MA credits transfer to PhD?

[Nicole Khashmanian]

Hi everyone,

I am currently in a two year MA program and plan on applying to PhD programs for Fall 2022 admission. Has anyone else completed a separate MA program before applying to PhD programs? I am wondering if my credits will transfer over so that I will not have to repeat certain courses/requirements. Any information would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

[justacigar]

As far as I know, this is fairly program dependent. Sometimes, they will accept a master's thesis if it fulfills certain qualifications. I personally wouldn't count on many courses being applicable. 

[PsyDuck90]

As @justacigar said, this is program specific. I completed a separate Master's and I was able to transfer my thesis to meet that milestone. My program also allows up to a certain number of credits. You have to submit your syllabi for all the classes you wish to have counted and then the faculty make a decision on whether or not it was sufficient. I opted to not transfer any classes since I had several years between the 2 programs (I still learned the DSM-IV in Psychopathology in my MA lol). Another classmate was able to transfer in like 4 courses over the course of our program. When I was applying, some programs don't have it allowed at all. Look at the program handbooks of the programs you are interested in. They should mention something about the policy in there. 

[RyanS]

It may also be worth checking to see if they accept both credit transfer and credit waiver.  With transfers, you don't have to retake the course and your credits count towards your degree.  With waivers, on the other hand, you don't have to retake the course but you'll still need to make up the credits required for graduation (usually by taking extra electives).  In our program we have different limits for each, but incoming students can use both.

[PsyZei]

It'll def depend. Some of the schools I interviewed at said they would count some of my MS credits- but those tended to be schools that had PhD programs with attached masters programs. The program I chose to attend requires you already have a MA or MS, so none of the credits transfer. I assume that is because it is assumed you already have a graduate level of comprehension in many topics and you'll be moving forward from there.