Plan A (thesis) vs Plan B (essay)?

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Hello All,

I'm looking into masters programs in linguistics and I stumbled across something interesting at Wayne State University in Detroit. Apparently their school offers three degree plans: Plan A includes an 8 credit thesis; Plan B includes an essay or project of at least 2 credits; and Plan C includes coursework only, with no thesis or essay/project required.

Now, I would prefer to do the Plan A, full thesis, because I would think that would look better for me when applying to a PhD program than Plan B or C. Unfortunately, the linguistics program at their school only offers Plan B. Do you think this would end up hurting my overall resume and that I should consider looking into another school? Or would a Plan B essay/project not have much of a negative effect on me?

Edited June 23, 2012 by JoeyBoy718

[TakeruK]

Since a PhD is going to be research based, it would help you the most if you were able to do a thesis. In addition to actual skills learned from doing the research for the thesis, and writing a thesis, there are "fringe benefits" to doing research as well! You may be able to get a publication from it, you may be able to present it at a conference (although I suppose this is possible for Plan B too), you may get paid to do the research (maybe field dependent?), and you are a part of the "research community" -- i.e. when you talk to department visitors, or when you are at a conference, you have a research project that you're the expert of. This helps you meet people and it's the kind of environment you'd want to be in for preparing for PhD studies.

From purely an academic point of view, going to a "Plan A" school is better and you should go this route if you want a PhD. However, Plan B is an okay compromise if there is something really drawing you towards Wayne State or Detroit -- otherwise there's no reason to pick a Plan B type Masters over a Plan A!

[mudlark]

I don't think it will hurt your prospects if you have a course-based master's with a capstone project. That's a really common set-up, and it makes a lot of sense. In my field (lit) in Canada, there's a movement away from having MA students do a thesis. It's a whole extra year of your life, and you end up with a long document that's difficult to use for other purposes. It's too long to publish straight up, so you have to be careful about being able to carve it into smaller pieces. But if it's just a series of journal-chapter-length arguments, you're not really getting the added experience of writing a long, sustained argument. Your research skills, writing skills, and interests will likely change and grow a great deal by the time you start your PhD dissertation, so your MA thesis may end up being irrelevant to your ultimate goals. In my experience (again, in a different field and country, so grain of salt) the vast, vast majority of MA students do not write a thesis. Last year in my program only 4 out of 28 students opted to write one. Students who chose not to have been very successful with their PhD apps. You should check with a professor to find out what the norm is for your field, and whether an MA thesis is valued by admissions committees.

Bottom line: if you can be smart about it in the ways suggested by TakeruK, it might be somewhat helpful to do an MA thesis, but not doing one will likely not hurt your chances. If you do end up applying to a program with a thesis option, make sure that funding is available for the time it will take you to write the thesis.

[victor.s.andrei]

Hello All,

I'm looking into masters programs in linguistics and I stumbled across something interesting at Wayne State University in Detroit. Apparently their school offers three degree plans: Plan A includes an 8 credit thesis; Plan B includes an essay or project of at least 2 credits; and Plan C includes coursework only, with no thesis or essay/project required.

Now, I would prefer to do the Plan A, full thesis, because I would think that would look better for me when applying to a PhD program than Plan B or C. Unfortunately, the linguistics program at their school only offers Plan B. Do you think this would end up hurting my overall resume and that I should consider looking into another school? Or would a Plan B essay/project not have much of a negative effect on me?

If you are able to turn Plan B into a publishable paper, then I don't think that Plan B will hurt at all. Otherwise, Plan A - the thesis - is probably better if you plan to go on to a Ph.D. later.