Wow, I met with a first time advisee recently who casually said she plans to get two PhDs, one in English, and one in another field.
I talked to her a little, tried to give her a reality check. I don't think it took, but that's okay.
Am I wrong, or does it sound really unlikely that a second PhD program would accept someone who already has a PhD? I can see doing a joint JD/PhD program or something. But I think a program would hesitate to accept someone who wants to switch fields after already earning a PhD. If the fields are close, then there's no point. And if they're far apart, then the change seems weird, as in what was the point of doing the first PhD if you don't want to work in that field?
I barely made it through my one PhD in one piece. I can't even imagine wanting to start another, all the stupid hoops, the power trips, the grad student nastiness. Nope. No thanks. (It's not that all grad students are nasty, but enough are to make grad seminars painful.)
It sounds as though she hadn't thought about it at all. Maybe she thought it sounded impressive or would impress you about the level of her commitment to academics.
ReplyDeleteThe only degrees I've seen are the ones you mention: joint PhD/MD or PhD/JD programs; otherwise, two advanced degrees doesn't make sense for the reasons you mentioned.
I think all you'd need to do is to tell her the national average for the time it takes to get a PhD in the humanities; if both degrees are humanities, she'd be practically ready to retire by the time she got out of school. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like she is interested in interdisciplinary work.
ReplyDeleteI have several friends who have graduate degrees in two different fields -- biology and literature. And another who has a PhD in biology and an MFA in creative writing.
It sounds like she's thinking of Ph.Ds like majors...you know, you can double major in college, why not for a PhD? It's the whole "graduate school as an extension of college" misconception.
ReplyDeleteOy. I've been that student, though, sort of. I didn't aspire to two Ph.D.s, but I triple majored as an undergrad. And had a minor.
ReplyDeleteRewarding? Useful? In some ways, very. But it also permanently messed up my health.
Is she thinking of doing these simultaneously? I.e., are these consecutive life sentences? :) I know someone who got a Ph.D. and a D.Phil at the same time, but they were both in medieval lit.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my guess is that she has very little idea what "getting a Ph.D." entails. Most people don't.
ReplyDeleteThe work is one thing--there might be some good reasons for getting two Ph.D.s that might make it worthwhile, but the finances are yet another thing. Unless she's independently wealthy, I'd say her chances of being able to get two Ph.D.s are pretty slim.
I know at least two people with two PhDs--one English and psychology, one classics and a modern language. If I ever win the lottery, I'd quit my job and apply to do a second PhD in the field I should have been in as an undergrad.
ReplyDeleteThere's a student in my program with a Ph.D. in geography. She currently doing one in Literature and another in Political Science. She has a major grant for one of the two. Beats me how anyone can take a student seriously who is so all over the place. I think doing several Ph.D. is suggestive of a high degree of anxiety about life after the Ph.D.
ReplyDeleteI knew someone in grad school -- another medievalist, a number of years ahead of me -- whose husband was doing a Philosophy Ph.D. having finished his Math Ph.D. (And yes, he was as nerdy as you might imagine.) I think he was specializing in the philosophy of math, so the two degrees were inter-related, and he got a TT job. And I think he did them concurrently, or close to it. But really, was it necessary? No. But then math folks finish fast and young, and I think he was kind of waiting for the wife to finish the longer, slower process of an English Ph.D.
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes I dream of starting over and doing history instead of lit -- especially since a good part of the blogosphere is convinced Quod She is a history blog! -- but would I actually do it? No way! I'm not that crazy!