Anyone else applying to PhD programs?

I can't be the only nurse on allnurses.com who is applying to nurse PhD programs this fall! Where is everybody?

It looks like you very well might be the only one on AN! Sometimes* it takes like a year for people to find posts, lol.

Good luck!

What do you plan to study? Where are you applying? I don't know anything about them, but I find it interesting (I'm a nerd of all things and I'm sure I will have one in something some day ).

I was wondering the same when I was going to apply for the Fall 2018 for either a DNP or PhD program. I changed my mind due to the fact that my employer is incentivizing me to earn an MSN now... Later I will apply to either a PhD program or DNP program, so I will follow this thread.

What programs are of interest to you? As the above poster asked, what is your primary focus? Have you found nurse researchers in your field of choice at the schools you wish to attend?

By the way, are you published? Have you attended conferences within you area of interest? If so, have you presented? Also, are you certified within your nursing specialty?

There are a few PhD prepared nurses on this forum whom I am hoping will soon chime in to provide guidance to those who are applying 2019. Alas, I will not be ready until 2020. :) Good Luck!

To Mrs. D:

I hope that some others discover it before a year goes by! It would be so nice to go through the process with some peers. I'm planning to study LGBTQ+ health disparities and am applying to UCSF, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Penn, UIC, and Michigan.

Since you said you're a nerd (me too!), maybe you should think about getting your PhD and preparing to apply! It's a pretty good deal since so many schools will give you free tuition and health insurance as well as a stipend (usually around $20,000 or so I think). So depending on your financial situation you could work a shift or two a week while getting your PhD full time and not take much of a hit in terms of salary and not have to pay tuition! You might be able to get an outside fellowship too. It's a pretty good deal! And there are so many exciting opportunities for nurses with PhDs. Something for you to think about!

To SummerGarden:

I'm planning to study LGBTQ+ health disparities and am applying to UCSF, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Penn, UIC, and Michigan. They all have faculty doing LGBTQ+ health research, which is important to me, and they are all strong in health policy, which is especially interesting to me.

I have a couple of publications and will have one conference presentation under my belt when I submit applications in a couple weeks. I've been really fortunate to have these opportunities. It's been a combination of putting myself out there, luck, and generosity of faculty. I'm not certified in a nursing specialty.

If you are going back and forth between the DNP and PhD, you might want to think about what you want to with the degree. They are very different degrees with a very different emphasis. The DNP is a practice degree. My understanding is you'll get to work a bit with research and may be able to do some research when you graduate, but research is not the focus and you will not have the same preparation to do research that you would get from a PhD. You will be an expert at nursing practice. You could be a faculty member at a school of nursing but you'd more likely be clinical faculty as opposed to research faculty, so depending on your interests that could be a pro or a con for you. Again, you could still be involved in research with a DNP but if research is truly your calling the PhD would probably be a better fit.

A PhD is focused on research. The purpose is to become an expert in nursing research and the program will not focus on becoming advanced in your practice (though you certainly can get your PhD and still practice!) If you really want to be an advanced practice nurse AND do research, you might want to look into a combined DNP/PhD degree.

I apologize if you were already aware of the above! I do think it helps to hear a lot of different perspectives on the programs, though. I had a hard time choosing between nursing and public health and it took a lot of conversations with a lot of faculty to help me decide, so hopefully hearing one more perspective on DNP and PhD is helpful for you.

Best of luck to you as think about which degree is your best fit! If you comb through the doctoral nursing section of AllNurses, you will find a lot of threads about DNP vs PhD. I'd love to hear what you decide!

Yes, I understand the difference between the two, but thank you. As you noted, one cannot receive too much advice.

The reason I go back and forth is because I love research and I love being a manager who applies research to the real nursing world. In addition, the opportunities within my organization includes research, where PhD prepared nurses working in leadership and/or management positions are able to continue to conduct research for the organization and within surrounding communities while performing their full-time jobs.

By the way, thank you for sharing your background. I like to see candidates such as yourself as the ones who are applying to PhD programs. Also, the subject matter of interest to you is very important and will be impactful given that the disparities among LGBTQ+ is actually causing a higher mortality rate due to many factors that need to be changed. Hopefully you will get into at least one of the schools to which you are applying. :)

Thanks SummerGarden! I can see your conundrum! Maybe the good news is that regardless of which you choose you'll be happy, since you have compelling reasons for both options. I hope more people respond to this thread and that it's helpful for all of us! Best of luck making your decision. I'm sure whatever you choose will be great!

Hey!

I'm actually applying to Columbia's PhD! I too want to study LGBTQIA+ to an extent, but my emphasis is more on HIV/lack of access. I hope you get into the program! It sounds like you already have a great research foundation.

I've actually heard through the grapevine (aka, my professors who applied to these programs) that some of the PhD programs in NC actually fund for much more than $20k/year. IDK if that's true, and it certainly isn't my motivator in my studies, but it's nice to know.

I'd love to hear more about your background! I am still learning AN, as this is my first post, but I finally saw someone else interested in research, so I had to respond. I don't know if PM works??

Best of luck to you

JC_NC2019 said:

Hey!

I'm actually applying to Columbia's PhD! I too want to study LGBTQIA+ to an extent, but my emphasis is more on HIV/lack of access. I hope you get into the program! It sounds like you already have a great research foundation.

I've actually heard through the grapevine (aka, my professors who applied to these programs) that some of the PhD programs in NC actually fund for much more than $20k/year. IDK if that's true, and it certainly isn't my motivator in my studies, but it's nice to know.

I'd love to hear more about your background! I am still learning AN, as this is my first post, but I finally saw someone else interested in research, so I had to respond. I don't know if PM works??

Best of luck to you

I just PM'd you. I think I remember that the first time someone PM'd me on allnurses I had to post a certain number of comments to allnurses threads first in order to be permitted to respond back (I might be thinking of a different situation). But, if you're not able to get to the PM and respond, just go through some threads that interest you and post some comments, and then try again.

Good luck in your quest. I too, am studying LGBTQ+ disparities, only from the educational point of view. I'm currently doing research in my DNP, but I am considering MPH and/or PhD afterwards as I love research. Hit me up if you're ever interested in collaborating.

I'm applying to PhD programs for Fall 2019. Applying to MUSC, Vanderbilt, University of Colorado, and University of Missouri. Plan to study pre-eclampsia, specifically the issues that seem to stop nurses and providers from noticing when women in labor develop preeclampsia, or whose condition is deteriorating. I'd like to develop a risk assessment tool that uses Bayesian decision-making to predict a patient's posterior risk of preeclampsia.

My applications are basically done. Just waiting for one more recommendation to come in, and then it's just wait, wait, wait....

I'm still finishing my Masters in nursing this year, so at least that is keeping me busy. I'll be done with that in August, 2019, so then plan is to go right into PhD program.

Even though I've been on AN since 2003 and used to post extensively I haven't been on AN as much since FB groups became a much bigger thing. I used to look for fellow PhD seekers but under the Graduate Degree section, and since there were a few posts there I thought that was the only place. I guess this category is new.

So briefly, I've been pursuing BSN to PhD since 2014. It's a long process but I am in dissertation. I am a big fan of quantitative work but I've learned that when you are trying to get through the programs, it's probably more important to closely mesh with a professor who can be your chair and advocate for you to be successful. The professor I found pretty much only does qualitative work so I am doing CGT.

I defended my proposal back in the Spring. Candidacy paperwork and IRB took a couple of months. I started data collection/analysis (simultaneously in CGT) by late August and am now writing up chapter 4 findings (almost done). If all goes well, I hope to be defending by late Spring or early Summer 2019.

While my timeline seems long, out of the 8 people who started the programs in my cohort, I am the only remaining BSN to PhD and I am furtherest ahead. I did have to cut my work hours to 24hrs/ week.

My research is on how NICU primary care nurses form relationships with their infants and families.