Generally US Ph.D.s in Engineering do coursework, take exams (oral
prelims, writtens, and oral finals), and do research (write a
dissertation). From a bachelor's the typical time is 5-6 years (with
a Masters after 2 years being common). Overseas masters may or may
not be credited depending on the status/prestige of both institutions
and the country of origin. A US school is probably more likely to
credit an Australian Masters than many others, but many US schools do
not even credit fully masters at different US schools, and still want
students to take additional courses at the Masters level.
At the University of Minnesota, an MS is 30 semester credits (about
10 courses with the coursework option, or 7 course + thesis with the
thesis option), and a Ph.D. requires 45 coursework credits + exams +
dissertation. A student admitted into the Ph.D. program from a
Masters elsewhere likely would need to take more than 15 coursework
credits at Minnesota before taking the written exam.
They don't count for nothing, and even if they are not credited fully
after admission, they may increase the chances of admission with
funding.
-- dml
On Nov 7, 2005, at 4:27 PM, Dave Ashmore wrote:
> All
>
> Hoping someone can help me. I've just been asked by a
> colleague who has a Australian Masters degree about
> taking a PhD in the United States. My understanding
> is that unlike Australia/UK where a PhD is a result of
> three years full time research, a US PhD is
> predominantly credit/exam based. I believe credits
> are obtained over a five year period with the Masters
> being awarded after two and the PhD after five. An
> overseas masters does nothing to advanced you in this
> process i.e. you need to go back to the beginning
> again and begin the process of accumulating credits?
>
> Is my understanding correct?? Does the overseas
> masters count for nothing?
>
> Thanks in advance for help
>
> Dave
>
>
>
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Dr. David Levinson
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Department of Civil Engineering
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