Doing a Master OR PhD after 4-5 years post-Bachelor work experience realistic?
After painful job search, I finally got an offer in a very well-paying career sector (especially considering my debts and being kicked out of home very soon), which I also enjoy because I have done that as a hobby throughout my entire life: show doing marketing and public relations in the show business and events industry.
The only thing is: although I enjoyed that area as a hobby, I really really REALLY invested a lot of money and time of my life into another completely different area: academia or research in a very specific field (a subfield of Economics/Social Sciences).
The only reason I cannot pursue my primary goal right now is because I cannot even afford a Master in my desired area (and probably won't be able to afford it until after 2 years of work).
Do you think it is feasible and realistic to plan the following?
- 4-5 years climbing the career ladder in this field, gaining financial independence.
- Once I have enough money do a MSc/or Mphil/Phd in the specific area I want to become an academic/professor and then do a whole career switch into that area, e.g. become a professor or consultant of "[Specific-subfield] Economics"?
Also note that due to the fact that I have done this my whole life at hobby level (including lots of volunteer projects), the job I was offered is already at junior management level, so I hope with realistic expectations to progress quite fast within it.
Just wanted to hear any second opinions or experience
The only thing is: although I enjoyed that area as a hobby, I really really REALLY invested a lot of money and time of my life into another completely different area: academia or research in a very specific field (a subfield of Economics/Social Sciences).
The only reason I cannot pursue my primary goal right now is because I cannot even afford a Master in my desired area (and probably won't be able to afford it until after 2 years of work).
Do you think it is feasible and realistic to plan the following?
- 4-5 years climbing the career ladder in this field, gaining financial independence.
- Once I have enough money do a MSc/or Mphil/Phd in the specific area I want to become an academic/professor and then do a whole career switch into that area, e.g. become a professor or consultant of "[Specific-subfield] Economics"?
Also note that due to the fact that I have done this my whole life at hobby level (including lots of volunteer projects), the job I was offered is already at junior management level, so I hope with realistic expectations to progress quite fast within it.
Just wanted to hear any second opinions or experience
Get some work experience first, especially if you already have a good job offer doing something you enjoy. If you are able, as you suggest to "progress fast within it", by the time you look up, you will already be established.
After those 4-5 years in my view is the right time to extend your academic knowledge and the draw of a cosy academic life may have been replaced by a more focused need to develop your career in a specific direction, enhanced by your experience. Many people seem to drift into postgrad study because they are scared of facing the outside world or they have no clue what to do next. Your plan seems a good one, especially as you will be supporting yourself and gaining independence from "da Man".
TBD
After those 4-5 years in my view is the right time to extend your academic knowledge and the draw of a cosy academic life may have been replaced by a more focused need to develop your career in a specific direction, enhanced by your experience. Many people seem to drift into postgrad study because they are scared of facing the outside world or they have no clue what to do next. Your plan seems a good one, especially as you will be supporting yourself and gaining independence from "da Man".
TBD
Original post by TBD
Get some work experience first, especially if you already have a good job offer doing something you enjoy. If you are able, as you suggest to "progress fast within it", by the time you look up, you will already be established.
After those 4-5 years in my view is the right time to extend your academic knowledge and the draw of a cosy academic life may have been replaced by a more focused need to develop your career in a specific direction, enhanced by your experience. Many people seem to drift into postgrad study because they are scared of facing the outside world or they have no clue what to do next. Your plan seems a good one, especially as you will be supporting yourself and gaining independence from "da Man".
TBD
After those 4-5 years in my view is the right time to extend your academic knowledge and the draw of a cosy academic life may have been replaced by a more focused need to develop your career in a specific direction, enhanced by your experience. Many people seem to drift into postgrad study because they are scared of facing the outside world or they have no clue what to do next. Your plan seems a good one, especially as you will be supporting yourself and gaining independence from "da Man".
TBD
Well, I am not attracted in postgrad because I am unattracted to the "outside world", but because I kinda always had a vision to do something in research/academia.
i.e. when I say "professor" I don't mean necessarily teaching at university, but all the aspects around researching and being an expert in that specific topic/area.
And I have invested quite a lot of my time and resources in it, not just money, but plenty of non-curricular hours, a galactic number of seminars, non-degree required courses, etc.
I even published once, so I really am "in the mindset".
My only real problem is that I didn't find any financially sustainable career in that specific area (I have volunteered to the point of becoming poor myself already) and would have no way to sustain myself at the moment, even less so if I did a PhD.
But what I'm trying to say is that my aim at PhD is not for personal prestige or fear of private sector - it is somewhere I see my true "vocation".
Yes, it is! I think you have a good career plan. A large number of PhD students get to it later in their lives. This is my case as well, though I am still applying. I think it has a number of advantages:
1. It provides a real world grounding. And five years later if the fire is still burning, then you know you are meant for it. Very often younger students tire of the solitary PhD journeys and give up.
2. It helps provide financial stability, so that bit is taken care of. Otherwise you might end up being a student for a very long period of time, and parents and friends are very good at making you feel bad about it. Being labelled an under/non-achiever is not nice.
3. It also shows your tenacity.
4. If the work is related to your "---economics" then it will enrich your PhD. For me, my six years of post-PG work has provide the site, topic, and data of my proposed PhD work. It has shaped in many ways. And although I am attempting to critique my past life as a consultant, I am richer for the experience of it.
5. Work experience also makes for a good application. In the US, for example, where PhDs are extensively funded, work experience often breaks ties between bachelors with similar scores, interests.
6. Unless you are in the humanities, where the real world work is an impediment to your growth as an artist/author or some such, do think about taking up work. And you said economics!
But then again, its about individual temperament, I know many people who thrive in academics but struggle in all other kinds of work. If you are such a person, then don't think about work. You will crib, remain unhappy and tire yourself out. But sometimes getting tired with one's work also provides the necessary motivation to complete one's PhD. You are left with no choices, as it were!
Your call, after all. You know your self the best!
1. It provides a real world grounding. And five years later if the fire is still burning, then you know you are meant for it. Very often younger students tire of the solitary PhD journeys and give up.
2. It helps provide financial stability, so that bit is taken care of. Otherwise you might end up being a student for a very long period of time, and parents and friends are very good at making you feel bad about it. Being labelled an under/non-achiever is not nice.
3. It also shows your tenacity.
4. If the work is related to your "---economics" then it will enrich your PhD. For me, my six years of post-PG work has provide the site, topic, and data of my proposed PhD work. It has shaped in many ways. And although I am attempting to critique my past life as a consultant, I am richer for the experience of it.
5. Work experience also makes for a good application. In the US, for example, where PhDs are extensively funded, work experience often breaks ties between bachelors with similar scores, interests.
6. Unless you are in the humanities, where the real world work is an impediment to your growth as an artist/author or some such, do think about taking up work. And you said economics!
But then again, its about individual temperament, I know many people who thrive in academics but struggle in all other kinds of work. If you are such a person, then don't think about work. You will crib, remain unhappy and tire yourself out. But sometimes getting tired with one's work also provides the necessary motivation to complete one's PhD. You are left with no choices, as it were!
Your call, after all. You know your self the best!
To add to the above answers, yes, many people have done this, and usually for the same reasons, i.e. not being able to afford to immediately go onto postgrad. I also agree with the views that the work experience, if related, will sharpen your focus - I found this and so did a number of other people I have spoken to who did the same thing. Good luck!
(edited 11 years ago)
Thank you for your insights and "approval" for the realism of my plan 
I was expecting perhaps some warning about work-life balance if I build my own family in the near future, as well. i.e. if I want to include that I must expect to aim quite high salary-wise.
The only thing is that the job itself would be somewhat unrelated to economics as a social science. There would be a few business-related tasks as part of the role (calculating financial metrics, doing some statistical analysis), but the role itself is more sales and creative.
BTW it is a Advertisement/PR/Communications job within showbiz.
I was expecting perhaps some warning about work-life balance if I build my own family in the near future, as well. i.e. if I want to include that I must expect to aim quite high salary-wise.
The only thing is that the job itself would be somewhat unrelated to economics as a social science. There would be a few business-related tasks as part of the role (calculating financial metrics, doing some statistical analysis), but the role itself is more sales and creative.
BTW it is a Advertisement/PR/Communications job within showbiz.
Original post by cryptic-clues
4. If the work is related to your "---economics" then it will enrich your PhD. For me, my six years of post-PG work has provide the site, topic, and data of my proposed PhD work. It has shaped in many ways. And although I am attempting to critique my past life as a consultant, I am richer for the experience of it.
4. If the work is related to your "---economics" then it will enrich your PhD. For me, my six years of post-PG work has provide the site, topic, and data of my proposed PhD work. It has shaped in many ways. And although I am attempting to critique my past life as a consultant, I am richer for the experience of it.
Original post by non
What is your job at the moment if you don't mind saying.
Original post by sj27
...
Original post by sj27
Nothing is unrelated to economics as a social science 
....that's the beauty of the subject!
....that's the beauty of the subject!Well, of course.
I could actually CREATE a sub-field of showbiz/PR economics... which actually exists already, in some scattered set of ideas
But I'm interested in stuff like decision sciences, cultural economics, experimental economics, etc. in case you're familiar.
Original post by Polygoof
Thank you for your insights and "approval" for the realism of my plan
I was expecting perhaps some warning about work-life balance if I build my own family in the near future, as well. i.e. if I want to include that I must expect to aim quite high salary-wise.
I was expecting perhaps some warning about work-life balance if I build my own family in the near future, as well. i.e. if I want to include that I must expect to aim quite high salary-wise.
Ah! The family question. My and my wifey have a two year old son! I agree its a handful, and at some point more than questions of money, there are other things which plague you.
For example: raising a family, particularly having a child will demand a lot of your time. And somewhere in this tiredness, the PhD aspiration is first to take a hit. Slowly the work rut will set in and you will want to do better at it, to save for a vacation, to move to a better house and so on. But many of us are not like that! We do some of it, but those are not the defining goalposts for us.
Secondly, for me: being an international student and with the possibility of living away from my son for 3-5 years means losing out on the daily pleasures of seeing him grow. And so one has the daily guilt pangs, if my intellectual craving is getting the better of my paternal responsibilities. The sadness of not seeing my son for prolonged periods, of living without my partner all this while! And so on, but one has to soldier on.
Of course, some of this may not hold true for you. And so you won't have such troubles. But I agree that there are a number of personal concerns that come as part of the excess baggage in this case! And you can't unburden yourself of them!
Original post by cryptic-clues
Secondly, for me: being an international student and with the possibility of living away from my son for 3-5 years means losing out on the daily pleasures of seeing him grow. And so one has the daily guilt pangs, if my intellectual craving is getting the better of my paternal responsibilities. The sadness of not seeing my son for prolonged periods, of living without my partner all this while! And so on, but one has to soldier on.
Of course, some of this may not hold true for you. And so you won't have such troubles. But I agree that there are a number of personal concerns that come as part of the excess baggage in this case! And you can't unburden yourself of them!
Secondly, for me: being an international student and with the possibility of living away from my son for 3-5 years means losing out on the daily pleasures of seeing him grow. And so one has the daily guilt pangs, if my intellectual craving is getting the better of my paternal responsibilities. The sadness of not seeing my son for prolonged periods, of living without my partner all this while! And so on, but one has to soldier on.
Of course, some of this may not hold true for you. And so you won't have such troubles. But I agree that there are a number of personal concerns that come as part of the excess baggage in this case! And you can't unburden yourself of them!
I hope to do something where I will live with my family of course.
Do you think in general devoting oneself to a family reduces success potential?
The answer is an emphatic no! If anything it becomes a source of support, which is required in generous quantities, even as I make my applications. And decide where to go to, how to access funding and so on. Yes, it means that the work day is longer, yes it means having to make do with lesser sleep.
But it does not mean that married men/women or those in relationships will not do as well as those who are single/unattached.
I think, all this takes me back to my first post. It shows tenacity and helps ascertain if one is really interested in it. And this interest is critical not just for doing a PhD, but doing it well, and making a career out of such an intellectual quest.
But it does not mean that married men/women or those in relationships will not do as well as those who are single/unattached.
I think, all this takes me back to my first post. It shows tenacity and helps ascertain if one is really interested in it. And this interest is critical not just for doing a PhD, but doing it well, and making a career out of such an intellectual quest.
Original post by Polygoof
Do you think in general devoting oneself to a family reduces success potential?
Do you think in general devoting oneself to a family reduces success potential?
I would consider listening to some advice from people who have been there.
A good website is http://www.beyondthephd.co.uk/audio/ - it gives you a lot of realistic insight into what a PhD actually entails.
Good luck.
A good website is http://www.beyondthephd.co.uk/audio/ - it gives you a lot of realistic insight into what a PhD actually entails.
Good luck.
Hi. That's absolutely possible.
Devoting yourself to your family is far more rewarding than doing any academic course and represents "success" in a more important dimension.
Whether you can balance that with study is a call only you can make.
TBD
Whether you can balance that with study is a call only you can make.
TBD
Original post by Polygoof
Do you think in general devoting oneself to a family reduces success potential?
Some very good answers here the only thing I would mention is that 4-5 years might be quite long. You lose academic working quite quickly. Academic departments know that and may look less favourable at your application if you have been out of academia for too long (unless you do research in a related area). I am planning something similar to you and I was advised by various of my professors to stay out of academia for a maximum of 2 years.
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