~by Amina Abdullah-Winstead, PhD Author/Founder (IPSA) Students
enrolled in a PhD program may wonder what title they can use at
different stages of the PhD process. Usually this question arises as
students near the completion of their program, when they update their
CV/resume, or when they update their signature on electronic emails.
Potential titles vary based on the school’s common use of specific
titles.
While
there are universities that discourage students from using any title
before they graduate, others allow students to classify themselves as
PhD students, learners, or candidates. A few schools have policies that
state explicitly the use of PhD in any form prior to the actual
conferment of your degree is a violation of the university code of
conduct. This type of policy does not follow the developmental
progress that students achieve as they complete the academic milestones
associated with their program. Some schools consider students as PhD
learners throughout the entire process, i.e., course completion,
comprehensive exam, and the dissertation.
The
accepted use of PhD student and learner is in reference to students who
are currently enrolled in a PhD program and are either taking classes
or working on completing other requirements such as their residencies.
Once a student successfully passes the comprehensive exam or other
qualifying assessment, they become a PhD candidate (PhD c.). This
symbolizes that they now qualify to conduct original research by
participating in the dissertation process. It should be noted that there
are some exceptions to the rule where students start their dissertation
while still completing course work.
A more common term that has developed over the years for students who find themselves in the same situation as a PhD c. is the all but dissertation
or PhD (ABD). While the origins of this term are unknown, the term is
commonly used by employers in both academia and corporate settings when
seeking out qualified candidates as well as by students wishing to
distinguish themselves during the application process.
Upon
completing all the requirements of the dissertation and defending it
in the presence of the dissertation committee, students receive
official recognition of their status as a PhD or D. Phil (Doctor of
Philosophy). This is when graduates can also add the title of Doctor (Dr.) as a
prefix to their name. The dissertation process is challenging
enough without having this additional element to decipher. Since most
programs include guidelines for the dissertation process, which involves
writing four to five chapters consisting of an introduction, literature
review, method, results, and conclusions, they should also provide a
guide on the proper suffix throughout the process. It would benefit
academia and students to have a universal standard to designate
appropriate title(s) at various stages of the process. ***
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