Doctor of Philosophy Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== Duration, age structure, statistics ==== Depending on the specific field of study, completion of a PhD program usually takes four to eight years of study after the [[bachelor's degree]]; those students who begin a PhD program with a master's degree may complete their PhD degree a year or two sooner.<ref name="usdoe">{{Cite news |date=2006-06-18 |title=Research Doctorate Programmes |publisher=US Department of Education |url=http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-research-doctorate.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303214708/http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-research-doctorate.html |archive-date=2007-03-03}}</ref> As PhD programs typically lack the formal structure of undergraduate education, there are significant individual differences in the time taken to complete the degree. Overall, 57% of students who begin a PhD program in the US will complete their degree within ten years, approximately 30% will drop out or be dismissed, and the remaining 13% of students will continue on past ten years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=In humanities, ten years may not be enough to get a Ph.D. |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/in-humanities-10-years-may-not-be-enough-to-get-a-ph-d/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023010906/https://www.chronicle.com/article/in-humanities-10-years-may-not-be-enough-to-get-a-ph-d/ |archive-date=23 October 2020 |access-date=14 September 2020 |website=The Chronicle of Higher Education|date=27 July 2007 }}</ref> The median age of PhD recipients in the US is 32 years. While many candidates are awarded their degree in their 20s, 6% of PhD recipients in the US are older than 45 years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dance |first=Amber |title=Career change: It's never too late to switch |date=October 2017 |volume=550 |pages=289β291 |language=en |doi=10.1038/nj7675-289a |issue=7675 |journal=Nature|doi-access=free }}</ref> The '''number of PhD diplomas''' awarded by US universities has risen nearly every year since 1957, according to data compiled by the US National Science Foundation. In 1957, US universities awarded 8,611 PhD diplomas; 20,403 in 1967; 31,716 in 1977; 32,365 in 1987; 42,538 in 1997; 48,133 in 2007,<ref>National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 2014. ''Doctoral Recipients from U.S. Universities, 2012. Survey of Earned Doctorates''. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation</ref> and 55,006 in 2015.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=PHD programmes: Doctorate deluge |year=2017 |volume=547 |pages=483 |doi=10.1038/nj7664-483b |doi-access=free |issue=7664 |journal=Nature}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page