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I have an idea, although it's probably a bad one. I want to study many different topics because I'm a nerd, so I'll do several different masters degrees. A few on my list are Math, Physics, CS, Economics. There are several challenges: I am not able to pay out of pocket, so I'll need to find programs that are fully funded with RA/TA positions, and I have no undergraduate background in any of those fields (except CS).

My question is: how feasible is this plan, do you know of anyone else who has done this, and how will this look to future employers/academics?

(I also want to do a Ph.D. but want to first study some other things)

123movies
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  • Related, not a duplicate https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17232/is-doing-two-phds-a-good-path – Anonymous Physicist Nov 10 '20 at 04:31
  • It's not a good way go earn money. You could earn more getting a PhD (but still not much). – Anonymous Physicist Nov 10 '20 at 04:32
  • Why not self-study? – Anonymous Physicist Nov 10 '20 at 04:33
  • You could study econophysics, which uses all those disciplines. – Anonymous Physicist Nov 10 '20 at 04:33
  • @AnonymousPhysicist self-studying is hard, Ph.D. won't give me the freedom to study topics like analysis, quantum mechanics, since I plan to do it in CS. I don't need a lot of money. Just stuff to live off of – 123movies Nov 10 '20 at 04:38
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    Generally committees that deal with admissions and distributing funding like to see evidence that you are on an upwards trajectory in terms of career growth, and that you've thought about how their course fits into that. You can probably spin a convincing case for doing a second Masters (realigned goals, interdisciplinary, etc), but after that it gets increasingly tenuous. If I have to choose between supporting you to do your fourth masters, or someone else to do their first, I'm afraid I'm going to pick them. – avid Nov 10 '20 at 05:54
  • I think the key here is that you want to consume a departments' limited funding resources - if you were in a position to pay your own way, I think people would shrug and let you get on with it. – avid Nov 10 '20 at 05:56
  • @avid reasonable – 123movies Nov 10 '20 at 06:00

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