Hello,

I have two masters degrees (business related) and a bachelors degree in computer engineering.

I want to earn a PHD whily working, and in as little time as possible without using a diploma mill.
Prefearably the PHD would be from a (eastern?)-european university.

One topic that I am very interested in is the impact on life expectancy in mice after they digest a certain compound. There is one study on this topic, which is not very extensive, and according to the author of this study a study like the one I am interested in is more than suitable for a PHD thesis. But ubnfortunately not for someone without a Biology/Biotech/comparable masters degree. Do you know of a university where that would be possible?

Best regards
Daniel

That is a very specific topic. Could you widen your interests out a little?

If you have good programming/analysis skills I'd suggest getting into bioinformatics/health informatics. There's a lot of data accumulating out there that isn't being fully exploited.

hi daniel
that's an interesting topic! While I'm not able to tell you which university to apply to, I would suggest contacting prospective universities/supervisors/research centres about it.

I have a friend who has no background in molecular biology but her phd project has genomic work.

It is possible that you may find yourself under pressure having to learn up a lot of biology/biotech principles, terms and reactions BUT if you are very enthusiastic about this topic and are willing to put your heart and soul in it, you may surprise yourself -- you may end up learning even faster than you expected!

I would try to look for people in this "mouse" research area, email/call/ask them.

good luck

love satchi

As someone who has recently gained a PhD in a demanding biological research field, I find myself a little insulted by this. I would offer the following wisdom:-

1. There is no such thing as an easy PhD. There ARE students who get a lot more help than they should and end up with PhDs, bringing the qualification into disrepute.
2. The field of biology is no less demanding than any other discipline/branch of science. My supervisor was a physicist who presumably had the same misconception. Consequently, he was a very poor supervisor doing fifth rate research, and always asked me loads of questions every time he was examining a PhD thesis.
3. The project you describe does not sound like enough for a PhD, as you described it. For that, you'd need to go into at least aspects of the absorption, metabolism and the nature of the toxicology of the substance.

Why don't you do a PhD in your own field? More to the point, in your field - where you could presumably earn s***loads of money with your existing qualifications - why do you want to?

I am sorry if you feel insulted, I in no way meant that the field of biology is easier than other fields.
To clarify, what I meant was that in any field there are programs/supervisors/university that have a lower standard / that is easier or has looser standards, which could help with the no prior knowledge problem of mine. And I am looking for the easier ones in biology.

Why I do not really want to do a phd in business? Because having studied both I find the natural sciences more interesting. If however you can point me to an easy/fast phd in business, that would of course be very interesting too as an alternative.

best regards
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

I didn't take it personally. I would suggest you cogitate the following, though:-
1. Why do you want to do a PhD?
2. Do you have any idea how difficult a PhD is full-time, let alone trying to fit study for one in around work? Doing it part-time will take you 5 to 7 years. Or more, depending on where you are.
3. If you're into "natural sciences", with your background, I'd have thought theoretical physics would be better suited to your talents. And then you wouldn't even have to do experiments or consider the interfering complexities of the "real world". Or if you're hell bent on something biological, HazyJane's suggestion....

...is a good one.

I should also add that looking for a programme, institution or supervisor with "looser standards" is surely a no-no. If they have loose standards, there would be reasons for that, i.e. poor supervisor or they're no bloody good! Look at the number of posts on here regarding dissatisfaction or problems with supervisors. Mine was a c***... and that's a Russell Group (UK) institution with high standards.

I guess you could try an on-line programme. And if you're self-funding, it might be easier to get in.

I wish you luck!

To be completely open, I am getting a PHD for the title. Unfortunately I am living somewhere where titles are _VERY_ important, so it would help if I get one. I know the wrongest reason out there. So if I am doing it for the wrong reason anyway I thought about going for the topic that is the most interesting to me. However if there is another easy one out there I am happy about other areas as well.

Furthermore to be completely honest, and I might be very naive here, I do not really see why writing a thesis has to take that long. I wrote my last master thesis, which had around 90 pages (excluding appendix and so on) in less than two month. Ok, the phd thesis takes much longer, is of a higher standard and so on. But 18 times longer per page than a master thesis? (If you do it in 3 years). Of course I understand that you can loose yourself in a phd thesis, but if you have a narrow defined research objective, you do not stray much from the path, and research a field that is relatively new, where there is not a lot of literature around?

Before someone suggests a diploma mill: I need one that is recognized in the EU.

Best regards
Daniel

I wouldn't give you the time of day if I were a supervisor. Seriously, do not no a PhD. You will not complete it and will end up wasting other people's time.

And it's not the writing that takes a long time, it's the research.

If you don't understand why a PhD takes so long you are probably not ready to do a PhD. If there was some easy shortcut then why do you think the majority of people take 3-5 years? There are no easy/quick PhDs.

A Masters is a good foundation but really it is a 'baby' project compared to a PhD. There are so many things that take time. And you are being extremely naive if you think you could work with mouse models and get quick answers. Your lack of experimental biology experience will lead to some nasty shocks if you think that the process will be quick and efficient.

What if your experimental approach is flawed? What if your experiments yield no data? What if you very quickly find your original hypothesis was wrong and you need to go back to the drawing board and find a new research question? What if someone publishes the answer to the same question you are working on shortly after you start? These are all problems that PhD students have faced and there is no guarantee that you won't experience some or all of the above.

Titles (should) gain respect because they are something that person has earned. It sounds like you want kudos with minimum effort.

HazyJane, Simon G and Charmlessman have covered all that needs to be said.

Ya think?

hi Daniel, I can understand what it is like to be in an environment where titles are so important, I have been there before and what I see very often is just EGOS flying around and bouncing off each other. It is really meaningless in this sense. Having a PhD is desirable but its definitely not the greatest thing in the world.

I would like to add this though--it is NOT easy to write a phd thesis. It's not about having a narrow defined research objective and less literature about, rather-- it is the PROCESS of doing a phd that is very very difficult and writing up is part of that process.

I can give you one true life example of a speedy PhD thesis. This was the 2nd PhD of Art Ong JumSai. Years ago I attended a talk that he gave. He already had a PhD but it was in Physics. But he wanted to introduce Human Values into schools in Thailand and was told that he was not qualified because he did not have any certificate in Education. So he did a PhD in Education and he finished writing his thesis in only one year. But this is what happened for him, and PhDs are different for everyone.

I can give you another true life example of a speedy ONLINE phd thesis. I know a person who claim to have studied music in Berkeley USA but was only there for 3 months. Obviously the PhD initials look good after his name. He obtained an online PhD using his life work (and discography), I don't know how much he paid but he did get some kind of PhD certificate. Now he has those initials on his business card. When customers see him, almost everybody is impressed. But these are people who have not even gone to university and don't know what a PhD is like. This person is now doing extremely well in his business! It looks like his online buy-a-phd works very well for him.

I personally think that reasons for doing a PhD are very important, choose which PhD you want to do, choose carefully and when you do your phd for the right reasons, chances are that you will make the accomplishment.

love satchi

I understand all your rightfully critical comments, however I do not agree completely.

I agree that my reasons to think about a phd are the wrong ones. I agree that usually a PHD takes longer, I have enough friends that did a phd (Everything from one to five years, from economics to physics and chemistry).

I do however still believe that there is a path of least resistance that could lead to a (legally recognized) phd in a shorter period of time. I know of (real) phd thesises that were written in under a year, unfortunately all of them had connections to the university that I lack.

So yes, doing a phd in a topic that you are really interested in, putting alot of effort in it, doing the phd for the right reasons, it might take (very) long. Doing the phd only for the title, taking the path of least resistance, I still believe that it is possible in a shorter duration.

best regards

Assuming you're right and that it is somehow possible to gain a credible PhD from a credible university in a shorter period, and that all the PhD students who take 3+ years are somehow slackers, less efficient, dawdling, not trying hard enough, don't have your insight etc.....

1. If you want to do a short PhD, you have to do one in something that you already have expertise in. To think that you can just walk into another field and start quality research in it without spending time laying down the foundations is either arrogant, naive, or both.

2. If you want to do biosciences despite my advice above, do not go anywhere near animal models or even cell culture. It's probably one of the most laborious and time consuming ways of gathering biological data. Give yourself a crash course in bioinformatics, find a lab with a tonne of data sitting around, and get analysing.

It's also worth noting that most good universities wouldn't actually let you submit before a certain time period - e.g. not before you've done at least two years of actual research.

Thanks for the rest of the information. But concerning the statement above, I never said, implied or even thought what you wrote above. What I said was that if you want to do it RIGHT then it takes a lot of time. If you do not care about doing it right then it must be easier/shorter.

Also there might be a misunderstanding about the credibility. I do not care about the credibility of the university. I care about legally carrying the title. This means for me either a state-approved university in Europe (preferred), or any state-approved university worldwide. This can be both public or private universities, as long as they are officially recognized by the state they are in.

Also, the thought of the topic in biology above was just that, a thought. I am also happy do do something in another area, be it economics, management or anything else.

I will definitely give the bioinformatics a thought.

Best regards

If you don't care about doing it right, do you expect to pass?