Is Skipping A Master's Degree to Get a Ph.D Beneficial?

I have heard many people say that you can get a Ph.D without getting your Master's degree. You can go right from your Bachelor's degree into a Ph.D. program. Is this beneficial?

My personal opinion is that it is not. A Ph.D is meant to prepare you for a research position to advance the knowledge of a specific area that you are specializing in. Achieving your Ph.D should reflect both your education and actual experience. To do that, I think a Master's is necessary.

 

Going for direct admission to the doctoral program does not generally save you any time, as you would still need the same total number of graduate credits and pick up your master's in passing. You do, however, save yourself the trouble of having to be admitted to graduate school twice, once for the master's and once for the doctorate.

 

Most of the Ph.D. programs that I am familiar with that allow students in with a bachelor's degree give you master's degree along the path to completing your Ph.D. or simply apply the credit to the whole degree which is far more than what some already with a master's would likely have to complete. If they don't provide your master's along the way, to get your Ph.D. you're still going to have to complete appropriate master's courses. You can't simply jump from your bachelor's to taking 50-60 graduate credits and calling it a Ph.D. You're going to have to take any necessary pre-reqs that the doctorate requires and you'll also have to complete the base level graduate stuff, which is generally master's level.

I really think, by the time anyone's done with a Ph.D. (and has skipped a master's), that person's going to be fully prepared for the field that the doctorate is in.

It's also unlikely, in my opinion, that a school would admit a student if the school didn't feel that student was prepared and/or capable of completing a doctoral program immediately after a bachelor's program.

Basically what I'm saying here is that you're probably going to end up completely a master's degree ANYWAY, regardless of whether you have the degree to hang on your wall or otherwise.

I personally want a master's degree, though, so I understand your perspective.

 

I would take the masters then on to a PhD. What if you never complete the dissertation? You will have a bachelors degree and be ABD.

 

I agree....going from undergrad to a doctorate is working without a safety net; with a Master's degree in-hand when starting the doctorate, at least you have something to fall back on.

 

And one more thing...a bachelors degree would never fully prepare you for a PhD program. The comps, research, and dissertation is a killer and is a whole new animal. The comps nearly knocked me out of the program at one point.

 

It is not uncommon to get into a doctoral program with a bachelors degree. As Ted and 27 said earlier, you earn the Masters on the way. Typically this happens when you've finished your coursework and are about to begin your dissertation. Most schools will award you a "terminal Masters degree" if you bail out of your dis at some later point. So, in this way I disagree with Nick.
The only other issue that might come into play is a switch in discipline. For example:
BA - History
MA - Political Science
PhD - History
I can see how this might make some sense (depending on the student's interest) but otherwise I don't think that Nick's "rule" stands up to scrutiny.