I am in the midst of hiring for an open position in my group and one of the primary qualifications for the job is a master of science degree in physics. We specifically do not want someone with a PhD. Why? Well, we have several PhDs who are responsible for getting physics results from large plasma diagnostic systems and they need help handling the technical part of the work. In a university, or even a national lab setting, I would just get them some graduate students to help out. That approach is a lot less practical in private industry. In a sense, we need someone to fulfill the professional version of a graduate student’s role. We are calling the job “Diagnostic Specialist” and a master’s in physics is a great level of preparation.
The master’s degree in physics can be an excellent place to end your formal physics education, but it is important to understand the sorts of career paths it will guide you on. An MS degree is probably not sufficient if you are interested in the most traditional physics jobs (professor, scientist, etc.). The numbers of physics PhDs produced each year means that the competition among PhDs for these traditional positions is fierce. Add in the fact that some hold a prejudiced view of the physics master’s as a “consolation prize” for people who drop out of graduate school, and it is next to impossible for the MS holder to compete for many of the traditional jobs that emphasize physics research and paper writing. If your career ambitions are even slightly non-traditional, however, the MS may be a better bet. What do I mean by non-traditional? In general, I mean any career that utilizes physics knowledge but focuses on creating something other than research papers: experiment operator, instrument builder, high-tech entrepreneur, research program manager, science policy analyst, financial analyst, intellectual property lawyer, etc. If any of these is your ambition, then stopping at a MS in physics rather than a PhD and investing the years you save in developing your career will likely bring you out ahead. That is because these careers will require different specialized skills that you are not likely to develop through the process of completing a doctoral dissertation.
The academy is beginning to recognize that an MS in physics can and should be a valuable terminal degree. Case Western Reserve University, for example, offers a professional MS in physics with and emphasis on entrepreneurship. The University of Rochester offers a similar MS under their TEAM program. These programs aim to prepare a student to launch a technical business career after one or two years of study. Such MS degrees are a good option for many students considering that the average PhD takes over 6 years to complete, has no business training component, and hardly guarantees a successful traditional physics career. As always, deciding what path is right for you depends on first understanding what you truly want and then examining all the different routes to get there.