★Master's Or PhD?
Do you want to be admitted to Graduate School in America for higher education? But do not understand the PhD in the Masters? Then this is the text for you. (Even if the elephants are posted, try to read a little less and read the text for the public interest.)
Many universities in the United States have the opportunity to do direct PhD. In other words, BSc degree holders get direct access to PhD programs. Many people in Bangladesh have seen a wrong idea - before doing Ph.D. At least it is not true at the University of USA - qualified candidates are admitted directly to PhD. And whether or not to take a Master's Degree in PhD, depending on the student's will in many places. For example, to master the computer science department of my Graduate School University of Illinois, I had to write 6 courses and theses. In many places again 6/7 courses have the opportunity to take a Master's degree.
I am currently working as a Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which is well-connected to the graduate admission process in this semester. In my division, there are a total of 30 credit courseworks to master, or there are some courses but thesis options. Last year, at least 30-50 new Indian / Chinese /
Pakistani / Nepali students coming in the Masters, writing a little later with that, let us first see, how are the advantages of disadvantage between Masters and PhD?
1) Funding.
Getting funding at the Master's level is very difficult. In the worst time of the US economy, the Masters-Pharma Fund has almost disappeared. Therefore, it is almost impossible to get at least one semester fund if it is admitted to the Masters. In that case, the tuition fee has to be read, which in many cases at the outside level of reach But there are some "but" in this place.
State University, which means less tuition in state government universities. For example, a semester cost of approximately 3 to 6 thousand dollars in the University of Illinois, but for a foreign student, the total fee is approximately 10/12 thousand dollars. And if the private university, the amount of the fees will increase a lot. My one-time workplace can give accounts of Johns Hopkins University, here at the Master's level every semester fee is about 22 to 25 thousand dollars. But in many places, especially in the US, the tuition fees are much lower. My current workplace at the University of Alabama out of the state fee of 9 thousand dollars per semester. If the total workload of 3 semesters is completed, then the total cost will fall below 30 thousand.
If you can get Research Assistant (RA) from Professor by showing good work in the 1st semester, then the tuition can be forgiven, and salary can also be obtained. Many people have continued to work a bit while doing fundamental work on the campus, even without funding.
On the other hand, PhDs are funded by most universities, through teaching / research assistantship or fellowship. With this the tuition fee is waived. What is paid is not very much, but foreign students may well be able to do it well.
Admission is less easy to get admission, because the fundamentals are lower in the Masters. At the time of decision of the admission of Masters students, we do not want the GRE in the UAE, but tofel is rough. On the other hand it is difficult to get admission in PhD. There are hundreds of master's students in many universities, but PhD students are not enrolled in Dena / XI per year.
(There are lots of Asian students coming in my university (UAB), and none of them has brought the fund. In this case, there is no remorse for the folly of Bangladeshi students, thousands of Bangladeshi students of this Indian / Chinese /
Pakistani students may be equally or in many cases perhaps more talented, but if they do not get funding, they are in the country because of their insistence, where the rest of the country's children are going out of service after clearing the Masters in one and a half years. Are they funding? I'll write it a second time, the real event is that they come to the cost of a semester, because once the know-how come once, it is the funding to do so.)
2) Time.
It takes one and a half to two years for the master. And for 5 to 7 years (but my two junior students working under UAB have done a PhD in the last four years, but they are exceptions) in the field of PhD. So think, whether you have so much time in your hand. Job market is changing regularly. And things changed - every thing that can be totally hot topic today, forget about it after 5 years.
(Adding new, I saw in my 6-year teaching life, ending the masters in the middle of a year and a half year old. Today one of the Indian students talked about that, he started in the semester of 2016. Now he said that the master's course work ended in this semester, now looking for a job. Needless to say, the job as a computer programmer, whether it be, whether it will be available soon. This matter is very important, especially if you do not want to go to the academy, if the goal of the industry is to do the job, then it is better to master the difference between the two degrees is 3 to 6 years, if passed by joining any company entry level, PhD extra Do not work too much, except for a few specific things (except R & D Lab, Research Lab etc.), so only Doc
3) Stretching.
Under the Master's and PhD level, the sky's subdivision difference. Masters course requirement is almost half of PhD, and thesis differences are huge. The Master's thesis is almost the only project based, in which PhD thesis has to do a lot of work with multiple research paper jobs. The Master's thesis, along with experiments in a semester kite, many people write, where after the completion of PhD's studies, many people take longer to write the thesis. Most of the master programs are non-thesis options. At my university (UAB) almost everyone makes it.
So think about whether you will be able to maintain a long-term commitment to work for a few years. For the benefit of the session jute, many of the graduate students from Bangladesh are 25+ years old, doing Ph.D. 30-33+, at the age of which there is scope to test / have you? Maybe there, but many do not have any enthusiasm.
4) Job.
If your goal is to get a job in a US company, then it is enough to master yourself. Most of the jobs are for a master's degree. For two years, I can enter the job market, which is a big advantage.
PhD in many jobs is not considered as any additional qualification. Examples - People from all walks of BSc, Masters, or PhD are taken to Google. Ph.D. takes 3 to 4 years more time than the master. So today, who is entering the master, there will be a few million dollars ahead of stock options, salary, and bonuses after 3/4 years. If you have a PhD degree in most tech companies, then there is a little more salary at the beginning but 3/4 years ago the Master's degree holders got much benefit from that time. When I interned on Google, I saw many group managers as masters or bachelors, where many of them working under a PhD do again. So there is no difference between PhD or Masters in many places of the job market.
Some examples I have seen in hand, many people enter Google by passing the Masters in a year and a half, my student has entered, and again in the top 7 years by joining PhD, the difference in the salary of their entry-level position is only 10-15 thousand dollars a year. After entering, the boss may just be able to do bachelors or masters, due to the PhD, additional honors / benefits are not in most companies.
However, PhD is essential in the academic and research lines again. So if your goal is on an academic or research line, then you have to do PhD.
What things to consider ????
- What is your main goal - Research /
The academic line, or the job? (If you want to be a professor, do not waste your time on the Master's degree)
- Do not get the funds? If you do not get the fund, can you pay the tuition fee at least 1 semester?
5/6 years have more patience to read more? What is the age? (Do you want to work for a year or two in a master's job?)
Select all by judging, PhD or Masters, who will apply. Note that once you choose one can not go to the other, but it does not. The program can be changed even if needed, though it is time-consuming.
★Contact with professors (and packaged) advice.
It is an intelligent task to contact university professors for the various reasons related to admission and research in the graduate level. In many places the teaching assistant does not have much, and most PhD students are getting funding through the Research Assistantship. Research Assistant's fund comes mainly from professors's various research grants. Again, before admission in many places the advisor has to go, in which case the professors should be contacted.
- When to contact? -
A major mistake is to apply before the admission date just before the admission time. It takes time to work with someone or express interest in someone's work. Attracting the attention of professors, communicating with them in emails, it is not possible to overnight. That is why at least half a month should start hand-in-hand. It is best to start the job at least one and a half years before applying for admission. Not only for the admission of admission, but also in many cases graduate students can contact with professors for Summer Internship. I myself get an internship application from three year old students of various universities of India every year, and many interested in research by email. So start contacting before.
- Who to contact? -
The question at the beginning - what do you really want? Is your goal to find out funding of RA, or to contact for research? If the purpose is to get admission and funding, then you have to find someone who has funding in his hands and who is taking new students. To find out these data you need to do a homework - to find out different places -
(1) Professors Website: Many professors have announced the website if they wish to take a new student.
(2) Department Website: Again many times the professors appoint a new grant, then the research assistant will be appointed. Notice that the news of that grant is published on the department's website.
(3) Funding Agency Site: Another way is to visit the National Science Foundation site www.nsf.gov and visit the latest Grants / Awards page and find out the names of the key professors of those Grants. (Go to the site and find this information by going to the search page). Not sure if Grant will take a new assistant, but after obtaining a grant in many cases, professors took a new research assistant.
(4) New Professor: All those who joined as new Assistant Professors at various universities, they all took a new Assistant to build their own research group. The newly introduced professors are often offered on the department's site, but the professors have their own site and their CV provided there can also be seen who has recently joined.
There is no need to worry about funding or grants in order to assist or assist you in research - Find reputed professors of the topic you are interested in to study.
Writer: Ragib Hasan
Associate Professor,
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Higher Education In America (Part 2)
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Education