<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I’m in an Engineering PhD program. I recently passed my prelim exam and only have a this semester’s courses to finish up before I’m ABD. I can still take courses if I want to after this semester, but I do not need to. Is it a good idea to continue to take relevant courses as a Doctoral student even when you don’t need to. It will take away from research of course.</p>
<p>Any thoughts would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>It all really depends if you have time to attend and do prep work. I have had advanced PhD students sit in because the course material was so interesting to them that they were willing to make a little time out of their diss research and writing. If you aren’t taking for a grade or credit and think you make most of the classes, then why not?</p>
<p>Most of my friends have taken classes beyond the requirements for their degrees; it’s all about personal interest and willingness to do the work. You have to keep in mind grad school is also a good time to try and build up a skillset that’ll last you throughout your life and not just something to get a postdoc.</p>
<p>Do they take these additional courses for a grade? You may not learn much if you are just taking a course as an audit.</p>
<p>Some have and some haven’t. Why do you think you wouldn’t learn much while auditing a class? If anything, I’d prefer to do it that way so I could only focus on doing the problems/concepts I’m interested in and actually have plenty of time to really read/understand the book.</p>