Where can I get one? I heard the British system is like that, Australian, Canadian and Japanese too. Any more info would be useful.
When you finish a bachelor's or master's degree program, there are still a hell of a lot of things that you don't know yet. You need classes to put you on the right path to discovering them. Not just a laboratory.
I don't mind learning, but i've had enough of the "structured" form of classes/lectures. half my time and effort in a semester goes to figuring out how to deal with a professor's style, and sometimes you don't get enough time to recover that. in research, the prof says what he wants, and you get it done, pure and simple. my way. also, i'm tired of learning how to do things, and i wanna start DOING them. which is why i might just stick with getting a job and postponing this phd for later. I definitely thought that with all the scientists here, many of which(i know some are) in the educational field, i'll be getting a richer response than this, but it seems i was mistaken.
Technically most programs will want you taking their classes, if they have classes, but no there is no requirement you need to have classes, at least in the states.
I'm an American, so others here are probably in a better position than I am to talk about this. But here's my impression... In the British system, which is followed to some degree in many other countries with historical ties to Britain, a distinction is made between "postgraduate" degrees and degrees by "research". The former primarily refers to masters level programs, the latter to doctoral programs. An applicant to a research program would typically already have a masters or its equivalent preparation in his or her field. Often what the applicant does first is contact a faculty member at a university that he or she is interested in attending, and tries to talk that faculty member into taking the applicant on as a research student. Formal application is made to the university after a sponser has been found. (At least I've spoken to a number of people who did it that way.) There are other complications though, such as landing a 'studentship', or financial support, that I'm less sure about. There are typically only a limited number of those and I'm not sure how students land one. Maybe one's faculty sponser facilitates it. I think that the idea that a research doctorate doesn't require any lectures might be over simplistic. There isn't any syllabus of required lectures in these programs. But one's faculty sponser will go over your previous preparation with you and if there are any deficiencies, the sponser might tell you to attend lectures to get up to speed. And deficiencies have a way of making themselves apparent duing the research phase, so if a student needs to use some technique that he or she is unfamiliar with, lectures might again be in order. In the American system, there is usually a more defined syllabus at the doctoral level. In particular, American doctoral programs often have breadth requirements and qualifying examinations that must be satisfied before one's dissertation research commences. That's intended to produce doctoral graduates who have a broad enough background to be able to teach the undergraduate syllabus in their fields (the job that many PhDs are ultimately get hired to do). In the United States, many doctoral students enter doctoral programs right out of bachelors degree programs and don't already have masters degrees, so the difference might be smaller than it first appears.
Seems to me that you need to explain what field you are in first. Only then can you expect an useful answer. Different fields have different requirements, but one thing is for sure, there will always be some classes you need to take concerning theory and methodology in your field. Other classes can be research based. I have students that do their work in the field and the only contact we have is in the beginning of the term when we decide the topic and housekeeping issues, when the student updates me on progress, and if there are questions and problems. Then I get the final draft of the project and after grading it gets submitted to the registrar’s office for official grade. But if you are tired of learning and don’t like dealing with people, and yes, professors are people too, then you certainly should take a break and reassess academics. Just in case you don’t consider this, we have a lot more than just one student’s idiosyncrasies to deal with. In an average semester –like now—I have 116 students with different personalities/styles and issues. You as a student have maybe four professors, so I guess what I am saying is that you sound burnt out and academia might not be the best place for you if you are not flexible enough to go with the flow.
