After encountering a few official forms to fill out (tax, medical, LinkedIn, job applications), I don't know what my official job title is during my PhD. There doesn't seem to be a standard for this. I don't think "student" accurately reflects my role, because I'm doing research and getting a small stipend for it. What should I put down as my occupation?
asked Feb 22, 2015 at 0:15
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3Do you mean your official title for immigration, tax forms, your business card, professional webpage...? Is this more for Europe or the US?– smciCommented Feb 22, 2015 at 8:46
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7"Apprentice ninja"– JeffECommented Feb 22, 2015 at 15:54
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@smci For the US, and how I represent myself to non-academic entities– Josh HibschmanCommented Feb 22, 2015 at 17:58
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5I don't understand how people were able to answer without any information about location or the precise status....– user9646Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 18:22
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6 Answers
Your professional title is Ph.D. student, or doctoral student, or just student.
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3@PatricHartmann I've never head anybody use those before. Apparently, Doctorandus is a title in the Netherlands and Belgium, but I been have a number of colleagues from both countries and have spent time in both, and have never heard anyone actual use the word. Even in the ultra-formal procedures of the Dutch thesis defense where I served as an examiner, we called the candidate "waarde promovendus," and not doctorandus.– jakebealCommented Feb 22, 2015 at 22:43
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I can't speak for those places but my institution, which is located in Switzerland, uses these titles on a regular basis, also as an address during defence. Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 20:01
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1In Belgium the title doctorandus (f. doctoranda) is definitely used to refer to a PhD student. At least in social and human sciences. Commented Apr 20, 2017 at 17:46
There's really three different things mixed up here.
Your job title, as an employee, is whatever it says on your paychecks. Maybe "Teaching Assistant" or "Research Assistant" or something similar. This is what you should list on job applications, etc, under "employment". No choice here.
Your educational status is "graduate student", "PhD student", or the like. You could also use language like "PhD (in progress)" or "PhD (expected completion 20xx)". You might be a "PhD candidate" but defer to your institution's rules as to if and when they consider you to have that status.
Your occupation is just a word to describe the field you are in and the type of work you do. So you could list "biologist", "historian", "physicist", etc, as appropriate. You could also choose something more generic like "researcher", "educator", "scientist".
For tax forms in particular, I don't think it makes a lot of difference how you describe your occupation. I don't actually know how they use this information (maybe a good question for Money.SE), but I've always assumed it was mainly that if you gave your occupation as "oil baron" or "railroad tycoon" and then reported a tiny income, they'd probably audit you.
answered Feb 22, 2015 at 7:28
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2Occupation usually means your job or being a student. Maybe profession is a better word for your third point?– KimballCommented Feb 22, 2015 at 9:13
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1I would consider it a stretch for a graduate student to declare that they are already a scientist, educator, etc: they are studying to become such, but are not yet there.– jakebealCommented Feb 22, 2015 at 15:01
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5What's a "paycheck"? Oh, you mean those annoying pieces of paper we used to have to take to the bank? They never include my job title.– JeffECommented Feb 22, 2015 at 15:53
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2@jakebeal I've published papers, attended conferences, and contributed to science before starting a PhD program. I don't see why one would lose the status of "researcher" after starting a PhD program. Commented May 3, 2019 at 21:30
During the time I was studying for my PhD, I put "Student" as my occupation on my income tax forms, even when I was being paid as a TA or GSR. That was after my industry career, so I had a more complicated financial situation. The returns were prepared by a tax-specialist CPA who agreed with "Student".
I had a lesser form of the "oil baron" issue Nate Eldredge mentioned: the change in occupation from "Computer Architect" to "Student" explained both the disappearance of the relatively high wages I had been reporting, and the appearance of educational expenses.
answered Feb 22, 2015 at 15:05
Your department may employ you as a "graduate teaching assistant" or "graduate research assistant". In the US, at least, these title will be understood to imply that you are a student.
answered Feb 22, 2015 at 1:18
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1In this vein, in my graduate university students were "graduate student researchers", or GSRs.– eykanalCommented Feb 22, 2015 at 2:26
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2It might be understood by academics but it won't be understood by anyone else. For example, every time I travel to the US, the immigration guys ask what I do for a living. I tell them I'm a researcher at a university (I'm a postdoc) and they invariably reply, "Oh, you're a PhD student?" because I didn't say I was a prof and the only people at universities are profs, grad students and undergrads, right? Also, "graduate research assistant" sounds, to my British ears, like a postdoc-type role for somebody who doesn't have a PhD. Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 8:39
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@DavidRicherby: I fail to see any distinction between doctoral research and "postdoc-type role for somebody who doesn't have a PhD". Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 23:16
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1@BenVoigt Doctoral research gets you a PhD; a postdoc-type role doesn't. Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 1:00
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@DavidRicherby: Being in a doctoral degree program and completing its requirements gets you a PhD. The research is just one of the requirements, and the associated tasks are really no different from the postdoc-type role you mention. Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 1:02
Since you mention title for tax purposes and similar, if I were you I would assume the title of whatever your "job" functions are. Generally, in the case of a PhD candidate, you are usually either a "Assistant Lecturer" or "Doctoral Candidate Research Assistant." Otherwise, you are a Doctoral Candidate, which I would use to explain my job title, rather than student.
Student.
You may not like it, but it is: student.
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I served three stints as my department’s grad program director. Graduate students were simply that until they passed the several qualification requirements for admission to PhD candidacy. Those who passed were then PhD candidates. And have an upvote, what the hell.– Ed VCommented Dec 28, 2021 at 21:59