The M.Phil. Degree

Why? It all came OUT of books?

 

Or in my case, maybe Goylish.

 

Returning to the actual subject of the thread for an instant, I do seem to recall that schools would give a masters "en passant" as it were in order to allow the doctoral candidate to obtain a teaching appointment. I don't know whether an M.Phil. would be more useful for the purpose than the usual M.A though.

 

I have Scottish and English ancestry as well as Irish. According to AncestryDNA, I'm only 14% European, which is low for African-Americans as the average is 25% European. But, surprisingly, although I have a low percentage it covers pretty much all of Europe. I traced my surname line back and hit a paper trail and records gold mine with one particular person.

 

Thank you for bringing this up. As for geography, let’s not forget that the New School is within walking distance of CUNY Grad Center and also Columbia University. The inclusion of some Ivy’s (or is it Ivies) is interesting, since they’re all basically along the Appalachian Trail and I-95. GWU is, too.

Yet if it is not for geography, might it be somehow related to date of inception? Similiar to how the D.A. (Doctor of Arts) was a bit of a fad thanks to Carnegie (or so I’ve heard), was the introduction of the M.Phil. in the USA a period piece, if not a geographical one?

Is there any want to easily find out when a school initiated their specific degrees?

Also, the fact that Walden offers the degree, as was mentioned above, is fascinating.

 

As best as I can tell, UPenn’s M.Phil. in Liberal Arts seems to be the highest degree in that subject sequence they offer. How common is it to find an American school that offers an M.Phil. as a “terminal” degree?

https://www.lps.upenn.edu/degree-programs/mla/mphil

 

It is interesting to read in Rutger’s 2017 catalog a brief history of the M.Phil. in general:

“This degree, introduced by the University of Toronto in 1962 and established by Yale University in 1966, requires a minimum of two years of advanced study beyond the baccalaureate degree.” [For source, see: http://catalogs.rutgers.edu/generated/nb-grad_current/pg116.html ]

Does this history seem right? I thought the M.Phil. in general was older than that.

 

It is. Oxford offers something like four levels of masters degree of which the M.Phil. is the highest. They've been doing that for a very long time.

 

Just because it is the highest degree in a subject that a school offers doesn't make it a terminal degree. A terminal degree is the highest degree typically awarded by all schools in a particular subject. Former examples include the MBA, DFA, and MSW. But these days, almost all non-doctoral terminal degrees have been superseded by doctorates, so the term is rapidly becoming moot: "terminal" and "doctoral" are becoming synonymous.

 

But then, Oxford is weird. They offer a master's degree for common law lawyers called the "Bachelor of Civil Law".

 

Never noticed this one before:

M.Phil.Ed.

The Masters of Philosophy in Education.

U. Penn has one. Well, two, actually: one in quantitative methods and another in counseling. You can read about some of that here:

https://www.gse.upenn.edu/academics/programs/quantitative-methods-masters

Any other fine institutions of higher learning also have this degree?

I wonder what the history of this sort of degree entails. Also, what color hood?

 

Since the MPhil is often a consolation prize for a failed doctorate, I would not want one on my resume, even if it was a stand-alone degree.

 

Blue master's? Maybe they could mix a Masters hood with a doctor's gown the Yale does for JDs and LLMs?

 

Don't forget the MSt (Master of Studies, a cross between a taught MA and MPhil)
and the MSc (Master of Science, a taught degree) degrees from Oxford. So we're up to six different masters degrees.

 

Here's an MPhil diploma from Walden. An associate of mine earned it and is working on their Ph.D. there as well.

 

Was that earned "on the way" to the PhD, or was it a separate degree they had to be admitted to?

 

Hm. If a PhD deserves trumpets and a fanfare, does the M.Phil. get just one trumpet?