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Is a professor higher than a doctor?

By Zippia Team - Feb. 10, 2022

The role of a professor and doctor are equivalent when used to describe a person's educational level. Both a professor and a doctor must possess equivalent advanced degree qualifications. Therefore neither of these roles is above the other. However, they do require different qualifications.

Therefore, a doctor works in the medical field and will hold an MD (doctor of medicine) while a professor works in their field of specialty and needs to hold a Ph.D. (doctor of philosophy). While both hold the title of doctor, most professors only use the title in an academic sense, while a doctor holds that title as a job title.

The essential difference between the two titles is this: a Ph.D. advances knowledge, whereas MDs merely apply existing knowledge. Unlike the doctor who does not need to produce any original research, the professor with a Ph.D. must produce original research and write it up in a thesis or dissertation.

Then a committee of experts must deem that thesis as offering an acceptable advancement of knowledge before the Ph.D. is conferred. It typically takes a couple of years longer to earn a Ph.D. than an MD.

Part of the reason it takes so long is that the person earning the Ph.D. is being trained on how to think critically about existing knowledge, and it can take a while to find a niche and fill a gap in the knowledge base.

Therefore, both roles provide critical knowledge and fill an important role in society. Neither role is higher than the other because both roles require that a person achieve high education and experience to obtain the title.

Is a professor higher than a doctor?

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