<p>Over 1,000 students are currently registered in the School of Engineering as Master’s degree candidates, not Doctoral degree candidates (of which there are over 2,000), and that includes 88 terminal SM students in Materials Science & Engineering (vs. 116 PhD students). [Enrollment</a> Statistics: MIT Office of the Registrar](<a href=“Statistics & Reports | MIT Registrar”>Statistics & Reports | MIT Registrar) Last year, the School of Engineering awarded more Master’s degrees than it awarded Bachelor’s degrees, and more than twice as many Master’s degrees as Doctoral degrees. [Enrollment</a> Statistics: MIT Office of the Registrar](<a href=“Statistics & Reports | MIT Registrar”>Statistics & Reports | MIT Registrar) </p>
<p>In other words, MIT has an active terminal Master’s program in Course 3.</p>
<p>You generally won’t see many terminal Master’s students as TAs because (a) many elite private universities don’t have grad students TAing until they have completed all or most of what would be the coursework for a SM, and (b) the TA positions are part of the funding package given to PhD students, and will not ordinarily be available to SM students. If you are taking graduate-level courses, however, many/most of the grad students there will be terminal SM candidates, not PhD students.</p>
<p>Many/most universities will award a Master’s degree to PhD students who are not planning to complete their degrees but have met the requirements for the Master’s degree.</p>