Is a Professional Doctorate Worth It? 5 Career Benefits

Deciding to pursue a professional doctorate is a major career milestone—and a significant investment of time, effort, and resources. For professionals whose goals call for advanced practical expertise, applied research capabilities, and senior leadership development, a professional doctorate is often well worth the investment. It offers a direct pathway to solving high-level industry challenges and qualifying for executive roles without taking the traditional academic research path.

Ultimately, the degree’s value depends on your specific field, long-term career trajectory, and how the expected financial and professional returns align with the program’s cost. Here, we’ll help you better understand five of the benefits a doctorate provides, so you can best determine if it’s the right strategic move for your career.

Key takeaways

• Professional doctorates generally emphasize applied research and professional practice, while PhDs place greater emphasis on original research and academic scholarship.
• Potential benefits of a professional doctorate include deeper expertise, preparation for advanced roles, a stronger professional network, and increased earning potential in some fields.
• A professional doctorate is most likely to be worth the investment when the credential supports your target career path and the expected benefits justify the program’s time and cost.
  

Professional doctorate vs. PhD: What is the difference?

A doctoral degree is the highest degree you can obtain in the United States. The most common forms are:

• Research or academic degrees (PhDs)
• Professional doctoral degrees

So, what’s the difference between a PhD and a professional doctoral degree? Although they sound similar, they are two different types of programs, each suited to a particular type of student.

A Doctor of Philosophy is an academic, research-based degree in which the main goal is to develop advanced research skills and create new knowledge to share with others.

In contrast, a professional doctorate, or professional degree, focuses on the advanced practice of knowledge and skills, making it a degree for those who are more professionally oriented. While these programs also help develop research skills, the main focus is on applying knowledge in industry to solve new and emerging problems. For a deeper comparison, explore the differences between professional and academic graduate degrees. 

There are several reasons a professional doctorate is valuable, depending on your career goals. Here are five ways the degree could benefit your career.

5 ways earning a professional doctoral degree can benefit your career

1. You’ll be equipped to impact your industry

A professional degree program will prepare you to have an impact on, and potentially transform, your chosen field. Professional doctoral candidates usually take an existing concept or problem in their industry, conduct thorough research, and propose possible solutions.

The goal of this process is to expand upon existing knowledge or uncover new findings within a field, and the results can have a significant social and economic impact.

2. You can qualify for top-level positions

A strong professional doctoral degree candidate is someone who is fairly well established in a field or career. This is someone who might already be a decision-maker or manager but wants to develop refined, sophisticated skills to advance to the top levels of decision-making.

A rigorous professional doctoral program will push your boundaries and teach you how to think through and solve complex problems—skills that you can translate directly to your industry.

3. You’ll demonstrate higher-level skills

Holding a professional doctorate signals that you have developed advanced skills in writing, research, and analysis. Many fields value professionals who can bring these abilities to complex problems and decisions. Earning this high-level degree demonstrates your commitment to advanced study and can strengthen your credibility as an expert in your field.

4. You will grow your professional network

Whether you’re taking courses online or in person, your soon-to-be classmates represent a wide swath of fields and sectors, and they’re all in school to improve themselves professionally. These people become not only a great professional network but also your support system.

Taking a variety of competitive people and putting them in a classroom together to challenge one another will help push all of you further than you could have gone by yourselves. Building your professional network can have huge benefits for your career, helping you exchange industry expertise and even secure a job

5. You may increase your earning potential

One potential benefit of earning an advanced degree is increased earning potential. According to 2024 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, median weekly earnings were $2,363 for workers whose highest educational attainment was a professional degree, $2,278 for doctoral degree holders, and $1,840 for master’s degree holders.

While earning an advanced degree does not guarantee a higher salary, BLS data show that workers with higher levels of educational attainment generally have higher median earnings. Actual earning potential varies by field, occupation, experience, and location.

Because earning a doctorate requires a significant investment of time and money, consider tuition, available financial aid or employer support, program length, and field-specific career outcomes when evaluating your potential return on investment.

When is a professional doctorate worth it?

A professional doctorate is worth it when it helps you pursue a specific career path or level of responsibility that would be difficult to reach with your current credentials. For example, an education professional interested in moving into senior administration may benefit from a Doctor of Education (EdD), while an experienced nurse pursuing advanced practice or healthcare leadership might consider a practice-focused doctorate such as a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). In other fields, a professional doctorate can help experienced professionals develop the applied research and leadership expertise needed to solve complex organizational or industry challenges.

Questions to ask before pursuing a professional doctorate

Before enrolling, consider these practical questions to determine whether the degree aligns with your career goals:

• Is a doctorate required or preferred for the roles you ultimately want?
• Does an applied, practice-focused doctorate align with your professional goals?
• What will the program cost after scholarships, financial aid, or employer assistance?
• Can you realistically manage the program’s time commitment alongside your career?
• What career and salary outcomes are realistic for doctorate holders in your particular field?

If your primary goal is a research-intensive academic career or producing original scholarship within a discipline, a PhD may be a better fit. Ultimately, the right degree depends on the qualifications expected in your target roles, the type of research you want to conduct, and whether the program’s expected career benefits justify its time and cost.

Editor’s note: This content was originally published in April 2016 and has been updated for relevance and accuracy.