Hi all,

What excites you the most about becoming a Dr, if anything?! Is it part of the appeal of completing your PhD at all?

I always fantasise about being on an aeroplane and them announcing over the tannoy that 'there is a medical emergency on board, please press your buzzer if you are a Doctor', and then me pressing it, but then saying 'sorry, I'm actually an academic Dr'. Obviously I hope there is never a medical emergency on any flight I'm on, but this did happen when we went on holiday last summer, so it made me think.

Sorry, I'm trying to write my findings chapter hence the procrastinating!(sprout)

Totally trivial thing: I'm a Doctor Who fan. Have been since 1978. Being a Dr is quite nice for that reason :p But I didn't start the PhD (well either PhD: I had to leave an earlier one due to falling seriously ill) to become a Dr. I started it for love of the research topic, which I discovered and defined myself, and then applied for and won funding.

Being confused for a medical doctor can be embarrassing. My Mum was critically ill in hospital last year, far away from us, and must have told the nurses - in her brief lucid moments at that time - that I was a Dr, as was my husband. So when I phoned up at one point, the head nurse gave me a run-down on Mum's latest medical situation, in full medic-speak, assuming I was a medic. I had to explain I was actually an academic doctor, and apologise for the confusion. Though it had a plus point: I found out more about Mum's situation than they would probably have told me otherwise. And I managed to decode everything they were telling me.

I wasn't after the title as such. I just wanted to take on a challenging research project and push myself as far as I could. A PhD at the time seemed (and was) the best way of doing that.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

Hi,

The first time I can remember thinking I wanted to do a PhD was about year 2 of my BSc. We had some very glamorous PhD students who used to walk around in a pack, they used to teach our stats classes and lead seminars etc. One of them was very cool and used to DJ at one of my favourite bars! I remember thinking what a great job, getting paid to research something you're interested in and teach at the same time, as well as have time to have a social life (how wrong was I!)

However, I gave up after applying a few times and getting interviews but not offers because I have no MSc and I didn't have relevant work experience at the time, so I went off and pursued a career elsewhere. I think it was during this time it really cemented my wish to do a PhD, I wanted to elevate myself above the jobs I was doing, especially as I was unlucky enough to work for people who had a chip on their shoulder from their own life experiences. But I've definitely changed from my original career plan. I don't intend to stay in academia once I finish.

I've given you a life story rather than the things I'm excited about! I was excited about applying for the level of job that you need a PhD for but there seems to be a definite lack of those at the moment! So I'm just excited about telling people I'm a doctor, like Ross off've friends!

======= Date Modified 12 Jan 2012 10:24:58 =======

I know, I'm only messing, I probably will be too embarrassed to tell people to be honest. The majority of people I come across don't even really understand what a PhD is or what it means! There's nothing more embarrassing than being introduced to someone at a party or something and they say, "so what do you do?" and when I say I'm studying for a PhD they reply, "oh... what's that?"

It really is more about what it means to my work life that I'm interested in, but bearing in mind the issues I've had so far at work (young, female, educated) I'll probably keep it quiet there too. I'm very pessimistic about getting a job in the current climate - I anticipate the first job I get after finishing won't require a PhD anyway so I'll probably hide it on my CV so no-one will know.

I wanted to be a Dr from being about 8 years old, my granddad was a Dr of engineering and I just thought it was so darn cool.

Followed a very long and windy path in industry to get a blooming great job only have the rug pulled out from under my feet, lost all confidence, PhD was offered and I decided that I would go for it - I don't ever see myself in academia, I am already so frustrated with the convolutions and political machinations, so once I'm a Dr (fingers x'd) I hope to work within industry on research projects as a contractor. I also want a bigger family so I'm intending on concentrating on that :p afterwards for a while.

I don't know really.... I've always wanted to do research (at least I thought I did), so I sort of just drifted into it. Don't get me wrong though, it is cool having a Dr title. BUT, I haven't ended up on the This Morning couch and I haven't managed to use it to launch a pop career. Suppose I could try and use it to get into the Big Brother house (but who watches that anyway???).

Silliness aside, I never actually use it - not in e-mails, not professionally (I really should) and never informally. I'm not really sure if anyone's interested (for me personally). The way I see it, I'm a Dr in disguise, a sort of low key Dr Who (like if Channel 5 made it). I am planning on using though - for letters of complaint, especially. I also do wonder whether it would come in handy for practising the dark arts of seduction - like painting a a Ford Fiesta Mark 1 black with go-faster stripes to make it more appealing.

The difficulty with academia is finding a way in and if you're out in the wilderness for too long or fail to establish a name for yourself you risk becoming Dr Who...

Delta, speaking as someone stuck on the outside, how true your words ring!!! :-(

I always wanted to become one... It's a dream of life.

======= Date Modified 12 Jan 2012 22:37:55 =======
Several reasons. I consider myself fairly hard to impress, but when I started university I was taken with these 'doctors', who imparted their wisdom with a clarity and depth far beyond anything I'd experienced in school. A dream was born!

And, while it might sound like a cliche, ever since I was able to read my whole life has been about trying to absorb information. As I'm sure applies to plenty here, my thirst for knowledge is insatiable, so the idea of basing a career around those aspects that interest me most seems too good to be true. (I realise that with the job market, politics and overwork, that is the case!)