Comment by mcguire
6 years ago
The course materials look good.
But what is a "PhD level course"? All I've seen is undergrad and graduate, and the difference between masters and PhD has nothing to do with classes.
6 years ago
The course materials look good.
But what is a "PhD level course"? All I've seen is undergrad and graduate, and the difference between masters and PhD has nothing to do with classes.
Cornell student here that's taken a bunch of classes at all of the levels - in my experience, undergraduate classes/master's classes are kind of taught with the expectation that you're taking the course as a requirement and are much more evaluation heavy, and that you're likely taking a full course load of other courses as well. PhD level courses are generally assumed to be the only course that you're taking that semester and that you're taking it more because the material will be useful for your research rather than for the credential, so there's much less emphasis on evaluation; i.e. a smaller quantity homeworks that each much harder than an undergraduate version of the same class, and final evaluations are much closer to reading recent research papers and understanding them rather than a timed exam.
> the difference between masters and PhD has nothing to do with classes.
huh ? what's your education system ? in europe it's generally 3 year bachelor, then 2 year masters, then 3 years phd so when you have classes during your phd hopefully they are different that the one you get during your masters
Depends on the field. I studied philosophy (Ph.D. program, but finished with an M.A.), and the M.A. is often just a degree given after the first few years of the Ph.D. There are a handful of required first year courses (logic, basic metaphysics, philosophy of science and ethics), but otherwise students take whatever courses are relevant to their interests. It helps that philosophy typically has fewer classes with explicit prerequisites. If you take an advanced course, you might be lost, but it doesn't feel the same as not being knowing a formula or how to derive something.
Some courses are more basic, and some are more like collaborative research seminars. Advanced students gravitate towards the latter (and typically take fewer courses and/or audit more of them), but a first year with the right background can still take them. Conversely, an advanced student might take an introductory course in an area they lack background in to broaden their knowledge.
There also are terminal M.A. programs, but they're less common, and the majority of students who do Ph.Ds at prestigious institutions don't do one.
I am in the US, and at my school masters and PhD students all take the same classes.
It is not ideal because many of the masters students are coming from a non-CS background. Some of the graduate level CS courses I have taken were easier than 4th year level undergrad classes.
This tracks well with my experience also. I was disappointed, for the most part, the several graduate CS courses for this reason.
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I honestly have never figured out European education systems. Sorry!
But this is Cornell, which I assume is like other research-oriented US universities. You have a 4 (or maybe 5) year undergraduate, leading to a Bachelors and then apply to graduate programs. The graduate schools may have specific Masters tracks, but not really any general Masters program. Instead, you spend the first year or two taking graduate classes until you either satisfy the assorted requirements or pass an oral qualification (They still have those, right?), after which you focus entirely on research, publications, and your dissertation defense. If you leave school before defending, you get the Masters as a sort of consolation prize---most US PhDs in my experience don't have Masters.
In the US, it's typically a 4 year undergrad, 2 year masters, and a ~5-7 year PhD depending on the program itself. From what I understand, while there are some classes you take as a PhD student, a majority of your work is doing research
For PhD students, the masters is integrated into the 5 years they spend doing their PhD. They are expected to take courses as a "pre-candidate" and do primarily research after they pass their qualifying exams and become candidates.
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Just for completeness sake. In the EU a bachelor's is 3 years, a master 1 or 2 (2 being the standard) and a PhD 3-5 years. It depends on the country, so it's possible to get 3+2+5.
There is no formal difference between masters and PhD courses. I think he calls it a PhD level course because it is "research oriented" and requires work that perhaps a Masters student looking to complete credits might not be interested in.
The evaluation criteria is also fairly subjective and rough, which might not work for a larger masters level course.