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.