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Earning Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees

from: Kyle Besser

Post-secondary education in the United States is voluntary. Students traditionally apply to receive admission into a college. Schools differ in their competitiveness and reputation. Generally, the most prestigious schools are private rather than public. Admission criteria involve grades earned in high school courses taken, the students' GPA, class ranking and standardized test scores, such as the SAT or the ACT tests. Most colleges also consider more subjective factors such as extracurricular activities, a personal essay and an interview.

Once admitted, students begin their undergraduate study, which consists of satisfying university and class requirements to achieve a bachelor's degree in a field of concentration known as a major. Some students enroll in double majors or "minor" in another field of study. The most common method consists of four years of study leading to a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) or sometimes another bachelor's degree such as Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.), Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.,) or Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.). Five-Year Professional Architecture programs offer the Bachelor of Architecture Degree (B.Arch.).

Professional degrees, such as law, medicine and dentistry, are not offered at the undergraduate level. They are completed as graduate study after completing at least three years of undergraduate study or after earning a bachelor's degree, depending on the program. These professional fields do not require a specific undergraduate major, but medicine and dentistry have set prerequisite courses that must be taken before enrollment.

Entrance into graduate programs usually depends on a student's undergraduate academic performance or professional experience as well as the score on a standardized entrance exam such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE-graduate schools in general), the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) or the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). Many graduate and law schools do not require experience after earning a bachelor's degree to enter their programs. Business school candidates are usually required to gain a few years of professional work experience before applying. Only 8.9% of students ever receive postgraduate degrees. Most proceed directly into the workforce after obtaining their bachelor's degree.

Graduate study leads to a more advanced degree such as a master's degree, which could be a Master of Arts (MA), Master of Science (MS), Master of Business Administration (MBA) or other less common master's degrees such as Master of Education (MEd) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA). After additional years of study and sometimes in conjunction with the completion of a master's degree, students may earn a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or other doctoral degree, such as Doctor of Arts, Doctor of Education, Doctor of Theology, Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of Physical Therapy or Doctor of Jurisprudence.

Some programs, such as medicine, have formal apprenticeship procedures after graduation like residency and internship which must be completed before one is considered to be fully trained. Other professional programs like law and business have no formal apprenticeship requirements after graduation. Law school graduates must take the bar exam to legally practice law in almost all states.