This has been bugging me a lot and I originally asked this on /r/gradadmissions but did not recieve a response.

I am looking for clarification about Master's and PhD culture in the USA and the UK, which seems to differ by university.

Here in Canada, it is really straightforward. Master's degrees are split into professional master's degrees and academic master's degrees. There is an expected, clear-cut path from bachelor's degree -> academic master's degree -> PhD.

I found that in many or most US grad programs, they say that if your intention is to do research or enter academia, you should apply directly to their PhD program. However, they also say that admission to their PhD program is much more competitive and that people with a bachelor's degree are allowed to apply, which implies that most or many of the PhD applicants already have a master's degree. Presumably, having a master's degree would make them a more competitive applicant than me.

This is really confusing. On the one hand, their master's program seems to be equivalent to a "professional master's program", as in this is a terminal degree to prepare for industry, and do not apply to this if you intend to do research. But on the other hand, they make it seem like you have to be really exceptional or advanced to apply with just a bachelor's degree to the PhD program.

Also, this attidue seems to differ wildly by grad program in the USA; for example, the prestigous Stanford computer science program offers a master’s degree with distinction in research that can prepare you for a PhD program after. I found other programs that only offer a PhD program and only those who decide to drop out of their PhD program can apply to get a master's degree for their work completed.

As well, it seems like some programs give financial assistance to both master's and PhD students, while other programs only give financial assistance to PhD students.

If a program says to apply directly to the PhD program if I intend to do research, should I actually follow their directions and do that, or is that option reserved for exceptionally strong profiles and I should apply to the master's program first to gain more experience?

I found the same thing in the UK, where some programs only have a master's program or some prgrams have a MRes degree for Master's of Research.

It is annoying that this differs so much. Thanks in advance for the clarification! :)