Colorado Technical University

What is the difference between a doctoral and a phd?

With so many graduate courses, M.A., PhD, Joint Degrees, Doctoral, I could not anymore understand the difference of these from each other? Which is required to get the other? In Harvard there are a lot of variations I lost track already. Also, can I take a PhD without an M.A.?

Public Comments

1. A PhD is the same as a doctoral program; a PhD is a doctorate. Some PhD programs require you have a masters to apply to the program, others will take you straight out of undergrad (bachelors) and require that you do the masters coursework on the way to the PhD (even if they don't award a masters as a result).
2. Phd is a doctorite of philosophy, so it is a doctoral program. you sound confused about the programs for grad school. this site should help. http://education.yahoo.com/college/essentials/articles/grad/masters-doctoral-degrees-explained.html
3. They are the same degree. Most European universities use the term "doctoral" and most american universities use the term"phd". In essence they both require original research and allow you to teach at university level.