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Doing a masters in between is usually I'd say a big waste of time and very inadvisable. If you're strong enough to start your PhD then just start it. And to li
by chrisseaton 4y ago
Doing a masters in between is usually I'd say a big waste of time and very inadvisable. If you're strong enough to start your PhD then just start it.
And to literally answer your question - you don't need any kind of prior degree at all to start a PhD. I was recently investigating getting a gifted engineer onto a PhD programme without an undergraduate, and it was possible.
- nicoburns 4y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32329786 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32329786
- chrisseaton 4y agoI know many people outside the US who did a PhD without any kind of masters. I did mine with a masters but no bachelors. It's even possible to be a full professor but not have any PhD. There's lots of options - don't force yourself to fit an arbitrary pipeline.
- _8j50 4y agoI can't believe I didn't know this, I thought yoy had to have masters before phd.
- urthor 4y agoOnly in Germany and a group of similarly minded countries. The Anglo-Saxon tradition is one of disorganised irreverence.
- jjgreen 4y agoEr, in the UK a masters is not required, and that's sort-of Anglo-Saxon
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- YeGoblynQueenne 4y agoThe thing is, if you don't have top grades or an exceptional background, most universities will expect you to have a Master's, instead. But if you do have top grades, or an exceptional background, then you can probably go straight into a PhD from high school, or anyway many universities will accept you. It matters a lot whom you have impressed with your skills, your knowledge and your dedication, it goes without saying, and by how much. Like in chrisseaton's comment above, they were investigating about a "gifted engineer" and I'm guessing they would have written a strong letter of recommendation for that candidate. So it may not be possible for everybody in practice, but in theory, it's possible.
- selimthegrim 4y agoIn the US this is not usual. I had one but I was changing fields.
- YeGoblynQueenne 4y agoIn retrospect, I'm making the mistake of generalising my experience with the UK system. I guess things are different elsewhere. To clarify, you had "one" of what? :)
- selimthegrim 4y agoMaster’s. More than one PhD would be…interesting (although the only person I ever met who did was from the UK)
- YeGoblynQueenne 4y agoWell, I wouldn't mind doing another PhD. I don't reckon I'll ever have the same degree of freedom to follow my intellectual interests, study what I want to study, and produce what I want to produce, ever again. I still had some restrictions (e.g. I had to publish on the schedule determined by publication deadlines, even if I wasn't quite ready) but even so, the freedom I enjoyed just doesn't compare to any kind of job I had before. I studied AI and I think it would go great with entomology. A double PhD in AI and entomology, maybe with a third one in robotics... At the very least that would give me a unique background, now wouldn't it? Ah, but ars longa, vita brevis...
- klyrs 4y agoThis depends on both the field of study and the country in question. In the US, for example, nobody gets a masters in math except as a terminal degree (sometimes, perhaps usually, a masters is a failed PhD attempt). In Canada, it is relatively rare for somebody to skip straight from undergrad to a math PhD.