Okay, I already know the right answer this but I’ll ask anyway. Most of Master’s degrees in Humanities aren’t funded but nearly all PhD programs are. So, can’t one just get into the PhD program and then stop after getting the Master’s in two years?
You can do that, but it’s frowned upon because you’re taking another PhD candidate’s slot and wasting your advisor’s time.
Yes, you could theoretically do that. But here are some reasons you should not that are actually related directly to you, and not to ethics or impact on other candidates.
-It may take you longer than two years. When you are in a PhD program, your focus is supposed to be on finishing the PhD. The MA is incidental. Consequently, your advisor isn’t going to be totally focused on helping you get it out quickly - they’re going to be more focused on you perfecting it for publication and such. It took me three years to earn my non-terminal MA on the way to my PhD for these reasons.
-The career support isn’t there. IF you go get a terminal MA in art history or English or philosophy, the understanding is that after your second year you will be gone and working. So there’s more support for you working part-time during the program, doing an internship over the summer, and learning skills from other departments. There’s also more support within the department (potentially) for career-seeking within the field. That’s not necessarily the case with a non-terminal master’s; the assumption is that you are getting a PhD and nobody will be very inclined to help you get a job after the MA. Your advisor will encourage you not to work and not to do internships, and your focus will be on scholarship when you’re not in class.
-Psychologically, it’s more difficult to disentangle yourself from a PhD program than you’d think.
You can do that, and I’ve even seen some schools emphasize the possibility, as if they really don’t mind. BUT, many humanities Ph.D programs skip the MA all together. That is, you’ll earn a Ph.D but never a Master’s. If the MA is your goal, just make sure it’s included as part of your program.
I disagree with djmcdevitt. This is a very poor plan. The timing and expectations in a PhD program are usually vastly different from those in a terminal MA program. Those who are failing or doing poorly in a PhD program may be offered an option of the terminal MA but even those PhD programs that give MAs on route are not geared for those who want to step off after the MA. So the timing of classes and everything else won’t be aligned.scheduled in a way to make the MA easy to obtain and leave with after a year or two. And, you are unlikely to be very marketable with an MA from a program known not to have a terminal MA program.