RChickenMan

I am currently working on a Master's degree, and have firmly decided that I ultimately want to work on a PhD. I am about two-thirds of the way finished with my coursework, and will begin working on my thesis this Summer or Fall. While I know this is fundamentally an issue of department-specific policies, as a general rule, could I get away with applying for a PhD program this Fall/Winter (2010), with the intention of beginning the program Fall 2011, and simply leaving some of the coursework from my Master's degree unfinished, with the intention of either finishing it through the course of my PhD studies (through transfer credits and whatnot), or just not finishing at all? This proposition might seem silly at first glance, a guy who is too lazy to finish his Master's degree but wants to get started on a PhD, but the motivation is purely financial and logistical. I know I need to write my thesis so that I can make contact with faculty and get recommendations (especially for applying to the school where I'm currently working on my Master's), gain some research experience to make me a stronger applicant for a PhD, and carve out a niche in the field. But I am doing my master's degree part time, with a full-time job during the day, and paying my own tuition (and my school is very, very expensive - about $4,000 per class!). So I would much rather just stop paying for these expensive classes, and concentrate on my thesis while continuing to work full time. This way I would be able to do a much better job on my thesis, while still not getting fired from work (Thesis + Full Time Job seems doable, but Thesis + Full Time Job + Coursework would mean that I would do a half-assed job with all three). Thanks for sharing any knowledge or experiences that would help clarify the situation for me! And in case you're curious, I am currently getting a Master's degree in Scientific Computing (basically a combination between Mathematics and Computer Science) at NYU, and am looking to apply for PhD in Computer Science programs at NYU, Polytechnic (in Brooklyn), CUNY (The City University of New York), and Columbia. Yes, I refuse to leave New York.

Hi everyone, I need advice choosing between two programs. One is a Master's in Applied Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University, and the other is a Master's in Scientific Computing at New York University. My eventual goal is to continue on to get a phd in applied math. I am looking for advice from an academic perspective only. Baltimore is obviously a better city than New York, and I don't need to be retold that a hundred times (I've lived in both cities for an appreciable amount of time). The Courant Institute at NYU is obviously much more respectable than the department at Hopkins (consistently ranked the best applied math department in the country). However, I'm worried that this reputation doesn't necessarily carry over to such a non-standard program. The scientific computing program basically consists of half courses from the math department, and half courses from the computer science department. I'm worried that when I go to apply for phd programs, it will be seen as more of a professional degree as opposed to an academic degree. On the other hand, scientific computing is indeed the branch of applied mathematics that I want to pursue, so perhaps it will get me into this niche. Thanks for letting me vent my confusion, and any input is greatly appreciated!