undergraduate master phd

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What are the main differences between undergraduate, master's, and doctoral theses?

When I did my undergraduate thesis, my adviser was expected big on students expecting them working really hard, so it ended up as a reduced master's thesis (most of the reviewers said that it was an overkill for a B.E).

So because of this, I did my master's thesis pretty much in the same way I did my bachelor's thesis; the PhD dissertation was a different story.

What are the principal differences between these three pieces of research?

• research-process

• Leon: I've removed the second question, "- What are the mistakes students coming from a master or undergraduate may do when preparing this publication just as an extended part of their previous research?" This really should be asked as a separate question. –  aeismail Commented Jul 3, 2014 at 21:49

2 Answers 2

In a Bachelor or Master thesis, you have to show that you are able to apply the knowledge of your field to solve a typical problem in your field.

In a PhD thesis, you have to show that you are able to extend the knowledge of your field to solve new problems.

The distinction between a Bachelor and a Master thesis may be a bit subtle. Generally I think a Master thesis should show a significantly greater level of independent working. While for a Bachelor thesis your advisor could tell you which methods to use to solve a specific problem, for a Master thesis you could be expected to choose the methods on your own, and maybe adjust existing methods to better fit the problem at hand.

These are the principle differences I see, but of course its also depending on the specific student. A good Bachelor thesis can be better and include more independent work than a bad Master thesis.

I would see the differences as follows:

Undergraduate thesis demonstrates the capacity to apply basic research skills in an area of interest to you. At this level, the focus is on gaining broad competencies (akin to an overview of what research is all about).

Masters thesis demonstrates the capacity to apply advanced research skills (i.e. move beyond basic research skills) in an area of interest to you so that you are able to incorporate some critical insights in your study. At this level, the focus is on developing critical thinking in a subject area.

PhD thesis demonstrates the capacity to apply specialised research skills (i.e. expert knowledge of a particular concept or method) in an area of interest to you so that you can make significant and original contribution to knowledge. At this level, the focus is on identifying a 'gap' in knowledge and addressing it, hence you advance knowledge in a field of study.

These are are arbitrary descriptions as there are overlaps (i.e. all levels require critical thinking); however, the three levels are distinct and require difference level of competencies.

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Difference Between Undergraduate, Graduate and Postgraduate

Jennifer Finetti Aug 12, 2022

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As a high school student , you’ve probably started thinking about college. Maybe you even started to do research and narrow down your options. You may have come across the following terms: undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate degrees.

So, what is the difference between undergraduate and graduate and postgraduate?

Read on to learn more! 

What is an undergraduate degree?

After students finish high school, they get an undergraduate degree. An undergraduate degree refers to either a bachelor’s degree or an associate’s degree. When people talk about going to college or university , they are talking about getting an undergraduate degree.

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How many years is an undergraduate degree?

There are two levels of undergraduate degrees: associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees. An associate degree requires 2 years to complete, and typically is earned at a community college . A bachelor’s degree requires completion of four years of study.

Students interested in earning a bachelor’s degree can either complete their entire degree at a four-year college or university OR they can attend a community college for their first two years, and then transfer to a university for their final two years.

What is a graduate degree?

After a student gets their undergraduate degree, they have two options. They may either get a job or continue with their studies. If they choose to continue with their studies, they pursue a graduate degree.

A graduate degree is any degree that is above a bachelor’s degree. This includes a master’s degree or doctoral degree . Master’s degrees take around 2-3 years to complete. Doctoral degrees take around 5-6 years.

Graduate degrees are typically more narrowly-focused than an undergraduate degree. This enables students to dive more deeply into their specific career interest, gaining the knowledge and expertise needed in their chosen field. Oftentimes, a student must have a graduate degree to get a job. Somebody seeking a career as a clinical social worker, must have their Master’s of Social Work.

You don’t have to get a graduate degree right after you finish your undergraduate degree. Many students take a break after their undergraduate degree and decide to work or travel instead. It’s common to see mature students in their late 20s and 30s (and even older) who decide to go back to school to get a graduate degree later in life.

To get accepted into graduate school, you must have a bachelor’s degree. This means that you must graduate from a 4-year undergraduate college or university. A student can only pursue a graduate degree if they already have a bachelor’s degree.

What is a postgraduate degree?

Students get confused with the term “postgraduate degree.” There actually isn’t a real difference between the two. Postgraduate is used interchangeably with graduate. Like a graduate degree, postgraduate refers to the range of higher degrees past the undergraduate degree. This includes both master’s degrees and Phds .

Difference between undergraduate and graduate and postgraduate

Undergraduate degree programs and graduate degree programs are very different from one another. Undergraduate programs help students gain basic knowledge in a major , or even in a few majors. Students must take a variety of courses, and not only courses relating to their major. They usually spend the first few years fulfilling general course requirements.  

Graduate programs are very different. You go to graduate school to learn something very specific. So, all the courses you take relate to your field of study.

Another big difference between the two is switching majors. In undergraduate programs, students aren’t always sure what they want to major in . Even if they choose a specific major, they may end up changing it. Undergraduate programs allow students to switch majors. It is also fairly easy to transfer to another school for any given reason.

Because graduate programs are so specific, it’s not easy to switch your field of study. You would have to fulfill new requirements and go through the application process all over again.

Another big difference is class size. Undergraduate classes tend to be much larger than graduate classes. In graduate programs, class sizes are much smaller.

Because of the difference in class size, teacher-student interaction also differs. In undergraduate programs, there isn’t much room to interact with your professors. There are also fewer opportunities to participate in class.

Graduate programs are more intimate and thus, more dynamic. Students have more opportunities to participate in class discussions. They also have more opportunities to work with their professors.

To get accepted into an undergraduate program, students must take the SAT or ACT . Other requirements include a minimum GPA , letters of recommendation  and personal statements . Colleges and universities all have their own requirements.

Many graduate programs require students to take an entrance exam such as the GRE, or specialized entrance exams for law school or medical school. Not all graduate programs require an entrance exam, so be sure to check the requirements for the program you are applying for.

Graduate programs also typically require that certain undergraduate classes be completed prior to applying, so you’ll want to check to be sure that you have completed any required courses. Sometimes graduate programs will allow you to complete missing prerequisites while enrolled in your graduate degree program.  

Final thoughts

Whether you have already started your bachelor’s degree or you’re still in high school, it’s nice to get an idea of what your options are. This can help you plan the classes you want to take in college or university and make the most of your degree.

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Jennifer Finetti

As a parent who recently helped her own kids embark on their college journeys, Jennifer approaches the transition from high school to college from a unique perspective. She truly enjoys engaging with students – helping them to build the confidence, knowledge, and insight needed to pursue their educational and career goals, while also empowering them with the strategies and skills needed to access scholarships and financial aid that can help limit college costs. She understands the importance of ensuring access to the edtech tools and resources that can make this process easier and more equitable - this drive to support underserved populations is what drew her to ScholarshipOwl. Jennifer has coached students from around the world, as well as in-person with local students in her own community. Her areas of focus include career exploration, major selection, college search and selection, college application assistance, financial aid and scholarship consultation, essay review and feedback, and more. She works with students who are at the top of their class, as well as those who are struggling. She firmly believes that all students, regardless of their circumstances, can succeed if they stay focused and work hard in school. Jennifer earned her MA in Counseling Psychology from National University, and her BA in Psychology from University of California, Santa Cruz.

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What is the Difference Between an Undergraduate and a Graduate Degree?

There are different options for higher education in the American education system for international students. International students can pursue undergraduate degrees as well as graduate degrees. These degree options are often confused because the terminology in much of the world is different. We are here to make it easier!

What is an Undergraduate Degree?

An undergraduate degree is a 2-year associate's degree obtained at a college, community college, or vocational/technical school, or a bachelor's degree typically awarded through a four-year college program. An undergraduate degree in the U.S. is referred to as a graduate degree in most other countries.

In almost all instances, students pursuing an associate's degree are required to have a 2.0 grade point average (GPA) and a high school diploma or equivalent. They may also be asked to take a school's entrance exam and pass language and communication capability screening .

Students pursuing a bachelor's degree usually must take the Scholastic Aptitude/Assessment Test (SAT) or the American College Testing (ACT) test before admission. International students may also be required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The test scores from all of these exams can influence a student's choice of schools and chance of being admitted to them. 

What is a Graduate Degree?

The equivalent for graduate degrees in the U.S. is known as post-graduate degrees in most of the world. A graduate degree is earned once a student has built a strong foundation through an undergraduate degree. A graduate degree is any degree earned after earning a bachelor's degree, such as a master's, a Ph.D., or even certification level programs.

A master's degree usually requires two years to complete and can be completed in any study area after a bachelor's. A Ph.D. is the highest level of academic credentials that a student can hold in a particular area of specialization and can take longer to complete than any other degree. On average, students take around 4+ years to earn a Ph.D. as they work and earn a Ph.D. at the same time.

Students, in most cases, have to have a high GPA in academic achievement for graduate school admissions. Applicants will likely be required to have taken the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) standardized test and submit test scores with a graduate school application. Also needed are the applicant's undergraduate transcript and, typically, letter(s) of commendation. 

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• Master’s vs PhD | A Complete Guide to the Differences

Master's vs PhD | A Complete Guide to the Differences

Published on November 27, 2020 by Lauren Thomas . Revised on May 10, 2024.

The two most common types of graduate degrees are master’s and doctoral degrees:

• A master’s is a 1–2 year degree that can prepare you for a multitude of careers.
• A PhD, or doctoral degree, takes 3–7 years to complete (depending on the country) and prepares you for a career in academic research.

A master’s is also the necessary first step to a PhD. In the US, the master’s is built into PhD programs, while in most other countries, a separate master’s degree is required before applying for PhDs.

Master’s are far more common than PhDs. In the US, 24 million people have master’s or professional degrees, whereas only 4.5 million have doctorates.

Table of contents

Master’s vs phd at a glance, which is right for you, length of time required, career prospects, costs and salaries, application process, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about master's and phd degrees.

The table below shows the key differences between the two.

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A PhD is right for you if:

• Your goal is to become a professor at a university or some other type of professional researcher.
• You love research and are passionate about discovering the answer to a particular question.
• You are willing to spend years pursuing your research even if you have to put up with a lot of dead ends and roadblocks.

A master’s degree is the better choice if any of the following apply:

• You want to continue studies in your field, but you’re not committed to a career as a professional researcher.
• You want to develop professional skills for a specific career.
• You are willing to pay a higher upfront cost if it means finishing with your degree (and thus being able to work) much faster.
• You want the option to study part-time while working.

The length of time required to complete a PhD or master’s degree varies. Unsurprisingly, PhDs take much longer, usually between 3–7 years. Master’s degrees are usually only 1–2 years.

Length of a master’s

Master’s degrees are usually 2 years, although 1-year master’s degrees also exist, mainly in the UK.

Most of the degree consists of classes and coursework, although many master’s programs include an intensive, semester-long master’s thesis or capstone project in which students bring together all they’ve learned to produce an original piece of work.

Length of a PhD

In the US, a PhD usually takes between 5 and 7 years to complete. The first 2 years are spent on coursework. Students, even those who choose to leave without finishing the program, usually receive a master’s degree at this point.

The next 3–5 years are spent preparing a dissertation —a lengthy piece of writing based on independent research, which aims to make a significant original contribution to one’s field.

Master’s degrees tend to prepare you for a career outside of academia, while PhDs are designed to lead to a career in research.

Careers for master’s graduates

There are two types of master’s degrees: terminal and research-intensive. The career prospects are different for each.

Terminal master’s degrees are intended to prepare students for careers outside of academia. Some degrees, known as professional degrees, specifically prepare students for particular professions; these include the Master of Public Policy (MPP), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), and Master of Public Health (MPH) degrees.

Other master’s degrees, usually Master of Arts (MA) or Master of Sciences (MS or MSc) degrees, do not necessarily lead to a specific career, but are intended to be a final degree. Examples include an MS in Communications or MS in Data Analytics.

In research-intensive master’s programs, students take coursework intended to prepare them for writing an original piece of research known as the master’s thesis . Such programs are usually intended to prepare for further study in a doctoral program.

Careers for PhD graduates

As research degrees, PhDs are usually intended to lead to an academic career. A PhD can be thought of like an apprenticeship, where students learn from professional researchers (academics) how to produce their own research.

Most students aspire to become a university professor upon the completion of their degree. However, careers in academia are highly competitive, and the skills learned in a doctoral program often lend themselves well to other types of careers.

Some graduates who find they prefer teaching to producing research go on to be teachers at liberal arts colleges or even secondary schools. Others work in research-intensive careers in the government, private sector, or at think tanks.

Below are a few examples of specific fields and non-academic careers that are common destinations of graduates of those fields.

• Computer Science
• Lab Sciences

Many government jobs, including economists at a country’s central bank, are research-intensive and require a PhD. Think tanks also hire economists to carry out independent research.

In the private sector, economic consulting and technology firms frequently hire PhDs to solve real-world problems that require complex mathematical modeling.

Graduate students from the humanities are sometimes hired by museums, who can make use of their research and writing skills to curate exhibits and run public outreach.

Humanities PhDs are often well-suited to research and grant-writing roles at nonprofits. Since so much of research is funded by grants, PhD students often gain a lot of experience applying for them, which is a useful skill in the nonprofit sector.

There are a wide range of non-academic research jobs for lab scientists with doctorates in subjects like chemistry, biology, ecology and physics.

Many PhD graduates are hired by pharmaceutical companies that need to perform research to create and test their products. Government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), also hire lab scientists to work on research projects.

Job prospects after graduation vary widely based on the field. In fields like management, computer science, statistics, and economics, there’s little underemployment—even graduates from less well-known programs can easily find jobs that pay well and use the skills they’ve gained from the PhD.

However, in other fields, particularly in the humanities, many PhD graduates have difficulty in the job market. Unfortunately, there are far more PhD graduates than assistant professor roles, so many instead take on part-time and low-paid roles as adjunct instructors. Even non-academic careers can sometimes be difficult for PhDs to move into, as they may be seen as “overqualified”  or as lacking in relevant professional experience.

Because career options post-PhD vary so much, you should take the time to figure out what the career prospects are in your field. Doctoral programs often have detailed “placement” records online in which they list the career outcomes of their graduates immediately upon leaving the program. If you can’t find these records, contact the program and ask for them—placement information should play an important role in your choice of PhD program.

Although PhDs take far longer to complete, students often receive a living stipend in exchange for being a teaching or research assistant. Master’s degrees are shorter but less likely to be funded.

Both master’s degrees and PhDs lead to increased salaries upon graduation. While PhDs usually earn a bit more than those with a master’s degree, in some fields, the wages are identical, meaning that no financial benefit is gained from going on to a PhD.

Cost of a master’s

The upfront cost of a master’s degree is usually higher than a doctoral degree due to the lower amount of financial aid available. However, increased salaries also arrive faster than with a doctoral degree, because people graduate much earlier from a master’s program.

Some master’s students do receive stipends for their degrees, usually as compensation for being a teaching or research assistant. In addition, many people complete master’s degrees part time while working full-time, which allows them to fund their living costs as well as tuition.

The cost varies significantly by school and program. Public schools are usually cheaper than private ones. Some master’s degrees, such as MBAs, are notoriously expensive, but also result in much higher wages afterwards that make up for the high cost.

The master’s wage premium , or the extra amount that someone with a master’s degree makes than someone with just a high school diploma, is 23% on average. Many universities provide detailed statistics on the career and salary outcomes of their students. If they do not have this online, you should feel free to contact an administrator of the program and ask.

Cost of a PhD

PhDs, particularly outside the humanities, are usually (though not always) funded, meaning that tuition fees are fully waived and students receive a small living stipend. During the last 3–5 years of a PhD, after finishing their coursework (and sometimes before), students are usually expected to work as graduate instructors or research assistants in exchange for the stipend.

Sometimes students can apply for a fellowship (such as the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Program in the United States) that relieves them of any obligations to be a teaching or research assistant. Doctoral programs in the US tend to be better funded than in the rest of the world.

Sometimes, PhD degrees can be completed part-time, but this is rare. Students are usually expected to devote at least 40 hours a week to their research and work as teaching or research assistants.

The main cost of doctoral programs comes in the form of opportunity cost—all the years that students could be working a regular, full-time job, which usually pays much better than a graduate school stipend.

The average wage premium for PhDs is 26%, which is not much higher than the master’s degree premium.

In the US, the application process is similar for master’s and PhD programs. Both will generally ask for:

• At least one application essay, often called a personal statement or statement of purpose .
• Letters of recommendation .
• A resume or CV .
• Transcripts.
• Writing samples.

Applications for both types of programs also often require a standardized test. PhDs usually require the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), which tries to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative, critical thinking , and analytical writing skills. Many master’s programs require this test as well.

Applying for a master’s

Master’s degrees programs will often ask you to respond to specific essay prompts that may ask you to reflect upon not just your academic background, but also your personal character and future career ambitions.

Northwestern University’s Kellogg Business School requires Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) applicants write two essays, one about a recent time they demonstrated leadership and the second about their personal values.

Who you should ask for your letters of recommendation varies by program. If you are applying to a research-intensive master’s program, then you should choose former professors or research supervisors. For other programs, particularly business school, current work supervisors may be a better choice.

Some professional master’s programs require a specific test. For example, to apply to law school, you must take the Law School Admissions Test, or LSAT. For business school, you must take either the GRE or the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT).

Applying for a PhD

When applying for a PhD, your resume should focus more on your research background—you should especially emphasize any publications you’ve authored or presentations that you’ve given.

Similarly, your statement of purpose should discuss research that you’ve participated in, whether as an assistant or the lead author. You should detail what exactly you did in projects you’ve contributed to, whether that’s conducting a literature review, coding regressions, or writing an entire article.

Your letters of recommendations should be from former professors or supervisors who can speak to your abilities and potential as a researcher. A good rule of thumb is to avoid asking for recommendations from anyone who does not themselves have a PhD.

If you want to know more about college essays , academic writing , and AI tools , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.

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A master’s is a 1- or 2-year graduate degree that can prepare you for a variety of careers.

All master’s involve graduate-level coursework. Some are research-intensive and intend to prepare students for further study in a PhD; these usually require their students to write a master’s thesis . Others focus on professional training for a specific career.

A PhD, which is short for philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy in Latin), is the highest university degree that can be obtained. In a PhD, students spend 3–5 years writing a dissertation , which aims to make a significant, original contribution to current knowledge.

A PhD is intended to prepare students for a career as a researcher, whether that be in academia, the public sector, or the private sector.

This depends on the country. In the United States, you can generally go directly to a PhD  with only a bachelor’s degree, as a master’s program is included as part of the doctoral program.

Elsewhere, you generally need to graduate from a research-intensive master’s degree before continuing to the PhD.

This varies by country. In the United States, PhDs usually take between 5–7 years: 2 years of coursework followed by 3–5 years of independent research work to produce a dissertation.

In the rest of the world, students normally have a master’s degree before beginning the PhD, so they proceed directly to the research stage and complete a PhD in 3–5 years.

A master’s degree usually has a higher upfront cost, but it also allows you to start earning a higher salary more quickly. The exact cost depends on the country and the school: private universities usually cost more than public ones, and European degrees usually cost less than North American ones. There are limited possibilities for financial aid.

PhDs often waive tuition fees and offer a living stipend in exchange for a teaching or research assistantship. However, they take many years to complete, during which time you earn very little.

In the US, the graduate school application process is similar whether you’re applying for a master’s or a PhD . Both require letters of recommendation , a statement of purpose or personal statement , a resume or CV , and transcripts. Programs in the US and Canada usually also require a certain type of standardized test—often the GRE.

Outside the US, PhD programs usually also require applicants to write a research proposal , because students are expected to begin dissertation research in the first year of their PhD.

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From Associate to Doctorate: A Complete Guide to College Degree Levels

Are you ready to discover your college program?

Considering a college degree? First, you’ll need to understand the types of degrees and college degree levels.

Different degrees set you up for different career paths. For example, you can’t become a psychologist with just a bachelor’s degree — you’d need a master’s or doctorate in psychology. And you usually can’t become an engineer without at least a bachelor’s degree.

Typically, as your university degree level rises, your earning potential increases and the unemployment rate decreases. That’s one more reason it’s important to understand the different types of degrees.

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What Types of Degrees Are There in College?

There are many types of degrees you can earn in college. College degree levels can be broken down into two categories: undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees.

Here are the college degrees in order from lowest ranking to highest:

• Associate degree (undergraduate)
• Bachelor’s degree (undergraduate)
• Master’s degree (graduate)
• Doctoral degree (graduate)

While a doctorate is the highest education level, some fields may stop at a master’s. The phrase “terminal degree” refers to the highest degree in a field.

A professional degree is a type of graduate degree — often a doctorate — that prepares you for a professional career in fields like law and medicine.

Associate Degree

• Typical Program Length : 1-2 years
• Typical Number of Credits : 60

Most associate degree programs prepare you to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation. These programs can be found at community and technical colleges and typically last 1-2 years.

An associate degree can also serve as the foundation for a bachelor’s program. You may even be able to transfer some of the credits you earned for your associate degree toward a four-year degree.

Some associate degrees require you to complete an internship or practicum in addition to taking classes. This is particularly common among healthcare and tech degrees.

To apply for an associate degree program , you’ll need a high school diploma or equivalent, like a GED certificate. Some schools may require you to submit standardized test scores, such as the ACT or the SAT, as well.

Featured Associate Programs

What can you do with an associate degree.

An associate degree prepares you for vocational, allied health, and support roles. For example, you can become a medical assistant , paralegal, or vet tech with an associate degree.

The highest-paying careers with an associate degree pay over $80,000 per year. See the table below for popular jobs that require associate degrees and their salaries.

Source: BLS

Types of Associate Degrees

Colleges can offer three kinds of associate degrees:

• Associate of Arts (AA)
• Associate of Science (AS)
• Associate of Applied Science (AAS)

Arts, humanities, and creative fields typically offer an AA, whereas social sciences and natural sciences often award an AS. Many applied and vocational programs offer an AAS degree.

The type of degree matters if you’re planning to transfer into a bachelor’s program. Colleges normally offer fewer transfer credits for an AAS degree.

Popular Associate Degrees

• Business Administration
• Business Management
• Computer Science
• Criminal Justice
• Cybersecurity
• Early Childhood Education
• Graphic Design
• Healthcare Management
• Information Technology
• Medical Assisting
• Medical Billing and Coding
• Pre-Nursing
• Social Work

Bachelor’s Degree

• Typical Program Length: 4 years
• Typical Number of Credits: 120

A bachelor’s degree program prepares you for many career paths. You’ll generally spend four years earning a bachelor’s degree at a college or university. You’ll take general education classes and courses in your major . You can also choose a minor.

Some colleges offer accelerated bachelor’s programs , which take less time — often 2-3 years. Degree-completion programs can also speed up the timeline by awarding you credit for previous college coursework.

You can earn your bachelor’s degree online as well. An online degree from an accredited college meets the same standards as an in-person degree.

You’ll need a high school diploma for admission and may also need to submit SAT or ACT scores.

Featured Bachelor’s Programs

What can you do with a bachelor’s degree.

In diverse industries like business, tech, and education, a bachelor’s degree can prepare you for many entry-level careers. Some of the highest-paying jobs with a bachelor’s degree include roles in finance, management, and tech.

Graduates with a four-year degree can also benefit from high demand in many lucrative fields, like software development and engineering. See the table below for roles you can apply for with a bachelor’s degree and their salaries.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Types of Bachelor’s Degrees

You can earn a bachelor’s degree in many fields. Some of the most common types of bachelor’s degrees you’ll see include:

• Bachelor of Arts (BA)
• Bachelor of Science (BS)
• Bachelor of Applied Arts (BAA)
• Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS)
• Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.)
• Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
• Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

The two most popular degrees are a BA and a BS. These degrees cover all arts and sciences majors and some education and engineering degrees.

Popular Bachelor’s Degrees

• Civil Engineering
• Communication
• Computer Programming
• Health Informatics
• Health Sciences
• Human Resources
• Mathematics
• Organizational Psychology
• Political Science
• Public Policy
• Supply Chain and Logistics

Master’s Degree

• Typical Program Length: 1-3 years
• Typical Number of Credits: 30

A master’s degree can help you gain specialized skills and qualify for higher-paying roles. As a graduate student, you’ll work closely with experts in your field to explore advanced topics.

While a master’s degree typically takes two years, some universities offer accelerated one-year master’s programs. You can also enroll in a bachelor’s-to-master’s program to earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in less time.

Most master’s programs require students to complete a minimum of 30 credits. Admission and graduation requirements vary depending on the program. For example, many arts and sciences master’s programs require GRE scores , while business programs typically require GMAT scores .

Featured Master’s Programs

What can you do with a master’s degree.

With a master’s degree, you can qualify for management-level careers and specialized roles in industries like healthcare, research, and social services. The highest-paying master’s degrees include MBAs and nurse practitioner degrees.

Learn more about the earning potential and demand for popular master’s degree jobs below.

Types of Master’s Degrees

Here are some of the most common types of master’s degrees you can earn:

• Master of Arts (MA)
• Master of Science (MS)
• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
• Master of Education (M.Ed.)
• Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
• Master of Laws (LL.M.)
• Master of Public Administration (MPA)
• Master of Public Health (MPH)
• Master of Public Policy (MPP)
• Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)
• Master of Social Work (MSW)

An MA and an MS are among the most popular master’s degrees. Humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences fields typically award an MA or an MS. Other popular options include an MBA and an M.Ed.

Popular Master’s Degrees

• Creative Writing
• Data Science
• Engineering
• Healthcare Administration
• Library and Information Science
• Network Security
• Public Health
• Supply Chain Management

Doctoral Degrees

• Typical Program Length: 2-10 years
• Typical Number of Credits: Varies

In many fields, a doctorate is the terminal degree. There are a few types of doctoral degrees you can earn.

Professional doctorates train you for a professional career. For example, law school and med school are two common professional paths. A Ph.D., on the other hand — the most common type of doctorate — emphasizes theory and research.

In a doctoral program, you’ll take graduate-level seminars and courses, take comprehensive exams, conduct original research, and defend a dissertation in front of a faculty committee.

Most applied doctorates take 3-5 years to earn, while a Ph.D. typically requires 4-6 years of coursework. In certain fields, you can earn your doctorate online.

Some doctoral programs require a master’s degree for admission, whereas others admit applicants with just a bachelor’s degree. You may need to submit standardized test scores depending on the program.

Featured Doctoral Programs

What can you do with a doctorate.

If you want to become a physician , professor , or lawyer, you’ll need a doctorate. In many fields, a doctorate translates into higher salaries. Lawyers, pharmacists , and physicists all report median salaries of over $125,000 per year, according to the BLS.

The following table shows the earning potential and demand for popular doctoral degree jobs.

Types of Doctoral Degrees

A doctorate is the highest education level, but there are still several types of doctoral degrees. Here are some of the most common ones you can get:

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
• Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
• Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
• Doctor of Medicine (MD)
• Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
• Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.)
• Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.)
• Juris Doctor (JD)

A Ph.D. is the most popular doctorate. You can earn a Ph.D. in many arts and sciences fields. Other doctorates take their names from the career path associated with the degree.

Popular Doctoral Degrees

• Curriculum and Instruction
• Educational Administration
• Educational Leadership
• Human Services
• Legal Studies
• Organizational Leadership
• Public Administration

Frequently Asked Questions About College Degree Levels

What are the four types of college degrees.

The four types of college degrees are associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and doctoral degrees. Colleges classify associate and bachelor’s degrees as undergraduate degrees and master’s and doctoral degrees as graduate degrees .

Within those categories, you can earn many types of degrees. For instance, at the bachelor’s level, you could earn a BA, BS, or BFA degree, to name a few.

What is a four-year college degree called?

A four-year college degree is called a bachelor’s degree. Another term for this degree type is a baccalaureate degree.

Many careers require a bachelor’s degree for entry-level roles. For example, most careers in business call for you to hold a bachelor’s degree. Many roles in tech, education, the public sector, and engineering also require you to have a four-year degree.

Some career paths require a specific major. In many states, you’ll need a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) to become a registered nurse . In other fields, your specific major matters less than the quality of your skills.

What is the highest degree?

The highest degree is a doctorate, also called a doctoral degree. In terms of university degree levels, both master’s and bachelor’s degrees rank below doctorates.

You can earn a doctorate in a wide array of fields, including the social sciences, business, the humanities, education, engineering, and healthcare.

In some fields, however, a master’s degree represents the terminal, or highest, degree. For instance, a master of fine arts (MFA) is the terminal degree for creative writing.

What is the hardest college degree?

Most would agree that the hardest college degree is a doctorate. As the highest education level, a doctorate requires significant expertise in the field.

Many Ph.D. programs take six years or more and require you to write a book-length dissertation based on original research.

Because a doctorate represents the top of the university degree levels, it’s a relatively uncommon degree. Only around 2% of U.S. adults held a doctorate in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau .

What is the quickest degree?

The fastest degree you can get is either a one-year associate degree or a one-year master’s degree. While other types of degrees typically take a minimum of two years, you can earn a master’s degree in one year with an accelerated or fast-track program.

You can sometimes add a master’s degree to your bachelor’s through a 4+1 program, also known as a bachelor’s-to-master’s program . In this case, some of your coursework counts toward both your undergraduate and graduate degrees, meaning you’ll spend an additional year in college to leave with a master’s degree.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, what's the difference between undergraduate and graduate-level degrees.

Hi everyone! I've seen people mentioning undergraduate and graduate level degrees, and I'm not sure about what separates the two. Can someone please explain the differences and what each entails? Also, what are some common graduate degree programs?

Hi there! Undergraduate and graduate-level degrees differ in terms of their academic focus, structure, and the stage of education at which they are pursued.

Undergraduate degrees, also referred to as bachelor's degrees, are typically the first level of higher education one pursues after completing high school. These degrees usually require four years of study and involve taking courses in general education as well as in a specific major. Majors can be in a variety of fields like economics, biology, psychology, history, or engineering, among others. Undergraduate education aims to provide you with broad knowledge in your chosen field and to serve as the foundation for your career or for further studies.

Graduate-level degrees, on the other hand, are pursued after completing an undergraduate degree. They are advanced academic programs that offer specialized knowledge in a specific field. Graduate degrees are usually divided into two categories: master's degrees and doctoral degrees.

Master's degrees can take between one and three years to complete, depending on the program and your enrollment status (full-time or part-time). They involve coursework, research, and occasionally internships or practicum experiences. Some common master's degree programs include Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Science (MS), Master of Arts (MA), and Master of Fine Arts (MFA).

Doctoral degrees, such as Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or professional doctorates like Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Juris Doctor (JD), typically require several years of study beyond the master's level. Ph.D. programs usually involve a combination of coursework, research, teaching, and the completion of a dissertation, which is an extensive research project on a specialized topic within your field. MD and JD programs are professional degrees that specifically focus on medical and legal practice, respectively.

In summary, undergraduate degrees are the first level of higher education pursued after high school, whereas graduate-level degrees are advanced academic programs that offer specialized knowledge in a field. Graduate degrees can be further classified into master's programs, which are generally shorter and more focused on coursework, and doctoral programs, which require substantial research and the completion of a dissertation or involve professional practice.

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Guide on Getting Into Grad School

Helpful information and exercises for prospective graduate students

Graduate Degrees Awarded at Stanford 2022-23

• 2,103 MA/MS
• 799 PhD, DMA, JSD

If you’re considering grad school for your future, you are probably asking yourself many questions:

• Is grad school the best option for me now? 
• What are the benefits and challenges? 
• What’s the difference between undergrad and grad school? 
• Should I seek a master’s or doctoral program? 
• Which grad programs should I apply for? 
• What’s involved in an application to grad school? 
• What are admissions committees looking for? 
• Who can help me? What resources are available? 
• What are some alternatives to grad school?

These are all important questions to consider, and they should be considered carefully. This guide is organized around the main aspects of the decision-making process and application, which can help address many of your questions. 

Because these decisions and your application for graduate school are complex and time-consuming, this guide was prepared to provide critical information and advice. This guide  also contains questions to ask yourself and exercises to help you prepare your application for graduate programs. Be as honest as possible with yourself, and talk about your answers with close friends and family. You may need to adjust the wording of your answers for your application, but it’s important to begin with an honest self-assessment as you prepare your application.

Using this guide and working on these exercises can help you get started in the right direction. Additional resources and tools are incorporated within this guide. However, remember to also seek help from other people: faculty, advisors, grad students, postdocs, peers, and career counselors. This guide is meant to provide an overview and does not cover everything. Your specific situation can only be addressed by close friends and mentors who know you personally. 

As you address multiple decisions, this can be a stressful time period. But it may help to realize that you are not alone, and that many others have approached these decisions and have  successfully embarked on new adventures. So, remember to find friends to encourage you in this process. We wish you the best in these new adventures.

Undergraduate vs Graduate (PhD) Programs

The experiences of an undergraduate and graduate student can appear deceptively similar. They are both at a university doing coursework and research. However, there are significant differences. Not understanding the depth of these differences can hinder your chances of being admitted and succeeding in grad school.

Undergraduate Programs You are a student “at school X” • Focus on courses and grades  • More objective evaluations of performance from exams and homework • Feedback is relatively frequent • Most activities and performance evaluations are individualistic

You apply to a university or college • Your interests can be very broad • You apply to a discipline or major • Extracurricular activities are valued

Graduate (PhD) Programs You are a student of “Dr. Z” (research advisor) •  Focus on research •  More subjective evaluations and longer periods without concrete feedback •  Collaboration and independence are valued together, which will likely appear to be counter-intuitive— most activities and performance evaluations are individualistic •  Relationship-driven

You apply into a specific graduate program •  Your interests need to be much more specific •  You apply into a specific field within a discipline •  Some programs require you to apply to work directly with a specific professor •  Extracurricular activities are valued less, unless they demonstrate critical skills related to your field

Master’s vs Doctoral Programs

While a typical 4-year undergraduate program refers to pursuing a bachelor’s degree (often a BS or BA degree), a graduate program can refer to pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree.

Master’s Programs (MS or MA) •  Master’s programs usually provide much less financial support.  •  Master’s programs usually last about 2 years, but there are shorter and longer programs, with the range usually between 1 to 3 years. •  All master’s programs require coursework, and only some require research that leads to a thesis (a write-up of your research). •  Requirements for master’s programs are usually less than those for doctoral programs.

Doctoral Programs (PhD) •  Doctoral programs usually provide financial support. •  Doctoral programs have a wide range of typical lengths, from 4 to 8 years. The length of the program is very specific to the field. •  In some doctoral programs (e.g. some engineering programs), you earn a master’s degree before earning a PhD. But in many other programs, the master’s degree is not required before pursuing a PhD. •  All doctoral programs require research that leads to a dissertation (longer than a master’s thesis, a write-up of multiple years of research). •  For some doctoral programs, if you are not able to complete all of the requirements, you might be allowed to exit with a master’s degree.

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Undergraduate vs. Graduate: Educate Yourself On The Difference

• Undergraduate Meaning
• Undergraduate Student And Degree
• Graduate Meaning
• Graduate Degree And Student
• Graduate Origin
• Postgraduate Meaning

⚡ Quick summary

The main difference between undergraduate and graduate is that undergraduate is always used in the context of the first level of college or university education (the level where you can earn a bachelor’s degree ). In terms like graduate student and graduate degree , graduate refers to a level of advanced education beyond the undergraduate level, especially a master’s degree or doctorate . The noun graduate is more general, simply referring to a person who has completed a level of education (someone who has graduated ).

The difference between undergraduate and graduate is a difference of degrees (*throws graduation cap in the air to celebrate the pun*).

The level of education that each word involves varies depending on how the word is being used, and there are situations in which both words can be used in the same situation. For example, you can become a graduate student after graduating with an undergraduate degree.

The word graduate can mean very different things depending on whether it’s used as a noun (as in recent   high school graduates ), an adjective (as in graduate student and graduate degree ), or a verb (as in I plan to graduate next May ). The same goes for its shortened form, grad , which can be used as a noun (as in Congrats, grads! ) or an adjective (as in grad program ).

Undergraduate can also be used both as a noun (as in I’m an undergraduate at Stanford University ) or an adjective (as in I’m working toward my undergraduate degree ). It can be shortened to undergrad in both cases.

By the end of this article, you’ll have an advanced degree in all the different ways graduate, grad , undergraduate , and undergrad are used, and what they mean in each case.

What does undergraduate mean?

An undergraduate is “a student in a university or college who has not received a first, especially a bachelor’s, degree.” For example, a college student might say I’m an undergraduate at the University of Texas if they were pursuing a bachelor’s degree there.

Undergraduate is also commonly used as an adjective in this same context, in terms like undergraduate student , undergraduate degree , and undergraduate studies.

Undergraduate is often shortened to undergrad as both a noun and an adjective.

In undergraduate, the prefix under- is used to indicate a lower rank or status. The educational status of an undergraduate student is below that of a graduate student.

What’s the difference between wisdom and knowledge ? Here’s a lesson on the two terms.

What is an undergraduate student ? And what is an undergraduate degree ?

An undergraduate student is a student who is pursuing a degree at the first level of higher education (meaning the level after high school) at a college or university. Undergraduate students are typically those working to earn a bachelor’s degree (or, less commonly, an associate’s degree ). These degrees are often referred to with the general term undergraduate degree.

Outside of the US, an undergraduate degree is sometimes called a first degree. There are also other types of undergraduate degrees outside of the US, such as a foundation degree (which, like an associate’s degree, is typically a two-year degree).

What does graduate mean?

As a noun, the word graduate  [  graj -oo-it ] refers to “a person who has received a degree or diploma on completing a course of study.” In other words, a graduate is someone who has completed a particular level of schooling or an educational program—a child who just finished kindergarten and a doctor who just completed medical school are both graduates. It can even be used figuratively , as in She’s a graduate of the school of hard knocks.

As a verb, graduate [  graj -oo-eyt ] means “to receive a degree or diploma on completing a course of study.” The process of graduating—and the ceremony itself—is called graduation .

As an adjective, graduate [  graj -oo-it ] means something more specific. It’s used to indicate that a student, degree, or educational program is an advanced one, beyond the level of a bachelor’s degree. This sense of graduate is most commonly used in terms like graduate degree, graduate school , graduate program, and graduate student.

What is a graduate degree ? And what is a graduate student ?

Graduate degree typically refers to a degree beyond a bachelor’s, most commonly a master’s.

A graduate student is a student who’s pursuing an advanced degree after having earned their undergraduate degree (such as a bachelor’s degree) by graduating from an undergraduate program. Calling someone a graduate student most often means they are pursuing their master’s degree, but it may be another advanced degree, such as a PhD (You’d most commonly call such students PhD students. Or you might say they are working toward their doctorate or their doctoral degree.)

To earn a graduate degree, graduate students go to a division of a university known as graduate school , and such a program is often called a graduate program. In all of these terms, graduate is often shortened to grad : grad school , grad student , grad program . (A student doesn’t become a graduate student until they take graduate-level courses. For example, if a student graduates with a bachelor’s degree and then later pursues a different bachelor’s degree, they are still an undergraduate student .)

Some graduate studies are referred to in more specific ways: medical students go to medical school to earn their medical degree ; law students go to law school to earn their law degree.

Do you know the difference between these highly-esteemed graduate degrees and titles: PhD, MD, and Dr ?

Where does the word graduate come from?

Graduate comes from the Medieval Latin graduārī, meaning “to take a degree.” It ultimately derives from the Latin gradus, meaning “a step.” Each time you graduate, you take a step to the next level of education.

What does postgraduate mean?

The adjective postgraduate is sometimes used in the same way as the adjective sense of the word graduate, especially in the UK, as in postgraduate student or postgraduate studies.

Postgraduate should not be confused with postdoctoral , which refers to studies, research, or professional work above the level of a doctorate.

How to use undergraduate vs. graduate

The best way to sort out the different meanings of undergraduate and graduate is to determine whether each word is being used as a noun, an adjective, or a verb. Here’s an easy breakdown of the differences.

• undergraduate (noun): A college student pursuing a non-advanced degree, most commonly a bachelor’s degree. Can be shortened to undergrad.
• undergraduate (adjective): Used in the context of colleges and university programs ( undergraduate programs ) where students are pursuing a degree (generally referred to as an undergraduate degree ) that is not an advanced degree. Also sometimes shortened to undergrad.
• graduate (noun): A person who has completed a particular level of schooling or educational program. Can be shortened to grad.
• graduate (verb): To complete a level of schooling (and, typically, to receive a degree or diploma). You can graduate from kindergarten, high school, college, graduate school, medical school, etc.
• graduate (adjective): Used in the context of advanced schooling—a level beyond a bachelor’s degree, most commonly a master’s program. Used in terms like graduate student , graduate school , graduate degree , graduate program , graduate courses , etc. Often shortened to grad.

Examples of undergraduate, undergrad, graduate, and grad used in a sentence

Let’s look at some examples of these words in actual, real-life use to get the meanings straight.

• As an undergraduate, she had studied engineering; as a graduate student, she switched to architecture.
• I completed my undergraduate degree after five years and a lot of hard work.
• As a graduate student, you will be expected to complete a thesis.
• You should start thinking about graduate school applications before you graduate.
• Most of the applicants for this position are recent college graduates.
• I’m still an undergrad, but I’m hoping to start grad school next fall.
• I’m a UGA grad, but I almost went to Georgia Tech.

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What Are The Key Differences Between Undergraduate & Postgraduate Studies?

Find your perfect postgrad program search our database of 30,000 courses.

When considering a postgraduate course , there are a few key differences between undergraduate and postgraduate studies to take note of. The main difference is probably the increased focus and specialisation that a postgraduate course will have on a subject.

A postgraduate qualification builds on your existing knowledge in a particular field, allowing you to develop more advanced knowledge through further research and study. Although, it is possible to embark on a new direction and study an entirely different subject to your undergraduate degree. 

In this guide, we cover the key differences to give you an idea of what to expect in the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate.

Undergraduate vs postgraduate

The term ‘undergraduate qualification’ usually refers to a bachelors degree – and this is a qualification that is mainly completed over three years on a full-time basis. To be eligible to study a bachelors degree, students will need to have obtained suitable grades in two or three A-levels or equivalent qualifications, such as an IB (International Baccalaureate).

The term ‘postgraduate qualification’ refers to several types of qualifications, all of which are usually completed after a bachelors degree. The most common postgraduate qualification is a masters degree. Other postgraduate qualifications include PGCert, PGDip and PhD. The eligibility criteria to study a postgraduate qualification is usually having a good grade in a relevant bachelors degree, although in some instances relevant work experience can enable a student to study at postgraduate level.

Let’s take a look at the main differences between undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications.

Level of expertise 

The experiences that students are expected to bring to a postgraduate course will vary with the subject, but the vast majority of courses expect everyone to have completed an undergraduate degree. Many students will also have a wealth of work experience to draw on.

A postgraduate course will be a much deeper analysis and involve detailed study of the subject rather than covering the broader themes that an undergraduate degree would cover. Students should come away from a postgraduate course with a strong understanding and the specialist knowledge to be considered an expert or specialist in that field.

Learning experience 

As postgraduate courses are completed at a much deeper, more intensive level of study into a chosen field, the learning experience will be different to that of an undergraduate degree. Postgraduate students are expected to undertake more individual study and not everyone on the course will be focussing on the same areas. 

During tutorials, students participate and engage more than perhaps was expected as undergraduate students. If the postgraduate course is entirely taught , then there will still be a great deal of independent learning in addition to the lectures and classes.

Some postgraduate degrees – for example Masters of Research (MRes) or PhDs – are entirely self-driven. But whatever the postgraduate qualification, postgraduate students will need to be very self-motivated and disciplined in order to succeed in their studies. 

Undergraduate programs – even those that are taken via distance learning – are almost entirely teaching-based with plenty of guidance from academic staff.

Length of time 

Rather than the three or four years of an undergraduate degree, a postgraduate course might be as short as a year (however if it's a PhD you're planning on studying then the course durations is a lot longer!). 

Don't think that this means it is an easy quick-fix option when comparing an undergraduate degree with a postgraduate degree in the same subject. Students are expected to already be able to read and write at an experienced academic level and most courses do not allow for the spare time that might have been present during many undergraduate degrees. 

Many postgraduate courses are very intensive as most students have settled on their future career paths or have taken time away from their work to complete the course.

Length of academic year

Masters degrees are completed across a slightly longer academic year than bachelors degrees – and the summer is often spent writing up a long piece of academic research. 

Depending on where you choose to study, the academic year for both undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications usually starts in September or October – unless you opt for a January start date (which is becoming an increasingly popular option). If you choose the more traditional autumn/fall start date, the academic year typically ends in May or June.

Because a postgraduate course is usually only a one-year program – you’ll spend a longer period studying at postgraduate level over that year than is typical for an undergraduate student.

Shorter postgraduate programs

A masters degree is not the only choice in postgraduate study – there are some shorter options such as a PGDip ( Postgraduate Diploma ) or a PGCert (Postgraduate Certificate).

These courses can lead onto a masters degree if the student wishes to proceed further with their studies after completing the course – as the credit system can usually count towards the masters qualification.

With PGDips and PGCerts students will study masters-level material over a shorter length of time.

Contact hours

At postgraduate level students usually have less contact time with the university and academic staff than undergraduates. In fact, depending on the discipline, a postgraduate program could require only a few hours of weekly contact time with tutors and peers per week. 

Postgraduate study usually has less time in lectures, seminars and tutorials, with more time spent on independent study. However, if the masters degree is in an area that requires lab work – such as a medical-related field or some STEM subjects – you are likely to have more contact time than with a humanities or social science subject.

Entry requirements

To be eligible to study an undergraduate degree, students will need relevant A-levels and GCSEs – or equivalent such as the IB. In some cases, universities may accept students with work experience in a relevant field.

To be accepted onto a postgraduate program, it is the undergraduate degree grades that are relevant. Students will usually need to have a 2:1, although sometimes they will be able to access the course with a 2:2. Some universities will accept any standard of undergraduate degree, this depends on the specific course requirements – and will usually only be considered if the student also has some relevant work or career experience.

Research methods

Many research methods from undergrad study will apply to postgraduate study. As an undergraduate you learn basic research skills, and most research time is spent analysing what other researchers have discovered.

Postgraduate students develop more advanced research skills, with more self-directed analysis and often with the aim of establishing their own discoveries. 

Contact with academic staff 

Once students have moved into postgraduate study, relationships with lecturers and other academic staff change slightly moving towards a relationship closer to colleagues. If students are continuing at the same university, then it is understandable that they have got to know their teachers. 

Academic staff will be available to help students to explore a subject that they love at a deeper level, and this results in a different relationship compared to the experience as an undergraduate. Students will also often be paired with or choose to work with academic staff that are absolute specialists in their fields, and similarly staff lecturers will often choose their students based on dissertation or theses proposals – which means they will have a very specific area of shared interest.

Class size is usually smaller at postgraduate level and this gives students the opportunity to study more closely with academic staff. 

Assessment 

At postgraduate level, you’ll be expected to write at greater length with deeper analysis of the subject than at undergraduate level. For instance, undergraduate students are usually expected to write essays that range from around 1,000 to 3,000 words. As postgraduates, essays can be up to around 5,000 words or more.

Some students may find this increase daunting at first, but you’ll find you have plenty to talk about when studying the topic in more depth. Even though university-based contact time is likely to be less as a postgraduate student, the special relationship that is developed with the academics will mean that staff will be available to advise on and help shape any writing.

In addition to longer essays, some postgraduate courses require the production of a 30,000-word thesis as well. 

Students are also often challenged to produce short and concise works explaining a complex topic in as few words as possible. For example, you may be required to produce a poster/presentation/short written report/independent study journal.

Compared to an undergraduate degree, a postgraduate degree will have a variety of different essay lengths to develop the students’ communication and academic writing skills further.

Another key difference between undergraduate and postgraduate assessment is that postgraduates are less likely to be given predefined essay questions and topics. Instead, they should expect to provide self-directed areas of study to write about and research with assessments being more likely to be based on academic findings from their own independent study.

Dissertation length

A key difference in the expectations of postgraduate study versus undergraduate study is the actual length of the dissertation or thesis. Whilst this does vary between each course, masters degrees generally involve a longer dissertation.

Broadly speaking an undergraduate dissertation will be around 10,000 words, whilst a masters dissertation will be around 15,000 words.

Degree grades

Masters degrees and bachelors degrees are graded differently. In the UK, undergraduate degrees are graded using the terms 1st, 2.1, 2.2 and 3rd, meanwhile, a typical masters degree will be graded using four terms:

• Distinction – final grade of 70% or above
• Merit – final grade of 60-69%
• Pass – final grade of 50-59%
• Borderline Pass/Fail – final grade of 40-49%

Find out more about masters degree grades here .

Financial differences

However, it can be cheaper to study a postgraduate subject for one year rather than three or four as an undergraduate, although postgraduate students don't tend to have the spare time to take up part-time work . 

Many courses have additional areas of funding including places that are fully funded or bursaries or grants for many students. This means funding and finances are not as simple at the postgraduate level as they are for undergraduate students.

Funding is available for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses, for example UK student loans for undergrad degrees is currently capped at £9,250 for the tuition fees, with additional maintenance loans available to those in need.

Student loans for first-time postgrad students in the UK are currently capped at £11,570 for masters degrees – and be warned that this amount may not always cover the total course fee. However, additional funding is often available for postgraduate students in the form of bursaries, scholarships and grants. In addition to this some postgraduate students may have their place on the course fully funded by the university as a studentship.

Are postgraduate credits different from undergraduate?

A typical full-time undergraduate degree is worth 360 credits and this is split equally across the three years with 120 credits gained for each year of completion.

Typical full-time masters degrees are worth 180 credits – these credits are completed across just one year.

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What Is A Postgraduate Student? A Definition

What Is A Postgraduate Degree? A Definition

What Is The Difference Between Graduate & Postgraduate Programs

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Joint Undergraduate and Graduate Program

This Joint Program provides an accelerated pathway to earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree at Harvard.

Online with On-Campus Experience

Undergraduate: $2,100 per course Graduate: $3,340 per course

What You'll Learn

Build the skills to meet today’s demand for the T-shaped professional. In our Joint Program, you experience a broad liberal arts background that fosters cross-cultural understanding, evidence-based communication, and peer-to-peer collaboration.

You also develop the deep, focused learning of a specific graduate field, such as management, finance, sustainability, software engineering, digital media design, information management systems, psychology, international relations, or biology.

• Earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree for less money and time — you double count four courses toward both degrees.
• Continuous enrollment, with no gap in time between undergraduate and graduate coursework.
• Add a certificate to your graduate degree course planning, and advance your career with an additional credential.

Getting Started: Admissions and Degree Requirements

In the Joint Program, you earn a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree, plus a Master of Liberal Arts degree in any field we currently offer.

Once approved for Joint Program participation, four graduate-level courses will count toward both degrees. Students must earn a B or higher in these four courses to continue in the program.

Eligibility

In order to apply to the program, you must meet the following requirements:

• Be an admitted degree candidate to the  Bachelor of Liberal Arts program
• Earned 96 credits toward the Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree with a 3.5 or higher GPA
• If you already possess a bachelor’s degree, you are ineligible for the joint program.

Application Materials

You apply to the Joint Program by submitting the following materials:

• Joint Program application form
• Current résumé
• Essay outlining your reasons for wanting to pursue the Master of Liberal Arts degree, specifically stating how your professional experience or goals aligns with your graduate field interest.

Cost and Financial Aid

Affordability is core to our mission. When compared to our continuing education peers, it’s a fraction of the cost.

After admission, you may qualify for financial aid . Typically, eligible students receive grant funds to cover a portion of tuition costs each term, in addition to federal financial aid options.

Learn more about the cost of attendance .

Completing the Program

This program is designed for students who are highly motivated and strong academic performers.

Advising Tip: If interested in the Joint Program, which many ALB candidates are, we advise you to work closely with your ALB advisor as you’ll want to avoid enrolling in specific ALM preadmission and core degree requirements prior to receiving Joint Program approval due to our repeat policy (e.g., you cannot repeat a course for graduate credit that you have already taken for undergraduate credit). Moreover, any graduate-level course taken prior to Joint Program approval cannot be counted toward the ALM degree, as you need to be close to finishing your ALB before embarking on graduate-level work.

In order to successfully earn both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, you must fulfill the following requirements:

Grade Requirements

You must receive a B or higher in all four courses that double count toward the degree. If not, the courses will not double count, they will only apply towards the Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree, and you’ll be ineligible to move forward with the Joint Program. Earning even one grade below B (including B-) will disqualify you from the program, this includes withdrawal grades.

Double counting of credit is not offered unless you apply and are accepted to the Joint Program. Courses taken prior to acceptance will not be counted.

Repeat Courses

Credit is not awarded for any course that duplicates the subject matter of a previous course taken at the Extension School or Harvard Summer School for which undergraduate or graduate credit has already been received. The only exception to the repeat rule are creative writing courses with an R in the course number (e.g., CREA 100R). You may repeat those courses once.

Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Requirements

Meet all degree, academic standing, and on-campus requirements for both degrees. For the Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree, you’ll need to complete 8 credits on campus. Weekend and three-week options are available. On-campus requirements for the Master of Liberal Arts vary by program. Visit the graduate degree field of your choice for details.

On-campus housing is available through Harvard Summer School for full-time study and a separate fee. The F-1 student visa for international students is available for full-time study at the Harvard Summer School only. Ordinarily, on-campus requirements for the both the bachelor’s and master’s degrees can be easily met via Harvard Summer School.

Graduate with your Harvard University Degrees: You participate in the annual Harvard Commencement twice, first receiving your Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies and, later your Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies from Harvard University.

Harvard Division of Continuing Education

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

Quick Guide: Your College Degree Options

There are generally four categories of college degrees: associate degree, bachelor’s degree, graduate degree, and doctorate or professional degree. Each category comes with its own particular subcategories, and there are some subtle differences between a doctorate and a professional degree.

If you ever find yourself lost in the sea of abbreviations for degrees, you're not alone. This quick guide is here to clear the air regarding the types of degrees available to you and what each one means.

Guide to College Degrees, Professional Studies & Certifications

Associate degree.

An associate degree is a two-year degree typically offered at community colleges, technical colleges, and career colleges. However, some four-year universities offer them as well. Examples of some associate degrees include Associate of Arts (AA) and Associate of Science (AS).

AS degrees are generally more narrowly focused and prepare students for science and math-related careers. AA degrees are broader and focus on fields outside of math and science such as liberal arts, business administration, criminal justice, and culinary arts.

Some students who earn an associate degree transfer to a four-year program to earn a bachelor’s degree. Others complete associate degrees and then go straight to work.

Bachelor's or Baccalaureate Degree

Bachelor’s degrees require students to complete four- or five-year programs in a specific academic discipline. The two most common types of bachelor’s degrees are bachelor of arts (BA) and bachelor of science (BS). Other types of bachelor’s degrees include the bachelor of fine arts (BFA), and bachelor of architecture (BArch).

Because bachelor’s degrees train students to enter a specific field, many professional careers require them. Earning a bachelor’s degree can open the door to many job opportunities and increase your potential income.

Some institutions offer a liberal arts and career combination program, also called a 3-2 program. This is a type of dual degree in which a student completes three years of liberal arts study followed by two years of professional or technical study. In the end, students earn two bachelor’s degrees, usually a BA and a BS.

An example of this is Columbia University’s 3-2 Combined Plan program in which students can earn a BA and a BS in five years.

Some colleges also let you earn a teacher certification by combining bachelor's degree study with state certification requirements. State requirements vary, but these programs usually feature professional education courses, including student teaching.

Graduate Degree

Graduate degrees are advanced degrees that some students pursue after earning a bachelor’s degree. The two most common are master of arts (MA) and master of science (MS). Other examples include master of fine arts (MFA) and master of business administration (MBA). A graduate degree is like an extension of a bachelor’s degree whereby a student further enriches their knowledge of their field and narrows their f ocus of study .

Graduate degrees usually take around two years to attain, but this can vary based on the degree. Many institutions allow students to enroll in a graduate program in a field unrelated to their bachelor’s degree. This may require some extra credit hours, though.

Professional Degree

Students earn professional degrees to become licensed to work in professions like medicine or law. The M.D. degree is an example. Professional programs generally require a college degree before you start them and then at least three years of study to complete.

Doctoral Degree and Professional Degree

The doctorate and professional degrees are the highest levels of education one can attain. They signify mastery of a subject and often come with the coveted title “doctor.” Although the two are similar, there are some important differences.

A doctorate or doctoral degree is a research-oriented degree focused on scholarly development. The most common doctorate is the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Despite the name, a PhD covers many disciplines, not just philosophy.

A professional degree is an application-oriented degree, meaning it prepares students for a specific working position. There are many types of professional degrees. Some examples are: doctor of medicine (MD), doctor of pharmacy (PharmD), and doctor of medicine in dentistry (DMD) in the field of medicine, and juris doctor (JD) and doctor of juridical science (SJD) in the field of law.

A graduate degree does not need to precede a doctorate or professional degree. Often, students will go straight into a doctorate or professional program following their bachelor’s, however some programs will require a master’s degree to gain entry. Completion can take anywhere from four to eight years, depending on the field of study.

Many doctoral students work either full-time or part-time while they study in the program. This, along with the field they are studying, will significantly affect the time it takes to complete their degree.

Joint Degrees

Some students may choose to pursue a joint degree, also known as a dual degree, which means they simultaneously study for a bachelor’s degree and a graduate degree. Joint degrees can be pursued in the same college or can be split between two different colleges. For example, Berklee College of Music and Harvard University offer a dual bachelor’s/master’s program in which a student receives a bachelor of arts (BA) at Harvard and a master of music (MM) or master of arts (MA) at Berklee.

Depending on the program, it may be possible to study at the same time for a master's degree and a doctorate. For example, the University of Southern California offers a program leading to doctor of pharmacy and master of public health degrees.

How do academic degrees go in order?

There are four types of degrees. In order of level of education, they rank as associate degree, bachelor’s degree, master’s or graduate degrees, and doctorate or professional degrees.

How many degrees are there in college?

Most community colleges offer only two-year associate degrees, while most four-year colleges offer bachelor’s, graduate, and doctorate or professional degrees. Some four-year colleges may also have associate degree programs.

How many years do you have to be in college to achieve certain degrees?

Though it will vary between academic disciplines, associate degrees usually take two years to achieve, bachelor’s degrees take four years, master’s degrees take two years, and doctorate or professional degrees can take anywhere from four to eight years.

What is an eight-year degree?

An “eight-year degree” typically refers to a doctorate degree or PhD. Although some doctorates can be completed in as little as three years, these degrees typically require more time studying highly specialized subjects. Students in these programs often must defend a dissertation while already working a professional job.

What are the four years of college called?

The first four years of college are the undergraduate years, and a student studying for a bachelor’s degree is called an undergraduate. The four years refer to the total accumulated credit hours; a student may take fewer or more than four years to attain their undergraduate degree.

What does a graduate degree mean?

A graduate degree or master’s degree is an advanced degree that some students pursue after earning a bachelor’s degree. Earning a graduate degree signifies mastery of a particular field of study and focuses more intensely on a subject than a bachelor’s degree does. Graduate degrees usually take two years to attain.

What do you call a master's student?

A master's student is called a graduate student or “grad student” for short. A student still studying for a bachelor’s degree is called an undergraduate student or “undergrad student.”

How many years is a master's degree?

Graduate degrees usually take around two years to attain, but this can vary based on the degree. Many institutions allow students to enroll in a graduate program in a field unrelated to their bachelor’s degree, although it may require some extra credit hours.

Find the right college for you

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The Top International Relations Schools of 2024, Ranked

An insider’s guide to the world’s best programs—for both policy and academic careers..

The Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) Project at William & Mary’s Global Research Institute has long partnered with Foreign Policy to create a reputational ranking of academic programs in international relations. Over the past two decades, our process has remained simple and consistent: We ask IR professionals what they think are the five best places to study for an undergraduate, terminal master’s, and doctoral degree.

In our most recent survey on the topic, conducted from October 2022 to January 2023, we received responses from 979 IR scholars across the United States, 294 staff affiliated with U.S. think tanks, and 291 policymakers who worked in the U.S. government during the George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. For the first time, we also asked respondents which Ph.D. programs are best for a student interested in a policy career, rather than an academic one. As the number of tenure-track positions in universities declines and the demand for expertise within the policy community increases , this question is more relevant today than ever before.

JUMP TO CATEGORY

• UNDERGRADUATE
• Ph.D., ACADEMIC
• Ph.D., POLICY

Undergraduate Programs

These results should look familiar to those who follow national undergraduate rankings. Ivy League schools, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and a few large public universities were favored across the board. But a handful of outliers punched well above their weight: Georgetown University, American University, George Washington University, Tufts University, and William & Mary all placed much higher here compared with their rankings in U.S. News & World Report , widely considered the most influential college ranking in the United States. In fact, Georgetown stands out as the top undergraduate choice among policymakers and think tank staff.

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Master’s Programs

For master’s students hoping to pursue a policy career, all three groups we surveyed expressed a preference for programs on the East Coast. Only a few schools located west of the Rocky Mountains made the top 20 in each list. Respondents also highlighted several options outside the United States in the top 20: IR faculty included four international programs, while policymakers included five—all located in Europe—and think tankers included eight, one of which is in Asia.

Ph.D. Programs for Academics

IR faculty members’ rankings of Ph.D. programs have proved remarkably stable over the years. Between our 2017 survey and our most recent one, no top 15 program has moved more than one spot in either direction; in fact, most held the same rank. Additionally, policymakers and think tank staff appeared to value academic Ph.D. programs located in Washington, D.C., and outside the United States much more than U.S.-based IR scholars did.

Ph.D. Programs for Policymakers

When asked about doctoral students pursuing a policy career, all three groups we surveyed showed a preference for institutions with strong connections to Washington. Schools such as George Washington University, Georgetown University, and American University are ranked higher for students pursuing policy careers than for those hoping to enter academia. Conversely, institutions such as the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are ranked lower for policy careers than academic ones. This shift highlights the importance of proximity to policy centers and the availability of practical engagement opportunities in shaping perceptions of a program’s value for a policy-oriented career in IR.

Advice to Prospective Students

Prospective students would do well to explore the specific features of various programs rather than focusing solely on a broad reputational ranking, which tells us little about a program’s regional, functional, or methodological strengths. For example, both academic and policymaker respondents who specialize in international political economy and/or trade policy ranked the London School of Economics master’s program higher than respondents who focus on security policy. Similarly, academics who specialize in the study of Latin America ranked the University of California, Berkeley Ph.D. program higher for an academic career than their non-Latin Americanist colleagues.

Still, prospective students should keep in mind that reputation matters. Although reputation may be an imperfect indicator of quality, it is a strong indicator of perceived quality within the field. A program’s standing can have conscious and unconscious effects on graduate school admissions committees, scholarship committees, and hiring managers in the public, private, and higher education sectors. For this reason, our ranking provides a systematic measure of these perceptions to assist prospective students in making informed choices as they plan for their future.

Advancing a Global Affairs Career

The intersection of large-scale challenges and technological advancements demands a broader range of knowledge and skills from international relations professionals. Learn about the impact this is having on employment trends in the latest FP Graduate School Guide .

To learn how your academic institution can be part of the FP Guides, contact Director of Academic Partnerships: Sherri Greeves, [email protected] .

Irene Entringer García Blanes is a senior project manager for the Teaching, Research, and International Policy Project at William & Mary. X:  @EntringerIrene

Susan Peterson is the Wendy and Emery Reves professor of government and international relations at William & Mary.

Michael J. Tierney is the George and Mary Hylton professor of international relations and director of the Global Research Institute at William & Mary. X:  @MikeTierneyIR

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• FindAMasters
• Differences Between Undergraduate and Postgraduate Study

Written by Ben Taylor

Postgraduate study refers to higher-level courses such as Masters degrees and PhDs. You'll generally need to have studied an undergraduate degree (typically a Bachelors) to apply for a postgraduate course.

A Masters is a step up from a Bachelors degree. You'll engage in more advanced research methods and independent study while focusing on a narrower subject specialism than at undergraduate level.

This guide will explain some of the key differences between undergraduate and postgraduate study, offering advice on what to expect when moving from a Bachelors to a Masters degree.

It's worth bearing in mind that this guide is most relevant to UK programmes. Masters courses in other countries can vary quite widely in length, content and examination methods. If you're interested in studying abroad as a postgraduate student you can find guides to Masters courses around the world elsewhere on the FindAMasters website.

On this page

Self-directed study.

One of the first things you’ll notice about Masters programmes is that they tend to include far fewer concurrent units of study or ‘modules’ than undergraduate courses. On a Masters course you may find yourself only studying two modules per semester , for a total of four across an entire degree. This will usually be reflected in your timetable, which might only feature a few hours of formal contact time with tutors and peers each week.

Each full-time semester of your programme will still account for 60 credits though – a third of your degree’s total value. So, where are all those credits (and their associated hours of learning) coming from? The answer, of course, is ‘self-directed study’. In summary, this involves:

• Reading around highlighted materials for each stage of your course
• Identifying important themes and thinking critically about these in advance of scheduled meetings with your tutors and peers

Even though the majority of Masters courses are delivered as ‘taught postgraduate’ programmes (the exceptions are research degrees such as the MRes ) you’ll be expected to come to seminars or workshop sessions having already engaged with the subject under discussion and ideally identified and critiqued some relevant scholarship.

Your course tutor will introduce complex ideas and explain key issues, but teaching and discussion sessions will function much more as a forum in which yours and your peers’ ideas can be discussed, reflected upon and developed.

Taught vs research Masters

Unsure about the difference between taught and research Masters ? We’ve explained the most important contrasts between these kinds of qualification, from fees to PhD prep.

Assessment and feedback

The focus upon self-directed study ahead of group discussion and reflection on a Masters course means that you will frequently be required to present and justify your own ideas.

Assessment and feedback on your work will typically take several forms, depending on the subject and kind of Masters you’re studying:

• You may be asked to maintain a record of your independent study activity or to present short written reports on it (perhaps through contributions to a module website or other digital platform). This is an important part of postgraduate study and constitutes a form of regular formative assessment and feedback.
• Your course tutor will usually look to gauge your progress based on your contributions to class , offering guidance as necessary.
• Some Masters modules will be examined through a single piece of coursework produced once their timetabled content has been completed. This will provide an opportunity for you to follow through on the interests that have developed and the ideas that have occurred to you during the course, building directly on the independent research and analysis you’ve undertaken so far. As such, it’s likely that you won’t be given a list of pre-defined essay topics or analytical tasks of the kind used to assess undergraduates.

Courses in fields that are reliant on key practical knowledge may still test you in specific areas (particularly on programmes meeting standards set by professional accreditation) but in other cases you will be asked to identify an area you would like to investigate, agree it with your tutor and get stuck in!

This kind of assessment is another important part of what defines postgraduate study. It draws upon the self-directed learning required of you across your course and also provides a series of smaller scale research and writing tasks that prepare you to undertake your Masters dissertation.

The Masters dissertation

Taught Masters courses usually conclude with an extended individual research project . This is similar in some respects to the dissertations produced in the final year of undergraduate programmes, but involves a much more complex and extensive piece of work. To produce a successful Masters dissertation you will need to:

• Identify a substantial topic
• Employ a rigorous scholarly methodology to research it
• Offer a convincing analysis of a range of material that collectively develops and supports a broader argument
• Demonstrate a sophisticated awareness of existing scholarship in areas relevant to your topic
• Make a case for the value of your contribution to those ongoing debates

This may sound like a daunting task, but it’s exactly what the rest of your Masters programme will have prepared you to do. The dissertation is an opportunity to draw upon the aptitude for self-directed study and critical thinking you’ve developed, together with the research training you’ll have received. It’s your first chance to really assert yourself as a scholar in your own right and a challenge you should be proud of taking on.

The length of the Masters dissertation varies widely from programme to programme, but it will usually be a considerable step from a 10,000 word undergraduate thesis. As a general rule, you can expect to write around 15,000 words for a Masters dissertation.

Find out more about writing a Masters dissertation

We’ve put together some useful advice to help give you a sense of what’s involved in researching and writing a Masters dissertation , together with some tips for how best to go about it.

Emphasis on research skills

A Masters will probably include components designed to meet training needs in research methods and effective scholarship, preparing students for the possibility of PhD study . This can take the form of specific modules involving a range of research tasks, or it might occur through additional sessions organised by relevant support and liaison staff based in your university’s libraries and research facilities.

Identifying and accessing material

Different subject areas will need specific skills and methodological training (in operating laboratory equipment, for example, or using specialist software for data collection and analysis) but all disciplines will require you to identify and access published material in your field. At postgraduate level this will usually mean more thorough and targeted engagement with existing scholarship than can be achieved by simply searching the collections and journal subscriptions in your university library.

As a result you will probably receive guidance in searching for material on different subjects using specialist research databases or repositories . Having identified potentially useful material, you will need to know how to access it. This may involve making inter-library loan requests through your institution or applying to visit external libraries and archives .

Evaluating existing scholarship and establishing methodological awareness

It will also be important for you to assess and critique material once you have procured it, as well as keeping accurate records of your research findings in order to attribute data and ideas correctly in any work you submit. For this reason you may be tasked with producing an annotated research bibliography (recording and evaluating material for a given subject) or with writing a review essay on one or more published pieces of work.

Programmes in subjects with varying methodological approaches may also include more theoretical training, ensuring that you comprehend the different (and sometimes competing) perspectives and philosophies that inform research in your field.

Research training as a set of transferrable skills

Training in the above areas will be designed to help support you during your Masters programme and ultimately prepare you to effectively research and write your dissertation. That said, it will also provide you with transferrable skills that will be helpful to you beyond postgraduate study . The ability to identify, record and assess information before presenting your findings effectively is valuable in many professions outside academic research.

Specialisation

Whereas an undergraduate might study a broad course in a subject like English Literature, a Masters degree in the same field might focus upon a particular specialism, such as the writing associated with particular historical contexts, or in selected genres. Similarly, a student in the sciences might go from acquiring a general competence in one of the natural or physical sciences at undergraduate level to an MSc programme designed to develop expertise in very specific areas such as quantum mechanics or forensic chemistry.

Longer academic year

A year of full-time undergraduate study is usually worth 120 credits. However. a year of Masters study is worth 180 credits. The higher credit count means that you’ll be spending more time studying in that academic year. Unlike a Bachelors degree, the academic year for a Masters doesn’t finish in May or June as you’ll usually write your dissertation over the summer with the academic year ending around August or September.

Shorter postgraduate courses

Masters programmes aren’t the only postgraduate courses available – Postgraduate Certificates (PGCert) and Postgraduate Diplomas (PGDip) can be a great way of studying Masters-level content in a shorter and more flexible format (and usually without the requirement to write a dissertation). We’ve written a guide to PGCerts and PGDips explaining how these qualifications work.

Begin your search for a Masters

Ready to find your perfect Masters? Browse the thousands of postgraduate programmes listed on our website.

Our postgrad newsletter shares courses, funding news, stories and advice

Ben worked in the FindAMasters content team from 2017 to 2022, starting as an Assistant Content Writer and leaving as Student Content Manager. He focused on producing well-researched advice across a range of topics related to postgraduate study. Ben has a Bachelors degree in English Literature from the University of Sheffield and a Masters from the University of Amsterdam. Having also spent a semester at the University of Helsinki through the Erasmus programme, he’s no stranger to study abroad (or cold weather!).

You may also like...

Applying for a Masters can feel a bit daunting. Here is a checklist of all the things you need to do to make sure you have everything covered in your Masters application.

Postgraduate study is often very flexible, with the option to study a Masters degree or other qualification part-time, online or through blended learning.

All Masters programmes include some form of extended individual project or dissertation. This guide covers how to structure a Masters dissertation, word count, how the work is assessed and what you should expect from your dissertation supervisor.

Our guide explains how online Masters degree work, what the benefits of online learning are and how to choose what to study online.

Our guide tells you everything about the application process for studying a Masters in Italy.

Our guide tells you everything about the application process for studying a Masters in the USA.

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Degree Programs

University of washington seattle undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs.

The following are the official program descriptions for the University of Washington's undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs. Most academic departments and colleges/schools maintain their own web pages with additional information.

All announcements in the General Catalog are subject to change without notice and do not constitute an agreement between the University of Washington - Seattle and the student. Students should assume the responsibility of consulting the appropriate academic unit or adviser for more current or specific information.

College of Arts and Sciences

• American Ethnic Studies
• American Indian Studies
• Anthropology
• Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences
• Applied Mathematics
• Art, Art History, and Design
• Asian Languages and Literature
• Astrobiology
• Cinema and Media Studies
• Communication
• Comparative History of Ideas
• Computer Science
• Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology
• Digital Arts and Experimental Media
• Disability Studies
• French and Italian Studies
• Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies
• General Studies
• German Studies
• Integrated Social Sciences
• Jackson School of International Studies
• Law, Societies, and Justice
• Linguistics
• Mathematics
• Microbiology
• Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures
• Neuroscience
• Political Science
• Scandinavian Studies
• Slavic Languages and Literatures
• Spanish and Portuguese Studies
• Speech and Hearing Sciences

College of Built Environments

• Architecture
• Built Environments
• Construction Management
• Landscape Architecture
• Real Estate
• Urban Design and Planning

Michael G. Foster School of Business

• Accounting (Graduate Degree Programs)
• School of Dentistry
• Endodontics
• Oral Health Sciences
• Oral Medicine
• Orthodontics
• Periodontics
• Restorative Dentistry
• Professional Degree Programs
• Graduate Degree Programs
• College of Education

College of Engineering

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Engineering
• Human Centered Design and Engineering
• Industrial and Systems Engineering
• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

College of the Environment

• School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
• Atmospheric Sciences
• Program on Climate Change
• Earth and Space Sciences
• Program on the Environment
• School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
• School of Marine and Environmental Affairs
• Marine Biology
• School of Oceanography
• College of the Environment Special Programs
• The Information School

Interdisciplinary Graduate Degree Programs

• Computational Molecular Biology
• Data Science
• Developmental Disabilities
• Human-Computer Interaction and Design
• Individual Interdisciplinary PhD
• International Humanitarian Response Group
• Molecular and Cellular Biology
• Molecular Engineering and Sciences
• Near and Middle Eastern Studies
• Neural Computation and Engineering
• Public Critical Race Scholarship
• Science, Technology and Society
• Second and Foreign Language Teaching
• Statistical Genetics
• Textual and Digital Studies

Interschool or Intercollege Programs

• Bioengineering
• Global Health
• School of Law

School of Medicine

• Anesthesiology
• Biochemistry
• Bioethics and Humanities
• Biological Structure
• Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education
• Comparative Medicine
• Department of Medicine
• Family Medicine
• Genome Sciences
• Health Metrics Sciences
• Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
• Neurological Surgery
• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopaedics
• Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
• Pharmacology
• Physiology and Biophysics
• Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
• Radiation Oncology
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• School of Nursing

School of Pharmacy

• Medicinal Chemistry
• Pharmaceutics
• Evans School of Public Policy and Governance
• School of Public Health
• Biostatistics
• Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
• Epidemiology
• Global Health - See Interschool or Intercollege Programs
• Health Systems and Population Health
• Health Management and Informatics
• Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health
• Public Health Genetics

Reserve Officers Training Corps Programs

• Aerospace Studies
• Military Science
• Naval Science
• School of Social Work

Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Programs

• Arctic Studies
• Climate Science
• Education, Learning, and Society
• Human Rights
• Labor Studies
• Paleobiology

Colleges and Schools

• Arts & Sciences
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• Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
• Public Policy and Governance
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• Undergrad Interdisciplinary Program

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• Difference Between Undergraduate and Postgraduate Study
• Types of Doctorates

When you start a postgraduate degree, it’s essential for both your productivity and your self-confidence not to feel overwhelmed right from the start. It doesn’t matter if you’ve just finished your Bachelor’s degree or if you’ve been working for several years before making your return to higher education. You’ve already survived your undergraduate degree; and the transition to postgraduate level is not as difficult as you might think. There are several differences between undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, with the key being the intensity, specialisation and independence they offer. We’ll first delve into the undergraduate and postgraduate meaning, and then delve deeper into each key difference.

What Is an Undergraduate Degree?

In the United Kingdom, an undergraduate degree is an academic level higher than the A-Levels obtained in high school. Undergraduate courses are ‘first-cycle’ programmes designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge they need to start a career in their chosen field.

In terms of undergraduate degrees, a Bachelor’s degree is by far the most popular qualification amongst university students. However, there are many types of Bachelor degrees available, the most popular of which are:

• Bachelor of Arts (BA),
• Bachelor of Science (BSc),
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng),
• Bachelor of Laws (LLB).

What Is a Postgraduate Degree?

Postgraduate study is an academic step above undergraduate level and aims to provide advanced knowledge within a specific field of study.

Postgraduate degrees are typically obtained after a bachelors degree (or in some university programmes, the two degrees are essentially rolled into one) and are therefore considered ‘second-cycle’ degrees in comparison.

While a Master’s degree is the most common postgraduate qualification that students will receive, the term ‘postgraduate’ also includes doctorate qualifications, the highest type of degree offered by UK universities.

Common postgraduate degrees include:

• Master of Science (MSc),
• Master of Engineering (Meng),
• Master of Business Administration (MBA),
• Master of Research (MRes),
• Master of Philosophy (MPhil),
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD),
• Doctor of Engineering (EngD).

Key Differences between Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes

Level of specialisation.

An undergraduate degree offers a broad overview of a subject. The aim is to provide you with the basic skills, knowledge and experience you need to start a successful career in your chosen field.

On the other hand, postgraduate courses will delve into the topics of a Bachelor’s degree in much greater detail and often cover more complex topics.

Where an undergraduate course is designed to develop you into a well-rounded individual within your chosen industry, a postgraduate course will turn you into a specialist for a specific career path. For example, a Bachelor’s in Engineering will help you understand engineering principles in a broad and general context. The Master’s equivalent will give you an understanding of how these principles can be applied to real-life problems.

Postgraduate studies will also place greater emphasis on acquiring research skills, as much of their learning will be focused on research-based topics. This is useful for students who are thinking about doing an advanced postgraduate research degree such as MPhil, PhD, or EngD later on.

Course Duration

The duration of a bachelor’s degree depends on the specific subject you want to enrol in, but they usually take between three and four years.

Master’s programmes are shorter, with an average length of one year. However, the learning material will be more complex and will require more intense focus. So, don’t mistake the shorter duration to imply that a Master’s is easier than a Bachelor’s, as this is not usually the case.

Since MPhils, PhDs and EngDs are advanced forms of postgraduate degrees, they take over a year to complete. An MPhil usually takes two years, and both a PhD and an EngD take between three and five years or longer for part-time study!

Learning Experience

Undergraduate courses typically contain many students and so are less individualised than postgraduate courses. Students who come from small schools will often find it difficult to adapt to the less personal teaching style and will feel more comfortable in postgraduate classes.

Postgraduate courses also contain fewer teaching modules. Although this means less time in the classroom, as a postgraduate student you will be expected to do a lot of self-learning and personal reading in your own time.

When lectures take place, your professors will still present new concepts and explain key ideas, but more emphasis will be placed on independent learning. Unlike your bachelor’s degree, the lectures and discussions that take place during your postgraduate taught course will be more of an open forum where you and other students discuss and reflect on the material.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

Interaction with Teaching Staff

One of the main advantages of Master’s programmes is that the smaller class sizes allow you to build a greater relationship with your lecturers. It’s not uncommon, for example, for a lecturer to recommend a particular event or seminar to a postgrad student who they think may have some interest in it. This rarely happens in undergraduate studies because the style ‘they lecture, you listen’ does not allow you and your teachers to get to know each other. Moreover, postgraduate courses allow for a lot of interaction and discussion, which encourages close connections.

Assessment Methods

A Bachelor’s degree is typically assessed through a mix of coursework, laboratory work and year-end exams. Because their programmes are broad, the year-end exams are challenging, as you typically have numerous exams which cover a wide range of different topics.

Postgraduate courses rely less on exams and more on assessed coursework. Students are expected to write lengthy papers with detailed analysis of complex topics. In addition, a typical Master’s programme also requires the production of a 15,000 to 30,000 word dissertation. A doctoral degree extends on this, requiring a thesis of around 60,000 words , although some have been known to break the 100,000 mark!

Entry Requirements

In order to be eligible for a Bachelor’s programme, most students must have completed a form of further education, such as A-levels or BTECs, in relevant subjects.

To register for a Masters programme, you will need a Bachelor’s degree, typically with at least a 2:2.

If you are applying for a doctorate, most universities will require a Bachelor’s degree with at least a 2:1. A Master’s degree, such as an MEng, MRes or MSc, will improve your chances but is not usually required, although may be necessary if you have a 2:2 Bachelor’s degree or lower.

On average, postgraduate courses will have higher annual tuition fees than undergraduate courses.

Most undergraduate studies are financed with a student loan from Student Finance England (SFE). Although scholarships and bursaries can be applied for, there aren’t many available for undergraduate students, and when they are, they are usually for students who need support, e.g. from low-income households.

There are many more funding options available to postgraduate students. They can apply for a postgraduate loan , a scholarship or qualify for an alumni discount if attending the same university they undertook their undergraduate study with. Unlike undergraduate scholarships, postgraduate scholarships are generally not means-tested, i.e. they are open to almost anyone.

Furthermore, doctoral students can apply for PhD positions that are partially or fully funded . This means they can complete an advanced postgraduate course and have the entire tuition fee paid for, plus an additional annual payment (known as a stipend) which serves as a salary.

Employment Opportunities

There are many career opportunities for those with only a Bachelor’s degree. In fact, the vast majority of jobs that can be filled with a Master’s degree can also be filled with a Bachelor’s degree. However, there are several advanced roles within professions such as computer science, medicine and engineering, etc. that require a postgraduate degree. These will be roles that require sophisticated analysis or independent research to be performed as part of their responsibilities.

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A Johns Hopkins postdoc, Herbert Baxter Adams, brought the seminar method of teaching from Germany, where he earned a PhD in 1876. The idea: That students would learn more by doing than by listening to lectures and taking exams.

That spirit of inquiry , of challenging the way things are done, lives on today in our nine academic divisions, all of which offer full-time graduate programs.

More information about our graduate programs is available below

School of Advanced International Studies

Students get global perspectives on today’s critical issues, with programs in international affairs , international studies , economics and finance , and public policy

Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

More than 60 full-time and part-time graduate programs spanning the arts , humanities , and natural and social sciences

Also see:   Part-time graduate options via Advanced Academic Programs

Carey Business School

The Carey Business School’s AACSB-accredited business programs provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful leaders and lifelong learners .

School of Education

One of the nation’s top schools of education, according to U.S. News & World Report , with degree and certificate programs in teaching , special education , counseling , administration , and leadership

Whiting School of Engineering

Programs in fields of critical importance to the future, health, and safety of our world, including robotics , biomedical engineering , cybersecurity , and systems engineering

Also see: Part-time and online options via Engineering for Professionals

School of Medicine

Since 1893, Johns Hopkins Medicine has trained the next generation of great medical leaders and is widely regarded as one of the best med schools and hospitals in the world, with top programs in internal medicine , women’s health , HIV/AIDS , geriatrics , drug/alcohol abuse , and pediatrics

School of Nursing

The U.S. News & World Report top-ranked school prepares graduate level pre-licensure students and current BSN or advanced practice nurses to be health care leaders through a variety of MSN, DNP, and PhD programs. Students can focus on a wide range of advanced practice specialty areas – including health care organizational leadership , nurse anesthesiology , pediatric , adult/Gerontological , family , or critical care .

Peabody Institute

Founded in 1857, this world-renowned conservatory offers degrees in composition , computer music , conducting , performance , jazz , music education , music theory , and recording arts and sciences

Bloomberg School of Public Health

The Bloomberg School, U.S. News & World Report ‘s top-ranked graduate school of public health for more than two decades, offers programs in health administration , health science , and public policy

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Current Issue

A Cornell Graduate Student Faces Deportation After a Pro-Palestine Action

Momodou Taal, who is attending the university with a F-1 visa, was suspended after a September 18 protest under a new policy seeking to quash Gaza solidarity actions.

Campus administrators appear to have a new tool in their toolbox for suppressing pro-Palestinian speech. Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, has taken disciplinary action against an international student that will likely force him to leave the country, and could have a chilling effect on other international students participating in political protests.

Momodou Taal is a PhD candidate in Africana studies and a graduate student worker, attending Cornell under the F-1 visa program. In the last academic year, Taal joined student-led actions demanding that Cornell divest from industries complicit in Israel’s attacks on civilians in Gaza.

Cornell student activists were not alone in launching public demonstrations against their college. Encampments took hold across the country. In response, some universities called in police to clear, often forcefully , pro-Palestinian student protesters.

But Cornell took a different approach. During a year when it ostensibly prioritized free expression , the university created a new policy to crack down on these types of protests.

First issued on January 24, 2024, the Interim Expressive Activities Policy limits when amplified sound can be used, delineates which objects are prohibited at collective campus actions, like candles and sticks, and subjects some protesters to increased disciplinary action.

By the end of the spring semester, six Cornell students, including Taal, faced suspensions for their pro-Palestinian activities.

“The interim expressive speech policy was very much a reaction to actions by students who were calling for divestment,” said Nick Wilson, another one of the students who faced suspension last year. “One of the policies that I think makes that clear is the ban on candles that was included in it, which was a direct reaction to candlelight vigils that were being held to mourn civilian loss of live in Gaza as the genocide began to kick off.”

The reasoning behind which students received suspensions is still unclear, but some of the students agreed not to engage in actions connected to the encampment on the Cornell arts quad. Wilson did not take a deal last semester, but agreed to a deal this semester, and could be suspended if he engages in expressive activities. In the last academic year, Taal had not agreed to refrain from protests this year.

On September 18, a group of students from multiple Cornell student groups under the umbrella organization Coalition for Mutual Liberation disrupted a career fair that was taking place at The Statler Hotel, which is located on campus grounds. The students disrupted this event because Boeing and L3Harris had tables at the fair—companies which, according to the students, are connected to the flow of military supplies being used by Israel to commit atrocities against civilians.

The university says that protesters forcibly entered the job fair by pushing campus police officers . Taal, who is a British national, was present at this action. When asked if the university had accused him of pushing police officers, Taal responded, “Yes, which is not true. I can say categorically that I shoved no police officer, nor did I not listen to a lawful directive, like they’re claiming.”

The Nation Weekly

Asked about why he felt he was targeted, he said, “They’ve identified who they think are leaders [of the pro-Palestine movement on campus], and therefore [they] are trying to make an example out of me.”

Now, Taal may need to leave the country because of his presence at the protest.

The F-1 visa program allows foreign nationals to reside in the United States if they are enrolled in an academic educational program, a language-training program, or a vocational program. Those with F-1 visas can also work on campus and in limited off-campus training positions. According to the Department of Homeland Security , suspension from an academic program is a valid reason for the termination of a record, which changes the immigration status of someone holding a F-1 visa.

Cornell University did not respond to questions about its policies and procedures regarding the suspension of a student with an F-1 visa.

As of publication, the university still refers to disciplinary action against Taal as a “temporary suspension.” But by suspending Taal, the university set in motion immigration procedures without having to provide the level of evidence that due process would require, if the charges against Taal were criminal, which they are not.

“I’m trying to fight this—to at least have an investigation, and due process,” said Taal. “I’m not asking for anything special, I’m asking for Cornell to follow their own procedure,” by conducting an official investigation in which he would be able to respond to any claims. The Cornell Graduate Student Union, which is attempting to help Taal, said, “No investigation was conducted before the discipline of temporary suspension was issued to Momodou.”

The union issued a press release on Tuesday, explaining that it is demanding to bargain with Cornell over the effects of the suspension. It said:

Last spring, Cornell University signed a Memorandum Of Agreement (MOA) with CGSU-UE [Cornell Graduate Students United-UE] that gives the union the right to bargain over the effects of discipline of graduate workers on their working conditions, effective immediately. Pursuant to the MOA, CGSU-UE issued a demand to bargain with Cornell Administration over the effects of the discipline administered to Taal. CGSU-UE condemns Taal’s suspension, which represents a disturbing pattern of discriminatory discipline against marginalized graduate workers. The union is still fighting for just cause protections in discipline and discharge, due process for academic evaluations, strong academic freedom, and nondiscrimination protections inclusive of political affiliation and action, religious practice, and caste.

The press release also quoted Jawuanna McAllister, of CGSU-UE’s bargaining committee, who was unequivocal about the university’s singling out Taal, who appears to be the only student, among the more than 100 protesters at the September 18 action, to face suspension. “The university’s targeting of Taal, a Black, Muslim, international grad worker, is a calculated and shameful attempt to intimidate workers who are protesting the atrocities in Gaza and stifle free expression on campus,” said McAllister.

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The university did not respond to questions from The Nation about the reasons for Taal’s suspension. Instead, Cornell Media Relations sent two prior statements ( here and here ) and e-mailed a response from Joel M. Malina, Cornell’s vice president for university relations. Malina said:

International students attending college in the U.S. on F-1 visas are obligated to comply with federal requirements to maintain their visa status. These federal requirements include remaining enrolled as a full-time registered student. Universities are required by federal regulation to terminate the F-1 status for any student who is not permitted to be enrolled due to a disciplinary action.  Any international student administratively withdrawn by Cornell pursuant to the Student Code of Conduct is urged to immediately review immigration guidelines and consult with experts. Universities can disallow enrollment and bar a student from campus, but do not have deportation powers.

For his part, Taal sees a disconnect in the university’s professed values. “Last year was the freedom of expression year, and that was done, technically, to allow right-wing speakers to come on campus and speak freely,” said Taal, referring to how the theme year facilitated Ann Coulter’s giving an anti-immigration talk at Cornell under heavy security. The year prior, Coulter had to end her talk early, due to protesters, which many on campus believe is what led to the expression theme year.

“Freedom of expression is only free when it’s not about Palestine, on this campus,” Taal said.

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Aaron Fernando is an independent journalist covering grassroots movements and solidarity economy projects, with a focus on land, policy, housing, and cooperative movements. He is also an organizer with the Ithaca Tenants Union, runs a video-focused publication, Striking Distance Ithaca , loves speculative fiction, and can be found on a cooperative instance of Mastodon at @ [email protected]

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Meet the Graduate Student Ambassadors: Yong Zhin Ng MPP 2025

Yong Zhin Ng MPP 2025

Originally from Singapore, Yong Zhin worked in the Singapore government before coming to HKS. He will return to his home country post-graduation to work in land policy. He is primarily trained in sociology and is excited to integrate that knowledge into the civil service long term.

What motivated you to become a Graduate Student Ambassador?

I really enjoyed being an undergraduate student ambassador and being a part of the community. I hope to find that here and to help prospective students make the right choice.

What are you most looking forward to as an inaugural student ambassador?

I’m looking forward to meeting new people! I love meeting new people and providing information to prospective students. As an ambassador, I will have a chance to tell personal stories and experiences, as well.

What advice would you give students interested in HKS?

Think about your why. Why do you want to come to HKS? What do you want to learn here? How can this program fit into your life in a way that further your goals and make you a better person?

Meet the Graduate Student Ambassadors: Javad Mushtaq MC/MPA 2025

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Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB

Applications for September 2024 are now closed.

Graduate Entry Medicine Open Events - 2nd October 2024

This event is for students who are looking to apply by the UCAS (Medicine and Dentistry) application deadline of 16 th   October 2024 to study Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB from September 2025. At this event you will have the opportunity to hear an overview of the course, where you will be able to ask any questions you have about the course, studying medicine, the University and the region, to senior members of the MBChB team. You can also visit our fantastic clinical skills and simulation facilities, where there will be a demonstration of anatomy teaching. Tou can book a Campus Tour of our site, where you will be able to view wider university facilities.

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Where you'll study Wheeler, Chester

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Applications for this course for 2025 entry can be made by Home/UK and International students through UCAS by 18:00 on 15 October 2024.

The University of Chester's medical degree is a four-year, graduate entry MBChB programme, open to applicants with a previous degree in any discipline. Unlike many traditional MBChB degrees, this allows more mature students to consider becoming a doctor after having completed a previous course of study towards a graduate degree.  For example, even if you have a first degree in the arts, humanities or languages but would now like to study medicine, you are eligible to apply. We welcome people from a wide variety of backgrounds who wish to pursue a degree in graduate entry medicine in the UK, not just those with a background in science or allied health care disciplines.

Our medicine programme has been designed to provide you with the underpinning scientific and clinical knowledge, skills and professional behaviours required of a 21st-century doctor. The course is structured into a series of core university and health and care placement blocks, which gradually introduce and prepare you for working with complex situations and more independently as a Foundation Doctor.

You will meet patients right from the early part of the course and this, plus our case-based learning approach, placements and simulation, provides a continuing focus on patient care. A strength of the University of Chester MBChB programme is the longitudinal integration of core themes throughout all four years of the course. This spiral curriculum approach integrates the introduction and consolidation of knowledge and skills appropriate to each stage of the course.

Community and primary care placements and hospital-based teaching provide a rich experience within a variety of settings across our region with a diversity of patient groups. Clinical exposure increases as you progress through the course, with placements in primary, community and secondary care settings and across clinical specialties on a rotational basis in Years 2, 3 and 4. Academic blocks and days are integrated throughout these years, offering opportunities for additional teaching, support, and consolidation of learning.

Student Selected Components (SSC) run throughout the four years of the programme. You can choose from a range of options, each of which has broad relevance to the core MBChB curriculum and enables you to explore a particular topic in greater depth.

As a new medical school, we are required to undergo quality assurance by the General Medical Council (UK) to ensure that our medical education is of a high standard and that we meet the requirements for all UK medical schools set out in the document, “ Promoting excellence: standards for medical education and training ”. The GMC's quality assurance process has several stages, culminating in approval for a new medical school to award a Primary Medical Qualification (PMQ). Chester Medical School is progressing through the stages of the GMC approval process and have agreed the 2024 commencement date with the GMC. As a graduate of the University of Chester's MBChB programme, you will be eligible to provisionally register with the General Medical Council (providing you meet all the GMC's Fitness to Practice requirements) and apply for Year 1 of the UK Foundation Programme (UKFPO). Places on the UKFPO are competitive and subject to you meeting all the eligibility criteria.

To avoid any risk to students enrolled on a new medical programme, each new medical school is mandated to have a contingency school. The contingency arrangement ensures that students are able to continue and complete their course of study in the unlikely event of a failure in the provider’s programme. The University of Chester's contingency school is Warwick Medical School .

MB ChB Graduate Entry Medicine at Chester Medical School

The aim of Year 1 is to equip you with the core knowledge, practical and clinical skills needed to get the most out of the intensive clinical placements in the rest of the course. The first year is therefore mainly provided as university-based teaching in the Wheeler Building on our Chester campus. Your learning is organised into five blocks of five weeks each. In each block, you will learn the biomedical, psychosocial and clinical knowledge and skills through a combination of lectures, case-based learning (CBL), practical sessions and simulation and clinical skills sessions, delivered in our state-of-the-art simulation facilities. You will learn with, alongside and about other health professionals, reflecting the interprofessional nature of our health and care programmes. You will meet patients early in the medical programme and be prepared for this through a combination of simulated patient encounters and clinical skills training.

MODULE •    Foundations of Science and Medicine (120 credits)

Year 2 is divided into three main blocks of teaching: Advanced Cases 1: You will spend approximately four days per week working with advanced clinical cases in group work and self-study with focused plenary lectures, as well as undertaking a student selected project (SSC I), and a day per week in clinical settings undertaking related clinical learning with patients in hospital and community settings. The Core Clinical Education block comprises three ten-week clinical placements in General Medicine, Surgery and other specialties. You will also undertake placements in General Practice (Family Medicine) and Community Psychiatry. In this block, you will spend most of your time in the clinical environment, building upon the theoretical material learned in earlier years. Student Selected Components (SSCs) will run throughout the year.

MODULE •    Core Clinical Education and Principles of Clinical Practice

The majority of teaching in Year 3 is based in regional community settings, general practice and NHS hospitals. Your Year 3 Student Selected Component (SSC) will run throughout the year and will include an opportunity to undertake a research project in an area which interests you. Advanced Cases 2: You will work with advanced clinical cases in group work and self-study with focused plenary lectures for approximately two days per week, and in clinical areas for three days per week undertaking related clinical learning with patients in the relevant hospital or community setting. Cases are designed to consider various patient care pathways (e.g. cancer, frailty, dementia) in primary and secondary care. Specialist Clinical Placements: These six-week placements cover eight specialties, six of which are undertaken in Year 3 and two in Year 4. Each student will undertake these in a rotation; therefore, scheduling varies according to student group.

MODULE •    Speciality Training Preparation for Practice 1

Year 4 is designed to prepare you for the national Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) and for working as a Foundation doctor. In the final year, you will finish the last of your specialist clinical placements, followed by the Junior Assistantship where you will rotate through acute medical and surgical specialties and primary and community care. After a consolidation period and the national examinations, you will undertake an elective in the UK or overseas to explore an area of interest, and finish the year with the Assistantship, working with Foundation doctors prior to you starting your first Foundation post.

MODULE •    Speciality Training Preparation for Practice 2

Lectures, seminars, clinical and communication skills, simulation and workshops

Written and practical assessments including, workplace-based evaluations

This course is designed around in-person study

There may be some online learning activities

Case-Based  Learning

Case-based learning (CBL) is central to the MBChB curriculum. It mirrors the way experienced doctors learn throughout their professional lives, by putting knowledge in the context of how people present with health concerns and conditions. Throughout the four years, you will work in small groups facilitated by a tutor to explore and analyse a range of clinical cases that will help you to learn all the core information required for you to become a safe, competent, and compassionate doctor. CBL sessions are supported by lectures, seminars, clinical skills sessions and learning opportunities in the community and hospital.

CBL is structured to enable you to integrate the biomedical, psycho-social and clinical sciences with real-world medical problems, helping you to develop team-working, communication and professional skills that are vital to becoming an effective doctor.

• Home Students
• International Students

2:1 honours degree

• At least an upper second class honours (2:1) degree in any subject.
• Candidates with a lower second class degree should hold either a Master's or a Doctoral qualification to be considered.
• In the case of an Intercalated Master's eg. MEng/MPharm, the equivalent of a Pass grade or above at Master's level (minimum 2:2).
• If you are starting or have started the final year of an undergraduate entry degree then you can apply, but please be aware that any offer will be conditional on you achieving a 2:1 or above. Similarly, if you have a 2:2 and are about to commence or you have already commenced a Master’s degree any offer will be conditional on successful award of a Master's degree.
• Meeting the minimum threshold mark in either  UCAT ,  GAMSAT  or  MCAT . The total score required to secure a place at an MBChB Selection Centre varies year on year and is dependent upon the performance of all applicants. The acceptable threshold score includes a verbal reasoning score at or above the mean for the cohort in the year of application. Please see below for the required marks to join our September 2024 cohort.
• Applicants will be required to provide references to evidence work experience if invited to attend a selection centre: 70 hours (the equivalent of around ten days’) of prior work experience in a healthcare or allied setting, as a volunteer, or in a paid capacity, as a helper to someone with healthcare needs. Evidence of experience working in a healthcare environment can include being a Care Assistant in a care home/hospital, a volunteer in a hospital, visiting someone in their home to care for them, and working in a hospital lab or other healthcare setting. This work experience must have taken place in the 3 years prior to the date of application. Shadowing a doctor/healthcare professional can only count for a maximum of 20 hours against the minimum requirement of 70 hours. Applicants for 2024 entry may apply without the required 70 hours however they must be working towards it. It would then become a condition if an offer was made.
• Applicants must provide one reference from a person (not a relative or friend) who holds/has held a position of responsibility and who can comment on the applicants suitability for studying medicine. If the applicant has been in higher education in the last two years prior to application, an academic reference should be provided. 
• At Chester we do not consider applications from those with previous academic failure at medical (or dental) school. For those with other, genuine reasons for needing to leave medical school, we consider these on a case-by-case basis and always contact the previous medical school for confirmation. Entry is only into Year 1 via the standard admissions process.
• All applicants who successfully meet the academic criteria and entry test standards will be required to attend for interview. The interview process lasts approximately one and a half hours and takes the form of six Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs). The detail of the stations will change each year, but all are designed to assess against GMC guidance on ‘Good Medical Practice’. You will be observed and scored at each station by two trained assessors. Assessors come from a range of backgrounds and include medical professionals, academics, current students and lay people with an interest in medical education. On completion of the MMI process, each candidate’s score profile is carefully reviewed to determine which candidates will be made an offer.
• All successful applicants must declare any and all, past or current, health, welfare and conduct issues that may affect an individual's fitness to study medicine and practise as a doctor following successful completion of the course.
• All successful applicants will be required to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) , payable by the applicant. International applicants will need to provide evidence from the country they are residing by following the advice provided on the   DBS website .

Disclaimer: Please be aware we are not able to give individual feedback from our selection centre process.

The minimum threshold scores vary each year. The table below shows our 2024 admissions threshold which should be used as a guide only and the 2025 admissions thresholds will be updated as appropriate.

Occupational Health

You will not be able to be involved with NHS patients in the United Kingdom unless you are cleared by our occupational health (OH) provider, Innovate Health Care.

Before coming to the UK to study medicine, Chester Medical School requires that all students meet the immunisation and screening standards required for working in the National Health Service (NHS) as required by the UK Department of Health.

The first part of the clearance process is the completion of the online health questionnaire. The second part is to ensure that you have received the vaccinations as required by the UK Department of Health.

An appointment with our Occupational Health (OH) provider will be arranged for you at the start of your training and before you undertake any clinical placements.

Attendance at your OH appointment is mandatory, and you will need to show photo ID when you attend your appointment such as a driving licence or passport.

We cannot force you to have a vaccination and there will be some students who are exempt. However, it is unlikely that OH will recommend that you are fit for clinical placements if you have not had the appropriate vaccinations. This may mean that your offer of a place on the programme may be withdrawn.

It is highly recommended that you are immunised against the following if you do not already have immunity to them:

Please bring with you any records with details of your immunisations including dates of administration.

Please note that although we do not mandate Covid-19 or influenza immunisation we advise you to have your booster vaccinations to protect you, your colleagues and patients.

Throughout your programme we may need to seek independent advice from our occupational health provider and refer you to their services. This may involve further vaccinations or other appropriate interventions.

It is important that you are truthful when completing your online health questionnaire. Dishonesty is incompatible with training regulated by the General Medical Council and may result in a Fitness to Practise referral.

The University of Chester adheres to the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the GMC Code of Confidentiality.

• All successful
• applicants will be required to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) , payable by the applicant. International applicants will need to provide evidence from the country they are residing by following the advice provided on the   DBS website .

The minimum threshold scores vary each year. The table below shows our 2024 admissions threshold which should be used as a guide only and the 2025 admissions thresholds will be updated as appropriate. 

The University of Chester adheres to the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the GMC Code of Confidentiality. 

English Language Requirements

International applicants will be required to submit an English Language test certificate confirming a score of (or equivalent to) IELTS 7.0 with a maximum of two component scores at 6.0 or 6.5. Please note, we do not accept University of Chester in-country English Language Tests for the MBChB course.

• Additional Costs

£9,250 per year (2024/2025)

The tuition fees for Home students studying Graduate Entry Medicine in 2024/25 are 9,250 per year.

Graduate Entry Medicine students apply for Undergraduate finance as they can receive the standard package of support including Tuition and Maintenance support.

The regulations provide that eligible students can apply for a tuition loan of up to £5,785 for the first academic year of their course and £5,535 in all other years of the course. Graduate Entry Medicine students are however still required to self-fund the first £3,465 of the tuition charged in their first year. In years two to four of the course, the first £3,715 is paid as part of the income-assessed NHS Bursary.

In year 1 students can apply for a means-tested maintenance loan and supplementary grants from Student Finance England and from year 2 to 4 of the course, as these students can apply for means-tested NHS bursaries, they become eligible for the RRML.

£42,500 per year (2024/2025)

The tuition fees for international students studying Graduate Entry Medicine in 2024/25 are £42,500. 

Irish Nationals living in the UK or ROI are treated as Home students for Tuition Fee Purposes.

Your course will involve additional costs not covered by your tuition fees. This may include books, printing, photocopying, educational stationery and related materials, specialist clothing, travel to placements, optional field trips and software. Compulsory field trips are covered by your tuition fees.

If you are living away from home during your time at university, you will need to cover costs such as accommodation, food, travel and bills.

The University of Chester supports fair access for students who may need additional support through a range of bursaries and scholarships. 

Full details, as well as terms and conditions for all bursaries and scholarships can be found on the   Fees and Finance section of our website.

Who you’ll learn from

Professor arpan guha.

City centre location

Located within the lively city centre of Chester and overlooking the River Dee, Wheeler is home to most courses within Nursing and Midwifery, Health and Social Care, and Law.

Health and Social Care simulation suite

Our simulation suite emulates diverse healthcare spaces, ranging from a patient’s home and community clinic settings to acute care settings, including a Triage Assessment Area, Maternity Delivery Suite, Children’s Ward, and a General Ward.

On-site library

Our on-site library houses extensive book collections, journals, and school-based resources, as well as computer suites and multimedia rooms that are ideal for Law students to access the Oxford University Press Law Trove, which houses all of their core texts online.

Social spaces

Wheeler’s café and coffee shop serves hot and cold drinks, snacks, and delicious meals. Meanwhile, the student common room provides a social, group work, and discussion space for students.

Job prospects

Being a doctor is not just about scientific knowledge, you must develop both professionally and personally throughout your career. The Professionalism and Personal Development strand runs throughout our curriculum with this in mind. Important aspects that you will explore include

• Teamworking
• Managing change and uncertainty
• Managing complexity
• Patient safety, including understanding how medical errors occur
• Leadership and management
• Time management and task prioritisation
• Becoming an effective teacher
• Managing your own wellbeing, developing resilience to stress
• Reflective thinking
• Learning to learn effectively

Careers service

The University has an award-winning Careers and Employability service which provides a variety of employability-enhancing experiences; through the curriculum, through employer contact, tailored group sessions, individual information, advice and guidance.

Careers and Employability aims to deliver a service which is inclusive, impartial, welcoming, informed and tailored to your personal goals and aspirations, to enable you to develop as an individual and contribute to the business and community in which you will live and work.

We are here to help you plan your future, make the most of your time at University and to enhance your employability. We provide access to part-time jobs, extra-curricular employability-enhancing workshops and offer practical one-to-one help with career planning, including help with CVs, applications and mock interviews. We also deliver group sessions on career planning within each course and we have a wide range of extensive information covering graduate jobs .

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