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Ask HN: Is it possible to get a PhD in computer science remotely

8 points by yangikan ↗ HN
I have a masters degree and lot of good publications in top conferences. But, I currently work at a research lab and can't do a phd fulltime. Is it possible to do a part time PhD remotely? Few weeks of physically attending the university a year is okay. And since it is remote, any where in the world is okay as long it is a good university.

11 comments

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abcc8
While it is likely possible to do the work required for a PhD remotely, I am unsure that an advisor would wish to mentor a remote PhD student. Finding an advisor willing to work with you (as well as school willing to admit you remotely) are likely to be the biggest barriers to such an endeavor.
jamessb
Yes.

It is definitely possible to do a PhD part-time: many universities offer part-time PhD programs, and I know people who have done this.

Doing it part-time and remotely is harder: even if a university allows this, an individual academic might (quite-understandably) not want to supervise a student on this basis.

I do know of one person who successfully completed a PhD at London South Bank University whilst living in Canada: he traveled to London a few times for physical meetings with his supervisor, and had more frequent electronic communications with them. He also had the advantage that the subject of this thesis was related to what he was doing in his job.

codedrome
Isn't teaching or mentoring others a requirement for a PhD? It has traditionally been seen as a route into university employment at the lecturer/researcher/professor level. It is a lot more than just the next qualification up from a bachelors or masters degree.
alt_f4
probably not, because the point of the PhD is to thoroughly exploit you for a few years, for almost free, to generate content and do chores for your professor and you can't really do that as well when the student isn't around.
p1esk
If you're working as a researcher already, and have published in top conferences, why do you need a phd? Do you want to work as a professor?
shoo
to flip it around: what's stopping you ditching the job and doing a phd fulltime? is it money? if so, is it possible that your employer or another or another org would be interested in sponsoring a phd on some topic they could potentially apply?
keiferski
Many PhD programs in Europe are thesis-only; i.e. you don't have any classes. Typically this is because you need a master's to apply in the first place.

No classes means that you only need to be around to meet with your advisor occasionally.

pxhb
(Note that my experience is with US PhD process)

I have not heard of someone doing a PhD remotely from day one. It is definitely not unheard of to be mostly remote once you have mad some progress with you PhD. This can occur for example once you are writing your thesis, or due to an unexpected life event (such as your partner is starting a new job in a different state). Much like everything else with grad school, your experience will heavily depend on your advisor.

As for part-time, this is a little more murky. Most advisors will not want to fund (tuition and stipend) someone doing PhD part time, due to the very likely scenario of your PhD taking a much longer time to complete. It is not uncommon to work part time while doing a PhD though (such as a few hours of contracting/consulting).