A doctorate is the highest degree a university can give you. After a first degree, and often after a master's, you spend years on your own research and write a long thesis (sometimes called a dissertation). If the university accepts it, you hold a doctorate. The best-known kind is a PhD, though other doctorates exist — in education, theology, and, depending on the country, medicine or law. People say she is doing her doctorate while she is still a student, and she has a doctorate when it is finished. The new title is often Doctor, which is where life gets messy: that title is not only for a medical doctor. A 醫生 may or may not have this research degree, and a person with a doctorate may never treat a patient. The word feels formal and proud. You hear it at universities, in academic job ads, and in family talk when someone finally 'got their doctorate'. It names the degree, not the person.