The Student Room Group

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Alcohol5%
Which do you think would look best to an employer, and which is easiest to do? Generally which would you regard as the greatest?

Cheers



BSc and MSci are undergraduate level degrees, MSc is the only post-graduate degree from the ones you've listed and therefore the most 'superior'.
Reply 2
Alcohol5%
Which do you think would look best to an employer, and which is easiest to do? Generally which would you regard as the greatest?

Cheers

It depends. Different universities call degrees by different names. It also depends on what you want to do with your degree - are you going to use it?

Ben
Reply 3
Alcohol5%
Which do you think would look best to an employer, and which is easiest to do? Generally which would you regard as the greatest?

Cheers

BSc
Msci
MSc
Reply 4
Yep, it depends what course you're doing. If it's a science related course or something which is academic then Bsci and Msci and Msc are the best. If your doing a course thats involved with the arts (e.g. theatre studies etc.) Then your best doing a BA course.
Reply 5
Ben.S.
It depends. Different universities call degrees by different names.



MSc is unique to post-grad though, isn't it? (aside from the weird oxbridge upgrade of BA to MA etc). So to have a MSc, you'd need a BSc, therefore MSc is the most desirable..?
Reply 6
I'm doing an MChem, which is a straight undergraduate masters degree (I think equivalent to an MSci). I'm under the impression that it will put me in better stead for a graduate job, as its better than a BSc (especially as I will have done a 'mini' research project alongside actual postgrad students, which will prepare me better for industry related jobs, and BSc students will only have done a dissertation). An MSc is when you do your BSc, and then carry on to study, not quite to a PhD level, but you still do 1 or 2 years, whereas a PhD is 3 or 4.
Reply 7
timeofyourlife
MSc is unique to post-grad though, isn't it? (aside from the weird oxbridge upgrade of BA to MA etc). So to have a MSc, you'd need a BSc, therefore MSc is the most desirable..?

Well, you said 'aside from' - but that applies to me. I want to do an MSc, which is, here, equivalent to an MChem. You can't do a BSc (you do a BA and then get an automatic MA after 5 years from the first term after matriculation) here, and I don't think you can do an MSci either (although I'm not sure on that one!).

Ben
Reply 8
timeofyourlife
MSc is unique to post-grad though, isn't it?

In short; no.

Ben
Reply 9
Ben.S.
Well, you said 'aside from' - but that applies to me. I want to do an MSc, which is, here, equivalent to an MChem. You can't do a BSc (you do a BA and then get an automatic MA after 5 years from the first term after matriculation) here, and I don't think you can do an MSci either (although I'm not sure on that one!).

Ben

I just wrote a massive description of the MSci but realised you meant the undergrad MSci when you said MSc :redface: You can't do a postgrad MSc at Cambridge; you get an MPhil instead, although it's the same thing, just a different name.

I'd go for the MSci: you can get funding from your LEA and a student loan for a four-year undergrad course. If you go for the postgrad option you have to sort out funding, which seems a lot of unnecessary hassle to me.
It is very difficult to get funding for an MSc and unless it is in something very specific it isn't regarded any higher than an MSci (or equivalent undergraduate masters). There are only two reasons to do an MSc: 1) if you don't have the neccesary qualifications to get on a PhD programme without one. 2) it is in a vocationally specific area such as forensics.
Reply 11
Ok a lot have people have missed the point apart from Chicken and Chemist Boy.

I know that BSc and MSci are undergraduate degrees and MSc is a Masters so it is obviously the best.

However, discarding Oxbridge, in general and in science you do either do a BSc for 3 years or a MSci for 4 years.

After doing a BSc you can stay on for another year to do a MSc. Therefore, doing a BSc and MSc takes the same amount of time as a MSci.

Which would be best to do regarding funding, career prospects and how an employer values them?

Cheers
Funding wise an MSci is far superior to an BSc+MSc...as chemistboy says it's not straight forward to get funding for an MSc - it might only take a year but it will cost a LOT more than simply spending a yr extra on your underggrad degree.

Career wise and employer wise depends on the subjects involved - in some specialist areas you can only cover the topics in a taught course if you do a specialised MSc - and an equivalent MSci course isn't available. If you're not aiming at those specialised areas and you're not likely to want to do a conversion MSc to adapt for a different subject to your BSc then there are no real benefits to the BSc+MSc route over the Msci route.
Reply 13
Stupid question: What's the difference between MSc and MSci? They're both Masters so what's the difference? - except for MSci being undergrad.
irisng
Stupid question: What's the difference between MSc and MSci? They're both Masters so what's the difference? - except for MSci being undergrad.


That's quite a big difference actually.
On average I would say that BA's are the most impressive science degrees.
Reply 16
ChemistBoy
That's quite a big difference actually.


So what's the difference?
irisng
So what's the difference?

Um.

The difference is that one is postgrad and the other is undergrad. They just give them different names. But this difference is pretty massive, in terms of funding if nothing else.
Reply 18
MadNatSci
Um.

The difference is that one is postgrad and the other is undergrad. They just give them different names. But this difference is pretty massive, in terms of funding if nothing else.


Well yeh the funding, of course. But what's the difference in content of course, how advanced things are, what they teach... (lol 3 ways of saying the same thing :rolleyes: ) Like just what is the difference?
irisng
Well yeh the funding, of course. But what's the difference in content of course, how advanced things are, what they teach... (lol 3 ways of saying the same thing :rolleyes: ) Like just what is the difference?


An MSci is an extended undergraduate degree where as an MSc can be many things: you could get an MSc through a period of research or have a taught MSc. MSc's are often specialised (such as MSc in Medicinal Chemistry as opposed to a MSci in Chemistry). The purpose of an MSci is to take you further into a general science subject, MSc tend to be there to help you specialise in a sub-discipline.