master out

present singular third person masters out · participle present mastering out · participle past mastered out · past mastered out

1. educationTo quit a PhD program and earn a master's degree.

   Folks who do not pass all their standardized requirements or are otherwise lacking are mastered-out in their first year.

   2003 March 17, Uncle Al, sci.chem (Usenet)

   5 more examples

   By the second half of my second year, I was not fully committed to finish my PhD and decided to master out. Despite this unpredictable decision, she still showed me her support and guided me to complete my Master’s degree.

   2018, Javier Sánchez Pozo, TIMP-2 Phosphorylation by Extracellular c-SRC Regulates proMMP-2 Activation, State University of New York Upstate Medical University

   I knew in my mind the worst-case scenario I'd master out with a free master's and that's not a bad thing, in my mind. The best-case scenario, I get a PhD.

   2022, Shannon O’Brien, Catherine G. P. Berdanier, quoting Angie, “How ‘Returner’ and ‘Direct-Pathway’ Graduate Students’ Experiences May Lead to Attrition from Doctoral Programs”, in 2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), IEEE, →DOI, →ISBN

   It is still somewhat shameful to talk about leaving a program, and I know that even though most people have been nothing but kind to me, there will always be individuals in academia who view mastering out as being a quitter who couldn't hack it.

   2023, Elisa Rapadas, “So You're Thinking of Leaving Grad School: Setting Yourself Up for Success”, in Non-Academic Careers for Quantitative Social Scientists: A Practical Guide to Maximizing Your Skills and Opportunities, Cham: Springer, →ISBN, page 145

   Disagreements about priorities escalated when Cassandra became engaged and pregnant. At that point, Cassandra’s advisor questioned her ability to finish her program and “pushed her to master out” despite her intention to finish the program.

   2024, Stephanie M. Breen, Jesse McCain, Josipa Roksa, “Breaking points: exploring how negative doctoral advisor relationships develop over time”, in Higher Education, volume 88, number 6, →DOI, page 2329

   For instance, Robin, who mastered out of one program and pursued a PhD in another, recalled a MM from a committee member from her first program, sharing, “She basically said to me that if that was a qualifying exam that I would have failed and told me I wasn't PhD material.”

   2025, Alexis A. Murphy, Addressing the "Hidden Crisis" in Doctoral Education: Identifying the (De)Motivating Effects of Memorable Messages from a Self-Determination Theory Perspective", University of Kentucky, →DOI, page 72