Transfer Credits from MA to PhD

[machineghost]

Does anyone happen to know how common it is to transfer credits from, say, Georgia State or Tufts, into a PhD program? In general, should one assume that if a PhD takes 5 years (let's assume) and an MA takes 2, that a person entering an MA should plan to take 7 years to finish with the PhD? Or can one reasonably assume that some of their coursework will transfer and that it might take only 6 or so? Does anyone know any top 20 schools that are particular good or particular bad about accepting transfer credits?

[Gnothi_Seauton]

I can only speak for my own program, but here at UNC we are very bad about accepting transfer credit.  In the most egregious case, one of our students did a two year terminal MA, three years at a different Ph.D. program, and then had to start over here.  

[machineghost]

Thanks! That's good to know. 

[Kratistos]

Interesting question. What about studying at Tufts, GSU or Brandeis and the moving to Europe to do your Phd at Oxford. Is this possible? How long would it take?

[jjb919]

Many of the schools I looked at state that if you have previous graduate coursework the DGS can evaluate your transcripts to see if previous coursework can satisfy any requirements. But most schools that do this (that I've seen) state that they will only evaluate your transcripts after you've completed a year of coursework already. And as Gnothi-Seauton pointed out, that doesn't mean you will actually be given any credit for previous graduate coursework. Only people within the programs can tell you if you can reliably get transfer credit.

Some programs (such as Fordham), actually seem to have separate 'tracks' for those with a prior MA in philosophy (the program requirement deadlines leading up to candidacy are earlier), which leads to a shorter time to degree (if you finish you dissertation in a reasonable amount of time). But from the limited research I've done this is less common.

[machineghost]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. It's unfortunate that credits from these fine MA programs don't transfer more commonly.

[philosophe]

9 hours ago, machineghost said:

Thanks for taking the time to respond. It's unfortunate that credits from these fine MA programs don't transfer more commonly.

In my experience they might take /a/ course, but not more. I think it's because really the phd boils down to the 2 years of coursework and 3 years of dissertation and defense. If they took more credits, they wouldn't be impacting you much and then you'd just write your dissertation and take the degree. So while I wish it weren't the case, I guess I see where they're coming from. 

[machineghost]

15 hours ago, philosophe said:

In my experience they might take /a/ course, but not more. I think it's because really the phd boils down to the 2 years of coursework and 3 years of dissertation and defense. If they took more credits, they wouldn't be impacting you much and then you'd just write your dissertation and take the degree. So while I wish it weren't the case, I guess I see where they're coming from. 

Yep. That makes sense. It's unfortunate, but it does make some sense.

[philosophe]

22 hours ago, machineghost said:

Yep. That makes sense. It's unfortunate, but it does make some sense.

update: since I last wrote this I learned that u mass will take up to a semester, so that's nice! just an fyi

[machineghost]

10 hours ago, philosophe said:

update: since I last wrote this I learned that u mass will take up to a semester, so that's nice! just an fyi

That's good to know. That's at least something! Thanks again for the info. 

[MentalEngineer]

Neither of these programs are in the Leiter 20, but both Florida State and Cincinnati will give credit for a year's worth of classes from a sufficiently good MA. At both places, if you can cover the distribution requirements you could finish your PhD coursework in only one year.

[philosophe]

34 minutes ago, MentalEngineer said:

Neither of these programs are in the Leiter 20, but both Florida State and Cincinnati will give credit for a year's worth of classes from a sufficiently good MA. At both places, if you can cover the distribution requirements you could finish your PhD coursework in only one year.

woahhh that's nice.