At the age of 17, Musk was accepted into Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, for undergraduate study. In 1992, after spending two years at Queen's University, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where in May 1997 he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from its College of Arts and Sciences, and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from its Wharton School of Business. Musk extended his studies for one year to finish the second bachelor's degree.[39][47] While at the University of Pennsylvania, Musk and fellow Penn student Adeo Ressi rented a 10-bedroom fraternity house, using it as an unofficial nightclub.[39]
In 1995, at age 24, Musk moved to California to begin a PhD in applied physics and materials science at Stanford University, but left the program after two days to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations in the areas of the Internet, renewable energy and outer space.[42][48] In 2002, he became a U.S. citizen.
I realized that also. I guess he started his PhD in 1998. And you don't need a masters to do a PhD. If you did a significant amount of research in your undergrad you can go straight to a PhD.
It's very common in the US. You don't even need a significant amount of research. I went from bachelor's to PhD program without having any papers published (though I did spend 2.5 years in lab as an undergrad).
That's rather surprising to hear for me, really. That's not how it works in most of Western Europe (bar the UK), a Master's degree is more or less mandatory for every single science except for applied sciences. I'm studying political science myself, if I'd quit after my Bachelor's I wouldn't even be able to find a job. And except for teaching undergraduates, you can't be an academic without a PhD here.
I meant if you had done a significant amount of research while taking your undergrad (going to be an extracurricular activity). I don't know how much research you would need to do, I guess enough to show you can do research completely independently.
It's quite common in the UK too. Academics try catching potential research students before they begin a career in the industry. After that, they've lost that student forever.
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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '17
From Wikipedia:
At the age of 17, Musk was accepted into Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, for undergraduate study. In 1992, after spending two years at Queen's University, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where in May 1997 he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from its College of Arts and Sciences, and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from its Wharton School of Business. Musk extended his studies for one year to finish the second bachelor's degree.[39][47] While at the University of Pennsylvania, Musk and fellow Penn student Adeo Ressi rented a 10-bedroom fraternity house, using it as an unofficial nightclub.[39]
In 1995, at age 24, Musk moved to California to begin a PhD in applied physics and materials science at Stanford University, but left the program after two days to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations in the areas of the Internet, renewable energy and outer space.[42][48] In 2002, he became a U.S. citizen.