About Me: I am the author of a new book about Consciousness. It details a new theory of Consciousness and intended to solve the mind-body problem and the meta-problem of consciousness. My book could be found here—https://thepertinentpress.co.uk/pooja-soni
Academically I do not have a degree as I dropped out of a course in engineering after completing two out of 4 years.
The Problem: I have been rejected by universities when I applied for Masters in Philosophy and also when I applied for ‘Phd by publication’ (using my book as a thesis) because I do not hold a bachelor’s degree.
I am very keen to enter academia after having spent 8 years in doing independent research in the field of Consciousness.
What would you suggest me to do?
Should I take up a bachelor’s degree?
Or wait to see if any universities could treat me as a exception, given the high quality book that I have produced?
Or there is an alternative option I am unaware of?
I don’t think this is fair or good, but I do think there is extraordinary degree bias in academia to the point that it is almost impossible to get a position without a PhD, let alone a bachelors degree. There are some who have managed (Derek Parfit, I believe, had a bachelor’s degree but not PhD), but they are the rare exception. If you don’t want to go to school for a long time, I recommend finding an alternative outlet to academia. Maybe you could get a day job that supports you while continuing to publish independently and working to grow an independent readership? Or work as a research assistant? Or apply to non-academic organizations like non-profits or think tanks that might be more flexible about degrees than academia? Perhaps a specific option would be animal-welfare organizations that are interested in the subjective experience of animals such as sentience politics. Or go into an adjacent field that might also be interesting and high impact? But I think the only people who go into academia sans degrees are the very very top of their field, and even then it’s rare.
With that said, it doesn’t hurt to try to apply again for a masters again now that you have a book published just in case, as long as you are working on a back up plan in the mean time.
It sounds like if you’ve been rejected from studying masters courses then that’s useful feedback. Even for people who have done well on those courses, I think there are many more applicants than places to work in philosophy.
And if you’re already trying to overcome really steep odds, by working in academia with eight years working independently, then this might not be the area you’re best suited to.
I don’t know about it but there could be work in neuroscience or psychology that you might find interesting.
Hello,
About Me: I am the author of a new book about Consciousness. It details a new theory of Consciousness and intended to solve the mind-body problem and the meta-problem of consciousness. My book could be found here—https://thepertinentpress.co.uk/pooja-soni
Academically I do not have a degree as I dropped out of a course in engineering after completing two out of 4 years.
The Problem: I have been rejected by universities when I applied for Masters in Philosophy and also when I applied for ‘Phd by publication’ (using my book as a thesis) because I do not hold a bachelor’s degree.
I am very keen to enter academia after having spent 8 years in doing independent research in the field of Consciousness.
What would you suggest me to do?
Should I take up a bachelor’s degree?
Or wait to see if any universities could treat me as a exception, given the high quality book that I have produced?
Or there is an alternative option I am unaware of?
Thank you so much.
I don’t think this is fair or good, but I do think there is extraordinary degree bias in academia to the point that it is almost impossible to get a position without a PhD, let alone a bachelors degree. There are some who have managed (Derek Parfit, I believe, had a bachelor’s degree but not PhD), but they are the rare exception. If you don’t want to go to school for a long time, I recommend finding an alternative outlet to academia. Maybe you could get a day job that supports you while continuing to publish independently and working to grow an independent readership? Or work as a research assistant? Or apply to non-academic organizations like non-profits or think tanks that might be more flexible about degrees than academia? Perhaps a specific option would be animal-welfare organizations that are interested in the subjective experience of animals such as sentience politics. Or go into an adjacent field that might also be interesting and high impact? But I think the only people who go into academia sans degrees are the very very top of their field, and even then it’s rare.
With that said, it doesn’t hurt to try to apply again for a masters again now that you have a book published just in case, as long as you are working on a back up plan in the mean time.
It sounds like if you’ve been rejected from studying masters courses then that’s useful feedback. Even for people who have done well on those courses, I think there are many more applicants than places to work in philosophy.
And if you’re already trying to overcome really steep odds, by working in academia with eight years working independently, then this might not be the area you’re best suited to.
I don’t know about it but there could be work in neuroscience or psychology that you might find interesting.