PhD in the US

[paola84]

Hello everyone,

I am in desperate need for advice! I live in Italy and I was accepted into 3 PhD programmes in the US. I am very happy but I am not sure whether it is the right move for me. 

I am 34 years old and I was told by the department secretaries that it usually takes 5 years to complete the programmes. All programmes are in the Foreign Languages/Second Language Acquisition area. I was wondering what would roughly be the timeline for a PhD in the US. Is it possibile to complete the required coursework in two years? Do you then need to stay in the US or can you complete the programme from abroad? Is it common for students there to spend years abroad during their research?

Thank you in advance for your time!!!!

P

[madamoiselle]

Hello!! Welcome to the language board  Congratulations on your acceptances!

I'm not an Italian specialist (I'm in French), but our departments have a lot of overlap, so I can try to breakdown the typical 5-year timeline. Note that these are generalizations based on my own programs, so your results may vary! 

First, it's going to depend on if you're coming in with a masters or not. Since you're European, I'm assuming you do. This is a somewhat important distinction because most with a B.A. actually take around 6 years (although 5 is what is projected.)

The first two years are qualifying coursework (the en route "masters"), but I've heard that that can be cut down to one year for those already with a Masters in certain programs, if your credits transfer and are applicable. During so, year two typically sees the beginning of teaching as well (but I've heard some programs start as early as year 1). 

Year 3 is teaching plus the bare bones of research; reading list, prospectus, getting the graduate committee together and advancing to candidacy at the end of the year.

Years 4 and 5 are idiosyncratic and depend on the student, but they're typically the research and writing years. Year 4 tends to include teaching, and year 5 -- at some programs -- don't require teaching so that students can work on their dissertations. This is also the job search year. If students need extra years, year 6 and year 7 are very common, and typically funded by teaching opportunities. 

In terms of qualifying coursework, it is typically done in 2 years. For language departments, a year or two abroad (especially for research/guest lectureship purposes) is incredibly common if approved by the committee. I'm not sure about doing the entire dissertation from abroad, unless it's specifically a distance program. I would anticipate spending the majority of your time in the U.S. 

Definitely ask your departments, since most of them should be able to give you a rough timeline (and if they can't, that's a bit of a red flag). If you can do campus visits, get inside information from graduate students as well. I hope this helps a little bit, and congrats again! 

 

[ExponentialDecay]

It's not possible in 2 years. I don't think it's feasible to write a PhD dissertation in 2 years, in the US or abroad; in the US you will also be expected to do 2 years of classes before comps. You can ask if it's possible to limit that to 1 year, but international credits never transfer. Once you've passed your comps, you can negotiate to do the remainder of your program from abroad.

[paola84]

@ExponentialDecay I meant to complete the coursework in two years, not the whole doctoral path. :-)

Edited February 15, 2018 by paola84

[xolo]

In my department the record to PhD was 2.5 years, which is singularly exceptional. As has been mentioned, if you come in with a MA in your field, then maybe 5 years is typical to PhD, without the MA, then maybe 6 years. It takes 2-3 years to finish coursework. But keep in mind that only about half the incoming students finish. And there are some that take longer than 6 years. It just depends on you. I'm at a tier-1 state research university.

I look at it this way (for me): years 1-2 MA work, years 3-4: finish coursework, write dissertation proposal (no minor task) and pass qualifying exams, years 5-6 (ABD) write the dissertation. I don't expect to be able to significantly compress this schedule (my personal viewpoint about me). I find that I am working full time or even more just to keep up. At my school I teach undergrad Spanish and that is rather time consuming.

If you are worried about starting at 34 years old, you really shouldn't be. You'll be around 40 when you finish and I don't see that as any big issue (my personal opinion).