I felt weird a month or so ago when I received public comments on a regulatory document, and I was addressed as “Ms.” when the public notice directed them to respond to “monstro, Ph.D.” Even the comments from the Feds were addressed that way, and they know me.
Am I offended? No. But sometimes it would be nice to have the title acknowledged at least as a basic formality.
If IIRC, in some styles, when the titles are placed after the name, then they’re not used before the name. So the two options were to style you Dr. monstro or Ms. monstro, PhD.
Which I still find stupid. Give me the title, skip the alphabet soup if you want.
I’ve always liked Miss Manners’ take on it:
[QUOTE=Miss Manners]
Miss Manners’ own dear father, who would never allow himself to be addressed as doctor, used to say that a Ph.D. was like a nose—you don’t make a fuss about having one because you assume that everyone does; it’s only when you don’t have one that it is conspicuous. For sheer snobbery, doesn’t that beat insisting on being called doctor?
[/QUOTE]
For a story from my own university: A while back the Math Department was moving into new offices and getting new nameplates made for the office doors. The women Ph.D.s in the department asked that the nameplates include Dr. before the names where appropriate. Their experience was that students assumed that any male math instructor had a Ph.D. and was full-time while any female instructor did not and was an adjunct. I don’t know if the nameplates helped, but it was an attempt to address a real problem they had.
My current school doesn’t have the tradition of students using Mr. or Ms when addressing their teachers, sadly. I ask students to call me Prof. Topologist because I’ve always found insisting on Dr. pretentious.
Notice that Howard is the only one with real accomplishments, such as his space toilet and being an astronaut.
Really, this is specifically about folks singling out Ed.D.s as something less than a Ph.D. In some programs, that’s precisely true. My point was that doctorates are of varying quality, and it’s a broad brush to assume that an Ed.D. requires less work and rigor. (The actual reason why the Ed.D. exists is because the faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education wanted to grant the degree, instead of surrendering that power to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. All Harvard doctorates granted by any other faculty besides the Faculty of Arts and Sciences are not Ph.D.s. - this year, in fact, they are phasing out the Ed.D. for a Ph.D. at old Harvard. Pretty historic, and makes me a little sad.)
And I appreciate your comment. However, I didn’t work for my doctorate to impress people, and I know there are tons of things in life that require dedication and sacrifice besides earning an advanced degree. But thank you. 
I guess in my mind I see it as something that’s in that person’s head. I mean, I know plenty of assholes with doctorates. So it’s never been something that I thought, “oh wow, that guy’s a moron, but he says he’s a doctor, so I’m gonna recalibrate my opinion.” I will also say, as someone whose entire professional, and significantly more of my social life is spent around folks with doctorates that I’ve never encountered someone who insisted on being called doctor.
Some caveats: some profs I know are only “Dr.” or “Prof.” to undergraduate students. I’m not terribly bothered by that; it’s the convention at my uni, and I’m keenly aware that many women and scholars of color are “stripped” of their deserved title by dint of existing in a patriarchal, discriminatory society. This also applies to young Ph.D.s too, I think.
If I meet you at a party, I’m Hip or Hippy. If it’s more formal, I’m Hip Hollow. If it’s the first day of class, I’m Dr. Hip Hollow. So that’s the only context in which I would introduce myself with my honorific. But I will say in the same welcome lecture that I’m fine with you calling me Hip.
I think it depends on the context. If it’s an ordinary social setting, sure. But if I’m young, female, or a person of color who is sometimes assumed to not be welcome or worthy of being in certain spaces, I can see why someone would introduce themselves as Dr. XYZ. So at a reception, it might make sense (especially if the attendees are a mixed bag of professors, graduate students, postdocs, and folks from industry).
I can assure you that academic degrees do not equate to massive wealth, at least not where I work. 
The newspaper of record in academia, The Chronicle of Higher Education, does not use “Dr.” Ph.D. holders and everyone else are referred to as “Ms.” or “Mr.” in the CHE stylebook.
Thank you, thank you. I enjoyed doing it!
:bows:
Physicians are the only people who deserve to be called doctors if they wanted or not they should be addressed like that.
Ph.D is a joke degree in most of the time, Its only a research degree not a professional title and you can get it from the internet and there is no limited seats for it to apply for it.
While doctors have tough times before they get in Med school, they have to be top students in their high school classes, and don’t forget they have to go to pre-medschool before they apply for med school.
And in med school medical students have to do tons of researches and studies in med school to have a little good chance to get their wished specialty, and this can take years after they graduated from med school, because i saw so many friends who spent years and didn’t get a thing because of the tough competitive in residency.
Saying that crappy Ph.D is hard is invalid when you compared it to M.D, and don’t forget the duties at day and night! Doctors don’t sleep and work hard, in the same time they have to do researches and they have to study while they are in their residency working in hospitals because they have all kinds of exams.
Zegan: Where can you get a REPUTABLE Ph.D off the internet?!
I only make zegan call me “Doctor” in social situations.
In a general social context, I introduce myself as Firstname Itself and go by simply Firstname. In the rare case that I’m in a professional context where I need to be introduced more formally and widely, yet one where it’s not assumed that everyone already has a PhD (as opposed to, say, an academic conference), I go by Dr. Itself. For forms with checkboxes for Mr/Mrs/Miss/Dr, I usually check the latter, because why not. (For the few forms with checkboxes that also include titles like Count, General, The Honorable, etc., I usually choose the most implausibly ornate, because why not.)
This is funny, especially with respect to all the MD/PhDs I know who had an easier time with the MD half, and all the science PhD students who drop out and go to med school.
I profusely refuse to call people by their titles, not because of a lack of respect but because I tend to be a bit of a snob myself and look down on people in general - like I said, not because I disrespect them but because I have a very strong regard for myself.
That said, I always insist on calling people by their first names - especially when they work under me or for me.
Let me explain further - when I am in need of medical attention I will consult with a doctor - this physician is obviously entitled to turn me away should he dislike me as a client - As the client I obviously have the right to choose who I consult. If I refuse to pay him for his time he has the right to turn me away - and in the same light if I insist on calling him by his first name, and he dislikes it, he also has the right to turn me away, which in turn does not bother me because I wouldn’t like to be subjected to such a narrow minded individual in any case, especially where my health is concerned. Also, there is no shortage of medical doctors so I don’t see any reason to consult someone who does not respect me.
I do however see the point of a medical doctor’s title where it serves as a form of professional identification. How else would you know who to consult should you require medical attention.
As far as a PhD is concerned I find it quite ridiculous when people introduce themselves as “Doctor This” or “Doctor That” - It’s only a academic title and it does not serve as any real form of identification outside of an academic institution.
None the less - this is only my opinion and I believe many people will disagree with me on this point - in fact many of my less eloquent family members will most certainly disagree with me as they are all obsessed with their titles and even sign family correspondence by including their titles…
It’s always good for a laugh.
zegan: That’s Dr. FtG to you.
Talk about being misinformed.
All PhD programs allow a finite number of students in their program. One place I was at we only had 25-30 total students. A faculty member can only supervise a small number of students. Limited research funding also places a cap on things. While in some places students might be able to go thru a program on their own dime, not all faculty are willing to take on such students.
And the people getting into PhD programs are top students! Go back and look at the best students in high school. How many of those got an MD? One? At most? I reviewed a lot of student applications over the years. High college GPAs, amazing GRE scores, etc. The applicant pool, never mind who we admitted, were not bums in any way.
There isn’t a whole lot of real research going on in med school or residency. Most MDs never published an actual peer-reviewed research paper. If you are going to do serious research in Medicine you get a PhD in Medicine (gasp!) and work like the rest of us PhD schmucks.
And what does the abuse of residents have to do with anything??? So they are low paid and overworked. That reflects badly on the field (not to mention endangering patient care).
25-30 seems a bit high, in fact. (The figure was about 8 or so per year for my undergrad school and actual grad program.) In math, at least, it’s uncommon for professors to have more than two or three students at a time, and a PhD takes 4-6 years to complete.
…which makes about 25-30 total students. (Actually, probably closer to about 20, I think, but certainly in the right ballpark.) Sorry, early morning.
Having done both, the PhD was much, much harder than the MD. And I mean that in every sense, from getting in to getting done.
A PhD requires contributing new knowledge to the field (albeit in a very narrow topic, usually) and, while you get a year or two to get your research legs in most graduate programs, if you’re not materially contributing to your PI’s lab by then you’re likely to start getting hints about “mastering out”. While grueling (and a monumental pain in the ass), medical school is essentially a trade apprenticeship - not much different than learning how to be a carpenter or plumber.
And, no, I never insist on anyone calling me Dr anything (though my next door neighbor does - mostly because it makes him laugh since he’s known me for years and still thinks of me as "that smartass guy from next door ).
Remember, med school is filled with people who think organic chemistry is hard. This is a topic we teach to teenagers.
Actually no, don’t remember that, because it makes getting medical care terrifying.
Dr. insecurity
No post graduate degree for me, but a friend’s Dad had a doctorate in Accounting, and taught upper-level classes in that field at a local university. I used to call him Dr Ray at times to just mess with him, but he told me that no one outside of a classroom ever called him that.