Deference between a PhD and Doctorate?

Answer 1

six letters

Answer 2

The other answers are correct, a PhD is indeed a doctorate. That doesn't answer what the difference is though.

There are many doctoral degrees. The MD (medicine) and JD (law) are probably the best known next to the PhD (doctor of philosophy) but there is also the Doctor of Education (EdD), Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Doctor of Arts (DA), Doctor of Public Health (DPH), Doctor of Science (DSc) and many more.

Most of these are professional degrees (MD, JD, DVM, DDS) or practitioner degrees (DBA, DMA, PsyD etc). The PhD is an academic degree and can be earned in any field that people can study (including fields that have a professional or practitioner degree of their own).

The difference is:
First Professional Degrees (MD, JD, DVM, etc...) are the credential required to practice these professions. These are about doing the job.

Practitioner Degrees are about learning about the "how" of the field. A DBA student will learn about how to maximize profits and how to solve business problems. A DMA (voice) student will learn to sing (very well) and to solve musical performance problems. A dissertation may or may not be required but when it is, it's usually about a specific problem or project and not theoretical.

Academic degrees (PhD, DPhil) differ in that they are interested in the "why" as opposed to the "how". Some "how" is covered too but the degree is mostly about contributing to the knowledge in the field. It's about developing new ideas and explaining existing phenomena. The PhD typically requires a substantial dissertation that contributes to knowledge in the field.

Which doctorate you pursue depends on whether you want to practice the profession or conduct research in the field. College professors generally need a PhD though very many have a practitioner doctorate in some fields (such as music).

At present, the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) is the terminal degree in some fields. These include studio art, theater, and creative writing among a few others.

Some people are surprised to learn that when the holder of a first professional doctorate (MD, JD, DVM, etc.) wants to get a higher education, he/she will return to school for a master's degree such as the LLM for attorneys.

Answer 3

A PhD is a doctorate of philosophy. A MD would be a doctorate of medicine. DDS is Doctorate of Dental Surgery; EdD is Doctorate of education, etc. etc.

Answer 4

Doctorate is the highest level degree either through graduate study, e.g. the PhD, EdD, or DS, or a professional degree, e.g. MD or JD.

Answer 5

A PhD is a doctorate, but there are other kinds of doctorates, such as MDs.

Answer 6

PhD is one kind of doctorate; then there's MD, DDS, JD, DO...