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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just curious. I don’t know if there are hard and fast percentages out there, but for anybody who has been in a PhD program, how many of your colleagues were successful with their dissertation defense? How many or not? If you fail it, are you permitted a second chance to present? Or is it one and done? What happens with the degree status if you don’t pass? [/quote] My program had a high fail rate both at our university and compared to similar programs at similar universities. It is also has a high rate of people dropping out. I’m ABD because I dropped out. The same year, a friend transferred (unheard of!) and started over again at another local university. Even with having to retake comps a year later, she was happier. Three of our classmates failed within the next two years. It was a toxic environment. [/quote] For your colleagues that failed, did they go back to continue work and present again? You can’t claim a PhD on a résumé or call yourself Dr. with ABD, right? [/quote] NO, you cannot "claim a PhD on a resume or call yourself Dr. with an ABD". I'm not clear why this is even a question. You can't claim credentials that you haven't earned. If you're in a field that includes licensing and/or a member of a professional organization with an ethics code, doing so will likely torpedo your career in very wide-reaching ways. [/quote] The ABD is such a crock because the D is the hardest and most difficult part. I would never admit being ABD, either PhD or nothing.[/quote] Writing the dissertation, and particularly including all the references and notations and images and charts that are important is difficult but the research is the fun part. You're doing your project where you are THE expert. Nobody in the room knows your subject better than you. Heck they're attending your presentation and getting information / understanding from you. So if you confuse one of the definitions that you came up with, they may ask for clarity and you can go back and say you misspoke and continue. You're not going to fail because your presentation said "image on the left" when you were referring to the right. Comps / Quals / whatever else they're called are brutal. There are lots of other experts in there. So if you confuse the fundamental theorem of abelian groups and apply it incorrectly, they'll notice and you won't pass that qual and you may not get to the ABD state. You go in there thinking that comps are just easy and the hard part is the dissertation and you may never get to that state. I knew several people with that on their resume. Smart people but couldn't buckle down and get past comps. One guy went from UMD -> GW -> I think UGA or somewhere in GA before he finally got to ABD. I knew several who went from MIT -> Cornel -> UMD (many without the Cornel part but at least one who did). Its not an easy path. Plus while you're taking comps you're probably still teaching standard classes - grading 25 - 30 papers a night, while taking classes because you're not ABD, while taking tests in those classes, while still studying for comps. Its an uphill battle. [/quote]
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