<p>I am a little confused with this terminology.
One is a terminal degree, correct?</p>
<p>If I decide I want to pursue a PhD after receiving a master's degree, which would enable me to do so?</p>
<p>I noticed when looking at programs in Europe they used MSC to describe their programs.</p>
<p>I am getting ready to apply for graduate school pretty soon and just registered for the GREs.</p>
<p>Thanks for your time :)</p>
<p>MA, MS, and MSc degrees in economics are essentially the same. </p>
<p>Any differences in these degrees are either specific to manner in which a particular university designates its degrees, or specific to the requirements for a degree in a particular department at a particular university (i.e., a certain department, not the discipline as a whole). </p>
<p>At the graduate level, if a particular department offers both an MA and an MS, one possible difference might be whether one of those degrees requires a thesis and the other does not. If so, there is no consistent pattern across departments at different universities as to whether the thesis option leads to an MS or MA. It really depends on the particular department, so you need to compare the requirements of the departments that interest you. An outside observer wouldn’t know the difference anyway. </p>
<p>In general, if you decide to apply for a PhD after completing a master’s program, it’s probably better to do the thesis option. That demonstrates some more in-depth research abilities, and might provide the basis for continued research in a doctoral program. Some departments offer both a thesis and a non-thesis option without making an distinction as to which degree is awarded, i.e., both options lead to an MA or an MS. (Of course, for departments that offer both an MA and an MS, there may be an entirely different basis for distinguishing between the two degrees besides a thesis/non-thesis distinction.)</p>
<p>Thanks so much, this is an excellent answer :)</p>
<p>Some places the degrees are totally different. The MA and MS can mean totally different things. MSc is MS, just using different notation.</p>
<p>Check out this page from The New School.</p>
<p>[Economics</a> Degree Programs | The New School for Social Research](<a href=“The New School”>The New School)</p>