ABD or Candidate on Resume

Really? When I was at the University of Colorado, on the bulletin board next to grad schools, there were also postings for professorships, many of which said "PhD or ABD required."

 

No.

You shouldn't even put ABD when your final research proposal has been accepted.

Over here, we say "research student" or "PhD Student" until the thesis is submitted. The point at which it becomes acceptable for somebody in the US tradition to say ABD is pretty much at the end of funding, usually the end of three years full time study or about four to five years of part-time, once the PhD thesis itself has pretty much taken shape.

Angela

 

OK, so then this is standard is more strictly drawn.
Interesting.
Jack

 

Well, it's not a standard, per se, but it isn't considered at all polite to describe oneself as anything other than a student until the damn thing has been submitted.

The only get-out clause would be the stage that we call "writing up" where all the research is pretty much covered and you're at the point where all that has to be done is some more writing, but even then, I'd probably only mention it in a covering letter, not on the CV, unless it was a very long format academic CV which included a description of my current research and any conclusions that could be drawn from it.

Also, on purely practical grounds, if you called yourself an ABD as soon as you got into a research-based PhD, a few questions at interview about how the writing was going might be just a tad embarrassing ;-)

Mind you, I'm slightly envious of those of you on the other side of the pond who can use the ABD distinction on your CV. By the time I submitted, I didn't believe in the premises of the PhD to the extent that I never bothered resubmitting after being given my rewrites, so I have this interesting patch in my CV under the Education section labelled "Research student, University of Wales".

Angela

 

While we are talking about CV's...

Just wanted to make sure I am clear on this. I just started my DBA program. If I wanted to list it on a CV/resume how would I list it at the following points:

Just started coursework.

Once coursework and comps are finished.

Thanks!

 

Re: While we are talking about CV's...

DBA student or possibly DBA candidate. Check to see whether your institution has strong feelings about the applicability of the word "candidate".

Definitely candidate and ABD if you wish.

Pas de problem. Although I do recommend the CV doctor column at The Chronicle in case of any problems.

Angela