# Master's degree **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082 "2003-06-15T21:29:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Apoptosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Apoptosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apoptosis)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/21 "2003-06-16T07:13:04Z")
**Urban Ranger** said: > [@](#): > > AFAIK, a master’s degree doesn’t teach you much more new material than a corresponding undergrad degree. This is definitely not true for many situations, i.e. those graduate degrees that require independent research. -Apoptosis ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/22 "2003-06-16T09:35:30Z")
Yea, but it varies from university to university. In some places, a master’s degree requires research (thesis). In others that is not necessary. All doctorate programs require research of some sort, though. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/23 "2003-06-16T11:40:25Z")
My master’s certainly required independent research, sung a foreign language no less. In fact, the research part of the degree ended up taking me longer than the rest of it put together. And believe me, even those who had related undergrad degrees were scrambling plenty in the process of learning new stuff. The amount and depth of work required for grad courses was orders of magnitude more hardcore than for my undergrad degree. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/24 "2003-06-16T12:12:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Urban Ranger \* > \*\*AFAIK, a master’s degree doesn’t teach you much more new material than a corresponding undergrad degree. In fact, my alma mater recommend against taking a master’s in some discipline where you already have a bachelor’s. Doctoral is the way to go. \*\* I have heard this is true of Journalism - a friend of mine who had a BS in Journalism was convinced my pursuit of an MS in MechEng was “silly” because in his Journalism program, you took the same classes as you did for the BS, just had different assignments. Similar to an honors program. He never understood that some degrees are simply several orders of magnitude more difficult than others. Nothing I took for my Masters in MechEng was a repeat course. Doctoral is not the “way to go” if you want to go into most corporate/business settings. An MS in your field, coupled with an MBA, will take you much further in most (but not all) fields, and it can take a lot less time too. And at many technology companies, an MS gets hired in at the same, exact rate as a PhD, and for the same position. Unless the PhD is from India or Europe, in which case they are often hired in at the Bachelor’s level (see numerous other threads comparing and contrasting relative coursework between continents for more details). Una, who has personally hired PhDs to work under her. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/25 "2003-06-16T12:20:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > **Unless the PhD is from India or Europe, in which case they are often hired in at the Bachelor’s level (see numerous other threads comparing and contrasting relative coursework between continents for more details).** Correct that to say that in engineering, out of research, me and the few peers I know who hire engineers at related companies treat a non-US MS as a BS, and a non-US PhD as an MS. But since most of our positions have the MS as the “terminal degree”, sometimes things get shifted a bit, and a non-US PhD qualifies for a BS position _at times_, same as a non-US MS. Typically it will depend on the “research” experience, nature of degree, country, and any work experience involved. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/26 "2003-06-16T14:27:31Z")
Masters in Engineering chiming in here - I was required to have as BS in engineering from an accredited university to even apply for the masters program. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/27 "2003-06-16T14:34:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Whack-a-Mole \* > \*\*This just occurred to me… > > Consider medical doctors and lawyers. If you want to be one of those most people generally take their undergrad degree in pre-med or pre-law. [sub]NOTE: Although we generally do not address attornies as ‘Doctor XXX’ they do possess a doctoral degree. You graduate from law school with a Doctor of Jurisprudence.[/sub] \*\* Two notes, originating from the same insecurity: lawyers feeling like they don’t get the same respect as doctors. Until the 1960s, the standard law degree was the LL.B. - _bachelor_ of laws. It was essentially rebranded as the J.D. to make it look equivalent to the M.D. I can attest it’s a complete joke - difficult as it was, in no way was what I went through even remotely equivalent to what baby M.D.s must do. Around the same time, “pre-law” curricula started to appear, again to make law look like it requires preparation similar to medicine. It doesn’t. I personally don’t know a single person who had “pre-law” as a major - and I’m not sure many schools even offer it anymore, because frankly the whole idea was bull. What you need for law school is the ability to reason and solve problems - it really doesn’t matter what discipline. I knew lots of English, history, philosophy and \ political science\* majors - but also engineering, biology and math. The science types had a bit more adjustment to make at first, but did at least as well as humanities majors. And they often had a leg up on admissions because there’s such an enormous need for lawyers who understand tech issues. \*My own major - useless mishmash occupying the low-rent districts of history, philosophy and statistics. It’s as close to pre-law as anything, considering that there’s pretty much no other gainful employment for which it’s remotely useful. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/28 "2003-06-16T16:44:54Z")
I got a Master’s degree ten years ago and still no one calls me Master. 🙂 I want my money back! ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/29 "2003-06-16T18:17:26Z")
> [@](#): > > AFAIK, a master’s degree doesn’t teach you much more new material than a corresponding undergrad degree. In fact, my alma mater recommend against taking a master’s in some discipline where you already have a bachelor’s. OMG. OMG! OMG!! My Master’s taught so much new material my brain exploded. (Math btw) ---
**Author:** ![Apoptosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Apoptosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apoptosis)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/30 "2003-06-16T18:31:05Z")
**Anthracite** said > [@](#): > > And at many technology companies, an MS gets hired in at the same, exact rate as a PhD, and for the same position. This is definitely not true for most **bio** technology companies. For the most part, people with an MSc are assigned to carry out experiments given to them by PhDs. Not much thinking is required, and they don’t get paid near as much as the docs. If you want to go anywhere in the industrial sector in biosciences, get a PhD. -Apoptosis ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/31 "2003-06-16T21:29:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apoptosis \* > **This is definitely not true for most biotechnology companies.** I agree in terms of biotech. My apologies for only thinking of the “less squishy” tech branches. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/32 "2003-06-16T22:53:56Z")
Urban planning is a multiciciplinary field; it incorporates elements of architecture, geography, sociology, and economics. In my M.UP class, very few students actually had an undergraduate degree in urban planning ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082/33 "2003-06-17T04:14:20Z")
I have a masters degree in Architecture–undergrad in Pyschology. In my grad school no one had a Bachelors of Architecture that I recall–in fact it was discouraged. But we had a range of people with Political Science to Geology and even an English Honors student. So it really depends upon the program and the philosophy of the Graduate program. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masters-degree/182082.md?page=1)