SSFL

I've never done a doctorate with a baby, but I do have 5 children and had all but one while working on my bachelors and MA degrees. I had my 3rd child the day after completing my MA comps. You can certainly do school with a baby. It's working and doing school which you may find hard. Honestly, I always felt torn. When I was studying, I wanted to be home with my kids, and when I was with my kids, I felt guilty for not studying. I think you may find it harder on the emotional level than the physical. That said, I'd find out about your maternity level options at work and if you can defer for a semester in school. Take your child's early months to just be with them, and then incorporate everything else slowly and see how it goes.

So, I'm having considerable doubts about starting my program in spring. To provide background, I got my MA a few years ago in a liberal arts field and began teaching through my alma mater as a part time instructor online right away. I've been managing a class a semester pretty regularly at my old school, but haven't broken into any other colleges yet - and other than I few job applications here and there, I haven't really tried due to family restraints up until recently. Well, last fall, I decided I was ready to move forward with the PhD as my kids were getting older, and I felt I had the time and energy to devote to studies again. My reasoning for getting the PhD is that I would like to teach full time in my field. I love learning about it, and I REALLY enjoy teaching it, and it seems if I ever hope to have a full time teaching job, a doctoral degree is a must. That said, I much prefer the broad study of my field generally as I have many interests verses the focused, narrowed research necessary for the PhD. This professional doubt has been compounded by the fact that right after applying for my doctorate, I found out I was expecting baby #5. So, while I was accepted into my chosen program, I deferred my enrollment until spring since the baby was due just a week before my fall classes would have started. Thus, my own reservations about spending so many years devoted to one, narrow topic combined with my new family obligations are making me wonder if I should delay or completely disregard my pursuit of the doctorate. Has anyone else gotten into their program of choice and chosen not to go forward with it? What were the deciding factors, and did you regret your decision? Honestly, I'm just not sure I want to devote the time and energy away from my family to pursue one, narrow line of research when there's so many broad avenues of interest I'd love to learn about in my field. However, the thought of not being able to go further professionally is frustrating, too. I'd just appreciate getting some additional perspectives. P.S. Tuition costs aren't a huge factor in my decision. My husband works full time in addition to my instructing, and we were planning to fund my doctorate - at least for the first few years - ourselves.

As far as I understand the deferral process at my school, I can apply for a deferral for up to one year. However, if they reject my deferral request, I am automatically out of the program. They also tend to be skeptical of personal reasons for deferral - usually it's only financial issues that result in a request being accepted. I hesitate to request a deferral for fear that I may lose my opportunity all together.

I'd love some insight on this situation. I received my MA in history from X University. I also work there as an online instructor. I applied for their PhD Program in history for this coming fall. Currently, I live out to state, but my husband works for a nation-wide company, so, we simply planned for him to apply for a transfer to the city where X University is located, move down, and start school there were I accepted. Well, between my application and my eventual acceptance, we found out we were - surprise! - expecting baby #5. This was a daunting fact considering my due date is 10 days prior to the start of classes, and we'd have to move across country to a city where we have no family or friends when I was heavily pregnant. However, I had children while working on both my undergraduate and graduate degrees in the past, so we figured we could manage, and I ACCEPTED the offer of acceptance when it was made. Now, my husband is waiting to hear back about several applications he's made for jobs with his company near X University. The problems? While he's been waiting, the boss at his current location has offered him his choice of two local positions - both great career opportunities and both requiring a 2 year contract. Moving into one of those positions would make a move closer to X University easier - and more lucrative - in the future. It would also allow us to remain close to our family and friends while having a fifth child. All of these factors are making me consider declining my acceptance offer. My question? If I were to decline, would I stand any chance at all of being accepted again if I decided to apply after my husband's two year contract locally was up? I don't want to burn bridges with X University. After all, the program really suits my research interests, and I also work there. That said, I want to do what's best for my family as a whole, not just myself.