In the 2021 National Master's Degree Admissions Examination, 3.77 million people across the country applied. With the increase in the number of graduate students year by year, graduate school has become one of the ways for most people to continue their studies. For candidates who plan to take the graduate school, they will face a choice when applying for the examination: whether to take the master's degree or the master's degree? In this regard, the reporter interviewed the candidates who had already studied in graduate school to understand their choices when facing this "multiple choice question".
Master's or Master's? Candidates have their own considerations
For Dong Wenshuai, a major in ordnance engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology in 2018, choosing to take the master's degree is more out of consideration for his own learning ability.
"I took the 2018 National Master's Admissions Exam. In the second semester of my junior year, I plan to continue my postgraduate studies. My undergraduate major was Special Energy Technology and Engineering, and I was planning to apply to Beijing Institute of Technology. I learned about the difference between applying for a professional master's degree and a master's degree, and found that the test requirements and difficulties of the two courses in mathematics and English were different, and the mathematics master's degree examination mathematics two and the English test English two were more grasped for me. Dong Wenshuai said.
The different examination requirements for master's degrees and masters also allowed Dou Shuqi, a master's student majoring in journalism and communication at Chinese Min University, who wanted to "become a master's degree in one battle", make a decision to apply for a master's degree when preparing for the examination.
"I didn't start preparing for the exam until June. At that time, I thought that I was a graduate student, hoping to succeed at once. My application for a professional master's degree is slightly less difficult than that of a master's degree, and the probability of success is relatively high, so I choose to apply for a master's degree. Dou Shuqi said.
For research candidates, the different examination requirements of master's and master's degrees often allow them to make their own choices according to their own learning ability, professional foundation, preparation progress, etc. when facing master's and master's degrees. Of course, whether you choose a master's degree or a master's degree, candidates must prepare for the exam carefully. Although the difficulty of the master's examination in most majors is slightly lower than that of the master's degree, which reduces the revision burden of the candidates to a certain extent, this does not mean that the candidates can "lie flat" when reviewing. Only by preparing for the exam carefully can we increase the "chips" for our own success.
I enjoyed the process of doing scientific research
Although both master's degrees and masters are at the level of master's degree education, they are completely different in terms of training goals and training methods. In the past, candidates have often made their choices from the planned path during their master's studies.
Jiao Fang, who studied communication at the School of Journalism of Chinese University, chose to continue his doctoral studies after graduating with a master's degree. Talking about the initial choice of master's degree, she admitted that her love and yearning for scientific research work was the main reason for her choice of master's degree.
"I enjoy doing scientific research. As an Academic Master, our programs are more academically oriented during our studies. The teacher will ask us to read the literature related to the profession. In my spare time, my supervisor will also take me to do research projects together. These not only further improved my academic theoretical foundation and literacy, but also laid a solid foundation for me to continue my phD in the future. Jiao Fang said.
Different from the master's degree that cultivates academic research talents, the master's degree focuses on cultivating high-level application-oriented professionals with solid basic theories and broad professional knowledge in a certain professional (or occupational) field, with strong ability to solve practical problems, able to undertake professional technology or management work, and good professional quality. If the master's degree mainly plays the "academic" card, then the master's main game is the "practical" card.
Quan Lu (pseudonym), who studied for a master's degree in stomatology at Peking University Medical College, said about the training and learning process as a medical student during graduate school that as a master's degree student, the school will emphasize students' practical ability in training.
"During my master's degree, the school emphasized more practical skills for the cultivation of professional masters, and the requirements for scientific research were not so strong compared to the master's degree. However, the master's degree can also be admitted to the practicing physician during the period of study. We are the same as the theoretical courses of the master's degree, the content of the professional course must be learned, and the master's degree usually has to go to the clinic more, and when necessary, it will go to the laboratory to do experiments. The requirements for experiments for masters are much higher, and they often do relevant experiments in the laboratory under the leadership of teachers, and the clinical requirements are different from those of master's degrees. Quan Lu said.
In fact, candidates struggle to choose a master's degree or a master's degree, which can start from the training method and goal of the master's degree and master's degree. On the one hand, according to the analysis of their professional learning situation, internship experience, future planning and other aspects during their undergraduate period, they see whether they are suitable for a master's degree focusing on academic research and innovation, or a master's degree that emphasizes comprehensive literacy and applied knowledge and ability. On the other hand, before applying for the examination, you can also collect more similarities and differences between the training methods and goals of the master's and master's degrees of the target institutions, and choose the most suitable type of master's degree candidate.
The results are important and the process is even more exciting
The training orientation of master's degrees and masters is different, and the master's degree emphasizes the "top of the sky" and is committed to the research of the frontier of academic theoretical knowledge, while the master's degree emphasizes the "standing place" and is committed to cultivating high-level application-oriented talents. In the past, due to the candidates' in-depth understanding of the policy of training masters and masters, there were some "prejudices" about the masters that emphasized practical ability, and there were "misunderstandings" that the recognition of academic qualifications after graduation was not high.
But in fact, since the implementation of the professional degree education system in China in 1991, after more than ten years of construction, professional degree education has developed rapidly and achieved remarkable results. In September last year, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education announced the "Professional Degree Postgraduate Education Development Plan (2020-2025)", showing that as of 2019, a total of 3.218 million master's degrees and 48,000 doctoral degrees were awarded. According to the industry demand, 47 professional degree categories have been set up, with a total of 5996 master's degree authorization points and 278 doctoral professional degree authorization points, which basically cover the main industries in China.
According to the person in charge of the Office of the Degree Commission of the State Council (Department of Degree Management and Graduate Education of the Ministry of Education), China's professional degree graduate education has made remarkable achievements, the professional degree category is constantly enriched, the scale of training continues to expand, the enrollment scale in 2020 has exceeded half of the total number of graduate students enrolled, the training model continues to improve, and the quality of training has been recognized by the society.
The results are important, but the training process during the master's degree is equally exciting. Whether it is a master's degree or a master's degree, after graduation, you can go to a broader platform to chase your dreams according to your own interests.
For students with professional masters, although master's training focuses on professional practice, many students still find their love for academics during graduate school, so they choose to continue their doctoral studies.
"During my graduate studies, although I studied for a master's degree, I found that I liked to do research very much and fully felt the charm of scientific research, so I did not hesitate to choose to continue my phD. Compared with the master's degree, the master's degree can not be master's and doctoral, and can only choose to take the doctorate. Under the application-assessment system, after experiencing English, scientific research ability, comprehensive interview and other inspections, I continued to start my doctoral life in the academic fertile soil of Beijing Polytechnic as I wished this year. Dong Wenshuai, who studied a master's degree in ordnance engineering at Beijing Polytechnic Institute and became a doctoral freshman in the class of 2021 this year, said.
The practical cultivation of the master's degree also makes students more practical and applicable. Wang Yu (pseudonym), who teaches (physics) for her master's degree, said that the training method of the master's degree allows her to master the basic knowledge of pedagogy in her studies and gain the opportunity to exercise her professional skills.
"In our daily study, we will learn a lot of basic knowledge of education, and a lot of knowledge is also a necessary knowledge and skill for the teacher qualification examination. In our spare time, the school will also arrange internship opportunities for us to exercise our business skills. This is a great opportunity for future students who aspire to pursue a career as a teacher. Wang Yu said.
Choosing to study for a master's degree does not mean that you will continue to study on the academic road after graduation. In fact, academic master's degree students can choose to continue their studies after graduation, or they can choose direct employment.
"I studied journalism during my master's degree, and I studied a master's degree. Probably because it is a highly applied discipline, after graduation, I prefer to apply what I have learned and move towards practice. In terms of personal ability, my own talent and interest in academia is not so strong, and my experience and interest in practical aspects is stronger. The individual's career plan is to engage in the media industry, so direct employment after graduate school can have more time to accumulate professional experience. Pan Di (pseudonym), who studied journalism with a master's degree, said.
Will there be a lack of practical ability in the direct employment of the master's degree?
In this regard, Pan Di said, "Although the graduate level is more in-depth than the undergraduate level and focuses on the cultivation of research ability, I feel that I still retain a lot of practical classroom practice, such as news review research, news editing research, etc., and classroom research and practice are also intertwined." In addition, our college also has a hard requirement for internships, which is very helpful for enriching resumes when employing. Pandy said.
With the announcement of the Ministry of Education's "2022 National Master's Degree Enrollment Management Regulations", the work arrangements for the 2022 National Master's Degree Admissions Examination will also be carried out. For research candidates, whether they choose to apply for a master's degree or a master's degree, they need to make decisions based on their own development under the premise of fully collecting and understanding information, and avoid blindly following the trend.