As a retired professor I have a few comments. First as far as applying as a Masters or Ph.D. student is concerned. There are two different academic approaches in the US By that I mean that some universities accept students to work directly toward a Ph.D. from a Bachelors, while other universities require a Masters before you can apply for a Ph.D. program. Second, applying for a Masters is generally an application to a department, not to work with a specific professor. So your application will be assessed based on your undergraduate performance and your letters of recommendation more than anything else. When applying for a Ph.D. you will generally be applying to work with a specific professor so the fit of what you want to do with what that professor is currently doing will be much more important. The "fit" is with a specific professor, not the university or department. Also, no institution I am aware of bases any of the admission decision on what sort of an employee you might be. Third, yes, many graduate students are employed by the university as teaching assistants (TA) or by the individual professor as a research assistant (RA) (paid from grant funds). However, TA appointments are generally given based on academic merit. Research assistant appointments are made by individual professors to fund their students, generally after TA funding is used up. There is also quite a difference in how graduate students are funded between the sciences and the humanities. In the humanities almost all funding is for teaching assistants paid by the university largely because few humanities professors had significant grant funds. In the sciences most professors have grant funding with money to hire research assistants built into the grants. The social sciences are in between with some professors having substantial grant funding that includes research assistant funding. Fourth, few departments are going to want to see publications. Yes, publications are desirable, particularly for someone going into a Ph.D. program after a Masters. However, faculty are aware of how long it takes to publish a paper and know that almost no student applying for a Ph.D. will have had time to complete research work for a publication and get that work published even if the work was from their Masters program. Most students are admitted for Fall (late August/September admission) with the application deadline being in November/December of the previous year. For a Bachelors student, that means the student is applying during the beginning of the final year and for a Masters student, the application is generally due before the student even begins writing the Masters Thesis. Letters of reference, particularly for someone completing a Masters at the time of application, are much more important. I agree totally that the advisor is very important. There are several things about picking an advisor. First, consider the stature of a potential advisor in the discipline. When doing that look at that advisors publications and be aware that publications reflect past research work and may not represent what the particular professor is doing now. You don't want to pick an advisor based on previous work only to discover that the professors interests have changed. Also, particularly in the sciences, grant funding is extremely important. A professor may have a good publication record, but may not have adequate funding to support your research. Working with the best person in the field may not be a good idea if that professor no longer has the resources to support your research. Another thing to consider, particularly in the sciences, is if the university has the physical facilities need for your research interests. For example, if your proposed research requires specific analytical facilities that don't exist at the university you are applying to, then an institution with the appropriate facilities may be a better choice even if the advisor there is of lesser stature. As far as future employment goes. In the hard sciences a Master degree will generally get you a job as a technician and will almost never put you in charge of a project. In other words, you will be working on someone else's project. With a Ph.D. you may start out working in collaboration with other more senior Ph.D.s at your employer, but you will be expected to develop independent projects. For example, in my first position after my Ph.D. and post Docs, I was working independently. I had several Masters level techs working for me doing the routine lab work. Yes I made more money, but being more in control of what I was working on mattered more than money to me. When I moved into a faculty position at a university I had total freedom when it came to my research. Incidentally the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign is a very good university. I did a post-doc there and academically it was great. The only thing I didn't like about it was the physical environment outside the university. I am not a fan of corn fields and flat land.

If one is joining for MS PhD integrated, It will take five to six years. They will get full funding, and they do not have to pay for their masters. If ur going to a master's, It will take two years, but one has to work for at least three more years to settle the debt, In this way ROI is almost the same. Another advantage of doing a Ph.D. in the USA, the chances of getting a green card are higher in the EB1 category. But anyhow, In terms of Ph.D. It is better to do it in Europe rather than the USA. One can quickly finish it in four years with good publications as well as a good amount of savings. And then plan for your postdoc, green card, and job in the USA. This is what smart people do!!!. Anyhow good luck with your channel, Your content is great and it is going to be beneficial for many. Manikandan, Ph.D

Phd are fully funded but masters needs lots of fees....

Cool stuff!! Very insightful, as always! :-) One thing I would add is that after advising a research advisor searching to see if they have active grants and stating how one can contribute to the grant in admission essays (SOP, other letters, etc.) can be tremendously useful.

Very insightful!

if the university is higher ranking, you are more likely to get a better professor dissertation advsisor for phd. so do check the rank of the university. higher rank usually have better professor and you'll be able to publish more and get more opportunity to impress your disseration committee and graduate.

Isnt Phd a better option, first 2 years you are doing coursework meanwhile working on research problems. At the end of two years you will have a better understanding if you are fit for it or not( without the financial burden part). Why would you lean towards paying for a masters degree and being in debt. Universities clearly mention that if you apply for masters you dont get an edge for phd admissions if you later get attracted towards it.

Mera Beta IISER BHOPAL se BSMS ker hai. Major mein Data Science Lena chahta hai. Data Science me MS or PhD ke kya options hain. Please provide ur valuable guidance.❤ From Lucknow UP

Be very careful before getting into a PhD lest you get permanent head damage

Hello Ma'am.. great talk I am a undergrad at an iit I have been in research field for about 1 and half year But I didn't publish any paper yet Do I have a possibility of getting into direct PhD position in us or uk

Can you pls get some content on PhD in Product Management?

great

How much is for life sciences students?? Salary ... After Masters vs PhD...??

Will research internship be helpful in MS application? will it help in getting TA/RA on campus to earn?

Dear madam thank you for the details explanation. My son is BE from not Pune 60% MBA in finance from pumba Pune 74% Pgd in statistics from IGNO 75% Diploma from IIT Madras in data science and programming on line ICWAI from cost a counting India Work experience 4years as business analyst He is interested in doing PhD in data science and finance We need your guidance in this regard .how to approach you please .

not just the money, also green card.

Hello mam do u also provide assistance for phd i do have publication but i am confused to find the right college and as u mentioned right mentor.

What is maters with thesis?

akka resume how short list

Can you guide me on doing a PhD in Humanities in areas such as defence and security studies or peace and conflict studies?

if you are in usa then go for masters. If you want Phd go to Europe. Too much politics, prejudice and bipolar faculty in Phd programs in USA.