Do the minimum required coursework for PhD?

[Chasely]

Hello all,

Like many of you, I'm starting my PhD (straight from undergrad) this fall. My department requires 50-something credits beyond the bachelor's level to graduate.

My questions is, do you take the minimum required course load in your program, or do you take (significantly) more classes than are required?

I would especially appreciate opinions from those that are ABD or further along in their degree.

I think part of my reason for asking this is because I'm looking at all these wonderful classes I'd like to take and things I'd like to learn. This may be quite naive of me right now, and these feelings could change as I progress in my studies.

I also did my undergrad at the same institution (academic incest, I know) so I can transfer a dozen credits from undergrad to my PhD program. This is nice because I have fewer classes to take in my department, but also allows me to think of other things I'd like to do that I feel would help with my research and specialization; like getting master's degree in another department, for example.

The problem with this, is that I could easily see myself taking one or two semester's worth of classes that I wouldn't necessarily have to do, and these times could be better dedicated to research. At the same time, I feel like learning these things would help me in my research.

Any thoughts are appreciated. Sorry for the rambling.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Chasely

[fuzzylogician]

For the first semester or two, I recommend taking the recommended number of classes in your department and no more. Ask your advisor or older students what that number is. Once you're acclimated in your program you'll know if you can afford to take on a higher load than recommended.

Can you audit classes? Many times there will a class that is interesting and relevant to your research, but once you're done with the required courses it's time consuming to have to take those classes for credit. Many professors will let you sit in on a class if you ask them to, however. Get your requirements out of the way and then do that, if you like. At some point, though, it's REALLY nice not to have to take any more classes. There are always going to be interesting things going on, and you need to stop being distracted and concentrate on your research.

[TMP]

Minimum required. Your department will want you to be ABD stat so it can pay for fewer credits. I'd be quite careful about mentioning pursuing a master's in another department- your department didn't bring you in for that. I'd wait until you actually settle in before asking about this possibility.

Edited August 9, 2012 by ticklemepink

[Chasely]

Minimum required. Your department will want you to be ABD stat so it can pay for fewer credits. I'd be quite careful about mentioning pursuing a master's in another department- your department didn't bring you in for that. I'd wait until you actually settle in before asking about this possibility.

This is what I was thinking/worried about.

I'm familiar and comfortable with my advisors so I've asked both of them. One of them "strongly encourages" it, though he admits he's biased. The other one is currently doing research oversees so I likely won't hear from him for another week or so.

[wildviolet]

My questions is, do you take the minimum required course load in your program, or do you take (significantly) more classes than are required?

The advice from the faculty at my university is to take the minimum number of courses required for the program and perhaps audit other interesting ones. You can learn in other ways--on your own or in a small informal study group. Your key focus should be the quality of your research and dissertation. Presentation skills are next. And teaching is last. Grades on coursework is not even considered worth looking at as long as you "pass."

Now, it also depends on your goal. I know someone who doesn't want to be at an R1. She loves small colleges and doesn't want to pursue the multi-million dollar federal grants. So she's content pursuing her own line of research, whether others want to fund it or not. And that's cool.

So, ultimately, the answer to your question depends on what kind of career you want. If you want to be a professor at an R1, coursework is the last thing you want to worry about. But if you want to teach, then you should find teaching assistantships that require you to be the sole instructor in the room. Good luck!

[rising_star]

I took more the minimum required coursework in both my MA and my PhD. In both cases, it was because there were additional courses that I wanted to take that were related to my interests and whose final projects furthered my own research (ie, writing a thesis chapter for a final paper). More particularly, in my PhD program, I took more than the required coursework because I did not transfer in as many courses from my MA as I could have. Part of this was due to a shift in focus, part was due to wanting to get to know the faculty of my PhD program better so I could more easily form a committee, and part was just because I've basically always taken more coursework than I've needed to. But, I've never taken extra classes that didn't meet some need or desire of my own.

[Astarabadi]

I believe both rising star and wild violet make valid points.It seems sensible to take minimum load of credits (11 credits per quarter where I am) and then test out how one's schedule and work load corresponds. maybe one can add more credits after settling in and getting a feel for the program. Also keep in mind that taking only the minimum number of credits will prolong your career at your program, which can be a plus or minus depending on how you use it.

[Dal PhDer]

There's lots of great advice here.

Just to add my opinion/experience. I would take the minimum number of courses that you need. For my program, you had to take between 6-8 courses (3-4/semester) during your first year to be able to defend your thesis proposal. Taking the minimum courses allowed me to (1) take on an RA position to get great research skills and publications, presentations, and CV additions, (2) take on a TA position, which gave me valuable skills for working successfully in a classroom, (3) apply to various grants and scholarships, and (4) [most importantly] gave me extra time to being to work on my thesis proposal and thesis project. I found this time so helpful and allowed me to get ahead of a lot of the class.

I think it's great to take extra courses or courses outside your department- but only if they are directly related to your thesis/dissertation. There's lots of interesting classes out there that are fun and exciting, but you want to make sure you're spending the time and energy on content that will be useful to your dissertation. Also, I found that for me, it was better to audit additional classes. This allowed me to get the content I needed but I didn't have the extra pressures of the actual class assignments.