Listing Doctorate on your resume

I know this may have been discussed before, but how do you list a doctorate on your resume that you just started. I just started my coursework so do I list DBA in progress or what. Currently updated my resume.

Thanks!

 

Just place a date that the degree is expected to be conferred and don't place the initials after your name. So while I was applying to residencies, my education section of my CV said:

- Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.), Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine. To be conferred May 2003.

I hope that helps.

 

D.O.s

A little off topic but…

Greg,

Thanks for the D.O. links in your signature.

I just started going to a D.O., I knew what D.O stood for, but I couldn’t figure out the difference between an M.D. and a D.O. For instance, when I set up my initial appointment [with the D.O.], I asked her office if she could write prescriptions. Not that I needed a prescription, but I didn’t want to have to see an M.D. in the event the she recommended a prescription.

BTW – on the second link, do most D.O.s look like that? Sign me up to become a D.O. if the answer is yes! LOL

 

PhD2B, glad you enjoyed the links. Yeah, we write scripts. If we couldn't then my friend that just entered a neurosurgical residency is going to be in a seriously tight spot!

And yes, most DO students look like that. Here is where you can download your application: http://www.aacom.org/

 

D.O.s are hot! Sign up here...

Now that's effective recruiting!

In my previous job I was an active duty Army operations research analyst for a recruiting brigade. I don’t recall seeing anything like that in the posters and brochures. Maybe the Army should try your approach to recruiting.

 

There are a few acceptable ways to do this:

Dr. Gulick's method is one of them, especially if you know when your degree will be conferred (which, if you are just beginning your studies, you may not).

Two common ways of listing this are:

Doctor of Business Administration (In Progress), XYZ University

Doctor of Buisness Administration, XYZ University (Anticipated completion, 2007)

Once you have completed your coursework and your comprehensive exams (i.e. everything but your dissertation), most universities will classify you as a "DBA Candidate". You could then amend your resume:

Candidate, Doctor of Business Administration, XYZ University

Doctor of Business Administration (ABD)

"ABD" is universally recognized as having completed "all but dissertation".

College/university hiring boards often prefer to see something like this from someone who had reached candidacy status:

Doctor of Business Administration (Dissertation in progress, anticipated graduation June 2007), XYZ University.

Regardless of where you are in your studies, try to be realistic as to when you would receive your degree. If you are in your first year of doctoral coursework in 2005 and project a graduation date in 2006, people will see through that.

I hope this helps.

 

My resume reads...

- Currently working on a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in...

I list it after my MS and BS since for me the PhD is not a conferred degree. The write up may look a little messy but I want to make sure that potential employers don’t feel mislead into believing I have a PhD.

 

My great aunt was a D.O. I have her diploma from Andrew Taylor Still College around here somewhere; it's about the size of a twin bed sheet!

What makes this interesting is that she earned her degree around 1920 or so when female physicians were not common.

Up until I moved here, my personal physicians were always D.O.s My present physician is a Mexico trained M.D. with a blunt a

 

con't

approach and a wicked sense of humor!

 

When I was growing up I did not know that an MD was a doctor. All my doctors were DO's, and we had a DO hospital nearby. I thought that DO stood fo DOctor.

 

Wow, your great Aunt was one of the early DO's? That's pretty cool! While I can't agree with everything my profession has done, I can certainly be proud of the fact that DO schools have welcomed women physicians since the year the first DO school opened (1892). Meanwhile, most of the hospitals were advertising "Physicians Wanted: Women need not apply." It is amazing how medicine has changed, for MDs and DOs alike.

 

We also have her grades. Two things are interesting:

1) Even then, ATS College offered a science based curriculum including fairly extensive lab work; and

2) She got a low "B" in surgery. That one always scared me!

She did essentially family practice in Texas and Washington State for well over fifty years. She died in Ft. Worth.

 

Heh heh. To this day many surgeons still give less than stellar scores to the following:

(1) Women (still an old boy's club - probably what happened in your Aunt's case)

(2) Anyone that doesn't want to do surgery -- because they are lesser individuals anyway and don't deserve a high pass.

(3) ESPECIALLY anyone that wants to do Internal Medicine because that person must be incredibly warped.

An interesting aside... the hospital where I am completing my residency has always welcomed women into the surgical program. Two years ago all but one of the surgical residents were women.

 

Dr Gulick,

I like the links you provided to the DO website. When I worked at Northside Hospital (St Petersburg), I met on of the interns that was a DO. She took plenty of time to explain the difference and all I remember her saying is "Rack'em and Crack'em." She spoke like a chiropractor.

 

Oh nice. That's just what we want... people to think that we're chiropractors.

"Sir, your heart surgery today is going to be performed by one of our top chiropractors. Is that okay?"

She needs to work on her explanation a little better.

 

In my personal experience, D.O.s don't take themselves QUITE so seriously as many M.D.s do.

 

There was a D.O. that briefly worked in my Dr.s office a few years ago. The story is he was fired for spending too much time with his patients. When told to move them through faster, he refused and was canned. I quess the poor slob thought communicating with the patient was somehow relevant to quality care.

 

I seriously think Doctors should spend more time with the patients.

 

No kidding. Unforunately, our government doesn't share this opinion. They continually cut Medicare reimbursement for physicians (at the same time that malpractice rates are going up). Everytime reimbursement drops and malpractice rates increase, we have to offset this by seeing more patients. And this means that visits are getting shorter and shorter. It is sad.

Most of the internists I know see 25-30 patients a day, while family doctors are seeing about 40-50 patients a day. I know some guys who are seeing 70 patients a day! That just isn't good medicine.

Ironically, in all of the healthcare institutions that I've worked in, the one place where doctors spent the most time with their patients was at the VA hospital. Here, primary care doctors were seeing only about 20 patients a day and were not as rushed as doctors in the private sector.

 

order

I always thought the highest degree was listed last.

Example: John Doe, MPH, M.D., Ph.D.

Ph.D. being the highest so therefore last???