I wanted to flag that many PhD programs in Europe might require you to have a Master’s degree, or to essentially complete the coursework for Master’s degree during your PhD (as seems to be the case in the US), depending on the kind of undergraduate degree you hold. Obviously, the arguments regarding funding might still partially hold in that case.
Yeah, my impression from Canada is that master’s degrees are not all scams. A totally normal path for an academic is to do a (poorly) paid, research-based master’s in one lab, then jump over to another lab for a (maybe slightly shorter than in the USA) PhD.
That said, the most academically impressive researchers I knew at my Canadian school (i.e. already had solid publications and research experience as undergrads) went straight to US-based PhDs, even if they were hoping to return to Canada as academics after getting their doctorate.
Very good to know! I’ve never heard of a US master’s program being paid.
I wonder if the interest in US-based PhDs has something to do with the larger US academic offerings—or maybe it’s just that unusually energetic people are both more likely to have early research experience and more likely to go to the US.
I wanted to flag that many PhD programs in Europe might require you to have a Master’s degree, or to essentially complete the coursework for Master’s degree during your PhD (as seems to be the case in the US), depending on the kind of undergraduate degree you hold. Obviously, the arguments regarding funding might still partially hold in that case.
Yeah, my impression from Canada is that master’s degrees are not all scams. A totally normal path for an academic is to do a (poorly) paid, research-based master’s in one lab, then jump over to another lab for a (maybe slightly shorter than in the USA) PhD.
That said, the most academically impressive researchers I knew at my Canadian school (i.e. already had solid publications and research experience as undergrads) went straight to US-based PhDs, even if they were hoping to return to Canada as academics after getting their doctorate.
Very good to know! I’ve never heard of a US master’s program being paid.
I wonder if the interest in US-based PhDs has something to do with the larger US academic offerings—or maybe it’s just that unusually energetic people are both more likely to have early research experience and more likely to go to the US.
I think this is pretty much the case for many (especially non-STEM) fields in the US, too—my sense is that it’s a consequence of funding/competition.