"Anyone who is aiming to achieve a degree in which they can be called a "Dr." is a doctoral student. They can be people striving to be a medical doctor, a Ph.D. student, or anyone else who strives to claim the degree of "Doctor of ________. On the other hand, a Ph.D. student is a student who is specifically going for their Doctor of Philosophy. Thus, any PhD student is a doctoral student, but not every doctoral student is a Ph.D. student" (Alvarez, 2015).
For the one millionth, three hundred thousandth, nine hundred and seventy sixth time - I am NOT getting a Ph.D. I am in school for my Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership.
Some people say, "But I don't even know what that is. Are you even going to be a doctor?" I get it, a lot of people don't understand how this works, so let me explain.
An Ed.D. is a professional doctorate degree. Both Ph.D. and professional doctorate degree programs "require a dissertation process that provides an opportunity for advanced research and analysis in your field. And of course, both are going to get you that coveted title of "Dr." (How to decide between a PhD and a professional doctorate, 2014).
The most simple way to explain the difference is: Ph.D. students focus on new research and theories to add new knowledge to their fields. Professional doctorate students use research that already exists and they apply it to their every day work.
I don't plan on continuing to research and write new theories about educational leadership. There are enough leadership theories out there to make you want to scream (trust me on this - 8 weeks of studying them made me want to cry). I want to take these theories and apply them to my every day life working in higher education.
So just to be clear - an M.D., a Ph.D, an Ed.D. - they're all doctors, but they are all terminal, doctoral degrees that allow individuals to practice in different ways. No one degree is any better than the other, it's dependent on how the student wants to use their degree.
No, I'm not offended when people say "congrats on working on your Ph.D.," or "so you're in a Ph.D. program?" I just want people to know that there are more than just Ph.D. programs out there. If professional doctorates didn't exist then who would put into practice all the research and theories that the Ph.D.s created? 😉
Alvarez, R. (2015). What is the difference between a doctoral student and a Ph.D. student? Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-a-doctoral-student-and-a-Ph-D-student
How to decide between a PhD and a professional doctorate. (2014). Northcentral University. Retrieved from https://www.ncu.edu/blog/how-to-decide-between-a-phd-and-professional-doctorate.
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