BSc or MSci

I am apllying for astrophysics at uni and some unis such as UCL has the the options BSc and MSci, Manchester has BSc and MPhys.I am not sure which ones to pick as I am also worried about the student finance.If you have any idea please help...

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

MSci, MPhys etc are all basically the same thing. The degree title is different but generally the content will be largely the same (at least for the first two and a half years).

You get funded by Student Finance England/Wales/NI for a length of time equal to the length of your degree plus one year (called the "gift year"). So if you are doing a 4 year MPhys/MSci you have 5 years of funding. If you are doing a 3 year BSc you have 4 years of funding. And so on and so forth. So it's not really a factor on that front as you'll still get funding.

Generally the financing for undergraduate degrees (including MSci/MPhys courses) is much better than that for postgraduate degrees (i.e. standalone masters - MSc, MPhil, MRes, MASt etc). As for undergraduate degrees you get full tuition fee loans and means tested maintenance loans, whereas for masters degrees you just get a single loan of fixed value which is to cover your tuition fees and/or living costs (and often isn't even enough to cover the tuition fees). So usually it's better to just do the 4 year course unless you have absolutely no reason or interest to do a masters degree in any capacity.

Reply 2

Sorcerer's Storm

Original post by vkrcck

Pick MSci or MPhys. Most if not all unis give you the option of downgrading from MSci to BSc usually in 3rd year or towards end of second year. So by picking MSci you immediately get funding for the 4 years and if then in third year you realise you don’t want to do the masters year there’s the option to change your degree type and cancel fourth year of student funding which in this case is relatively straightforward. Whereas if you apply for BSc you’ll only get 3 years funding and then if you decide you want to do a fourth year you’ll have to apply to student finance again for a masters year and it’s much more of a hassle.

(edited 5 months ago)

Reply 3

vkrcck

Okay this helped a lot, thank you so much to both of you :smile:

)

Reply 4

vkrcck

Also, if I decide to go on and do phd would it be better to do BSc first and Masters or directly MSci for four years

Reply 5

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by vkrcck

Also, if I decide to go on and do phd would it be better to do BSc first and Masters or directly MSci for four years

Either is fine. Your research project in a one year masters would probably be in more depth which is nice to have but realistically from a funding perspective it's more practical to do the 4 year undergrad-masters course, and it's very common for people to go from those directly to a PhD.

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