<p>I'm confused on whether I should bother applying to any masters programs. I ultimately want a PhD but who knows if I'll get in any doctorate programs this year since they are so competitive. Masters programs are slightly less competitive and often times the schools that offer these programs boast how their masters students ultimately go on to receive admission to top PhD programs.</p>
<p>However, isn't it true that most PhD programs do not accept much if any of the credits obtained by the masters degree? So isn't it just another way of getting more research experience and finding out what you want to do? (and having more student loans)</p>
<p>I know what I want to do and I have research experience so should I apply to any masters programs?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What schools do you ultimately want to get into?</p></li>
<li><p>What are your stats/research experience?</p></li>
<li><p>Are you sure you want to pursue a PhD?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It all depends on how high you are reaching and how competitive you are. If you are sure about a PhD and have the stats, there is no point in getting a masters. In fact, it’s probably better to work as a research tech for several years (taking a few classes) than paying a ton of money for a masters.</p>
<p>I would like to get into some good schools but they don’t have to be the top programs or even top 10-20. Just a fully funded PhD program with a solid reputation so I can get my career started. I’m very passionate about cognitive neuroscience research and I am very motivated to get a PhD.</p>
<p>stats (from other post :P) </p>
<p>3.67 GPA, 3.96 psychology GPA
1100 GRE (retaking, hoping to break 1200)</p>
<p>honors program and completing honors thesis cognitive neuroscience project</p>
<p>lots of extracurriculars, 6 honors societies, president of psych club and psi chi. i don’t even know if any of this matters but it certainly fills up my CV. some TAing experience </p>
<p>a lot of research experience at my school. assisted with about 10 different projects there not including honors thesis. worked in a hospital for a summer doing neuropsych testing on patients. involved in several research projects there and got my name mentioned in a book and co author at 2 presentations.</p>
<p>worked in a cognitive neuroscience lab at an ivy league school. got great fmri experience there (i want to do fmri research) but too early for any presentations</p>
<p>overall, i have about 6 poster presentations, 1 publication in an undergrad journals, lots of lab skills and also i should get great LOR’s.</p>
<p>You have very impressive stats and you should be applying to PhD programs. The GRE scores are a bit low, so it might be a help to get it over 1200. You should be aiming for higher ranked schools with your stats though ( at least a few).</p>
<p>Thank you. I’m just hoping I don’t get screened out early because of subpar GRE scores.</p>
<p>I am applying to a few top schools such as MIT, Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon. After that it’s mostly solid and good programs but not top any 10 schools.</p>
<p>The three you mentioned would be reaches just because the quality of applicant is so high, but as long as you choose the remaining wisely ( and it seems like you will) it should not be a problem.</p>
<p>So, what happens if the PhD program you want to apply to doesn’t have an MA variant and doesn’t allow people to apply without getting an MA to begin with?</p>
<p>I’m a bit in the same boat:</p>
<p>3.4 GPA
1330 GRE
Multilingual
Peace Corps / Americorps
Some work experience</p>
<p>I’m interested in Second Language Acquisition programs, but every single decent SLA PhD program requires an MA to apply.</p>
<p>Is it worth it to get an MA in like Applied Linguistics and then spend 4-5 years on a PhD in SLA after that?</p>
<p>Or, let’s say I went to the school in question and got an MA in something similar, then transferred to the PhD program, would they knock off some of the early classroom stuff and put me right into the research?</p>
<p>I hope I’m not hijacking the thread :)</p>
<p>OP,
read my post on the thread “Berkeley EECS MS-only vs MS/PhD” and look for another thread I started “MS vs PhD” or something like that. The admission rate depends on the graduate school itself, some do not even accept MS students (MIT, and Berkeley highly discourages MS applicants) and some allow you to be considered for both (Stanford). So I suggest doing some research on the university itself. If your stats are good and you have enough research experience go for PhD. If you are still skeptical, try doing a combination of MS/PhD applications.</p>
<p>FWIW, there are very few M.S. in neuroscience programs. Most people who have an M.S. in that field are ABD (“all but dissertation.”)</p>
<p>I don’t think I’ll bother applying to masters programs then. It just doesn’t seem like it could help me much vs the debt I’d accrue. </p>
<p>Hopefully just one of those 9 or 10 PhD programs I’m applying to gives me a chance!</p>