Master's Thesis vs. Non-thesis

kihyle
Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:44:39 +0000

i agree with fitzgerk on that there is no one answer

non-thesis master’s generally has the advantage of being shorter – so that rather than spending 2 years on one project with thesis master’s followed by 4-6 years of more work on yet another project, you spend just 1 year in coursework preparation and then you’re ready to start on your one and only 4-6-year long project

however, judging from responses above it seems like non-thesis and thesis programs vary in depth and length – certainly if non-thesis program takes nearly as long as thesis program to complete, than thesis program has an undeniable advantage – non-thesis program is best only if you think you can complete it at least one year faster than non-thesis option

non-thesis masters worked out very well for me because i had significant hands-on work experience during summers and part-time during school – i continued doing research while i was in non-thesis master’s – so while i wasn’t tied down to any project for 2-3 years with a thesis master’s, my resume still listed a lot of experience working in my field – i wanted to learn more instead of do more with my hands, so non-thesis program seemed more appealing – however, if you don’t have that much hands-on experience in your field (depending on how important that is in the first place) then thesis might be a great opportunity to significantly improve your chances for acceptance into better doctoral programs