June 22, 2008

"ABD" -- what does it really mean?

I thought I knew what the definition of ABD was. It was exactly the same as defined here in Carnegie Mellon's University Doctoral Candidate Policies for All But Dissertation (ABD):
After the completion of all formal degree requirements other than the completion of and approval of the doctoral dissertation and the public final examination, doctoral candidates shall be regarded as All But Dissertation(ABD).
I have, though, occasionally run into the term ABD being used as a somewhat disparaging designation for one who fulfills the formal degree requirements of the Ph.D. but never finishes the dissertation, and then quits the program. Most recently, I saw it in What They Didn't Teach You in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints for Success in Your Academic Career, by Paul Gray and David E. Drew.

Number 9 of their helpful hints is one that I strongly agree with: "Remember that a Ph.D. is primarily an indication of survivorship." They go on to say, "You stuck with it until it was done, unlike the ABDs (All But Dissertation), people who complete all the other requirements but bail out before they finish their dissertations."

In hint number 12, in which they remind the reader that "You must have the Ph.D. in hand before you can move up the academic ladder," they say "ABD's may be much abler and more brilliant than you but they didn't possess the stamina (or the circumstances) to finish the degree. In our judgment, being an ABD is the end of the academic line."

My guess is that the authors, as professors, have had to give such stern advice to their own students who were wavering about finishing the dissertation.

My only quibble is with their terminology. What do you think is the correct use of the term "ABD?" Should it refer only to people who have "bailed" on the degree? Or does it refer to those who are in the process of writing the dissertation, having fulfilled all other requirements?


posted by Gina @ 11:53 AM   9 comments links to this post

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9 Comments:

At 10:22 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I say why use "ABD" at all. Either you have a Ph.D. or you don't.

 
At 10:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I say "ABD" be reserved to reward grad students who are working on their dissertation. If you drop out, you're a grad school drop out. No one talks about the college junior year undergrad drop out as anything more than a college drop out. What makes Ph.D. students any more special. You didn't finish.

 
At 2:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I actually never heard the term while in grad school. We would just say "s/he is finishing" or "s/he is writing". So when I came across the term about a month ago, I automatically thought it meant a drop out. Only later I realized it intended to mean somebody writing.... I am perfectly ok with dropping the term altogether!

 
At 11:20 PM, Blogger Gina said...

I tend to agree with anon #2; it's a term used by universities to mean that you've passed your qualifying exams and you've done all that's needed to graduate except write the dissertation. That's a pretty big "except," though. What makes the PhD a particularly difficult degree to earn is achievement of writing the dissertation.

In the world of employment outside of academia, I don't think that the label ABD has any meaning, or would entice an employer to hire you even if they knew what it meant.

 
At 4:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You know- I hate being stuck in between my masters and my EdD. All I can put next to my name is my M.S. Ed- but I have done all my doc coursework.
I am a doc candidate working on my dissertation so I would appreciate being able to at least say ABD, but I have run into people who have been ABD for 10 yrs and they are not even working on their dissertation anymore.
What is the right term then?

 
At 4:37 PM, Blogger Gina said...

This is one reason I wanted to find out what others thought. My opinion is that others are not impressed by the letters ABD after your name. And after all, why are you putting the letters there, if not to tell others something important about your progress? Unlike the M.A., the doctoral degree (in most fields, although I'm aware that in a Psy.D. it's more about clinical experience and supervision) is not mostly about the coursework, but it's about the dissertation. Therefore, it doesn't really say much to let others know that you're ABD. Of course, an employer might want to know how soon you will graduate, in which case it's important to let them know that you've finished the coursework, passed the qualifying exam, and have finished x number o chapters of your dissertation. But again, I don't think letting them know by putting letters after your name is the way to go. Tell them in a letter or in your CV. Unless there is some kind of precedent or different rule in your field.

 
At 5:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My impression is that ABD means "Has completed all requirements except dissertation; has not withdrawn from program." ABDs in my field (music) can go out and get academic jobs, with the assumption that they will finish eventually. So it's not a term of shame, and shouldn't be used as one because that lumps together people who just completed all their requirements and are racing ahead on their proposal, people who are 6 years into it and cry themselves to sleep every night, and people who met a wonderful man the following year and decided taking advantage of the childbearing years was more important to them.

I seems inaccurate to characterize a person who dropped out/elected not to finish as "ABD," because they are no longer even pretending to seek a degree; more accurate to say they left the program when they were ABD. The 15-year ABD is a cautionary tale for the trembling graduate student, but in practice most schools have a cutoff number of years, and they also make you keep paying while you tell them you still might finish.

That said, putting the letters after your name seems silly because it's not a degree. It belongs in the CV and cover letter.

 
At 6:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

In my department, once you have completed your coursework, language, and qualifying exams you have achieved candidacy. The appropriate way of indicating this level on a CV would be to refer to yourself as a candidate rather than a student. I have always thought of "ABD" as a less formal way of referring to a doctoral candidate vs. a doctoral student. It is used casually, but never appears on any formal documentation.

 
At 7:39 PM, Blogger Barbara Ruth Saunders said...

Hi,

I think the use of ABD by so many people who have dropped out has brought an unfortunate taint to the term in some circles.

It makes to me that ABD would be used to indicate a particular stage in the degree-earning process, and that one might even apply for jobs while in that stage.

As a recruiter for jobs requiring no graduate degree at all, I saw it used all the time in the headers of resumes, typically by people who were so caught up in their own sense of "failure" that, paradoxically, they announced it! Where M.A. or M.S. would have been sufficient - or even impressive - ABD said both, "I didn't finish!" and "I lack confidence."

So, I fear that in some circumstances, "real" ABDs are taken for those others.

 

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