Is It Financially Feasible to Pursue a Physics Master's Degree in the US?

[USI]

I'm in my 2nd year of a 3year BSc Physics course in the UK. I was wondering whether it would be financially faesible to study for a masters in the US? What sort of financial support is available and how many years does a typical Physics masters take?

Thanks

 

[story645]

I was wondering whether it would be financially feasible to study for a masters in the US? What sort of financial support is available and how many years does a typical Physics masters take?

Depends on the school, but even the public ones have stiff international student fees. There's very little in the way of scholarships or fellowships for masters work, as most of them are geared towards phd candidates, and the few that aren't tend to require US citizenship. Research the schools you want to go to, and do some searches, but look locally too. A masters in physics takes about 1-2 years, depending on the school.

 

[USI]

Depends on the school, but even the public ones have stiff international student fees. There's very little in the way of scholarships or fellowships for masters work, as most of them are geared towards phd candidates, and the few that aren't tend to require US citizenship. Research the schools you want to go to, and do some searches, but look locally too. A masters in physics takes about 1-2 years, depending on the school.

okay, thanks for the info. So basically it's unlikely i'll get a scholarship. That means i'll have to pay for my tuition fees in full, which is how much money exactly?

 

[98whbf]

the fees will vary by school but something you might look into is going for a phd and they will pay you. then if you wanted you could stop after you'd received your masters

 

[jtbell]

which is how much money exactly?

Depends on the university. Here's MIT:

http://web.mit.edu/sfs/afford/graduate_student_expenses.html

Here's the University of South Carolina (see "Graduate - Nonresident - Tuition")

http://www.sc.edu/bursar/schedule_columbia.shtml

 

[USI]

Depends on the university. Here's MIT:

http://web.mit.edu/sfs/afford/graduate_student_expenses.html

Here's the University of South Carolina (see "Graduate - Nonresident - Tuition")

http://www.sc.edu/bursar/schedule_columbia.shtml

Ouch. Even south carolina's 10thousand dollars a year.

Is what 98whbf suggested a good idea - going into do a PHD then quitting after a masters? If I've understood correctly then you get paid to do a PHD, so the tuition fees are a lot less?

 

[Monocles]

It's rather slimey and not encouraged by academic departments - but there's nothing really stopping you from doing it.

 

[USI]

It's rather slimey and not encouraged by academic departments - but there's nothing really stopping you from doing it.

Hmm, well I don't mind being slimey. But I'm still confused as to how this will actually help my fees? The University of South Carolina's fees that were linked to by Jbell seem to be 10K a year for graduates - regardless of whether you're doing a PHD or Masters?

 

[98whbf]

it's not slimey at all. you got to do what you got to do to get your education. the system is set up this way so take advantage of it.

my university doesn't even offer only a masters degrees, they enroll everyone in the phd program and students earn an MA in passing at the end of their second year

 

[USI]

it's not slimey at all. you got to do what you got to do to get your education. the system is set up this way so take advantage of it.

my university doesn't even offer only a masters degrees, they enroll everyone in the phd program and students earn an MA in passing at the end of their second year

But how does this help with fees? Could you please explain, I really don't have much of a clue when it comes to PHD's, even in the UK.


Thanks

 

[98whbf]

well typically here in the United States the university offers full scholarships and a yearly stipend to all full-time phd students.
in exchange phd students usually have to do minimal stuff like being teaching assistant for a class and lab duties etc. so while there are still tuition "fees" for phd students they are almost always covered by the department.

on the usc physics department website in the financial aid section they go into it a bit:
http://www.physics.sc.edu/GraStu.html
http://www.physics.sc.edu/Financial_Info.pdf

 

[USI]

well typically here in the United States the university offers full scholarships and a yearly stipend to all full-time phd students.
in exchange phd students usually have to do minimal stuff like being teaching assistant for a class and lab duties etc. so while there are still tuition "fees" for phd students they are almost always covered by the department.

on the usc physics department website in the financial aid section they go into it a bit:
http://www.physics.sc.edu/GraStu.html
http://www.physics.sc.edu/Financial_Info.pdf

Ah right - this makse sense. All of our PHD students help in labs and go over problem sets with us. Presumably they get the same support (I should really know this by now).

Thankyou, this is very good news. Will this support be available for the first two years of the PHD? Also, I've heard it's a bit tricky getting in with only a 3year degree?

 

[98whbf]

Yeah the support should start from the very beginning.
as far as the 3 year degree thing, i don't know but I've heard that a BSC from a european school is practically the equivalent of an MS here in the states because the courses are more in depth and you don't have to waste time with general liberal arts and humanities courses. so I think you have a pretty good shot but I'm not too knowledgeable so hopefully someone else here will be able to give you some better answers about that
good luck and merry christmas!

 

[USI]

Yeah the support should start from the very beginning.
as far as the 3 year degree thing, i don't know but I've heard that a BSC from a european school is practically the equivalent of an MS here in the states because the courses are more in depth and you don't have to waste time with general liberal arts and humanities courses. so I think you have a pretty good shot but I'm not too knowledgeable so hopefully someone else here will be able to give you some better answers about that
good luck and merry christmas!

Yeah that's right, 3 year is meant to be equivalent to your 4 year. We have a partnership with the University of Arizona where you can do a semester in the 3rd year and you're meant to take 4th year courses. Maybe I should try there as some of my professors know some of theirs so I could get a recommendation etc.

Thanks for the advice, and a merry christmas to you too!

 

[jtbell]

in exchange phd students usually have to do minimal stuff like being teaching assistant for a class and lab duties etc.

I wouldn't call it "minimal." When I started as a grad student, I had a half-time teaching assistantship which entailed teaching four introductory physics lab sessions of about 20 students each. That's twelve hours per week in lab, plus having to mark/grade 80 lab reports per week! This was typical for first- and second-year grad students. After that most of us had found a research group to work with for our Ph.D. and became research assistants instead.