I'm based in the U.S.; its fascinating to hear all the experiences from so many places. So I'm sure I'm understanding, when people here say working on their PhD, or 3rd year - do they mean course work towards, or the actual dissertation research, post-course work? I'm a doctoral student, just finished course work and taking qualifying exams this summer, then onto dissertation in the fall which I'm hoping will be done by next Spring to Summer.

Hi doc2008, in the UK, a 3 year PhD "course" involves just your actual research work with maybe some small courses thrown in on the side (not always).

umm, doc, i guess the system is quite different in the UK than in the US.
In the UK there is close to no coursework for PhD students. MA /MSc is taught, then as PhD student you're on your own (dissertation research). Typically takes about 4 years of that to get your PhD. Usually this time is intersected by a "end of first year report" and an "upgrade". before the upgrade you're technically classed as MPhil student, after upgrade you are retroactively reclassed as PhD student. Upgrade usually consists of about three chapters of your thesis. At least in the social sciences, that is.

oh sry, H got there first

certainly helps me to read these posts in a new light! Yes, entirely different for both biological and social sciences compared to here; we all go through course work post Masters - number of hours depends on college, and then qualifying exams which again varies per college and institution - for mine my committee writes them and I have 9 weeks to complete them, and then I do an oral defense and then I'm ready for dissertation;others do both oral and written as well, but written could be in the institution over a 2day period with no outside materials and questions can be anything under the sun. format can really vary.

In my discipline, most of us have been working on an idea for dissertation - all course papers leading up to this point have built on this idea and the qualifying exams really should serve to provide the background for dissertation so by the time you defend your quals, dissertation proposal is essentially good to put into place, and not take too long. Some already have prelimary data for their research they have done throughout coursework. I now have a whole new appreciation for this process!

So another question - do you have to continue paying for credits while your are doing dissertation/PhD? We have to register for a minimum of I think 6 hours/semester (halftime) while doing PhD, a real motivation to get it done! I work FT and have a family, so I've had to cut back my work hours to get through classes - at a halftime rate, only 2 classes per semester - and this cut in pay has been awful,maybe just getting me ready for crappy post-doc pay - but this would be so much harder if I had to do my research over an extended period after the classes.

dear doc2008,

how many journal papers does a phd student typically achieve in the US before their defense. In the UK we usually try for one or two.

so you have 3 years taught coursework and then 4 years independent research? what GPA do you need to get accepted onto a phd programme?

i have heard that the US phd system is more advanced than the UK system which is best: US or UK phd?

I think it depends entirely on the field and institution, and your project, ability for funding and placement as needed. I know some who are working on their dissertation/research for extended periods, many years, and some get it done in 2-3 semesters; lots go ABD (All But Dissertation) I 'm doing it as fast as possible because of having to pay the 6 hours/semester for doing the research, and needing to get back to full hours; I'm trying for a good project that is fundable and laying out the ground work for a post-doc project with bigger funding, but not the top dissertation of all time - which would take much longer, I'll wait till I'm full professor (with full prof pay) to do that!

Same goes for papers, I think; depends on what your work experience is before and during coursework, and your field. I've got quite a few research articles as coauthor/co-PI having worked with my boss for so long - and now starting to get some review articles as first author. I think it just depends on the situation. And again for grades; we also base admission on test scores (GRE), and it depends on institution, college, field and demand. I heard that nursing grad schoolit requires a 3.8 GPA to get in because of the shortage of nursing instructors; I'm pretty sure I just had a 3.5.

doc, concerning your question about fees/credits: we don't get any credits as PhD students, but we do pay fees. the amount of fees is independent of how much course work we do; it is either full or part time fees. full time is usually about 3000£/year (I think? Anybody have different experiences?) for home/EU students (1500£ if you are part time).
how much do you pay for credits? do you pay fees related to how many credits you are taking?

Hi doc2008. In the UK you don't do any taught courses as part of your PhD you go straight into research. Generally here you get 3 years to do your whole reserch project (i.e. in sciences, do all the experimental/fieldwork, process the data, analyse it and write it up as a thesis) - generally it takes more than 3 years. So if people say they're in their 3rd year of their PhD then it's the 3rd year of research, and hopefully nearing the end (though i was nowhere near getting close to the end in my 3rd year!). Hope that makes it clearer. I know in the US you start by taking courses and have to pass them to go onto the research part - we don't have to do that, we just get thrown into the deep end!!! (Though it's a little less tough if you do a masters course first or have worked in research in the field previously as a lot of us do now... at least then you have some vague idea what you're letting yourself in for!)

Oops brain gone away, I replied to doc2008's message without seeing there was another page of replies ;o) What am I doing here on a Sunday anyway?!!!
Quick addition (assuming I've not missed more posts) - funding is annually paid dependant on full or part time, with fees being around £3000 (tuition) per year for the first 3 years (for EU students not overseas), but following years are much cheaper, you just pay a continuation fee - which for my 4th year at my uni was £400. The university fights with you to finish within 4 years, so I don't know what happens to fees if you go over this deadline (am hoping I don't have to find out!). Think I should go home now... Sunday in the office... gahhhh.

I am in my fourth year PhD in the write up phase. This is normal in business, becasue I lost a year with full time teaching MBA students last year. I am originally from Holland but have lived in australia 25 years. I am a very later phD one can say

Hi Hermaatje, "Goedemorgen"

how are you? So do you still speak Dutch?

I am from Holland as well although I live in Germany.