Differences between MA and PhD program

[red7tribe]

What are the biggest differences between an MA program and a PhD program?

[ToomuchLes]

Biggest, most obvious : MA programs are usually non-funded, while most PhDs are funded. 

[ashiepoo72]

MAs generally are based on coursework and you may or may not have to write a primary source-based thesis. PhD programs (in the U.S.) generally have two years of coursework but the pinnacle is researching and writing a book-length(ish) dissertation. I had a comprehensive exam in the MA, but it was nowhere near the amount of reading and detail expected of PhD comps (for the MA I read about 80 books, at Davis at least comps lists are approximately 300 books).

There's also a lot more professionalization expected at the PhD level. While there are opportunities to attend conferences, get fellowships and teach at MA programs, PhD programs expect these things to happen in the course of your career (part of the reason why TAing is encouraged at many programs, along with it being one of the only ways to fund people fully).

MA programs, or at least mine, have people with more diversity of reasons for attending. I'd say most of the people I encountered were "hobby historians" who previously had careers and were newly retired, or were high school teachers wanting a pay raise. Many more were interested in teaching community college, few were interested in a career that involved original research and even fewer planned to pursue a PhD--I was the only person in the program to apply to PhDs last season, the only one to get into a program in about 3 years. Some MAs are pipelines into PhD programs, but I'd bet they still get students uninterested in more than an MA. While people pursue PhDs for different reasons, I don't think it's exaggeration to say most want to work at a university and also be able to do original research. 

Also, minor fields. Again in my experience, MAs are geared more toward picking one major field, although you may be required to take a course or two outside that field. I took a bunch due to my interests, but there was no expectation that students would have minor fields.

[TMP]

Major difference?  No less than 150 pages difference between a MA thesis and a PhD dissertation.  And a lot more primary sources.  And 100x more footnotes.

[Katzenmusik]

ashiepoo's description is very accurate, in my experience.

Another obvious but socially-significant aspect is the duration.  When I was an MA student, two years felt like a lot of time. But now that I'm in a PhD program, the MA students seem like short-timers, barely skimming the surface of our field.  They also don't get as involved in the workings of our department, because they aren't spending a huge chunk of their life attached to the place.

I made good friends with the MA students who arrived in my year.  Then they left, and the new batches arrived. MA students outnumber PhD students by far -- and there are just so many coming & going all the time.  As years pass I feel like a wise old tree, collecting rings while MA-saplings are felled all around me.

[rococo_realism]

ashiepoo's description is very accurate, in my experience.

Another obvious but socially-significant aspect is the duration.  When I was an MA student, two years felt like a lot of time. But now that I'm in a PhD program, the MA students seem like short-timers, barely skimming the surface of our field.  They also don't get as involved in the workings of our department, because they aren't spending a huge chunk of their life attached to the place.

I made good friends with the MA students who arrived in my year.  Then they left, and the new batches arrived. MA students outnumber PhD students by far -- and there are just so many coming & going all the time.  As years pass I feel like a wise old tree, collecting rings while MA-saplings are felled all around me.

Oh, that simile at the end is awesome!

[dr. t]

Major difference?  No less than 150 pages difference between a MA thesis and a PhD dissertation.  And a lot more primary sources.  And 100x more footnotes.

Also, at the end of one, you get an MA, and at the end of the other, they give you a PhD.