How much coursework is appropriate?

[turbidite]

Hi all,

So after completing my MS, I've decided to stay on at the same university for a PhD. In my department, doctoral students must complete 27 hours of graded coursework and can transfer up to 24 hours from a previous degree/institution, assuming those hours were earned in relevant graduate level courses. So essentially I'll only have one more class to take to complete my coursework requirements.

My question is: does it make me look lazy/unmotivated to take the bare minimum number of classes? I would personally rather be working on research than taking classes, but I don't want my new advisor to think that I don't care or something along those lines. Any opinions or feedback would be appreciated.

[fuzzylogician]

I don't see the problem. If you're worried about what your advisor will say, schedule a meeting (or email if meetings are hard over the summer) to say "I just wanted to run this plan by you: I was going to ask to have my MS coursework count towards the PhD, take course X, and start working on project Y (by doing ABC). Does that sound like a good plan for next semester?". If your advisor has any problems with this plan, s/he will let you know. Otherwise, just do it. I don't think it's lazy and you can always audit classes or take them P/NP for anything you're genuinely interested in, but without needing to worry about the grade. Being able to spend more time on research is a good thing. 

[St Andrews Lynx]

I suspect your advisor would also rather you spent time on research instead of taking classes (that's why you're in a PhD program, right?). But ask. 

[rising_star]

I would definitely ask, as this can be advisor specific. When I started my PhD program, I planned to transfer in credit for the "History of the [Disciplinary] Thought" and "[Disciplinary] Theory" courses because I'd taken them in my MA program and they were taught with a similar approach and overlapping readings. However, my advisor teaches/taught those courses and encouraged/told me that I would be taking them again, in part because they were the program's only required courses and it was a way for me to bond with my cohort. Was I happy about it at the time? Not really. But, I did learn things I hadn't already known, some of which helped influence my research, and gained better social connections with members of my cohort.

[Lisa_McCoy]

Since you are doing PhD, allocating most of the time for research makes more sense than taking a class. However, as advised by everyone, it is better to talk to your advisor about this so that both of you are on the same page. 

[AP]

On 6/29/2016 at 8:04 PM, turbidite said:

Hi all,

So after completing my MS, I've decided to stay on at the same university for a PhD. In my department, doctoral students must complete 27 hours of graded coursework and can transfer up to 24 hours from a previous degree/institution, assuming those hours were earned in relevant graduate level courses. So essentially I'll only have one more class to take to complete my coursework requirements.

My question is: does it make me look lazy/unmotivated to take the bare minimum number of classes? I would personally rather be working on research than taking classes, but I don't want my new advisor to think that I don't care or something along those lines. Any opinions or feedback would be appreciated.

I would take as much courses as you can, so long they bring in something new. 

Your intellectual maturity is different now and a couple of years ago. It is worth taking courses that will challenge views, or will force you to re-approach authors/concepts/theories differently. I remember in one course we saw stuff that I was very familiar with. But since it has been about six years since I last discussed that, I found it very educating to tackle those questions now. (Of course, this was not your situation, as my previous course was not graduate level). 

You have a great opportunity to take courses that are a little less core than what other grad students need, so maybe you can take something new/novel. I took a course on media studies and digital humanities, for example. Also, since you have this flexibility, you can decide what you want to learn at the doctorate level and go for it. This gives you a lot of agency, go for it! You may want to consult with your advisor how to plan this. Check if the department has done this in the past. (In my department they discourage students from transferring credits like this, in yours they may have suggestions on what to do). 

Finally, if I were you, I wouldn't transfer all 24 hours. Doing a PhD is more than research. It's networking, it's trying to find out what your research is, it's having colleagues to read your work/applications/drafts, it's building a community that is going to recommend you later on. Think long term. 

 

[rising_star]

2 hours ago, AP said:

Finally, if I were you, I wouldn't transfer all 24 hours. Doing a PhD is more than research. It's networking, it's trying to find out what your research is, it's having colleagues to read your work/applications/drafts, it's building a community that is going to recommend you later on. Think long term. 

Though I don't think you should take as many classes as you can, I do think @AP is right about the importance of networking and building connections with colleagues, which often happens through coursework. Early in my grad program, we'd send each other newly published articles and books related to one another's topic (to be collegial and make sure others had seen them), discussed ideas about our projects during the breaks in seminars, etc. If you're not in class with people, you're going to have to work a lot harder to make those relationships.

This reminded me a few other things. There were/are professors in my PhD program that won't agree to be on your dissertation committee unless you have taken a class with them (and I know my program is not alone in this regard as I've heard about it being the case for my friends). You'll also want to think about your comprehensive/qualifying exams and make sure that you have all of the relevant coursework to pass those on the first try. Some grad seminars are basically training for the comps so taking those could be to your advantage even if you could otherwise opt out of coursework. 

[juilletmercredi]

Yeah, I agree about the benefits of networking and graduate classes are a good way to do that. But other than my two advisors, only one of the other 3 professors on my committee was someone I had taken a class with. Not coincidentally, I had the deepest connection with her, as she'd read my work and had a high opinion of it. But the other professors I'd networked with in other ways. So definitely network with your professors and colleagues; taking a few extra classes beyond what you need can be a good way to do that. And I do agree that taking courses a little outside your specialty can be useful - they can enable you to teach courses in the future that may be valuable (like teaching something in an interdisciplinary department or a lower-level course in another subfield), which can be useful on the job market; or they can teach you additional skills in research (like a class on neuroimaging or statistical analyses or ethnographic research).

But don't take as many courses as you can. Coursework is, frankly, unrewarded in the PhD and academia; you can use the extra time to write papers and do research. If you want to re-approach authors or theories in a different way, write a paper. If you want to learn about a new area, you could take a course, but you could also do an independent study and write a paper.

And I would definitely transfer in all 24 hours. You can always take additional courses if you want to, but transferring in the hours ensures that you are not required to take those additional hours in case something happens and/or you decide not to take a whole lot more courses.

 

[Chiqui74]

In my school, if you transfer that many credits your funding gets cut by one year. Do you feel you are at the point where you are prepared to sit comps AND start your own research?  If no, then take more classes.