Bs/ms

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>There are many of these programs around the nation, where you can get both bachelor's and master's in four of five years. This sounds like a good idea if you're going on to grad school (quicker to phd?) or want to get a job afterwards. It's also a good challenge. However, I imagine that there must be drawbacks. </p>

<p>I haven't done much research yet because I've only learned about them recently. </p>

<p>Any ideas?</p>

2

<p>Basically they are what you say they are, but they are very very hard to do as your schedule basically becomes so compacted. Also, the BS/MS programs can be quite difficult to get into. </p>

<p>In my honest opinion, these are usually for people who know what they want to do and don’t necessarily want to go straight for a PhD. Its much better to go regular BS and then go for a MS/PhD program, if you want to pursue a graduate level degree. Not everyone knows 100% what they want to do in college and to pursue the most accelerated path at a young age requires a lot of motivation and undying determination - not something you can muster up if you aren’t sure in what you are doing.</p>

<p>I would invest some time into looking into specific programs, their requirements, and their schedules (if you really are interested in it)</p>

3

<p>I considered pursuing a four-year BA/MA degree in math, but I eventually decided against it. The reason was that the requirements for the MA were too restrictive; I can actually take more advanced graduate courses now than if I had tried for the MA. </p>

<p>General disadvantages of a BA/MA program include:

  • you lose most electives for your college degree
  • you need to start college with transfer credits (1-2 semesters’ worth) and place out of intro courses if you want to finish the MA in four years, or stay for a fifth year (possibly without financial aid)
  • you have to start planning towards the MA in your first year because you need to take all the core undergraduate classes in your major ASAP to qualify for graduate courses in your junior and senior year
  • you have to write a Master’s thesis</p>

<p>The pay-off: you get a Master’s degree.</p>

<p>I am planning to pursue a PhD in math after college and that’s why it does not make a difference at all whether or not I get a Master’s degree now. PhD programs in math accept applicants with BA degrees only (getting an MA first is the exception rather than the norm). The MA degree would also not shorten the time to a PhD. PhD programs in math typically start with 2 years’ worth of coursework followed by 2-4 years to write a dissertation. I might place out of one or two intro graduate courses if I pursued the MA, but I would still spend 2 full years with coursework.</p>