Go....you should have stated in the first place you were speaking of philosophy rather than generalizing about all Masters programs.
I thought it was clear that was what I was talking about, since I started specifically by talking about American philosophy PhD programs, and then contrasted those with programs in Canada and the UK.
There is no way you can write a Masters thesis in a summer. First of all, you have to write a proposal and get it accepted by your committee and this proposal cannot be accepted until all courses are completed and marked. Secondly, you have to do your research. Then you have to write it up. It takes a minimum of a year and a half in the Masters program to do all that.
I wonder how it was that I and all my colleagues did our MAs in one year, then. :rolleyes: I should probably add that it simply isn't true that all your coursework must be finished before the proposal can get the green light. Perhaps that's true for your department or discipline, but it's not a universally true requirement. Hell, my proposal was greenlighted in February of my MA year, and I started work on the thesis in April, once my courses were over.
Again, I can't speak for other departments, but that's how most philosophy MAs work in Canada. If you want proof, then I challenge you to visit the websites for Canadian departments. Queen's, MUN, Concordia, Victoria (afaik), Dalhousie, Brock, SMU, Carleton, Ottawa, Regina, USask (although they allow 2 years if needed), Waterloo, Windsor (allow for two if necessary, depending on your stream), Wilfrid Laurier, York, and Western all have one-year programs. Depending on how much philosophy you did as an undergrad, the University of Manitoba might accept you in either a one-year program or a two-year program.
You can do it in one at Toronto and UBC, but they provide for about a year and a half. The University of Alberta, McMaster, and SFU both give you two years. McGill only does the PhD, not the MA. As for the French universities, UQAM's is three years, because you get to do a one-year internship as a lecturer. UDeM's website is down, so I can't say one way or the other. I don't think I've left off any MA-granting departments, but if I did, I'd be happy to add them to the list.
As for doctoral programs, the student chooses courses relevant to their interests and research study and then consults with at least their advisor on this.
Which is what I said, although I would modify that by adding that you don't just choose courses relevant to your area of specialization (typically one or two topics), but also to the areas of competence that you're planning to declare (typically two topics, a maximum of three). I don't understand what you took issue with as a "gross generalization" on my part here. I said that a year or two of coursework is the standard for Canadian and American PhD programs in philosophy, and then you accused me of generalizing and said that only two seminar courses are required, and that the rest are chosen in consultation with advisers and committees (if they exist at that point). I fail to see how this would indicate anything different from what I said. When you went on to assert that students don't take many courses, though... that's just not true. Unless by "many" you mean a typical undergrad courseload of 5-6 per semester; three a semester is the standard. So, as I said, I can't quite made head or tails of your comment.
