M.Sc. vs Ph.D. -does it really matter? 6

[qwip]

hi. i am in the 5-th year of my ph.d. program. for the past couple of years the research group i`ve been working in was struggling both financially and, as a consequence, academically. As a result i am facing the fact that i have to graduate with may be one or no publications on my resume and patchy skills on a lot of subjects rather than a deep expertize in one field. All this makes me think that finding a job as a Ph.D. will be difficult for me and getting out of school with a Masters degree is a more reasonable option. How big is the difference between having a Ph.D. and having M.Sc. for finding a job? Is having a Ph.D. degree better in the long run for working in the industry or is it just a great thing to have in an academic career? What would you recomend in my situation?
Thanks,
Vincent

 

[GregLocock]

Sounds good to me!

7 years to get a good grounding in real engineering and find out what you are interested in - then do an MSc in it,

Then 7 years to become an expert and find someone to pay for you to do your PHD.

There, the perfect career plan!

Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[HarrisDE]

I graduated with my BSME in '93. In '95 I started working on an MBA and finished in '02. It took seven years but I got my employers to pay for it. I have already started thinking about PhD but there is one problem - I can't quit my job to do it.

You can get a Masters in whatever while working, but getting a PhD while working is more complicated. There is also the issue of where (geographically) you work. If there is no local and respectable PhD program you are simply out of luck.

Grüß Scott

 

[mshimko]

The "timing" of your various degrees are most likely not one you can chose, but here's a few tidbits I picked up from my experiences, as well as my daughter who just graduated a few months ago:

I feel strongly that one will learn more in his/her master's program if they have a few years of experience working for a living first, as opposed to staying in school after getting the BS degree. You will have experience of USING your engineering degree on which to gain even more knowledge in the graduate program. This was my own experience.

I also recall my daughter mentioning that many, perhaps most of her instructors at college were recommending students stay in school & get a MS so they would get a much better job. I womdered how many of those instructors had ever worked outside academia......the answer was only a few.

Now for my last point: I manage a relatively small engineering group, and I'm responsible for interviewing and hiring. If I had two candidates, one with a BS, and one with a MS, interviewing for the same position, the additional degree would NOT be a top factor in my decision who to hire. In fact, if the candidates were equal in allother aspects, I may prefer the one with a BS as their salary requirements could be a bit lower (this is hypothetical only as I've never had the luxury of this problem).

 

[brainstorming]

mshimko
Do not do this if you are thinking so.
Simply the higher qualified, the better for you and the company as well. Since the M.S. person has gone through a stage of thinking outside the box and his imagination is far than that with undergraduate one (B.S.). Furthermore, the M.S. degree with a good research (thesis) would also add a value to the M.S. person.
I am saying that since I got my M.S. in Che. eng. (3.5 years) as a part time and at the same time I have been working in petrochemical plants as a process engineer.
Now I have better thinking as well as picking things faster and others

Regards

 

[MRM]

mshimko,
Your comment regarding the BS vs. MS candidate does not appear to be consistent with what I experienced. I decided to stay for my MS. Some other friends left school after their BS. When it came time to interview, I seemed to have my pick of any of the firms I interviewed at. My BS degreed buddies had a noticeably more difficult time getting offers. Perhaps I didn't negotiate my salary like I should have!