Comment by jcelerier
6 years ago
> 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.
By the time I'd finished graduate classes, I had a hard time with proofs. After the 10th or 12th introduction to predicate logic with slightly different notation, it just all becomes a big, confusing mass.
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.
This is usually true but not always. I attended an economics program with a terminal master’s offering, and we spent a year and a half as master’s students before moving on to PhD work.
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.