the line...."I've spent 12 years prostrate to the higher mind, got my papers and I was free."
It was a long road. I have a theory, the Ph.D. gambit seems so attractive because the barriers to entry are high, and the stakes are so low...it's the academic calendar that it all boils down to. If I was smart, I wouldn't have accepted the administrative gig and stuck with a faculty appointment...then I would have been able to get off with a much lighter load...
C'est la vie...at least I get to teach class! Which is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
P.S. My other slogan is thus: "Just because you have a Ph.D. doesn't mean you are not a moron. In fact, it may actually prove the point."
I beg to differ. The emphasis in test taking contributes to Econ churning out PhD's in significantly less time than in other disciplines. Compare with what goes on not only in the humanities but also in other social sciences (Soc/Poli) where there's little emphasis in testing.
HI!
But don't the exams have the purpose of weeding out people that won't have the hard math skills to do research in economics?
Some of the onus is on the program...if it is clear a student can't hack it, maybe a discussion with the student about a terminal MA is warranted?
Tom the Englishman...6.2 years!
Anonymous #1: well you have differed and thanks for your comment, but what is your evidence? WHY does test taking lead to faster completion when the road block is the dissertation? Is it because poor test takers are weeded out and test taking and thesis writing skills are highly correlated?
I think econ is faster because (1) there are more and better paying jobs so incentives to finish are greater. (2) many programs have little compunction about cutting off funding after 5 year which if known in advance provides incentives as well.
I think an associated issue--re: Angus's comment about "cutting off funding"--is the degree to which the department uses grad students to absorb the undergrad teaching load.
The reasons for cutting off funding don't so much involve "compunction" as whether the department has to fund sixth- and seventh-year students in order to meet the teaching expectations of the university.
I think there's some overlap with the other issue of the availability of quality jobs. If the majority of new PhDs are becoming teaching adjuncts rather than getting tenure track jobs, then there's less incentive to get done quickly.
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