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It’s a universally accepted practice. They put the work to get a PhD, and they deserve it.
AS1, are you speaking from experience of getting one yourself or are you making an assumption? Because the dissertation process is still the dissertation process for any regionally accredited university.
Sincerely, a recent PhD graduate married to another MD/PhD graduate with a 15 year gap between dissertation experiences.
Doctor is an academic title. I don’t see anything wrong with it if they earned it.
Do not call yourself doctor, or ask others to refer to you as doctor, major cringe.
Chief
Well your Doctor friend is certainly pretty smart because if his overcompensating is bothering you, his plan is working perfectly.
The Latin root of “doctor” is “docere”, which means “to teach”, and applies to any academic, not just medical.
They have a phd aka a “doctorate” degree.
Pro
I’ve got a PhD in life sciences and I cringe hard at people who do this outside of academia or a research setting. It is not the norm. These people take themselves way too seriously.
Pro
I do that sometimes too. But the last thing I want is to be on an airplane and the flight attendant come to me and say “we have an emergency please come quick doctor!” … because then I’ll have to say “well if it’s not a rodent … I dunno what to do”
Rising Star
Cringe. Don’t do it. Unless you’re in academia. If you must, put phd after your name.
Rising Star
Because we (society) have deemed it to be cringe. It is customary to not use the doctor title unless you are in academia or a medical doctor. Hence, every time someone does this (ie uses the title outside of those spheres), a majority of people cringe.
We can, as a society, decide to shift our views, as we do on many matters all the time. Conversations like this are an important part of that.
That’s absolutely normal... anyone who has completed their doctoral degree has earned the title of doctor. There are different types of doctorates, not just medical.
I just put PhD at the end of my name in signatures, LinkedIn, etc. If folks want to call me Dr. with that information, they are free to. I’ll never correct someone if they don’t. That said if someone calls me Mr., I have Dr. Evil’s voice in my head saying “Dr. X if you don’t mind. I didn’t spend 6 years in a PhD program just to be called Mr.”
I think it’s acceptable. Since they put in the time and effort to earn their degree. The Dr. title is not limited to MDs.
Rising Star
It’s technically correct, but I (and many others) perceive “doctor” to mean medical doctor.
E.g., “is there a doctor on the plane”
We’ve accepted this connection socially, but the correct phrase - technically speaking - would be to ask for a “medical doctor.”
You earned the PhD, call yourself “Dr.”, great!
But never - not if you’re PhD, MD, DDS, DO, OD, etc. - call yourself “Dr. {First Name}”. Major cringe.
BCG4 Those are LLM degrees, not JDs.
Completely normal and acceptable
If you use Name, PhD I will respect you more than Dr. Name
Sounds like a superiority complex
I generally like it, though I’m less enthusiastic about less “rigorous” doctorates.
A PhD in Economics from MIT or Chicago? By all means.
A “doctor of management in leadership” from University of Phoenix? Seems a little silly to go by Dr.
(Interestingly, it’s been my observation that around major universities [Cambridge, New Haven…] the desirable title is Professor. Doctors are a dime a dozen—but once you get a professorship, you’ve really made it.)
Pro
Indeed Germany is like “Herr Professor Doctor” lol
Rising Star
Let them enjoy the title, PHD takes insanely long and needs lots of patience and determination.
It depends. In consulting it’s a little weird. I have a PhD in Computer Science but I choose to not use Dr in my signatures because no one cares. Now, if I was in academics, I’d proudly use the title doctor. Finally, it doesn’t bother me when people use it. It takes 4-5 years of hard work.
I think as many have stated, technically you can do it as you’ve earned your PhD. Whether that is a good idea depends on your specific environment and the effect your looking to achieve.
In many European countries for example it is very normal to list the ‘Dr.’ - even on business cards or company IDs. In the US I have found that to be uncommon and the suffix PhD more common.
I have PhD on my name on LinkedIn, but would never expect anyone to refer to me as Dr. unless I went into academia (and only in that setting, never socially).
The craziest thing I heard recently is some JD’s think it’s appropriate to call themselves doctor. That one really baffles me.
It’s interesting that the US is the only place where law schools refer to that degree as a doctorate since other countries consider it a bachelor of laws (LLB). Makes it feel like they are trying too hard.
I think it’s fine to call yourself a doctor and ask to be called a doctor. You earned your title. Just be ready to do the little dance of “oh but not a medical doctor. A doctor in xyz” every time