<p>Actually, you have it backwards. I am not talking about what the Rhodes trust allows students to do, I am talking about the practical aspects of pursuing a field far removed from your original discipline. While a Rhodes Scholar can potentially pursue any degree program they want, they still have to complete the actual requirements if they want to obtain a degree - the Scholarship is not going to waive those requirements. Hence, a graduate degree that is aligned with your undergraduate program is far more amenable than one that is far removed.</p>
Duh? What’s new? Everyplace uses the same requirements. What few have is prerequisites. Few grad programs care about what major you pursued as an undergrad. Instead, they care about one’s ability to do the work. If they admit a student to a program then they’re confident the kid can do the work. </p>
<p>Yes, some one from a different discipline might have a different first year grad school schedule, as (s)he comes up to speed in some aspects of the new discipline. But it’s not even clear that the “outsider” will take any longer to do a degree. Especially for PhD and DPhil, the nature and quality of the research is far more important than the particular course background one brought to the program. </p>
<p>Some jumps are certainly harder than others. To jump from the humanities to a science is a challenge. To jump from the humanities to engineering or math would probably be very difficult, but perhaps not for very highly talented, highly motivated individuals. </p>
<p>Curiously, one of my grad school peers was an undergrad english major. She did her PhD in molecular biology and is still a practicing molecular biologist years later. She took the normal time to get her Ph.D.</p>
<p>“How did he manage to get 2 Master of Sciences from MIT in ONE YEAR?”</p>
<p>Not to mention a doctorate a year later. If anybody is looking for the champion degree hound, I think this guy is the winner. (Also note that he seems to have earned several foreign language diplomas.)</p>
<p>If the normal time for a master’s degree is two years, then doing two master’s degrees in one year would be like doing two years of work in one semester. ***.</p>
<p>Doesn’t seem like he’s that much of a ‘hound’. His CV clearly states that he spent a total of 5 years (1987-1992) at MIT. His studies culminated in both master’s degrees and his doctorate in years 4&5, but it’s fairly clear that he had been working on all of those degrees during his entire time at MIT.</p>
<p>Duh, what’s new? That’s exactly what I was talking about the whole time.. The Rhodes Trust is not going to waive any requirements towards your obtaining a graduate degree far removed from your undergraduate program, which is why few people choose to do so. I don’t think that we disagree on this point. So what exactly is ‘new’?</p>
<p>[quite]The Rhodes Trust is not going to waive any requirements towards your obtaining a graduate degree far removed from your undergraduate program,
[/quote]
Your statement is entirely true, and entirely irrelevant, because the Rhodes Trust has no ability to waive any requirements! </p>
<p>You obviously don’t know how the Rhodes Scholarship works. If you did, you never would have made such a statement. The Rhodes Trust does not control the academic aspects of study at Oxford. That is left to the university. In fact, a scholar is a scholar designate until (s)he is accepted into an academic program at Oxford. Yes, they work with scholar designates to make an acceptable application, but that is the extent of it. Their only other involvement in the process is that they won’t fund a few programs, but that has nothing to do with academic qualifications. </p>
<p>Some scholars do indeed get rejected by their initial choice of program, but not often. Oxford uses a rather different admissions system for grad study - gathered fields, so an applicant has opportunity to apply to another program if the applicant is rejected by the first choice, which itself is rare. </p>
<p>Sorry the real world is not how you imagine it should be, but that’s life.</p>
<p>Nathan Myhrvold, formerly of Microsoft:
UCLA - BS/MS in Math, physics
Princeton Masters in Math. Econ, PhD Physics
All by age 24
Postdoctoral at Cambridge under Stephen Hawking
He has not for ally received a degree in paleontology yet, but is now leading paleontology expeditions and has a huge dino in a huge room in his mansion in Seattle.</p>
<p>Only 4 degrees so far, but all by 24, so he gets a shout out here!</p>
<p>Your statement is entirely irrelevant, because I never claimed that the Rhodes Trust had any ability to waive any requirements! </p>
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<p>You obviously don’t know what I’m talking about, otherwise you would never have made any statements at all. I simply said that most Rhodes Scholars are not going to complete degree programs far removed from what they had studied as undergrads. That’s it. Whatever battles you think you are fighting have nothing to do with me. If you disagree, then by all means point to the quote where I specifically said that the Rhodes Trust would waive any requirements. </p>
<p>I’m sorry that the real world has nothing to do with what you imagine, but that is life.</p>
<p>I know a few people with 4 degrees. The ones I know got the M.Phil. as Rhodes or Marshall scholars after undergrad and then did a joint degree back in the U.S. (JD/PhD, MD/PhD, or JD/MPP).</p>
<p>Sometimes there’s a story behind each step. A good friend of mine has a BS in mechanical engineering, became a physics teacher and got his M.Ed. as part of the credentialing process, then got a job as an academic administrator and is completing an MS in computer science because he gets free tuition as a job perk. Now he’s feeling financially pinched and thinking about going to law school, but I’m trying to talk him out of it. If he did go, he’d have great prospects as a patent lawyer.</p>
<p>If you work at a university with the right benefits, you might rack up several master’s degrees over the decades just by taking full advantage of your benefits package. People who enjoy learning lots of different subjects might have a lot of fun in their adult lives by doing this.</p>
If he did go, he’d have great prospects as a patent lawyer.</p>