In Canada, research masters are a prereq for entering a PhD program.
Re:T-Shaped People and Academia
by simplestats on Sunday January 09, 2022 @03:32PM
(#29867046)
In the US I think it's entirely up to the school. Or at least the accreditation bodies in different fields and regions.
When I was in school, one applied to "MS/PhD" programs most typically. And all imaginable variants existed in terms of funding and likelihood of leaving with only a MS. Some schools would fund no one till they finish the MS stage, and others would fund everyone from the beginning (just give every accepted student a full fellowship for the first couple years). And also some schools were pretty notorious for kicking people out at the end of the MS stage, with a difficult exam at this step or not enough advisors to take them on for the PhD.
One positive side, though, is if you wash out of a PhD program at any later stage, you at least walked away with a Master's.
Re:T-Shaped People and Academia
by throwawayjd on Sunday January 09, 2022 @09:36PM
(#29869934)
I don't think so. It is funded and recommended, but direct doctorate is also possible, unlike many European schools.
You can master-out in the middle of a PhD program, which is frowned upon, but it is difficult to get funding if you directly apply for a masters degree.
Perhaps the solution is to decrease the negative cultural backlash against predisposed intention of leaving with a masters despite applying for a PhD, which is currently seen as some sort of betrayal of the adviser if you are going to have your grad students do boring work. It'll be a win-win deal in that case.