Letters After Your Name - Quality Not Quantity Options

[TSax]

The ones I'm proudest of are the PhD after or Dr before. I'm proud of them because I worked harder for them than I'd ever had to do before or have done since. There was quite literally blood, sweat and copious tears shed for these. Could I do without them? Well, given the choice I wouldn't do it all again, and nowadays I work in a completely different area so they're no longer relevant and make no appearance on my business cards etc. I get correspondence addressed to me as Miss, Dr and Ms according to when I first filled out the associated form - Miss is pre-doctorate, Dr is the 4 or so years post PhD when I was still working as a scientist and everyone used Dr as a title as a matter of course. Ms is post career change when using Dr seemed a bit of an affectation, but Miss a little too lightweight

[YetAnotherPianist]

Which qualification would you take to the grave YAP?

PhD, just for the sheer number of hours it takes to do one. I certainly wouldn't want to go through that again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif). I managed mine in under 3 years, but I can see why some people take substantially longer.

[ajm3212]

Thanks for the replies - it is interesting to hear other peoples stories.


I really didn't intend the Dr. thing to become an issue or to offend anyone. Sorry if I did.

It would be really interesting to hear from any of the diploma crowd about this subject. Is FRSM the most rewarding of qualifications, or maybe it was grade 5 theory?


TSax - I understand how you would use Dr immediately after gaining the PhD - you'd feel you deserve it after such alot of hard work. I've had friends completely lose the meaning of life after 1 year of PhD work! But also, i understand how after some time has passed the importance you attached to the achievement of the qualification subsides alittle. Maybe to the point of "why did I bother"???

Again, thanks for the brave replies (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[sarah-flute]

The only letters I have are my BA, but then, they're probably (ATM anyhow - I may feel differently if I ever get DipABRSM or ATCL or something!) the ones that mean the most to me. They represent 4 years of my life when I persevered through illness and all sorts of crud, and they mean a lot because they prove I stuck to it and got on with it despite everything... I guess they represent a certain bl**dy minded stubborn perseverance that although it has got me into some scrapes, also is one of the good things about me. Plus, I did have a good time and make many friends... so those letters mean more to me than the degree they denote (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[anacrusis]

The Dr bit for me is just the means to an end - I wanted to do the job, and the title came with the necessary qualification. I don't use it when I'm not being a doctor (though as I'm sure my colleagues will confirm, it's not always easy to stop being one (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) ), and my passport merely indicates my social status as a wife. Finishing a medical degree is of course an achievement, but the title was secondary for me.

ATCL was without doubt my best achievement; I'd wanted to play well for years, and for the first time I've started to play as I hear the music in my head - still not as well as I would like, but at least some of the time musically and with some technical facility, and the exam showed that someone else thought so too, at any rate for the half-hour I was in there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[ajm3212]

at least some of the time musically and with some technical facility, and the exam showed that someone else thought so too, at any rate for the half-hour I was in there.

I know what you mean! I have those thoughts as well - for at least half an hour I played the piano well enough for someone important (including the diploma board) to think it deserved the LRSM! That has been very important to me this year and has inspired more confidence. My playing has become consistently good since passing the exam.

Sarah-flute - When I did my physics degree it was with the goal of getting out of music teaching and into a different career. I knew from the end of the first week that I didn't really want to do and gradually came to hate the whole thing. But, the same, as you, I said I will not give up (to prove a point to myself as I had already given up alot of other things) and then eventually got a very good degree, which now is useless because I'm self employed again.

As MrB has said elsewhere it is the journey that is the important thing about taking qualifications but the certificates are nice too (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[sarah-flute]

I did enjoy my degree, actually, but yes, it was (especially in my 4th year) a case of gritting my teeth and not giving in to the temptation to give up when the going got tough.

[ajm3212]

Sorry S-F, thought we agreed on something.

Actually, I didn't enjoy my second degree but I got a first. I did enjoy my first degree but got a second. There's food for thought (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[janetmaryparker]

By "letters BEFORE your name", I did, of course (as YAP rightly spotted) mean DR.
(amazed at some of the other suggestions!!!)

Perhaps a more interesting take on the question would be "How often do you USE the letters (either before or after)?"

In my own case, it only seems to matter when I'm applying for jobs/promotion (at which point it becomes VERY useful). In my everyday job/life its not something that I shout about.

[sarah-flute]

Sorry S-F, thought we agreed on something.

Actually, I didn't enjoy my second degree but I got a first. I did enjoy my first degree but got a second. There's food for thought (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

I wasn't disagreeing as such, just correcting any misapprehension that I hated my subject or my degree - I didn't. I really enjoyed my degree in a lot of ways.

I just had a great many problems with illness (my own illness, and also my dad's MS going from relapsing/remitting to secondary progressive - he drove me to Durham several times in my 1st and second years, by the end of my 4th year he came to my graduation in a wheelchair and unable to speak clearly) plus various other things, and it was a challenge not just to jack it all in and go sit in a corner and cry.

[Robodoc]

Unquestionably my FRCS Ed - it allows me to work as a surgeon!

[Bing]

I went to University from school and got a BA Hons (2 ii) without really putting any work in. A shame really because with a bit more maturity it could have been a different story. Therefore it doesn't really have a lot of meaning for me - unlike Sarah-flute who had a great deal to contend with.

However, my husband, who left school with a handful of shabby O-levels has just recently got an MSC through dint of hard work, whilst working full time. I'm most proud of his achievement above all mine.

I don't think the qualification or letters after your name mean anything really - it's the journey you took to get there that counts. I think a hard earned G5 theory counts for more than a dodgy, 'went to Uni cos everyone else did degree'.

[AmandaL]

In my own case, it only seems to matter when I'm applying for jobs/promotion (at which point it becomes VERY useful). In my everyday job/life its not something that I shout about.

I don't tend to use mine either, other than for 'professional' reasons, such as those you have mentioned.

I am particularly pleased with my BSc Physics though, because I managed to achieve that via part-time study while working full-time. I look back now and wonder how on earth I found the time to do it. Through blood, sweat and tears I just kept on going. There were many times when quitting would have been preferable, but it's amazing what one can achieve with enough single-minded determination.

[Roseau]

I am particularly pleased with my BSc Physics though, because I managed to achieve that via part-time study while working full-time. I look back now and wonder how on earth I found the time to do it. Through blood, sweat and tears I just kept on going. There were many times when quitting would have been preferable, but it's amazing what one can achieve with enough single-minded determination.

I feel like that about my Agrégation and my PhD. What I am now wondering is if I still have the same single-minded determination to put myself through the last French academic hoop (which would enable me to apply for a job as a professor).

[sarah-flute]

Another hoop? Crumbs, what else to they want on top of a PhD??!