John H. Wotizl
Marshall University Huntington, West Virginia 25701
The Present Image and Future
of the Master's Degree in Chemistry
111 the academic level of accomplishment, the ma~ter'sdegree finds itself sandwiched hetween the hachelor's degree and the PhD. This is a "no man's land," inasmuch as the MS degree cannot be a glorified bachelor's degree nor is it a junior PhD d* gree. Surveys of institutions offering such degrees clearly demonstrate the great variance in the standards set and the academic accomplishments necessary to fulfill the master's degree requirements. Some institutions like to recognize the work above and beyond the normal requirements for the BS degree in chemistry. The latter degree may require as few as 30 semester hours. The degree which would meet ACS Minimum Standards usually requires about 50 hrs in chemistrl-. Consequently, recognition for such an increase in the required number of hours is possible by by-passing the ACS-approved degree and allowing the "extra" hours to apply directly to a master's degree. Many times such a degree is a glorified undergraduate degree. The curricula of many schools do not demand research as a formal requirement. Since courses outside the major field and even in nonscience areas may he counted toward such an AIS degree, we can certainly see here a deficiency and a lack of professionalism. However, the recipient will benefit from having a higher academic degree by earning a somewhat higher starting salary. A second category of institutions offering the master's degree includes those schools which also offer the PhD degree. In such schools, we find students pursuing the MS as well as those working for the PhD degree taking classes together and fulfilling the same course and lahoratory requirements. The level of accomplishment in such cases is defined by the particular academic excellence of the university and its chemistry department. Usually there are not two levels of accomplishment in the course examinations in such institutions. Frequently, if the academic accomplishment of a PhDbound student does not look promising, he may he advised to take an AIS degree and leave the institution. The MS degree thus becomes a consolation prize. This course of events again tarnishes the degree and lowers its image. Since World War 11, a considerable number of institutions have awarded glorified hachelor's degrees, in
Presented as part of the Symposium on IMester's Degree Programs in Chemistry at Non-Doctorate-Granting Institutions before the Division of Chemical Education at the l52nd Meeting of the American Chenlical Soeietv. New York. N. Y.. Sentember. -~
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'Present address: Department of Chemistry, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Ill. 62903. ROETHEL,D. A,, Chem.Eng.News, 44, November 28,78 (1966).
form of an MS degree, or the MS degree as a "booby prize." This slow erosion of the degree is especially reflected in the small salary differential hbetween the bachelor's and master's degree. The median annual starting salary2 for a BS degree holder is about $7200; it is $8600 for a master's and $12,000 for the doctor's degree. It is difficult to establish whether the low ivIS degree salaries are due to the low value of the degree, or whether the tarnished image and the general low level of accomplishment suggested by the degree command a low salary. Additionally, there is a third group of institutions which offerthe master's degree and which truly perform a useful function in our educational system. These are the institutions with a large undergraduate student body, many times located in centers of high population containing chemical industry or in an area where there are no inexpensive and/or accessible PhD granting institutions. Many such institutions depend on graduate student assistants to take care of the large undergraduate teaching load. They also provide graduate instruction in the late afternoon or evening to accommodate the educational need and up-grading of parttime students from local industry. Such institutions make course work as well as research as demandmg as many PhD-granting institutions. Students of such institutions enjoy the advantage of close faculty contact. The recipient of a master's degree from such an institution usually has no difficulty getting located and/or receiving financial aid in a PhD-granting institution upon graduation. Yet, he may have been rejected there when he initially applied upon graduation with a BS degree. Thus, the study toward the MS degree was a proving ground and the properly motivated student found means to prove himself in spite of a somewhat mediocre undergraduate record. Such institutions, and the MS degrees from such institutions, are certainly worth having. The cost of education is high in general. Instruction in chemistry is expensive. The expense of offering graduate work may be staggering. It must be realized that the provision of meaningful facilities for graduate work requires the same kind of expensive, sophisticated instrumentation whether the laboratory work is applied to a doctor's degree or to a master's degree. For example, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to identify and characterize completely many organic compounds by means of chemical reactions and solid derivatives. It is essential that a structural assignment he backed up with an infrared or ultraviolet spectrum, as well as NMR spectrum. Consequently, even the synthetic organic chemists will require $50,000 worth of instrumentation for routine preparatory work. In an MS-granting institution, such money is difficult to come by. Volume 44, Number 8, August 1967 / 443
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We are at a stage where we can no longer provide up-to-date instruction, even on the undergraduate level, without supplementary expensive instrumentation. The department chairman finds himself in the unenviable position of knowing what is needed but unable to get the bulk resources from the home institution. Many times he may feel that he is being treated like a second-class citizen when it comes to applying for funds from national and/or research foundations hecause his institution lacks the PhD-program. The financial support that the master's degree-granting institutions and departments demand and require is the key to the future of the MS degree in the United States educational system. As long as this degree is awarded, it must have value and in most cases it must be strengthened. Ultimately, financial support is the quickest and most direct way to boost and reinforce the degree. More money will provide better faculty, better facilities, and higher quality. In general, the NSF and similar organizations have grouped the MS-granting institutions in the same category with the strictly undergraduate schools. If this were justified, then an impartial survey and study could be made and recommendation for the ahandonment of such degrees should be voiced. However, an
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impartial study may find that In some schools the upgrading of existing JIS to PhD programs is a better and more meaningful solution. Many institutions definitely should abandon their MS work, especially where it leads to a glorified undergraduate degree. Along this same line of reasoning, an independent study should make it obvious that it is reprehensible for a PhD-granting institution to award master's degrees as consolation prizes. However, the "emerging universities" (many a school has recently changed its designation from College to University) especially the state-supported ones with high undergraduate enrollment, must be treated differently. Their master's degree is a step in the development of a PhD program. If a PhD degree is necessary in their institutions then the present master's degree must receive all the support that usually is associated with PhDgranting institutions. This is not necessarily a local or state-wide problem. Federal and national foundations can provide a wider perspective in up-grading institutions. They also can provide the initiative. In the absence of their support, the MS degree will remain a timished degree and a tarnished degree is not worthy of having.
