<p>I think that the phD degree can lead us to many rewardable positions other than professors. Common researchers may have the status lower than professor. But these jobs do attract people who favor the freedom to pursue their projects without the monitoring of boss as in many companies. So we must make choices between the comforts and incomes. Many jobs in research institutes may only provide very limited salary. But for many lazy people as me, the life supported by these jobs will be enjoyable
Longer life span may possibly achieved, I fear pressure and city syndromes! oh oh!</p>
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basically, yes. it is essentially a sign of failure.
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This statement is not always true. I agree that many departments do dismiss their PhD students for various reasons and then hand them a "terminal" master degree if warranted. However, far more frequently, a student choose to leave a PhD program after shortly after getting their master. In many places, this is a popular route to get a master while fully funded.</p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>My sister has three masters degrees, and still got a Ph.D from Yale. Whoever said a masters degree is a sign of failure is woefully misguided.</p>
<p>It's just a different system in the US compared to the rest of the world. In the United States, stand-alone masters degrees are less common, for whatever reason. But still, students in the US who are doing graduate level coursework and but not yet working on their dissertation are effectively masters students. In the rest of the world, people generally have to earn a masters degree through a separate program, and then they apply for the Ph.D program. American universities just set it up a little differently, that's all.</p>
<p>A person who has completed the two years (typically) of required coursework of an American Ph.D program before moving on to the dissertation has already earned a masters degree. A masters comes as the result of real work, and is not simply a consolation prize. Obviously, a student who quits the program or is asked to leave before completing the required coursework is not awarded anything. That's because they didn't earn a masters degree, since they didn't finish the coursework required for that qualification.</p>
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<p>Obviously, a student who quits the program or is asked to leave before completing the required coursework is not awarded anything. That's because they didn't earn a masters degree, since they didn't finish the coursework required for that qualification.</p>
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<p>true. and your post is true. however, with respect to the snippet above, a student who completes their master's and tries but is unable to complete their PhD work (for whatever reason) is given a master's as a consolation prize. </p>
<p>don't imagine that all students happily leave with the terminal masters. some of them really couldn't hack it.</p>
<p>curiously, i find the statement of "terminal masters awarded upon partial completion of PhD" more commonly found in weaker (but decent, e.g. typical lower-tier state schools) school's admissions literature. u won't commonly see it phrased in HYPS stuff. to me, its a sign that these (weaker) schools get students who aren't PhD quality and have a way of dismissing them.</p>
<p>nauru:</p>
<p>"Students who fail the general examinations and are dismissed from the program can petition the history department for the awarding of a terminal Master of Arts degree in history."</p>
<p>this is the university of toledo speaking. they don't paint the same rosy picture about terminal masters as u do.</p>
<p>further - why do u even bring up your sister? the fact that she got a PhD from yale implies none of her masters degrees were terminal (get it?). as such, ur sister's anecdote is irrelevant. we are discussing terminal masters degrees.</p>