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PhD to Masters

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  • 24-04-2010 8:37am
    #1
    Anomy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3 ✭


    Hi, just wondering: I have been doing a PhD for about 1.5 years and wish to quit it at this point. I have thought about this carefully, and the decision to quit has been made. However, I'm wondering if it would be possible to use what I have and turn it into a Masters. My PhD programme does not offer such a facility; but are there ways around it? An MA is around 20,000 words, right? I feel I could probably produce one without an inordinate amount of hassle; the question is: How does one go about this?


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    #2
    claire h
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭claire h


    Anomy wrote: »
    My PhD programme does not offer such a facility; but are there ways around it?

    What exactly do you mean by this? Did you go straight onto the PhD register rather than being on a provisional register or some kind of MLitt/MSc register first of all? Are you part of a group project?

    Are there people doing research masters in the department you're in? Because it should be possible to convert what you've done into a research masters, but the 20,000 word figure seems closer to what would be expected of one for a thesis as part of a taught masters.

    Might help if you mention the subject area and/or university you're studying in, to give people a better idea of why your situation might be unusual (or not, as the case may be). :)


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    #3
    brianthebard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,165 ✭✭✭✭brianthebard


    You should be talking to your supervisor about this rather than boards tbh. An MLitt thesis should be around 40,000 words afaik. However from the sounds of things you want to leave your phd and register for a taught masters, you'll obviously have to pay fees, and find a masters where your research idea will fit in. I don't know how a course organiser/future supervisor would react if you registered and told them you already had the work done and were not really interested in doing further research. In my MA programme last year there was a woman who had been doing a phd and took a year out to do the MA, she came up with an original thesis topic rather than just recycling her phd research though.


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    #4
    convert
    Registered Users Posts: 9,338 ✭✭✭convert


    I know there's a student in my department in college who was deemed not to be doing sufficient work to his PhD and so was demoted to an MLitt. So maybe there'd be a similar option for you whereby you'd still get a degree but not a PhD. As brian mentioned, have a chat with your supervisor and your postgrad director in your department and see if they can give you some help and advice. You could also talk to the student advisors in the college. Best of luck!


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