Recently I had the chance to interact with a representative of a very prestigious university from china called CEIBS, and got the chance to hear a personal testimony of what he has seen of doctorate level students. CEIBS (China Europe Business School) is a school dedicated to development of PhD programs, across China, Europe, and have now ventured into Africa. According to the representative, Mr. Samuel, many students who enroll for doctorate level courses usually do it with the wrong reasons in mind.
Some of the most common wrong reasons he talked about are as follows:
Holding on to your visa
Many students who travel abroad to study for their masters programs, get very attached to the new life they find in these nations, that few cringe at the idea of going back to their homeland. There have been many cases of students taking up doctorate programs simply because they want to keep their student visa and stay in those nations a little longer.
Pressure from peers
For the most cases, people take up doctorate courses after they hear a friend or a someone they know talk about it. This makes them consider taking it up too. What most forget is that you will do this doctorate on your own, not them. This sole reason makes a lot of students get caught up in the struggle to complete the program year after year, getting further and further into debt, and most leaving the program all the same.
The genius complex factor
Well, at one time or the other, we have come across a person who thinks they are very bright and smart, and they make sure we know just how smart they are, by making us aware that they are pursuing a doctorate course. These people usually take doctorate disciplines that are perceived to be for the very smart people just to show off. Well this is the wrong reason to take up such a program, because the density of the work involved will sink in eventually, and force some of them to quit.
Social insecurity
There are those who might feel that their talents have never been appreciated, making them feel like they have something to prove to earn more respect from people. These are the type of people who like the idea of impressing others by showing a business card with ‘Dr’ on it, or having a large certificate mounted in their office showing their level of study. This usually doesn’t work out well for these types of people, because once they enroll they will realize that there are professors and post-docs who are more experienced than them thus making the doctorate look like a meager certification.
So we will take a close look and ask ourselves whether and why we would want to do a doctorate? It is important to be very clear in our mind of what the reasons are.
Some of the very good reasons why a sensible person would want to do a doctorate are:
- Ambition in that you want to challenge yourself, pushing your set limits to higher ones and strive to accomplish a milestone
- Those who feel a driving force pushing them to venture and discover new things
- For those who want to improve their abilities to understand and solve problems, and increase self confidence, to become better communicators
