What's the difference between...

studentphil

melancholly wrote:

you have to put OXON or CANTAB after it - so it should look very different to other masters degrees - however much people may like it to look like a 'real' masters, the reality is that it doesn't show anything more than it's a certain period of time since you graduated. employers know the difference! they do it at dublin too btw!
it was originally a qualification to give you the right to teach and pre-dates the more modern MAs which are earned degrees. apparently the pope granted the universities the right to give it..... entirely bizarre, but so much of the oxbridge history is!!

I grant you all that but maybe not every employer knows about the oxbridge MA so it is still misleading. Also, some people do a proper MA at Oxbridge and it is confusing sometimes to see a real MA or if it is an upgraded BA.

Heth_2

Well I went to Oxford and even if I could (I can't because I did a 4 year MPhys, not a BA) I wouldn't use the MA Oxon if I got it. I think for most people, as someone said, it is more and opportunity to go back to your college with your friends a few years after you have finished. Certainly if I had done a 'proper' MA my CV would make it very clear what the MA was in, the title of my dissertation etc...so it could hardly be confusing. Any decent employer that needs a masters degree should be interested in the research you've done in the masters, not the letters after your name.
I know a friend of my Dad's got his MA Cantab a few years ago, 30 years after graduating, because he wanted to show his college experience to wife and young daughter, not because he wanted to confuse employers!

starlite_2

What is the course?
I ask as when I was looking for psychology courses there were many BA courses, and many BSC , the difference is in the course content, ie, BA psychology will involve much more theory and more of the history of the subject, whereas bsc involves much more of the physiological aspect, and more lab work and there is a real difference in how well you will manage the course if you are an 'arts' or 'science' type..

melancholly

starlite wrote:

What is the course?
I ask as when I was looking for psychology courses there were many BA courses, and many BSC , the difference is in the course content, ie, BA psychology will involve much more theory and more of the history of the subject, whereas bsc involves much more of the physiological aspect, and more lab work and there is a real difference in how well you will manage the course if you are an 'arts' or 'science' type..

this is also important because not all courses are BPS accredited - often it's the BSc's that are while the BA's are not (although there are obviously exceptions!)

kittykate_2

Yeah starlight, I found the same. So basically I asked myself which I would rather do - learn the history or do lab work. I chose the BSc. it appears to be more 'hands on' than the BA.

starlite_2

It is, it's essential to have bsc in some fields as meloncholy pointed out.
Plus it's a big difference between the two in terms of what you learn from uni,not just related to the subject, i.e my OH did a BA so has learnt much more about questioning, thinking and theorising, whereas I learnt more about facts, evidence and action. And we are both just like that now.

Sorry if I am rambling here, baby on shoulder and baby in belly = quite slow brain, lol.

frostyspice

studentphil wrote:

...Also, some people do a proper MA at Oxbridge and it is confusing sometimes to see a real MA or if it is an upgraded BA.

None of the Masters degrees at Oxford entitle you to use MA - it's an M.Phil, or M.Litt. (and there are others).

And if you've only got an MA Hons (Oxon) after your name and no mention of a BA then employer can either work it out or you can explain it ... no big deal.

Let's face it, if you've got a degree from Oxford it probably doesn't matter to most employers what you call it.

Excerpt from Wikipedia: "Whilst recently there has been increasing criticism of being awarded a Master's degree whilst not doing any additional academic work, supporters assert that the academic workload of a three-year Oxford undergraduate degree exceeds that of a four-year Masters course at many other British universities"

Discuss!

Rosie75

frostyspice wrote:

None of the Masters degrees at Oxford entitle you to use MA - it's an M.Phil, or M.Litt. (and there are others).

And if you've only got an MA Hons (Oxon) after your name and no mention of a BA then employer can either work it out or you can explain it ... no big deal.

Let's face it, if you've got a degree from Oxford it probably doesn't matter to most employers what you call it.

Excerpt from Wikipedia: "Whilst recently there has been increasing criticism of being awarded a Master's degree whilst not doing any additional academic work, supporters assert that the academic workload of a three-year Oxford undergraduate degree exceeds that of a four-year Masters course at many other British universities"

Discuss!

Absolute nonsense! I'm referring the the Wikipedia thing, not your post. Is there a 20,000 word dissertation that is intended to demonstrate originality in the field as part of an Oxbridge degree? Given that I have seen Oxbridge grads struggle with (proper) MA dissertations, I'm guessing not.

melancholly

Rosie75 wrote:

Absolute nonsense! I'm referring the the Wikipedia thing, not your post. Is there a 20,000 word dissertation that is intended to demonstrate originality in the field as part of an Oxbridge degree? Given that I have seen Oxbridge grads struggle with (proper) MA dissertations, I'm guessing not.

they have carefully chosen the word 'wordload' rather than something like 'standard of critical thinking'. having to produce four 3000 word essays a week with 6 days of lectures is more in a term than most undergraduate degrees over 3 years. multiply that up to 3 years and the workload in 3 years does exceed what a normal undergrad plus one year's masters involves.

whether or not that makes people 'better' students in terms of demonstrating originality is a separate debate!! and the 'free' MA is known to be free and not really worth much......... so it's kind of a mute point. trust me, i have one and NO-ONE takes it seriously! (but i have my own MSc so it doesn't bother me much!)

Heth_2

Rosie75 wrote:

Absolute nonsense! I'm referring the the Wikipedia thing, not your post. Is there a 20,000 word dissertation that is intended to demonstrate originality in the field as part of an Oxbridge degree? Given that I have seen Oxbridge grads struggle with (proper) MA dissertations, I'm guessing not.

I went to Oxford and had to do a dissertation/project report (whatever you want to call it) as part of my physics degree which had to demonstrate the original research that I had done. Most of my friends in arts subjects also did dissertations instead of one exam course, in fact for people meaning to go on further research then doing a dissertation was pretty much expected.