So I'm a final year CS (specialising in data science) student at Monash Malaysia. I am definitely interested in postgraduate research and getting a PhD. From my understanding, one would need a Masters (by research) to apply for a PhD, or fast-track with a Bachelor's degree with Honours).

My degree does not have Honours as it is Aussie style, where Honours is an additional research year which you can opt in. This differs from many other local unis where Honours are embedded/integrated into the degree.

This where I start getting questions:
1) Do all supervisors/unis accept Bachelors with Honours for PhD while skipping Masters?
2) If my end goal is PhD, would an Honours degree save time and money over a Masters? I am currently under JPA sponsorship, so I am gonna try my luck asking them to cover my Honours year as well.
3) If I end up just pursuing a Masters by coursework, will that be sufficient to seek a PhD?
4) Do the answers to the above questions vary country by country (eg. Australia, UK, etc.)

And just out of curiosity, do unis/employers see Aussie-style Honours differently from Malaysian-style integrated Honours degrees? Does the latter have a major research component with dissertation/thesis? I didn't do too much research into these things before choosing Monash.

if you intend to continue your PhD at Monash or any Australian universities, then go on and do the Honours year. I have seen a lot of Honours student progressing to PhD straightaway (provided your supervisor allows you to convert you from a Master's student to a PhD student). Pls inform your supervisor of your plan.

For 1, yes it depends on your SV and the Uni

For 2, try to get sponsorship for your Honours first.

For 3, for Australian PhDs, they always prefer you to have an Honours degree or at least a Master's by research degree. Definitely not Master's by Coursework. If you have taken the Master's by coursework, they might ask you to sign up for a postgraduate diploma in research programme as a prerequisite.

For 4, actually it varies from unis to unis, just that Australian PhD programmes tend to be more stricter in accepting students without any research background.

For your last question, the Honours component in an Australian undergrad programme is an additional one-year programme, which is different from UK/Malaysian honours degree programme. In UK/Malaysian honours degree programme, there is no separate Honours programme like the Australian programme. Furthermore, the research project in the Australian Honours programme is more demanding compared to the UK/Malaysian final year honours project.

Well just go for PhD.

1. Depends how desperate they want the students and ability of grant.
2. Yes. Since most places will most likely don't value "Hons" in Malaysia. Well worst case worst I think government have PTPTN.
3. Should be ok...? As long it is CS relted.
4. Yes. Need to figure out yourself.

My suggestion is not to rush for PhD. Get a master by research, explore it before deciding should you pursue a PhD. And, having a master opens up opportunities for better PhD project. In return, you may have to sacrifice 2 years.

I went the long way, but I have benefited from the experiences I gathered from my master to develop my PhD further.

Fast-track to PhD with a Bachelor's degree with Honours is usually offered to students with a CGPA of 3.75 (out of 4.00) and above.

Some fundamental questions from my side: Why are you so keen with PHD ? Do you like research ? Will you feel frustrated if you spent 3 -4 years working on a hypothesis which later turned out to be all wrong ?

I am not underestimating your academic capabilities here. I am sure you have fantastic grades as you are a JPA scholar...I just want to make sure that you are really passionate about postgrad research before hopping into it...

If time is not a constraint here, don't rush from Bachelors to PhD. Do things step by step and enjoy the process along the way...

Thats just my 5 cents worth of advice...

Good luck to you...

Pretty much a question, which a PhD holder would ask an aspiring PhD candidate.

I would say most would wanna rush, just for the degree, which imo pretty waste of time. It doesn't bring any value actually.

Grades,well, is a factor, but does not dictate how well you will perform as a PhD student. I have seen too many drop outs

The most important point here is : Do you really like research ? Do you like reading research papers on weekend or do you enjoy cracking problems even on weekends for years and years ? If yes, then you might be the right candidate for PHD. I personally have seen working adults who spent like more than 5 years completing their PHD thesis while working....They are really smart ppl who worked independently most of the time by themselves...

If you just want the title, then try doing it by coursework....That is a straightforward path...

This post has been edited by LDP: Nov 14 2023, 12:10 PM