Cost of a PhD?

[jackson_uk]

Hey all,

I'm planning ahead of myself since I am only in my 3rd year of a 4 year degree but I have already started to look into PhD's and their costs as that is what I want to end up doing.

Now, in the UK you get paid roughly £13,500 Stipend to do a PhD, but what are the costs elsewhere in the world? In particular the US, Aus, NZ?

I am about to choose my dissertation project - but really need to ask the Dr I will be studying under if there is potential to form a PhD out of the Research project I am looking into.

[tropical_shark]

You will most likely have to do a masters first! Its is very hard to get a PhD on a undergraduate! Also its often better to go with a PhD being suggested otherwise you are trying to find someone who will fund the research you want to do! With the economy as it is i would imagine that is near to impossible, even worse if the uni's funding gets cut as I saw on the news the other day!
I don't no much on the PhD stuff so someone else might be able to fill you in better!

For places overseas, be aware that you have to pay visa costs on top of any fees you have to pay, I think you still have to pay fees for PhDs! Remembering you are classified as international so the fees are huge! I think how much you get will have to do with how much funding is available for the project. Any uni's that you are interested in, will have a fees page so have a nosy around their web pages!

Where and what are you currently studying?

[jackson_uk]

I'm in Hull - England studying Aquatic Zoology...but I take all the same modules as that of the Marine and Freshwater Biology course.

I know quite a few people at Hull that have gone straight from degree to PhD with no MSc. But maybe its just Hull that likes to recruit PhD students from within the ranks. I will have a proper chat with my supervisor for my dissertation about future options.

I did a small amount of reading and saw on antoher forum that PhDs in the US can pay a stipend of between $18,000-40,000...but I don't know how true this is.

[tropical_shark]

It is possible but you have to be a top student and walk out with a high first! There are a couple of members on here who can tell you how hard it is to get a PhD. Across two of the marine biology degree that I graduated with from Plymouth I no of only three people that went on to a PhD straight from undergraduate and two people that got places but had issues with funding and that's out of about 80-90 people! I'm not telling you how it will be just giving you food for thought!

I personally want the extra years practice to refine what I want to do and get practice at it before I jump into a PhD lol!

The $18,000 is less than what you would get here with the current exchange rate, works out at £11,984, a lot of that would go on a visa i would imagine as well, they aren't cheap or easy to get! I wouldn't be looking at how much you get paid, i would be looking at how much it costs and then I would look at whether you can cover it! You might get a little blind-sighted and apply to somewhere you think is going to pay you a lot, but you have to fork out hugely for living costs, or visas! You won't make a lot of money but you will want it to cover all your expenses and calculate for inflation as well if you aren't going into it this year!

[jackson_uk]

I would like to do an MSc, I know that the experience would help bundles. Its just well i'll be 25 by the time I finish BSc, so if possible i'd rather go straight into the PhD. Otherwise i'd be atleast 30 before my fisrt proper marine biology job...

[tropical_shark]

I would like to do an MSc, I know that the experience would help bundles. Its just well i'll be 25 by the time I finish BSc, so if possible i'd rather go straight into the PhD. Otherwise i'd be atleast 30 before my fisrt proper marine biology job...

Not sure how to reply to this one lol, i don't now whether to go with the you shouldn't worry about the age thing as it can be a benefit, some times a disadvantage or the I'm already going beyond 25 and i can't even get any job let alone a marine biology one!

[Cetacea]

I would like to do an MSc, I know that the experience would help bundles. Its just well i'll be 25 by the time I finish BSc, so if possible i'd rather go straight into the PhD. Otherwise i'd be atleast 30 before my fisrt proper marine biology job...

An MSc certainly gives you a lot of great experience, I wanted to go straight on to the PhD the minute I heard it was possible but then changed my mind, mainly cause I could not find one I wanted, now I'm looking for a PhD and it's still very, very hard, despite having an MSc with distinction, either way, looking back I think if I'd gotten onto a PhD I would have been completely loss, the standard of writing, even between BSc and MSc are worlds apart imo.
My boyfriend's supervisor did go straight from BSc to PhD, probably for similar reasons that you are quoting, basically he re-trained from being a chef! He did manage to do it but he had to come up with a proposal and completely self fund. And after handing in the first bit of his thesis very proud of his achievment his supervisor laughed and said: Were you drunk when you wrote this?
It's possible. But it's very hard work, many people actually don't do their PhD until they are older, during our graduations there were always a lot of 30-40 year old PhD students. If you're lucky you might find a job in which you can eventually do your PhD in cooperation with a university. It's possible.
I don't know about funding apart from that it's very, very hard to get!

[seaweed soup]

In the US, you can jump straight into a Ph.D. program from undergrad. WIthout a Masters, it could take up to 7 years, but 6 is more typical (it really depends on your writing skills and how fast you can write your dissertation. If you are a slow writer, it will take you longer). Usually, you will be awarded a Masters along the way, but that is highly dependent on the school.

For a Ph.D. program in the US, you simultaneously apply to both the school and to a specific master prof. (advisor). To explain, you need to find an advisor who is working on a project that would benefit from your research who is willing to take you on. So, instead of applying to a specific school, you are essentially applying to a specific advisor.

Stipends in the US vary. Some will give one, others will not. They can range from around $13,000 to mid $20,000s. Stipends in the US generally also require the student to work as TA. In some cases, you can go for free, but it all depends on the amount of money your advisor has to spend on you.