Being a Unicorn: Finishing Your PhD Early

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Bedford, Alison. 2019. "Being a Unicorn: Finishing Your PhD Early." The Thesis Whisperer.
Article Title

Being a Unicorn: Finishing Your PhD Early

Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorBedford, Alison
Journal TitleThe Thesis Whisperer
Year2019
Web Address (URL)https://thesiswhisperer.com/2019/09/04/on-finishing-early/
Abstract

Recently I published a post from Carmen Blythe on finishing the PhD in 2 years, which provoked a storm of comments. Some people pointed out the many advantages that Carmen had, which helped her finish in such a short time. You might have been left wondering: what about ‘normal people’ – can they finish early to?

There are a bunch of PhD students who routinely finish early: part timers. While they are more likely to drop out in the first couple of years, statistically people who start as a part timer to finish much earlier than their full time comrades; sometimes within four years (which is like being enrolled for two years full time). I guess we don’t notice this happening around us because finishing in 4 years instead of 8 means you are still around for a long-ish time. Truly, our part time students are the quiet achievers of the PhD world. I’ve wanted to highlight this phenomenon for a while, so I was glad when Alison sent in this post.

Dr Alison Bedford is a recent PhD graduate from the University of Southern Queensland, parent, wife, secondary History and English teacher, sessional lecturer in History teacher education, and generally busy human. Her research interests include Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Foucault’s concept of discourse, science fiction and History curriculum and pedagogy. You can find her on LinkedIn and Twitter @bedforda1

Keywordspart time study; full time study; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD); completion; early completion
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020390303. Higher education
Byline AffiliationsUniversity of Southern Queensland
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q6409/being-a-unicorn-finishing-your-phd-early

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