status awarded for completion of a college or university program of study From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An academic degree is a certification students get when they graduate from a university. It shows they successfully completed their classes, and passed a final examination.
It is an official credential. The length of courses, and the number of courses vary depending on which university is attended. In the United States, high schools give out diplomas to graduating students. These are not degrees.
There are hundreds of different academic degrees, but they are often grouped into a few categories:
All other degrees are known as "higher degrees".
Some countries reward a licentiate degree which gives the degree holder the permission (licence) to teach and practice in the area concerned. Its level varies according to the country, mostly at bachelor's level or above.
In medicine, membership of specialist societies are also degrees, and Fellowships are higher degrees. Examples: MRCP = Member of the Royal College of Physicians. These degrees require postgraduate training and practical experience.
The university courses needed for a master's degree, or for a doctorate, are often highly advanced, difficult subjects, and they would be extremely difficult to understand unless a person had already attended the undergraduate courses. The reason the upper-level courses are so difficult, so hard to understand, is that they assume the person already knows, perhaps, 1,000 technical terms learned in earlier college courses. This is similar to having to know the Latin names of all 206 bones in the human body, as just part of those technical terms.
In many countries these degrees are shown by letters which the person is allowed to put after their name, e.g. John Smith, BA. A bachelor's degree is usually the degree received at the end of a first degree. While the student is studying for a degree he or she is an "undergraduate". When he graduates he is a "graduate". He may continue with his studies and receive a master's degree or do some original work and write a thesis to get a doctor's degree (which does not mean a Doctor of Medicine).
In the United States and Canada, college degrees are either Undergraduate or Graduate level.
An "undergraduate" degree is for all students who do not have a bachelor's degree. It requires four years of study including General Education, Electives, and Major courses that prepare students to work in their specialized program. The undergraduate degrees are as follows:
A "graduate" degree requires the person to already have a bachelor's degree. It includes:
A "professional degree" is also a graduate degree and requires the person already have a bachelor's degree. It is required by law to be licensed to work in a particular profession. It includes:
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.