I am currently attending a PHD degree in CS department at USA. I only have an undergraduate degree and I am not sure I am ready to commit to the PHD track. At the time I applied, I was not sure of the difference between the direct PHD track and one with MS/PHD. so I was hoping that I can first get an MS degree and then move onto PHD. But as it is of now, I am being considered as a direct PHD student and I have been suggested by my general advisor (who is just there to sign my semester forms) to choose my major professor and get into research.
There are a lot of things playing into my mind. I am not even sure if I want to get a PHD degree at this moment. What I had been hoping is that I can join a MS/PHD track and have the flexibility of getting masters before getting into PHD.
So I have two basic questions.
First, I really want to be focusing on my masters first, because I do not have a preference of area where I wanna work on, or even which professor I wanna work with.
Second, how different is the MS/PHD and a direct PHD route?
Regards
