MSc or PhD? That's the question!

Hi Dear Mr. Safvati

If you remember, I sent you an email last year and you suggested that I get my ielts degree first.

... I don't know whether the coursework program is better or research for Msc. Both take 1 year of study in UNSW. I just know that a person graduated with ''PhD by Research" can not become ''heyat elmi'' (again I don't know what it's called) . ...

I was wondering if you would mind guiding me in this case and show me the ways I can get scolarships or something to reduce expenses. As I've searched, I think it costs about 16.5 million toman for 1 year Msc by coureswork

Thanks for everything

... I hope you took the academic test. From memory I can tell you that UNSW requirement for IELTS results is IELTS of 6.5 for at least three of the four subjects (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Check it on their website for the most recent updates (if there are any). A friend of mine arrived here with lower results and spent six months here to take an English course. When he finished the English course, his admission was changed from "conditional" to final.
In response to your question about courses: as far as I remember, Msc by coursework is one year, but by research is 2 years. Check that for yourself however to make sure. By the way, if you take the MSc by coursework, it is 3 days per week and some of the classes are over the weekend. That means that you'll be able to work 20 hours per week (if you are not on a full-fee scholarship).

What you asked needs a long answer, so get ready because this is going to be a long email. I spent a long long time, thinking and hesitating about the same ideas you are thinking of right now. I don't want you to loose time on this the way I did.

So, what to do: MSc by coursework, MSc by Research, or PhD? First of all I just want to stress this point (though you know it already), that this is a serious decision and you should not allow anyone (big letters: ANYONE) to make a decision on that for you. That of course includes myself. I'll try to just pass what I know to you, but you always need to double check things that I'm telling you; alright? Although I may occasionally sound like I'm advising things, but I'll be actually only suggesting what I would do if I would be in the situation you are in, but I'm not eaxactly in your situation and I may not know what your exact situation is.

Here is what I think: you are young. You have time. Being an Iranian, the ideal situation is to do MSc first and then PhD. Why? Because when you arrive here and start doing a PhD it is a lot more difficult. You need to learn so many things, all at once, because a lot of those things we should have learnt before starting university. Stuff that they learn here at school, many of us, or at least myself have no real inderstanding of. To give you an example: my daughter (she just turned ten), has learnt to do research on the internet. How many of us are really good at that? She is being trained to write essays. They have their own style of writing which IELTS teaches you a bit of. Things like how to discuss an idea looking at it from different points of view. Questions like "Smart students should study in a separate school? Do you think it is right or wrong?" How would you write your ideas on a subject like this? In a research environment, or even in coursework, you will realise that you need to know these things: How to write an essay their way, how to defend your views their way, how to work with excel spreadsheets and Word and Powerpoint professionally, how to write research proposals, etc. I'm not saying that you can not handle this, no. I'm just trying to say that if you start with MSc, it is definitely easier and apparently more acceptable in Iran. The downside would be that after you finish your MSc, you will need 3-4 years for your PhD, that means time and money that you will have to spend. Again: you are young, you inshallah have the time. For me, it was out of question. I'm nearly 40 years old and my Australian scholarship would only cover a PhD program. I could opt in for MSc, but that would mean that finishing my masters, I would have to look for money to start a PhD program and then spend 2 years for MSc and 3-4 years for PhD.

Now, let's look at this same question from a different point of view: what are the benefits of starting a PhD program (instead of MSc)? First of all: here if you get admission for a PhD program straight from BSC, that means you are smarter (sorry to put it like this - but I was not really thinking about myself - I'm just telling you about the attitude here). Moreover, the sooner you finish your PhD, they consider you even more smart. Just a couple of weeks ago, I told Mr ... (names deleted all over the text for privacy reasons), that I wouldn't mind to drag my research for one more year because in Iran they would look at me with a bit of twist in their eyes if they'll see that I'm finishing my PhD in 3.5 years. He said: "We take pride in the fact that at our school the average time a PhD candidate takes to finish a PhD project is 3.8 years. For the UNSW', he said 'it is slightly more, about 4 years. It will definitely look better on you r CV (curriculum Vitae - Resume) if you will finish your PhD in less than that average, and I don't understand why they think any other way in Iran" - this is what he said. Earlier, about two years ago I asked F.S. (she is a great world-class researcher, just search her name in Google and you'll see) if I could get both MSc and PhD. She was really surprised to hear this question and said: look Aidin, you are already in the second year of your PhD, why should you spend your time on a Masters degree? I told her about Iran. She said: I just don't understand why having admission to PhD straight from BSc, you would spend time on Masters. Finish your PhD and then look into the question of what you want to do for Iran.

My decision (for myself) if I would be doing it all again: I'll finish my PhD and then get onto a postdoctorate course if I can. If I'll not get the chance to do a postdoc, let every idiot call me PhD by Research. It is still regarded as being higher than OD anywhere in the world and anywhere in the world you need to be a PhD if you want to teach optometry. OD is never suffiecient for teaching in academic environments and if you search on the net for academic positions, if you find an advertisement for a permanent academic position, you will see that they always require a PhD degree. I love Iran, you may already know that, but if the Iranian university and ministry of health will not qualify my PhD degree as a doctorate, fine, they'll have to qualify my post-doctorate as doctorate! Besides, as far as I know we don't have that many PhDs and postdocs in optometry there and if I want to be a full time academic staff there, I guess they will be happy to have me. By the way, most probably I will not even ask to be a full time member of academic staff in Iran. I'll be happy to spend time teaching, I'll be happy if they will give me the credit as full time academic, but if they don't, big deal! I'll be anyways making money by other means, and I will not depend on the money they'll give me as an academic or non-academic. You know why? Because I spent nine years teaching optometry in Iran wishing to become a full time academic staff, but working on a salary less than an Iranian primary school teacher. You know who's fault that was? No one else's, JUST MINE! Because I knew the salary and I stayed there out of love for science and hoping that things will get better, though I knew it would not change, unless I would decide to change it. I lost nine years waiting for someone to change it, and it didn't happen. It changed when I realised that I am the person who must change it. And here I am! I'm changing it! I have already changed it (by God's will). Now when I return, if they will play the same game with me, saying that they can not pay me what they should becasue I'm a PhD by Research, and if they are stupid enough not to understand that PhD by Research is EXACTLY the most suitable degree for teaching, ... , hey, that's absolutely fine with me! I've been there in that game before, and I will not wait for anything to change. I'll teach if I love teaching, money and title will not be that much of matter for me, and I will not teach if they will think they can insult me. I'll make my life my own way and will not let anyone to hold me back with stupid ideas.

It may look like I am complaining about what happened to me while I was teaching optometry there. No! I'm just trying to tell you what I learnt when I was there: I learnt not to base my decisions on things like what the ministry will think about my degree. I learnt not to waste my time trying to get wealthy by teaching in the conventional way of teaching. Nobody gets rich by teaching the conventional way, nowhere in the world. If you don't like this idea, you just have to forget teaching, or accept doing it just out of love for science. I learnt one more thing: there are non-conventional ways for teaching! They are more effective, more productive and more fullfilling in every sense. I will teach the conventional way, but I will make money teaching the unconventional way and doing other things that will make life financially tolerable for my family and myself and for those who will need me to be wealthy. I need to be wealthy and I'm not ashamed of saying so, because my being wealthy will do a lot of good to many other people, if I'll do the things I do intend to do, and I'll do them, inshallah, whether I'll be here in Australia, or in Iran or anywhere else in the world.

I wish I could find a shorter way of telling you all this. But, this was the story of a big part of my life, and I hope it will clarify the way to your future life.

To recap: If I were you, I would get my PhD as soon as I can, and then do a postdoctorate course. The total time would be the same as doing MSc and PhD, but will be easier financially and I'll be a Postdoc, you'll be a Doc if you go the other way. By the way, postdocs get payed a salary appropriate for a PhD graduate. Its not huge, but it is better than you paying for MSc + PhD.

Again, I said "if I were you", but I'm not you. You are not me. Think again and do what is best for you and whatever you choose, just stick to it and do it and don't hesitate for too long a time on the decision or after the decision is made.

I wish you all the best from the deep of my heart,

Your colleague,

Aidin