Hi all,
first time poster here...

I am interested in finding out what are the entry requirements for doing a research degree (either PhD or Msc!)

My situation is this:
I finished college after completing my GENERAL degree (after 3 yrs) and had always intended to return at some stage to add on and make it an honours degree (I completed the general degree with distinction, about 750 I think).

After almost 12 years working in the commercial computer software industry and have worked my way up to the level of Technical Architect. Now, I am really interested in pursuing an academic career. I am very interested in doing some research as for the most part, my working life has been working in and heading up R & D teams for the companies I've worked for... and there has been many as I was working on a consultancy basis for many years.

I have worked alongside a number of academics on various projects in the past. On all of these projects I was considered the expert in my field (some of these academics were in CS field too!) Is there any possibility that an academic supervisor can accept an application from someone without an honours degree, in certain circumstances if they feel that the candidate has the ability/experience?

If the only way I can gain access to one of these post is via an honours degree then I will have to return to college, part time so for probably 2 years, in order to top up my degree. So I would love to hear if Is it ever possible to have related work experience considered in lieu of certain academic quals, if this was acceptable by the supervising prof?

Thanks in advance,


:-)

Where are you from Joey? And are you looking at PhDs in the UK?

On a very general basis, UK PhD requires:
A First class honours degree,
or an upper second class honours (2.1) plus a Masters degree.

A degree without honours in the UK is the lowest possible pass, but your degree equivalency might be much higher (if not from the UK).

Work experience can count towards gaining admittance (especially if closely related to your research field).

Will your degree give you entry to a Master's course? If so, this probably the better route to take rather than bringing an undergraduate degree up to honours level. That said, if you can't get access on a Master's degree, you won't get access to a PhD programme.

Thanks for getting back to me!!

I'm based in Ireland right now. I know that I can do a top up based on my general degree (Mathematics) but as I said that is a 2 yr part time option. Probably could do some OU add ons too that would make up the courses that I'm missing. Unfortunately I'd rather spend the time working toward a higher degree in the area I'm actually working in computers/software related. I've even looked into doing CS degree courses seeing as it is my work field but to be honest these take 2/3/4 yrs to complete on a part time basis and the content of the courses I've investigated are very trivial compared to the kind of projects I work on on a daily basis. It would be a waste of time (at least in terms of content covered experience gained at the end of the course!)

I understand that there is a rigid benchmark for entrance to these higher posts. I was just really interested in hearing if anyone knew of individual circumstances being taken into account. I wanted to run this by the community out there prior to starting any application process where I'd have to make my case. I'm sure that there are/have been others in my situation?? From what I've been told by some of the academics I've worked with I'm told that some academic institutions are crying out for industry experts to join them for both research and applied projects.

thanks

Hi Joey, you're right, I'm sure others have had the same experience.

To add, you might benefit from sending your CV to potential supervisors and see what they say (don't make an issue of having a degree without honours).