If you’re currently studying for your bachelor’s degree and are interested in doing a PhD, you may be wondering: can you get a PhD without a master’s?
The Benefits of Doing a Master’s Degree Before a PhD
A master’s degree allows someone to gain additional skills, research experience and domain-specific knowledge. When a supervisor is looking for potential PhD students, amongst other things they want to see that a candidate has:
- Interest in the subject
- Research experience
- Subject knowledge
Suitability for a PhD does not always require a master’s. But it is a convenient way to provide evidence for your suitability and commitment to research.
Therefore from a supervisor’s perspective, a master’s can provide evidence of these attributes. Having a master’s gives a little more assurance for the supervisor that you’re prepared for the work involved with a PhD. But not having a master’s absolutely does not have to be a barrier!
Already carried out a long research project as part of your bachelor’s degree and want to do a PhD in an area you have knowledge in? You may be able to convince a supervisor that you’re already prepared.
A few less substantial reasons people sometimes consider doing a separate master’s are:
- If for any reason your performance during the bachelor’s degree wasn’t ideal, doing a separate master’s provides another qualification to be assessed against.
- If you’re transitioning to a different research area it is the obvious way to gain knowledge.
- A chance to experience another [potentially more prestigious*] university.
My experience: Early on in your undergraduate degree and interested in doing a PhD? I thoroughly recommend getting as much research experience as possible.
Even if you don’t have the opportunity to undertake much research during your course, UROPs are a fantastic way to spend your summer. During my PhD I had help from a few UROP students. One of them has even co-authored a paper with me. I wish that I had done one as an undergraduate!
*I really dislike the idea of considering the prestige of a university and the associated meritocracy, but sadly there is no getting away from the fact that it boosts career prospects.
So Can You Get a PhD Without a Master’s?
If you’re starting to look at PhDs and don’t yet have a master’s, there are two things you can do to get an idea of whether or not you’re likely to need a master’s first:
Check Advertised PhDs
Looking at a PhD advert such as via FindAPhD.com? Check the listed candidate requirements on the advertisement.
Sometimes a master’s isn’t mentioned:
Sometimes doing a master’s is a suggested advantage:
Here is a post detailing how you can find available PhD projects.
Ask the Academic
The most definitive answer you’ll receive for whether you can get a PhD without a master’s will be by contacting supervisors directly.
Often as soon as you start a conversation with potential supervisors they’ll ask to look over a copy of your CV. There is nothing wrong with being bold and checking whether you’re currently qualified enough to stand a competitive chance of getting a PhD.
My experience: When I was considering PhDs I emailed an academic saying I was interested in applying for a project with them but was worried I didn’t have relevant experience.
Within 24 hours he had replied saying “Unfortunately, I’m not confident that you’d be selected if you applied as other candidates who have expressed an interest in applying had more relevant experience”
Although disappointing, it’s much better to find this out quickly so that you can move on. I already had a master’s but not in a relevant area. If I’d desperately wanted to pursue this research area an obvious means to transition across and gain experience would have been with a master’s.
My Observations
I don’t believe that there are strict guidelines stating that you have to have a master’s. As shown in the adverts above, it is oftenseen as an advantage but is rarely strictly necessary.
Of the people I worked with during my PhD, not everyone had done a master’s.
Most of the people who had a master’s did it as a 4-year integrated master’s. This is common in certain sciences and engineering, and is exactly what I did. However, several people had not done a master’s before starting their PhDs. Including the guy I sat next to for all of my own PhD at Imperial.
Getting a bachelor’s degree outside of the UK will typically take one or two years longer than in the UK. Therefore international students in particular may be able to evidence their experience without a master’s.
Fancy getting a master’s as well as a PhD? Read on to find out how you could get paid to do both!
Don’t Yet Have a Master’s? Consider CDTs!
What Are CDTs?
In the UK there are many Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs, sometimes known as DTCs) and it is worth drawing your attention to them if you don’t already have a master’s degree. CDTs offer combined funded Master’s + PhD programmes. You’ll be part of the relatively rare breed getting paid to do a master’s!
These centres are funded via the research councils and provide training for students around a certain theme. FindAPhD.com has a nice post which includes links to funded CDT projects. CDTs cover a huge range of themes. For example just within AI research there are 16 CDTs all for different themes:
The idea is that students from different backgrounds can get training and become proficient at helping to solve problems around the central theme of the CDT. In the first year you’ll have a mix of lectures and smaller projects to get a taste of different research topics. During the first year you’ll also choose your PhD topic. You will then spend three years working on that project before submitting your thesis.
Pros and Cons of CDTs
The advantages are:
- You’re part of a cohort so will likely have a greater sense of community and support versus a typical PhD project
- You get training and will learn new skills before deciding on a PhD project
- If you know you want to work in a certain research area but don’t yet know exactly what project you want to work on yet
- You get both a PhD and a master’s at the end, all of which is funded!
Potential disadvantages I can think of for doing a PhD through a CDT are:
- Taking a year longer than a normal PhD if you already know what you want to work on
- Your PhD position with a certain supervisor isn’t definite before you start. I’ve anecdotally heard of issues where many of the students in the cohort want to work with the same supervisor and of course not all of them can. On the flipside the flexibility in supervisors is an advantage for many.
How much do students earn doing a master’s and PhD through a CDT? Funding for students at CDTs is covered here. UKRI, the body that funds all nine UK research councils, has some case studies of CDT-PhD students which you can find on the various research council websites.
When looking for PhDs, I applied to two CDTs. If I hadn’t already been happy with my offer to study for my specific project at Imperial I’d have loved to have done one. I think they’re a great idea. Particularly if you are transitioning to a research area which differs from the subject of your bachelor’s degree.
Finding Suitable CDTs
As well as using a search engine, you can search for CDTs on FindAPhD.com by selecting PhD Research Programme and then choosing from the list:
Interested in Applying for a PhD?
Hopefully this post shows that you don’t need to be too put off applying for PhDs if you don’t have a master’s. Many people are successful in their PhD application without a master’s if they got research experience during their bachelor’s degree. And if you do fancy getting a master’s and PhD now you know that studying in a CDT could be a great option.
Interested in applying for a PhD? Here is my post covering the PhD applications process. It includes all the steps to apply and tips from successful PhD applicants:
Good luck!
If you’d like personalised help with your PhD application I offer a small number of one-to-one sessions. Please click here to find out more.
So can you get a PhD without a master’s? Quite possibly, but a master’s could benefit your application.
Have you got other PhD questions you want answered? Please let me know!
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