<p>Uh, when did I ever say that MIT is the only university where this matters? </p>
<p>The OP asked whether there were well-known schools that allowed students to design their own master’s program. I provided one answer. I never said that it was the only answer. </p>
<p>The OP also never once asked about whether such programs would be funded, and so I’m still somewhat mystified as to how this topic of discussion was brought up in the first place. Nevertheless, for those who want to pursue this topic as a subthread, I have pointed out that numerous funding sources are available at MIT, even for those students earning unspecified master’s. If a prof wants to fund you by taking you on as an RA or TA, I doubt that he would care what sort of degree program you are in. I also strongly suspect that many employers would strongly prefer to fund an employee to study at MIT, even within an unspecified master’s program, than to obtain a ‘specified’ master’s from a no-name school. </p>
<p>Now, whether funding would be readily available at other schools, or whether other schools even allow you to design your own master’s degree at all, I don’t know. Nor have I ever claimed to know.</p>
<p>Because MIT is the only school that I (and the other discussants who responded to me) have been talking about since post #5. That’s what I mean by the discussion. Like I said, I don’t know what’s going on at other schools. </p>
<p>And besides, again, I’m still bemused as to how the question of funding even came up in the first place. The OP certainly never asked about it, and given his interest in “preferably private” schools, he may not care anyway. So exactly why did this topic come up?</p>
<p>MIT is not the only school the OP asked about. Nor is it even remotely the only school discussed in this thread since Post #5. There’s almost half a dozen later posts regarding other schools and other issues - 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12.</p>
<p>Funding is always an issue in graduate programs, and I brought it up to suggest one potential pitfall to this path.</p>
<p>Sorry to have interrupted your monologue about MIT policy. I realize we’re all supposed to bow down and go “OMGWOW” at this “certain institution,” but I couldn’t care less.</p>
<p>Read what I actually wrote. What I said is that the posts of mine (and the discussants who responded to my posts) since post #5 have been discussing MIT. I never said that everybody has been discussing MIT. Those people who were not responding to me were obviously talking about other matters. </p>
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<p>The OP didn’t even know which schools he was asking about: indeed, the fact that he didn’t know was the reason why he inquired in the first place. </p>
<p>The OP asked a question, and I provided an answer to that question Can you say the same? If not, then exactly what value have you provided in this thread? </p>
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<p>This seems to be a pitfall to all master’s programs. Again, many master’s degree students are self-funded. This is hardly peculiar to the unspecified master’s program. And in the particular case of MIT, I don’t believe it to be an issue anyway for aforementioned reasons. </p>
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<p>Irony Alert: somebody who continues to respond to my posts by saying that they “couldn’t care less”. </p>
<p>If you truly don’t care about my posts, fair enough, then don’t read them. Nobody has a gun to your head, pal.</p>