I am halfway through the second year of my PhD.  I will be done with my mandatory course work in May will take my comps in May and June. Yikes.  I will complete two more classes after that in order to complete my minor “cognate” and will write my proposal during that time.

I thought I would write a longer post discussing some of the challenges and opportunities in pursuing a hybrid PhD.  As a aside, my PhD program is an intensive hybrid program.  I say this because I wish the program mirrored many of the other hybrid programs.  I venture out to NH once a month for six days.  Residencies are held from September to May.  The student does this for 2 years and take at times 12 credits.  It is a brutal schedule, but the course work gets done.  Many other hybrid programs (I will provide you with a list later on) meet for a several weeks in summer and perhaps one or two times in the winter.  Some meet up to four times a year but for longer sessions.

Many of us in the applied professions (social work, community economic  development, urban planning, etc.) fell into academia.  Some of us did not have our hearts set on teaching and research.  We therefore did not follow the traditional PhD route as one sees in the humanities and arts.  Some social sciences PhD students (political science, sociology, economics) also follow a traditional PhD program and therefore these disciplines do not consider people who are not “traditional students”  and have families who decide to pursue academia later on their careers.

Here are some personal pros for hybrid programs:

1. Keep your job.  Well – can I say more? Medical Insurance and food on the table is important.
2. Improve your teaching.  I find that I am a better teacher because of the research and theory classes.  In addition, working on my dissertation has made me read on a broad scale.  Because of my PhD involves a number of disciplines (development, economics, sociology, planning, social work, etc.)  I am able to see problems from an inter-disciplinary perspective.  My theory classes has given me a deeper foundation which can help to promote deep learning in the classroom.  I now can draw from the grand and middle range theories which permit me to help students to make connections between practice and theory.  I also find that I use Powerpoint less – chalkboard flow charts and mind maps are becoming a major staple in my classes.
3. Engage with people who are practitioners in the field.  I am the only full-time academic in my program.  My fellow PhD slaves are involved local government, international development, nursing and public health.  (This wide range of backgrounds is also due to the nature of community economic development).  Because people are not full-time students and are not in their mid-20s, students have a different level of investment and perspective on their dissertation.  This is also a con – see later.

Cons:

1. Lack of “academic community”.  Because people have many other things that they are trying to juggle, you might not experience the ongoing comradeship and community that traditional PhD students might experience.  This, of course, may not be always the case but support from fellow PhD travelers is so important as you run the marathon.
2. Lack of research assistantships.  Depending on how the program is organized, there may be limited to no research assistantships possibilities for you.
3. Lack of funding.  Because students are not studying full-time they do not have access to research assistantships which allow them to work with professors in the school.  This means that the external funding that this research provides for doctoral programs is missing or not a possibility because students live far from campus.
4. Tuition. Many traditional program pay your tuition – this is not always the case for hybrid programs.
5. Prestige. If you are looking to teach at a Research 1 institution once you have your degree make sure that you do your homework before choosing an hybrid program.  I still think Research 1 institutions do not look kindly on non-traditional PhD programs because at times these programs are less known.

I will post of list of hybrid social work, nonprofit management and public administration PhD programs soon.  Stay tuned.   Comments are welcome!