Accepted for a PhD, only want to earn a Master's

[boneh3ad]

Right, but then you just supported my position: that mastering out is more likely to hurt you than help you. You claimed it would be the better route than just starting and finished a Master’s alone and I was rebutting that.

Of course there are questions about the circumstances. Faculty have to plan students and projects years in advance, and if they hire a student and he or she bails after two, it’s tough to recover. So naturally, when admitting students, an important consideration is whether they’re likely to finish what they start.

[juillet]

In my department, terminal Master’s students and PhD students enrolled in the same exact classes, although the PhD students may have needed a few more total credits

Sure. That’s why I said “sometimes.”

Whether you intended to get a MS from the start like I did, or whether the MS was your consolation prize for an ABD, you still got the same exact same degree on your transcript

Sure. That’s why I said “often.”

Professional career advice for terminal MS students was non-existent, except to see you graduated on schedule.

Yes, if one attends an academic master’s program - which are generally intended to emphasize research or scholarship and are often intended as preparation for a later PhD program - there may be no career advising or help finding an internship.

If that were the case, though, I would argue that even that master’s program likely wouldn’t be a good choice for someone who wanted only a master’s and then to work after (unless they specifically wanted a narrow band of research careers you can do with an MA/MS). Who wants to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a university program that won’t support them in finding internships and careers?

As a funded RA, I was responsible for research 20 hours/week just like the PhD students.

Yes, many MA students can conduct research, and some are even funded for it (especially in the sciences. What I said was

If research is not your passion and you are not interested in a research career, prepare to be disappointed and perhaps miserable. Doctoral students are expected to do research.

Master’s students can certainly find research experience if they want it. PhD students cannot opt out of conducting research.

[Slynnx]

Slynnx wrote:
You may have had more explaining to do about why you left and are now applying to different PhD programs.

Boneh3ad wrote:
As someone who reviews graduate applications as part of my job, I can say this literally never enters into my calculus on whether I admit a student.

To clarify, my first post was stating that if OP had chosen to attend a PhD program now (with the intention to use the funding and to then master out and trade up to a “better” program), they may have had a bit of explaining to do if admissions faculty for their 2nd PhD program were curious why they chose to leave their first PhD program. If OP was asked why they left their first PhD program, this could be stressful because the truth (i.e., using funding then trading up) doesn’t make the OP look good, and the other option would be to make up a lie about why they’re leaving, which is unethical. This situation would not arise for terminal masters students, who need to apply to PhD programs to continue on that path. I dont want other readers to be confused by what I was saying.

IMO the OP made a good choice to attend a terminal masters program and will avoid the aforementioned stress and questioning if they decide to apply to PhD programs in the future. I was pointing out that this is a plus for the OP and others who are contemplating a similar situation, as grad school can be stressful enough without having something weighing on your conscience (like using your advisor’s funding and making plans for projects you won’t finish because you know you want to leave early and attend another program).