Can you get another undergraduate degree while doing a PhD?

cosmicfish
Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:05:41 +0000

If you are self-funded, perhaps - few departments will tell you how to spend your own money. But if you are taking department money, they explicit or implicit control over your studies - most will not allow you to take courses not directly relevent to the PhD. Even if you are self-funded, you will find that (1) many universities are not interested in admitting current PhD students to their undergrad courses or departments, (2) most programs are not going to continue a student for PhD candidacy who cannot decide on their field, and (3) combining the two is a ridiculuous time commitment over those years - it would either severely extend your PhD (which the department would NOT pay for) or else it would require you go 4-8 years with neither distractions nor sleep.

So talk to your advisor, he/she might let you take a few out-of-scope courses out of sympathy, but that would be it.