MS or PhD??

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xudis149
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MS or PhD??

Post by xudis149 » Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:25 am

I am an international student from India.
I am expecting more than 80 percentile in PGRE.

I was considering that may be I should apply for MS thesis degree at some of the lower ranked institutes like Buffalo, Kentucky etc. And then probably if possible go to do PhD at some of the TOP 10-20 institutes after MS degree. Another factor is that I am not very clear on which topic to do PhD. My interest broadly is in particle theory/string theory.
But I do not have any exposure in these fields. Hopefully a MS degree can do that.


Is this a good idea?
Please suggest

rohit
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Re: MS or PhD??

Post by rohit » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:44 am

i'm from india too, expecting a similar score. Are u ready to pay for the 1 year u will spend doing MS, as they dont give stipends for MS

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xudis149
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Re: MS or PhD??

Post by xudis149 » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:34 am

Isn't MS for two years and I thought it was funded??

Darn.. :x

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secander2!
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Re: MS or PhD??

Post by secander2! » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:43 am

Yea, I'm pretty sure it's usually for two years. Also, if you apply directly for a M.S., it usually isn't funded, however, some people will apply for a Ph.D., get the Ph.D. funding, and then just quit once they have their master's. From what I understand though, having done this looks really bad when you reapply. In fact, I heard somewhere that if you have a master's degree at all, many departments will just assume that you dropped out of a Ph.D. program... I kinda doubt that this is true though... can anybody confirm?

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xudis149
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Re: MS or PhD??

Post by xudis149 » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:51 am

yes dropping out is kind of bad impression only...

after all you are in a way breaking commitment and the poor professor looses all the grant money he spent on you.....

But even after spending whole lot of money from your pocket to get a MS degree and then being considered equivalent to a PhD dropout really sucks...

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secander2!
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Re: MS or PhD??

Post by secander2! » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:55 am

yea... that would really suck!!! which is why I can't imagine that it's true, hopefully somebody on this forum might know for sure!

rohit
Posts: 104
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:12 am

Re: MS or PhD??

Post by rohit » Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:57 am

sidharthsp wrote:Isn't MS for two years and I thought it was funded??

Darn.. :x
ya MS is 2 years but i thought u meant u'd quit for a top 10-20 PhD after the 1 'st year. Any way 2 yrs make it even more expensive. :|



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