I’m just being silly. I have an MSc and my wife has a MA, so I promise there’s no ill will - they absolutely are as good as each other. (Honestly, if anything I think she wins out, as she had to write her dissertation by hand - mine was all on computer).
In the same vein, an MD is just as much a doctoral degree as a PhD - it’s just in a different area.
In some places PhDs were treated to be higher diploma than an MD though, at least in Hungary there was - many years ago - some odd system where you could only capitalize “Dr.” before your name if you had a PhD, if you were “just” an MD or a legal doctor, you could only have it like “dr.”.
Doctoral degrees are geared towards applied studies such as practising medicine or law.
PhDs are more research-oriented and theoretical.
To further muddy the waters, all PhDs are doctoral degrees, but not all doctoral degrees are PhDs
It’s like drawing a distinction between a Masters Degree and an MSc.
Everyone knows that the MSc is better than the other Masters Degrees, so it’s natural it should be a tier above in the hierarchy.
Is an MSc better though? Isn’t it just a different area than an MA?
I’m just being silly. I have an MSc and my wife has a MA, so I promise there’s no ill will - they absolutely are as good as each other. (Honestly, if anything I think she wins out, as she had to write her dissertation by hand - mine was all on computer).
In the same vein, an MD is just as much a doctoral degree as a PhD - it’s just in a different area.
In some places PhDs were treated to be higher diploma than an MD though, at least in Hungary there was - many years ago - some odd system where you could only capitalize “Dr.” before your name if you had a PhD, if you were “just” an MD or a legal doctor, you could only have it like “dr.”.
I came in sure there was no difference but wow.