Am I doing this resume related thing wrong?
August 30, 2015 11:01 AM   Subscribe

I was in a PhD program for 4 years, but never actually finished the degree. I'm getting job interview requests and even formal offers that clearly assume I actually have a PhD. Am I doing it wrong?

On my LinkedIn and resume, it reads "PhD ABD XXX-XXX, completed all pre-dissertation coursework before leaving for ". I also taught classes and wrote papers as a paid research assistant, which are listed on my resume and LinkedIn individually as well. All of this is exactly, literally true.

I am very concerned about people in my professional network thinking I'm lying/exaggerating, but I also want people to know that that was a valuable educational experience that I learned a ton from. Is this stupid?

I would clearly never accept a job where they are assuming that I have a PhD. I am totally up front with my boss at my current job that I dropped out of a PhD program. But people seem VERY willing to fool themselves into believing that I do have the degree, even when I try hard to clearly state that I don't. I just had a long job interview where a potential new boss ended it with "I'm so glad we have a PhD on this project" (I think from briefly skimming my LinkedIn). Obviously I'm flattered but I can't let them go on thinking that.

This gives me panic attacks at night thinking that I'm going to get fired or dropped from projects for lying on my resume. How do I politely disabuse people from that notion, without either understating my education level, or getting myself in more trouble?

I'm in tech, where a PhD is a "nice to have" thing for many positions but only really required for a tiny fraction of jobs.

Thanks.
posted by miyabo to Education (16 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Instead of saying "PhD ABD etc," you should probably say something like "Doctoral Candidate, ABD..." or "Doctoral Program in XYZ, completed all coursework..."

People are seeing those first three letters, but you don't have that degree, which is causing the confusion.
posted by Dip Flash at 11:05 AM on August 30, 2015 [10 favorites]


Yeah, I put BSc in XXX - Incomplete
And then the details of what I did get completed. No one has ever been confused by it.
The way you have it listed is not clear enough.
posted by Elysum at 11:08 AM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


The way you have stated it seems perfectly clear to me, and I read a fair number of résumés in your field. (This goes double if it's a four-year period where it's clear you couldn't have earned a doctorate.) However, people are obviously confused, perhaps because they don't immediately recognize ABD as a status commonly found in doctoral students. So maybe "all coursework toward", or partial completion, or "coursework portion of doctoral program" would help them.
You should, of course, figure out some ready means of gently correcting people who make the mistake. Letting the misinformation stand would be misrepresenting yourself by omission. I know a guy who was head of a major project (100mm/yr) who was assumed to have a PhD and was fired when the truth was revealed.
posted by wnissen at 11:32 AM on August 30, 2015


I don't think "ABD" is a very well-known acronym in the wider world.
posted by kickingtheground at 11:40 AM on August 30, 2015 [11 favorites]


2010-2014 PhD coursework and exams completed?
posted by k8t at 12:03 PM on August 30, 2015


ABD isn't known in the world where i live (i had to google for it) (and i have a PhD).

if i read that, and i did google it, i would assume that you're purposefully using confusing terminology to make yourself look better than you are (i think you should be worried about this!)

Dip Flash's phrasing is much more honest.

(and heck, even if you know what the phrase mean, it's "optimistic". you're not just missing the dissertation - you're missing the final viva, which is the peer assessment of everything that came before.)
posted by andrewcooke at 12:20 PM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


"PhD ABD" is not sufficiently clear that you did not actually complete your PhD. It is misleading.
posted by grouse at 12:29 PM on August 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


I typically use:

Completed Coursework for PhD in XYZ

If the job description explicitly mentions they are looking for ABD folks (or if the hiring manager lists ABD on their own LinkedIn), I may use:

Completed Coursework for PhD in XYZ ("All But Dissertation")

On LinkedIn, I use:

PhD Candidate (ABD), XYZ
Coursework in...
posted by yonglin at 12:55 PM on August 30, 2015


Based on ashworth's response, I feel this may actually be fairly discipline specific...?

For example, the first two years of PhD coursework in my discipline is essentially standardized across 90%+ of institutions offering these degrees (and is typically markedly different from that you'd do if you received a masters degree in said discipline).

So knowing that someone did the first two years of the XYZ PhD program could convey significantly more information than knowing that someone "did graduate coursework in XYZ".

Perhaps you should check out the LinkedIn profiles of other folks with your academic background now working in tech typically deal with this...?
posted by yonglin at 1:15 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


Many people don't know what "ABD" means.

I know you didn't think it was misleading to say "PhD" on your resume because you go on to imply that you never ended up getting a PhD. But face it: "PhD" is going to jump out at people when they skim your resume, and many of them will believe you have a PhD.
posted by John Cohen at 1:29 PM on August 30, 2015


Response by poster: Thanks everyone, changing it to PhD Program Dropout immediately and politely declining the most recent job offer for "personal reasons" (it wasn't that great an offer anyway). The absolute LAST thing I want to do is mislead people about my background and experience.
posted by miyabo at 2:01 PM on August 30, 2015


I wouldn't say "dropout" unless you're really attached to it - to me it reads as unnecessarily pejorative. I'd just list any incidental masters' degree you probably got after finishing quals, and then list the rest of the time as "Graduate Studies under Supervisor X in Program W at University Y" or "Research Assistant, Lab X, University Y" or something, as per this thread.
posted by en forme de poire at 2:26 PM on August 30, 2015 [9 favorites]


Good advice above, but I'll also point out that you might also be overinflating the amount to which people care if you actually have your doctorate or not. People who are ABD are frequently hung up on that fact because it represents failure in academia, whereas most people in industry are focused on the great skills and accomplishments you have achieved along the way (or after you left the program).
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 2:43 PM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Check with your program - some places you get an MPhil on the way to the PhD, and if your program offers it, ABD status should mean you got one - you could put that on as a more accurate degree.
posted by microcarpetus at 6:02 PM on August 30, 2015


I would definitely not list "Dropout" on your resume -- that word has way too many negative connotations in my opinion. I would list whatever you actually were -- at my university, you were supposed to list yourself as "PhD student" if you hadn't defended your prospectus, and "PhD candidate" if you had. I think either of these (whichever is correct for your situation) would be appropriate here, as would "graduate coursework" or "PhD-level coursework" plus listing a master's if you got one along the way.
posted by rainbowbrite at 8:03 AM on August 31, 2015 [3 favorites]


Another option would be something like "Graduate coursework in [whatever topics are relevant to the job] but no degree."
posted by rainbowbrite at 11:57 AM on August 31, 2015 [1 favorite]


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