Do you need a Master's degree to teach physics at an American university?

[kelly0303]

Hello! Do you need to have a master on top of a PhD to teach at an American university? I see that most programs for PhD start right after undergrad and they are about 5-6 years and they give your a doctorate degree. Do you also get a master degree on top, or is that something separate you need to do before? And is it recommended to do a master if you get accepted to a phd program directly? In principle, are there any advantages to doing a master before a phd? Thank you!

 

[Vanadium 50]

No. In the US a physics PhD gets a MS on the way, or not. Their choice. The idea is that a PhD means one has learned everything a MS student would, and more.

 

[kelly0303]

No. In the US a physics PhD gets a MS on the way, or not. Their choice. The idea is that a PhD means one has learned everything a MS student would, and more.

Thank you for your reply! I actually heard something about that, too. As a PhD student do I need to make a request to get a MS certificate, too? Or is that automatically implied in the PhD graduation diploma?

 

[Vanadium 50]

As a PhD student do I need to make a request to get a MS certificate, too?

I did. Cost maybe $100 or $200. I also got to go to commencement.

 

[kelly0303]

I did. Cost maybe $100 or $200. I also got to go to commencement.

I see. But does it help in any way in career, compared to someone who just has the PhD diploma?

 

[mpresic3]

I take issue with "about 5-6 years and they give your a doctorate degree" I assure you, you need to earn the advanced degree

 

[mpresic3]

Are there any advantages to getting a masters degree en route to a PhD. Possibly. Suppose you get a masters degree. Get employed professionally, and do a good job. You employer sees benefit in your advanced study, as supports (part of it), monetarily.

In general, if you mean is there any benefit to staying at the same school with no time lapse, etc, there does not seem to be any benefit. About 50 years ago (now), I was told by a former lab manager at a graduate school that when he got out of school with a PhD, he was not getting any jobs. He got the job as lab manager without mentioning he earned his doctorate. He only mentioned he had a masters, and was hired. This was sometime in the late 1960's, or early 1970's though, and I only have his word to take for it. Also, his role as lab manager did not lead to (e.g. a tenure track) teaching position. He claimed, (he thought) he would not have received an offer if the school knew he had a doctorate. I presume many schools require a transcript of ALL graduate work so hiding your full credentials is more difficult. It is likely misrepresentation (even of the higher) credential would be dismissible

 

[FactChecker]

I take issue with "about 5-6 years and they give your a doctorate degree" I assure you, you need to earn the advanced degree

And many who spend years do not end up able to get a doctorate.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

I have a PhD but no Masters, and I've taught at several American colleges and universities. I've also been on a number of search committees. If a candidate has a PhD, we barely notice whether they have a Masters.

 

[FactChecker]

It may be advisable to get a Masters degree at some time because completing the Ph.D. is not guaranteed. I got one on the way to a Ph.D. in mathematics when I was so far along that they didn't care that I did not fit the exact requirements for the Masters degree. So it was no extra work at all.
It can also be very important if the Masters degree is not in the same field as the Ph.D. I started work on a second Ph.D. in Engineering, but changed my mind and went job hunting. They pieced together a "Frankinstein Masters" out of bits and pieces of what I had done toward the Engineering Ph.D. to give me an Engineering Masters degree. I assume that made a big difference in my job hunting.

 

[jtbell]

To teach part time at the university level (including community colleges and four-year liberal-arts colleges), you often don't even need a master's degree. At the college where I used to teach, our accrediting body required that instructors have taken at least 18 hours of graduate-level courses in their subject. A certain percentage of the hours required for a bachelor's degree had to be taught by faculty holding a terminal degree (PhD or equivalent).

For a full-time tenure-track position, we normally required a terminal degree. Even at my small college, exceptions were rare, and they were in other departments besides physics. I remember situations in which a department hired an assistant professor who was ABD = All But Dissertation, with the requirement that he/she complete it within a certain time frame; and then failed to do so and had to leave.

 

[FactChecker]

To teach part time at the university level (including community colleges and four-year liberal-arts colleges), you often don't even need a master's degree.

It's been my experience that teachers in community colleges are fantastic teachers. They may have Masters degrees in teaching.