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msorc
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Second PhD 03 Mar 2005, 14:11
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Hello,

I am on my way to apply to PhD in ERIM and have such an issue. In the summer I am getting a technical degree in Ukraine which is considered to be a PhD equivalent. During the conversation via e-mail with admission secretariat they have asked me why do I want to get a second PhD degree.
My motivation is not a degree, but a project I want apply to.
I want to ask wheather somebody knows how such applicants with technical PhD considered? Is it an asset or disadvantage? Or even my application will be just declined.
Secretary from the University has said that such a question may resolve only program manager who is absent at the moment.
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alex.mba
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Second PhD 04 Mar 2005, 12:34
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Do you mean you have a 'doktorskaya' as it is called in Russian? Or do you mean 'kandidatskaya'? If it's the last one, than I have to say it's only considered to be a Master's level degree abroad. If you got a real Doctor's degree, than as I heard at another forum, it may be fine if you have the right justification for changing the area of your interest. The problem is that the admission committee may think that you don't know what you really want since you are getting degree after degree in different fields. But if you say something like Management always interested you, and you always knew that you wanted to end up in this field, and now you want to stay in this area for the rest of your life, and do research and teaching, and your background will only help, and bla-bla-bla ... it could make a trick.

Good luck.
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msorc
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Second PhD 06 Mar 2005, 04:07
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The degree is "kandidatskaya". There exists different opinions on how to correspond our degrees to international ones. E.g. after getting my degree I can get a certificate from our Minisrty of Foreign Affairs that I am a PhD degree holder.
I want to apply to PhD with particular project. Its not an abstract interest in Management, but the interest on particular research field. Both my current research and the project I want apply to are about software development process. First is more technical and the last one is about high level managing. So, in addition to my job experience I think I have a good background to continue the research. The only question is how my degree will be considered.
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alex.mba
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Second PhD 06 Mar 2005, 05:13
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I have to admit I am not sure how it is considered in Western Europe. From my friends' experience, North American universities consider "kandidatskaya" to be a Master's degree. One of my friends had Kandidatskaya in Linguistics, but he did a Master's degree in the same field in Canada to continue his academic career there (next will be PhD there). The same happened with other friend who had Kandidatskaya in Economics, and went to Canada to do a Master's in Business Administration. And I have more examples like that. The thing is Western univesities don't feel confident in Eastern European degrees - they just know nothing about our system of education! They base a level of degree not on a number of years spent on getting one, but on what level of job you can do after getting it. And what we are being told in Eastern Europe is not always true when we get abroad! But it's just my opinion.

So I am sure you will be fine with your degree. It will just show that you are a serious person and you know a lot about research in general. I am sure it will only help you!

Alex.
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