Two years... (if one does not pass all the exams and write the thesis in that given time, the additional terms necessary to finish the studies are to be paid for ).
Well, this would be an ideal case - in fact, very few graduates are accepted for post-graduate studies immediately after finishing the university. E.g., my older son got the master´s degree, got a job at his alma mater and started his post-graduate courses one year later (just because the post-graduate study in his specialization has not been available anywhere in CR).
This might differ among majors/universities/faculties. In fact, in past 5-10 years, most PhD. students in "prezenční forma" (full-time students) I know started PhD. right after finishing their MSc. But of course, it's true it depends on whether the chosen supervisor ("školitel") is willing to accept new PhD. students and if they get accepted by him. I don't know if it's common to have full-time PhD. students (who get a monthly scholarship and don't have a (full-time) job) common in USA/UK? One of the reasons they start early is that they can keep student privileges (subsidized meals/lodging in student facilities etc.). Also, if you want to be a full-time student, things get a bit complicated once you turn 26 - you have to start paying social and health insurance for yourself, up till the age of 25 state pays it for you (assuming you don't have a job).
You're right, Sova, that most PhD programs don't require a Master's degree -- I'm just more familiar with academic areas where most people don't go straight through -- bachelor's to doctorate. Most grad students in my field (education) stop out for a few years, typically after the BA/BS, before starting grad school. Then, the most typical pattern is to get a master's degree, stop out again, then begin a doctorate. I've worked with a few students who didn't get a master's, but rarely. As far as schools not wanting students to get a master's, we actually prefer them to have a breadth of experience prior to beginning grad school. I've taught/advised students who came into graduate school from the health care field, military, business, manufacturing, computer science, and biological research, just to name a few areas. This is in addition to many who had started out as k-12 teachers. This variety of experience makes my field (learning theory and instructional technology) more robust because of the multiple perspectives brought from divergent backgrounds. Like I said, there is such variety from discipline to discipline, trying to understand differences across international borders really complicates matters.
I can understand that. In physics, it's uncommon for someone to go back to graduate school after working a regular job (other than perhaps a summer internship/research position), and when it does happen, it's often someone taking temporary leave from their job and planning to return after the degree (sometimes employers even pay for the tuition, etc.). Then again, unless one gets an applied physics degree or gets a teaching certificate, there aren't many job opportunities for physicists with only a bachelor's degree. For most Ph.D. students in the U.S., being a student is their full-time job. Most get paid a nominal salary (can vary between say $13k to $25k, depending the field of study, the university, and the city they live in). The salary can be paid in several ways: 1) Fellowship--nothing required, just study and get money (obviously the best way to get funded, but also the most rare--most fellowships have time constraints, e.g. first 1 to 3 years). 2) Research assistant--Get paid by a grant, either from some private company who wants to own at least some part of the patent rights to your work, or else from the government or some other non-profit foundation. In this case, you get paid to do what usually amounts to your thesis/dissertation work, so it's almost as good as a fellowship. The down side is that either you have to find a professor who already has grant money, or else help him write a proposal to get a grant. This is most common in engineering and sciences. 3) Teaching assistant--Either teach lectures or recitations/study labs to undergrad or grad students in the same department. This is probably the most common funding source for grad students, as universities like using the cheap labor of graduate students for teaching, rather than having to pay more for their professors to teach the same classes. This, of course, means the students have to do both research and teaching, which makes it difficult to concentrate on your thesis work. Probably most liberal arts students teach during most or all of their grad school. There are also, of course, the unlucky souls, who get paid nothing for their Ph.D. work, and are expected to live off loans, sometimes from the government. :cry: Of course, this happens more with MBA programs, medical school, and law school, where it is expected that when the student graduates, their salaries will be high enough to pay off even high-dollar loans.
I hope I don't pull us too off course with this next comment, but I just have to point out that U.S. universities cost a lot too. If I get into the William S. Boyd School of Law, I will pay $10,000 a year. It is one of the cheapest schools of good quality. If I were to go to Columbia or, how lucky this would be, Yale, it would cost me around $30-40,000 a year. Student loans, grants, and scholarships are the only way to survive. All in all, I've calculated that if I went 3 to 3 years of law school at a major university, by the time I would graduate I would have over $100,000 of debt with living expenses included. Arggg
Just a little off-topic What is the ISCED rating equivalent of a Czech Ing. degree? I'm trying to help a friend fill in the Europass CV form but I have no idea if this would be an ISCED 5 level. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks Ani
The project Institut trhu práce (job market institute) puts rating for Ing. degree as ISCED level 5A.
I sympathize with you, man! Med school and business schools are the same way. At least with a law degree (or MD or MBA), you'll make more starting out than I will probably ever make, and you will have the ability to repay such loans in a "reasonable" time. On my scientist salary, paying off that much would take a lifetime (assuming I didn't pass the debt off to my kids!). At least my tuition was paid for plus a stipend, so I didn't have any school debt when I graduated--I can't complain too much.
Yeah... it's a pity that lawyers earn such a large sum compared to those in the sciences. I wish more kids would grow up saying that they wanted a Nobel Peace Prize.
