Register for PhD?!!

[nushi]

Hi everyone,,,

I'm a newbie here, & I hope this will be a great experience on the net with you...

As a first post here, I'd like to seek your advice, about a critical decision I have to take these days...

I'm currently working in research at a center, while also searching for PhD scholarships abroad (outside of Egypt!), & developing a PhD research plan to improve my chances at getting one.

All people, except for one, are telling me I should apply next year for PhD here in Egypt, while searching for scholarships abroad, so as not to waste another year searching for scholarships, which I may or may not find! But I'm afraid to do this  because this would mean that next year I will have a huge load of doing 4 things: study the PhD preparatory courses here; search for PhD scholarships abroad; work in the center, & develop a PhD research plan!

I'm afraid that pressure from all this, could cause me to suffer a psychological breakdown (I already suffer from psychological problems that make me so slow in accomplishing things & very poor in managing stress & time!).

Especially that I have a bad experience in this... while studying my one-year Master's preparatory courses before here, while also working in another center (though my work was less intensive), I suffered a psychological breakdown from the pressure of studying, & had to postpone taking the 2nd term courses to next year! Though my load was much less, I was only studying & working

Despite my problems, I'm very ambitious. I want to get done with PhD quickly so I can focus on doing independent research later. I'm so determined on getting a scholarship abroad, because I want to experience some radical change in my life & educational/research context. But I also don't want to lag behind (I'm currently 31 years old, which is a bit late)... I don't know what to do!

So do you think I should register for PhD here this year? Or should I give myself another year focusing only on finding a scholarship & developing a research plan, & if I don't find one by next year, I can register here in Egypt the year after? Or should I just get on with it this year while doing the other tasks too?

[TakeruK]

This is a personal choice. How much work would it be to register for a PhD in Egypt? At some points in your post, it seems like you just need to apply, so it doesn't seem like more work than applying to another school abroad. But at other places in your post, it sounds like you might have to write some exams and such in Egypt?

Again, this is a personal choice, but if I was in a similar situation, I would choose to apply to schools abroad and within my home country in the same year. However, in my field, there and home country, there is no extra work required to apply to schools at home, i.e. it's just another application, like the ones abroad.

If applying at home is a significant amount of extra work and you cannot do it all, I think it's better to focus your energies into doing a smaller amount of things well than to spread out too thinly and do a large number of things not so well. In this case, since you want to go abroad more than you want to stay, I'd apply abroad first and then in Egypt the following year.

However, you say you are searching for "scholarships" abroad. I am not sure where you are applying to, but most North American PhD schools don't have separate scholarship applications. You would just apply directly to the PhD program and if there are scholarships available to you, it will be part of your funded offer.

[TakeruK]

Oh okay. To me, since you also have your work, it sounds like it is much better to just apply abroad and not do the 1-year of PhD preparatory courses. If you have to pay for these preparatory courses, that's even more reason to not do them unless you have to.

If you really want to go abroad for your PhD, I think it's best to focus on that. You're not that old so if it doesn't work out and you have to spend an extra year next year for preparatory courses, it's not that much time.

[nushi]

Thank you so much for your reply takeruk

If I register for PhD here in Egypt, I will have a one-year of preparatory courses (8 courses in total), which will require me to study for those courses, do their required assignments/research, & take their final exams.

Applying for PhD programs abroad require me to search for relevant professors, send them emails, prepare application papers, besides improve my research plan to increase my chance for getting accepted.

That's why I'm hesitant whether I could be able to work on both (besides my work) next year

[nushi]

Thank you so much for your advice takeruk... it's much valuable

[rising_star]

On 8/18/2017 at 3:10 PM, nushi said:

If I register for PhD here in Egypt, I will have a one-year of preparatory courses (8 courses in total), which will require me to study for those courses, do their required assignments/research, & take their final exams.

What would you gain or learn from doing these preparatory courses? Are you missing some key qualifications to do a PhD either in Egypt or abroad?

[nushi]

PhD one-year preparatory courses are an obligatory part of PhD programs in some departments in Egypt. The political science department in Cairo University is one of those departments that has this one-year courses in its program. This one-year courses is part & parcel of the PhD program; it's obligatory, & it's not related to the applicant's qualifications. And anyway, no one is accepted into a PhD program here, unless s/he has completed the Master's program. I did complete my Master's of course, nevertheless, all PhD applicants have to take these one-year courses.