The Cuts. Is YOUR arse twitchin?

[worm]

You're spot on.

For example, I'd love to see how I'm-the-best-read-person-in-the-world (so he claims ) worm gets on in my specialist area using just his research skills. Out of his depth would be a massive understatement.

[worm]

Of course, the person who drags themselves out of bed each and every day to put in 8 hours hard labour in their job has no "evidence of discipline and commitment".

[eFestivals]

And I'd love for you to stop fantasising and obsessing about me as, although it's flattering, it's a bit weird.

Good to see you backing up what you say with such great intellectual arguments.

I'm sure the academic world you laughingly believe yourself to operate within (no peer reviews ) would be so very proud.

[eFestivals]

What relevance has that to anything at all?

Well, to someone with reading skills beyond that of a four year old, it gets to show that the "evidence of discipline and commitment" you view so highly of academia is of no great shakes in the real world.

[worm]

Good to see you backing up what you say with such great intellectual arguments.

[worm]

Well, to someone with reading skills beyond that of a four year old, it gets to show that the "evidence of discipline and commitment" you view so highly of academia is of no great shakes in the real world.

[lost]

The sciences I think are different from the arts. You HAVE to have a BSc in a related discipline to know what the hell is going on at masters level. You won't get accepted on the course without it.

eg. Maths Master will require a Maths Bsc, you could maybe get away with a Physics degree depending on the modules you studied at undergrad.

Physics masters you can do with only a physics BSc or applied maths orientated degree

Biology masters you'll need a degree heavily weighted towards biology or chemistry

... to name a few.

Engineering is a little different. Totally depends on the type of engineering you're going for but e.g Electronic and Electrical Engineering masters needs EEE undergrad but by the heavy mathematical nature of some branches is often pursued by mathematicians or physicists.

[eFestivals]

I'm not wasting my contempt on such foolishness and peurility, let alone my intellect.

The only foolishness around here is coming from your idea that all degrees are the same, and simply a research training exercise.

The puerile is coming from your refusal to accept that anyone might have a better handle on these things than yourself, because of the arrogance you have in your indisputable knowledge of all things, which comes out of your initial mistake in believing all degrees are the same.

Any intellect you might have is not on display. Only other things.

Edited February 14, 2011 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

I didn't have a clue you could take a post graduate course without being a graduate.

Oh, just about any place will take just about anyone onto a MBA course.

Which is probably why you don't hear so much about them nowadays, cos the high praise they used to be accorded came to be misplaced via that.

[Ed209]

I've a mate whos just been accepted onto Liverpool Universities Msc in Computing. He doesn't even have a degree, in fact his highest qualification is GCSE level. They take equivalent industrial experience in place of a degree which in this case is 5 years 2nd line wintel support I didn't have a clue you could take a post graduate course without being a graduate.

[diddly-dee]

The sciences I think are different from the arts. You HAVE to have a BSc in a related discipline to know what the hell is going on at masters level. You won't get accepted on the course without it.

[worm]

The only foolishness around here is coming from your idea that all degrees are the same, and simply a research training exercise.

[worm]

What's for sure though is that he couldn't have expected his application to be accepted if all he had was BA in English Lit and decided he wanted to do a MSc in computing.

[worm]

Not always - my situation was such; first degree - BA Sociology and Anthropology. Next degree - MSc Wastes and Environmental Management. Admittedly, there was only myself and one other person out of 25 on the course without a BSc or relevant industrial experience but i did pick up the tecnhical stuff as i went on without ever feeling out of my depth. Although it was a taught MSc - if it had been an MSc by research then it would have been different as i'd have had to 'start from scratch' and find out everything from myself rather than be taught, and 'going in blind' would have been a lot harder had it been 'by research'.

[diddly-dee]

Would you agree with the idea that a Master's can't be that difficult as it doesn't require a background knowledge picked up at Bachelor degree level? Or would you, like I, say that there is a significant difference in intensity at Masters level that requires evidence of discipline and commitment rather than background knowledge?

[Ed209]

Not always - my situation was such; first degree - BA Sociology and Anthropology. Next degree - MSc Wastes and Environmental Management. Admittedly, there was only myself and one other person out of 25 on the course without a BSc or relevant industrial experience but i did pick up the tecnhical stuff as i went on without ever feeling out of my depth. Although it was a taught MSc - if it had been an MSc by research then it would have been different as i'd have had to 'start from scratch' and find out everything from myself rather than be taught, and 'going in blind' would have been a lot harder had it been 'by research'.

[Kizzie]

Rather bizaarely my MA changed to MSc half way through and I could choose which category I wanted

[worm]

I think both concepts are appropriate to be honest. In my opinion and on the basis of the degree courses i have both taken and taught on, the level of analytical 'depth' at a Masters is more than that which is required at undergraduate level. However, given a Masters is more specialised (or 'intense' if you like) and has greater elements of research therein (even if it the research isn't written-up as you may understand 'academic research' as being (i.e. a 'report' rather than a comprehensively referenced journal article)) and there is more scope for independent 'thought' and analysis (i'm talking mainly about masters by research here and MA/MEcon's rather than taught MSc's which are more the conveyance of greater technical knowledge than you'd get at undergraduate level in those subjects), a Master's can, in my experience, be easier than a Batchelor degree. As you have more of a free reign at Masters level to develop ideas and arguments and conepts, if you've got the 'knack' (or, perhaps, discipline and committment to be fair) of developing an investigable hypothsis, empricially testing it and then writing it up in a scholarly manner then this can be a great deal simpler than undergraduate 'learning' - especially if you're in a 'teaching university' where they just want to churn out graduates and they're not really interested in 'research'.