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I'm about to finish my Master of Science and I was just wondering around this forum and the question "Is it appropriate to buy a “thank you” gift for a PhD supervisor?" inspired me for this question.

Is a gift appropriate for a MSc thesis supervisor? If so, what gift is more appropriate?

Note: PhD != MSc, avoid marking as duplicate please

ff524
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AlessioX
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  • @jakebeal and the other closers: How is this a duplicate? At least in some places, a PhD degree and the path leading up to it is something fundamentally different from a Bachelor/Master degree, and the relationship between PhD candidate and their supervisor is just as fundamentally different from the relationship between a Bachelor/Master student and their supervisor. – O. R. Mapper Feb 06 '16 at 20:28
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    As a matter of facts this is indeed not a duplicate. I am well aware of the post regarding the PhD supervisor and I also referenced to it in this post. For them, it's like MSc and PhD are indeed the same thing and the relationship between student and professor/supervisor is the very same. Unbelievable. It's like "he's a newbie, few rep points and all that, he can't read previous posts, he doesn't know how to use StackExchange" whilst this is not true. – AlessioX Feb 06 '16 at 20:43
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    @O.R.Mapper My original comment appears to have been automatically deleted by the closing process, since I incorporated it into the "Possible duplicate" comment. What I believe is this: the answers for an MSc are the same as for a Ph.D., excepting only that the terminus of the MSc is not a defense and that the scale of a gift (if any) should be proportionally smaller. Recognizing that this might be reasonable to actually state as an answer, I have now changed my mind and voted to reopen. – jakebeal Feb 06 '16 at 23:10
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    @jakebeal: If the MSc ends with a thesis (as mentioned by the OP), there sometimes is indeed a defense for that thesis. Other than this, I do think there can be a world of a difference between (1) a, say, 6 month MSc thesis that provides an opportunity to show advanced practical skills in action, with a flavour of research, based upon a task provided by a supervisor who may be a doctoral candidate barely older than the MSc student, and (2) a path to a PhD spanning, say, 5 years, based upon largely self-chosen concrete tasks and advice from a supervising professor who can easily be a ... – O. R. Mapper Feb 06 '16 at 23:42
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    ... decade or more ahead of the candidate, career-wise, and whose advice will mostly be restricted to the research-related side of things, which is in the focus of the candidate, while they are expected to be already well-versed at solving any technical problems of their subject. Now, this is quite culture and location dependent, and probably also somewhat exaggerated compared to the average case, as well as related to individual factors between candidates and supervisors, but IMHO enough to warrant a separate question. – O. R. Mapper Feb 06 '16 at 23:42
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    @O.R.Mapper I voted to close this question because I think that the answers provided in the suggested duplicate and in the other questions about gifts (there are quite a few) cover also the case of an MSc supervisor. – Massimo Ortolano Feb 07 '16 at 00:21
  • @MassimoOrtolano: Given that I think for Bachelor/Master thesis supervisors (as opposed to PhD supervisors), the answer pretty much amounts to "No", or at least "Maybe, but it's also totally appropriate not to do so", I somehow do not see how that case is covered there. – O. R. Mapper Feb 07 '16 at 00:26
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    @O.R.Mapper I think that your case is covered by the answers to this question. But don't get me wrong: I mildly think that the existing questions and answers cover all the possibilities about gifts to supervisors, whatever the level, and so I voted to close (unfortunately only one duplicate can be suggested), but I'm not strongly against reopening it. – Massimo Ortolano Feb 07 '16 at 00:45
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    @Alessiox I removed Note #2 because it's unnecessarily polemic. In addition, several of those who have voted to close have already reverted their vote, so there's no need to put the note back. – Massimo Ortolano Feb 08 '16 at 19:33
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    Please do not insert meta-commentary into the text of the post. Edit wars will likely lead to having to lock the post, which would have the unfortunate side effect of preventing the question from getting reopen votes, so please don't do that. – ff524 Feb 08 '16 at 19:58

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