<p>Hello guys. I currently study Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the ETH-Zurich (Switzerland), doing my bachelors right now, and I am considering applying to MIT for my postgrad, but I'm (at least currently) only planning on doing a masters. From what i can understand from the MIT website, if you arn't doing an undergrad there, then you can either:
1) Apply to take a phd (with masters inclusive), but how am i supposed to know after my bachelors if I want to spend 6 years doing a phd??
2) Apply for LGO (leaders of global operations), but to get an MBA i feel i should have worked for some years first, however I'm not planning on working without getting my masters degree first.</p>
<p>Secondly: On this website: MIT</a> EECS - EECS Graduate Program Degrees it says that MIT offer a masters of science and a Electrical Engineer or Engineer in Computer Science degree, neither of which appear on the online application, where it instead says: "Degree objective (must be Ph.D. except for LGO)"</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>It’s possible to enter a PhD program, do the work required for a master’s degree, and leave. It’s not entirely the most ethical route to plan in advance, but certainly some students do enter the PhD program and decide that a PhD isn’t for them.</p>
<p>
It’s one of those things you just have to know – like deciding to spend the rest of your life married to someone after only dating them for a few years. 
(I’m both married and a PhD student, so clearly I don’t have any problems with commitment.)</p>
<p>Yeah, i was hoping that there would be another option than that. If you get accepted for a phd though, do you complete your masters as you would if you were an undergrad there? Or do you somehow do some phd work before you get your masters?</p>
<p>To your marrage analogus: you have much more time before you need tk chose i you want to marry someone, in the phd case you need to choose by the end of your bachelors… Thaks for the advice though</p>
<p>oh and can someone explain who the lgo program is directed at, people who opted to spend a couple of years working after thier bachelors??</p>
<h2>I sent a message to the admissions office and got this as a reply:</h2>
<p>There is no terminal Master’s program. You get the Master of Science on
your way to PhD. Therefore, you must apply for PhD. Some students do leave
after obtaining the Master’s degree.</p>
<hr>
<p>Doesnt seem like they mind that much if you leave after your masters…</p>
<p>Well, I entered my PhD program and got engaged the summer after I graduated from undergrad, so there’s not much difference to me. :)</p>
<p>It’s really not all that unusual to enter a PhD-granting program straight out of undergrad.</p>
<p>DS (CMU ME '06) applied for MIT Media Lab, and told department that he only wanted a MS. Tried to interview but could not get an appointment. He was declined. Later the prof he wanted to work with, called DS and encouraged him to reapply for the next year with the understanding of a terminal MS. </p>
<p>DS did get into another well-known school with $$$, specifically limited to a MS CS.</p>
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<p>I think the issue is that in much of Europe, where the OP resides, it is - in a lot of places and fields, it’s not even <em>allowed</em> to go straight into a PhD program after undergrad. I noticed this when I interned at EPFL (in Switzerland).</p>
<p>OP, if you are really uncomfortable at the idea of not doing a terminal master’s before deciding on a PhD, note that there are many universities in both the US and Europe that have them, and that MIT will admit post-master’s students to its PhD programs.</p>