Pete,
Wait a second here. This has nothing to do with the debate over two
terminal degrees (can't get more than a Ph.D. or Ed.D). A Masters is
not a terminal degree.
Many (most/all) ecology graduate programs have different requirements
for students entering Ph.D. programs with a Masters versus none (50%
more coursework, extra research season, later qualifiers/prelims,
hence later graduation). This is explicitly addressed by the
department, the committee, and the adviser, so that no Ph.D. is
'watered down'. In fact, it's everyone's job to ensure that the
terminal degree is not watered down by a lack of a Masters, an
underrated undergraduate school, GRE scores, the ability to speak and
read and write English (TOFL) (and just poor writers who are native).
So that people may come into a program with a Ph.D in Physics from
China or a B.A. from a small college in rural U.S., but each candidate
must work with their adviser and committee to construct a degree that
is worthy of the title.
There may be an advantage getting into a Ph.D. program with a Masters
for just these reasons (proven track record). But those without are
expected to show quickly their worth.
I would look elsewhere for controversy (and this includes the Ph.D/
Ed.D. debate).
There's a lot of variance in degree requirements and achievement, so
that Ph.D and Ed.Ds may not differ fundamentally GIVEN the different
goals of these degree seekers. There is probably much more variance
in candidates, advisers, committees, departments, universities, and
academic systems (countries and continents). I'm not doing the stats,
though.
We all try our best.
Sean
On Mar 13, 2009, at 1:45 PM, Pete Rissler wrote:
What concerns me more then EdD vs PhD is getting a PhD without fist
getting
a Master's degree. Whenever I see an applicant with a PhD and no
Master's,
I view their PhD as either a glorified Master's or a watered down
PhD. I
know there are advantages for doing this for both the school and
students
but call me old school I think a PhD should be earned without any
short
cuts.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
[mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of Mitch Cruzan
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 8:58 AM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] EdD vs PhD
Whether it sits right with you or not, it is true. Not everybody has
the same intellectual ability, the same as we are not all able to be
Olympic athletes no matter how hard we work. Otherwise, universities
would not require high scores on entrance exams for undergraduate
study,
and we would not require our applicants to our PhD programs to perform
well on GREs. This is not elitism, it is just a consequence of
genetic
variation in human populations.
