MPhil

[StorminaBcup]

I'm considering applying for a Mphil through the OU, (I'm not in a position to apply for a funded PhD due to childcare / finance constraints). I have an MSc but I'd like to study further. Has anyone completed one? Just wondering what the benefits / pitfalls are. Did it help with your career, and were you already working in a related area when you took it on? I'm currently a SAHM and it would be in the Neuroscience field.

What do you want to do. To be utterly honest Mphil is often regarded as a 'failed phd' in my area because you start an mphil and then upgrade to a PhD and then hopefully complete the PhD. People who never finish only have the mphil qualification

I have never heard of anyone just doing an MPhil other than, as gentle says, having to stop their PhD at MPhil level.

Is your MSc not relevant?

What type of jobs do you think you'd like to do afterwards?

If you want an academic/research job, I think you'd probably need a PhD.

Thanks for your replies. To be honest I have no idea what I want to do. I have an MSc in Applied Cognitive Neuroscience and I have worked in brain injury rehab (community / non clinical). I enjoy it but there is no prospect of career development, I'm not qualified enough for the next step but I'm over qualified for the role. I miss the research aspect of my degree but I'm tied to the area due to childcare / finance / DH's job, so I'm pretty inflexible when it comes to travel.

Not that it makes a huge amount of difference but I have two preschool aged children (youngest is 1), so nursery fees alone make it pretty impossible to find a PhD at the moment and we don't get extra help, plus DH works away a lot often at short notice. I'm bored and I need something to do! I was shortlisted for a couple of PhDs (one pre-children / one after) and I feel like I'm stagnating. I've already career changed from accounting!

It might be worth looking at an MRes. That's a research based master's which doesn't have the taint of incomplete PhD. You also have the benefit of starting your studies in a cohort, with more formal research training than a PhD. On the other hand, if you've already got an MSc it may seem more of the same, unless you shift to a different specialism or focus.

I've decided to a conversion degree. It will only take two years and I get a job at the end of it! Thanks for your replies and honesty, I was concerned it would be perceived as a failed PhD. You've saved me from another error!

I don't think it helps the OP, but FWIW, in my subject and several others, MPhil is just the name of the masters degree. It's the only one offered by my current institution, and it's normal to do that and then do a PhD, but the two aren't linked. I suppose you could do an MPhil, start a PhD and fail to proceed, and end up Jane Smith, BA, MPhil, MPhil.

I don't think my institution offers MPhil. It's an MLitt (1 year, mostly taught with final dissertation), MRes (1 year, double the length of dissertation than MLitt), or PhD/DPhil.

I think Cambs / Oxford offer them as an extension of their undergrad but the rest seem to down grade PhD's to them. Apart from the OU (which is what I was looking at), so far.

Thanks for your replies though. Is just cemented that it's probably not a good idea.

It sounds like you're actually looking for some sort of hobby to keep your mind active & learning? An MPhil could be useful, but not just for the sake of it. Why not learn a language? Then when your children are older & you can be a bit more flexible, go straight for a PhD.

@2ndSopranos - sorry I missed your reply! Can I ask what you used your mphil for in the end? Did it help you from a career perspective?

Can I ask (roughly), what field you work in? nosey

An ex of mine ended up being BSc, MPhil, PhD.

He went to do an MRes, wrote a funding proposal and got enough money for a second year. During that they asked whether he wanted to stay and turn it into a PhD - he didn't really want a PhD in that area, and it would have been really hard to get another one when he'd completed one, so wrote it up for an MPhil and then went elsewhere for his PhD.

He does keep being asked what happened though - I think it's a fairly unusual degree to have.

@PolkadotsandMoonbeams,
No one can get a phD without at least a BA/BSc so once you have a phD you don't refer to the earlier degrees awarded.

Alright, having not being then I think his might have been an MSci not a BSc actually, not that it makes a great deal of difference!

They're all listed on his CV though - it's at interviews and things that people have said "how did you end up with that?".