I'm a Ph.D. candidate who entered the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology (formerly the Institute of Ecology) without a Master's, as did a large number of my fellow students. Actually, I considered getting a Master's first, mainly as a way of working in a larger number of fields, but several professors who mentored me as an undergrad advised against it. One said, very simply, "If you're sure you want to get a Ph.D., do it. If you're not sure, do a Master's." (Also, there's more money available to support Ph.D. students.) And I would pit the rigor of my research program, consisting of field work in gradient analysis and two theoretical/modeling studies of food webs, against anyone's.
>From my own experience and that of many of my friends, who went both routes, I can say that it's the most highly qualified undergraduates who are advised to go straight for a Ph.D. This is not to say that those who get a Master's first END UP less qualified -- they may have to do less coursework at the Ph.D. level, but in the end, we all have to do the same work. Of course, many Ph.D. students do a Master's first out of tradition, university requirement, uncertainty about their desired career path, or because they're switching fields. Hopefully, this will correct some misconceptions. Jane Shevtsov On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 1:45 PM, Pete Rissler <peter_riss...@rissler.reno.nv.us> 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. > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. student, University of Georgia co-founder, <a href="http://www.worldbeyondborders.org";>World Beyond Borders</a> Check out my blog, <a href="http://perceivingwholes.blogspot.com";>Perceiving Wholes</a> "Political power comes out of the look in people's eyes." --Kim Stanley Robinson, _Blue Mars_
