Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Dissertations are for PhDs
A couple of papers referred to in stories in the Chronicle of Higher Education (both links below are for subscribers only) tell a couple of stories about economists and training of PhDs.
Categories: economics, higher_ed
- The only three things that seem to predict successful completion of a PhD program are one's GRE score, whether one had an assistantship, and whether the students share office space. Formal training as undergraduates (independent of GRE score and assistantship offers) doesn't seem to matter.
- When I started my dissertation in the early 1980s, economics was just beginning to use the "three essay" format for theses, rather than having PhD candidates write all their work on developing one theme. It turns out that the three essay format leads to quicker completion of the degree. It's also well-known in economics for helping scholars quickly spin out journal submissions, a key part of the process for promotion and tenure.
- I'm quite surprised how many new PhDs I interview who have already got papers in the publicaiton process. According to another article, "departments that encourage students to slow down and polish their dissertations for publication ...tend to have higher dropout rates." I got very good advice when I was in the middle of writing my dissertation -- the only reason to write one is to get a PhD. Nothing else matters. (And I got almost nothing published out of mine.)
Categories: economics, higher_ed
