Is it possible to complete a PhD in 4 years?

[Tsunami2000]

I'm thinking specifically a PhD in political science with a International Relations focus. Is 4 years possible or is that unrealistic?

[victorydance]

Possible, but fairly unrealistic. You would virtually have to finish your coursework + comps + write a dissertation very quickly. Also, I doubt this would be that beneficial anyways because it doesn't leave much time for preparing for the market and/or publishing anything. 

[law2phd]

Possible?  Sure.  Something any rational person would attempt?  No.

 

The trend over the past few decades has been for graduate students to spend more time in graduate school perfecting their CVs, not to enter the market with as little preparation as humanly possible.

[alphazeta]

It's certainly possible, and actually not that hard.  It's just not very sensible for most students.  Those who are being externally funded by government generally have a maximum of 4 years, for example, and most of them do it.

 

The reason it's not a good idea is that applications for academic jobs come in the fall of your terminal year, and thus reflect the work you've done up through the early summer of your penultimate year.  That is, people who will be looking for jobs this fall need to be finishing the projects on which they'll base their applications now (roughly 15 months before the job would actually start).  

 

Given that course work takes 2 years, this leaves a student on the four year plan with only one year of dedicated research work, and it's hard to crank out enough in that time to get hired.  The reason that government-funded students (e.g., from the military) can do everything so much faster is that 1) they already have a job and just need to produce a minimally-satisfactory product to receive the PhD and 2) they have the full duration of their employment to do it.  For academic job seekers, a far more than minimally-satisfactory product is required and the last year is not usable.

[AmericanQuant]

It depends.  What is your reason for wanting to finish unusually fast, and what do you want to do after the PhD?

[ArchieLi]

In UK and Australia, finishing a political science PhD in four years is fairly possible: you take less coursework prior to conducting independent research than US PhD students do. 

[mb712]

It's possible and not unrealistic. It's also not a good idea if you're planning on going into academia. "Publish or perish" starts in graduate school now and if you shorten your time in graduate school you're likely competing against applicants who have had an extra one or two years to publish.

[rising_star]

13 hours ago, mb712 said:

It's possible and not unrealistic. It's also not a good idea if you're planning on going into academia. "Publish or perish" starts in graduate school now and if you shorten your time in graduate school you're likely competing against applicants who have had an extra one or two years to publish.

It depends on what kind of academic job you want to pursue. If you're interested in being at a regional university, community college, or liberal arts college, then publications are one of several things they will be looking for, in addition to things like teaching experience and the ability to involve undergraduates in your research.

[studentized]

Agree with other posters. If you have an MA or are transferring from another program, and you have the outlines of a dissertation already, then it might be possible. You'd also have to be very disciplined. Otherwise, not realistic.

[PoliticalOrder]

Also, it depends on the sub field. For example, it is virtually impossible to finish a Ph.D. in comparative politics in four years because it often is required to do up to a year of fieldwork. 

[sociologyapp2016]

On 5/29/2015 at 3:01 AM, Tsunami2000 said:

I'm thinking specifically a PhD in political science with a International Relations focus. Is 4 years possible or is that unrealistic?

Yes, but it might be a better idea to take your time and develop your CV, if you're aiming for an academic job.

[elw]

I've come across at least one program that bills itself as structured to be a four-year PhD, but I generally agree with all the previous sentiment.

[constantbo]

Now you would care about the time-length of Ph.D., but while you were a Ph.D. at the fourth year, you really would not care if to stay for an extra year for job seeking or producing a baby.

[cooperstreet]

huh?