Hi Everyone, I am working as senior software engineer and I have a MS in Computer Science. I am planning to do full-time PhD while working full time. Do you think it is legally possible to do it. As I need the 100 % scholarship from university to complete my PhD. That means I will be working as TA/RA in the university and also maintain a full time job at my present company. I want to explore all the legal options I have to do my PhD. Thanks
Not gonna happen... not if you need 100% scholarship
You can do a part time PhD and work. That is possible and legal. You can go full time for PhD and then work at a company as well (PhD related research) and be a TA/RA as long as total work hours are within limits (not sure if its 20 hours or higher)
@v5gfrj6. Thanks for your response. But I don't think university will provide me scholarship if I am doing part time PhD.
He is right and this is how I did it. Used my employer tuition assistance to pay for my PhD. You can’t work at school while on h1-b. If your employer doesn’t pay tuition then you have to pay out of pocket and the bad news is, it is not deductible probably because you make good money.
Dude, forget TA/RA. If your job is able to sustain you, why do you want to eat up funding? If you don’t take RA you will be able to work at your own pace without feeling obligated in exchange of funding and your advisor will love you for working for free. Legally it might be possible, just ask your university’s international students’ office or a lawyer. Don’t take anyone’s word here - always verify with legal expert. It should be practical to manage PhD along with a full time job. I know of many people who have done that (US citizens so no visa limitations). I would suggest this over quitting job because you will also accumulate industry experience over the 4-5 years which matters a lot. You will avoid opportunity cost with this route.
Agree, why would you depend on RA funding while working full-time!
@oGqu88. Thanks for your response. I was looking for a way where I don't have to pay for tuition fees from my pocket. As managing the tuition fees without any assistance for 4-6 years is not easy even with a full time job as we all have other financial commitments.
If you are on a visa you need to be on F1 to get scholarship. I don’t think you can be on two payrolls on H1. On the other hand if your company have Tuition reimbursement policy, you can do PhD part time and make your company pay for it.
Good point.
We can be on two payrolls on H1B legally. That's what I have found so far online. I will be meeting with my immigration team in the company to discuss about it.
Do you want to do PhD or TA?
Ok, I have a PhD and let me tell you this. Taking classes + TAing + conducting original research is >60 hour/week job. You won't be able to hold your fulltime job. Also, a university would have to file a new H1b petition for you, which is very rare. Usually students are on F1 and J1 visas. Only university staff members might be eligible for H1b.
@FXzH34. Yea I am aware of the fact that, I need to work 100 hours/week and I am ready to put that kind of effort to pull it off. My only concern is about tuition fees. If I get tuition fees waiver from university then I don't need to think much about TA/RA.
Seriously. You think you can do it until you burn out 1.5 years into it and lose your job along with it. A decent school won't even allow this. They want your full attention in a full time program and won't waste resources or scholarships on someone who thinks 100hrs a week is realistic...a top accredited US school that is. Because where else do they even have the courses you've described?
People are getting creative these days for GC 🤦♂️
Hey! I see your comments above that “you’re ready for the grind and only worried about the legal possibilities”. It’s good to see that you’re motivated about a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. I honestly don’t know about the legal concerns. I wanted to share some of my experience about research in AI. I’m wondering what background or understanding you have on how Phd in AI is done these days, the conferences that happen throughout the year, no of papers that are accepted, how the review process works, fellow colleagues who are working on similar problems in other universities, professors you want to work with and most of all important: what are the problems that you would like exactly tackle and what solutions you propose and how good these solutions are? I’m guessing you’re answer to these solutions is a NO. If that is the case, then legally you maybe able to do it, but you won’t be able to get the most out of your PhD if you do your job and Phd together. Also, do you want to just get a PhD in this area so that you can learn about it or do you want to actually solve these problems for the future of mankind? If you’re motivated by the latter reason, then you should dedicate yourself to Phd and make an attempt. If you’re motivation is the former, I’m afraid a phd might not matter in the long run. All this is just advice. Would be happy if you made it and prove me wrong. Either way, I would like to see you do well and be happy (of course!). Edit: yes, you will figure out and do well. But if you want to do a Phd in 6years along with your job.. then the papers you publish will not be if very high quality..(especially if your job is not related to your phd) you’ll still learn a lot about the area and the problems and contribute a bit. What I meant to say was: There’s a lot more you can achieve during a Phd and you’ll have to miss out on them.
@mondler. Thanks for your thoughts. May be my answer is 'NO' for few of those questions. But I can definitely get those answers over the period of time. Nobody know everything from the beginning. If I knew everything then I won't even try for PhD. All I know is I am ready to do everything needed to complete it and I'm not going to give up. And thanks for sharing your experience in AI research. That may help me as well.
You seem smart, and you also seem decided on this regardless of what anyone may say. If it’s worth the risks I say go for it. Failure is not a sin. They can take your h1b but no one will touch your PhD. No pun intended
@ComTruise. Thanks for your thoughts. Yea I believe I can do it no matter what others are saying . I am aware of the amount effort it will take. My job is to put an honest effort and as you said failure is not a sin. At this stage I'm not at all thinking about success or failure.
I think it’s both physically and legally not possible.
@uvur74. I know its challenging but I am ready for the grind. I am only concerned about the legality.
It would be a grind for 4-5 years. Why do you wanna go through it? The ROI isn’t worth it. Instead spend that time with your family.