What is Graduate School?
A Graduate school is typically a school that offers advanced degrees, such as a doctorate or masters degree. Students are usually required to have already completed an undergraduate degree before they can enroll. A Graduate degree is often focused on a particular discipline, such as medicine or law, however there are also programs that focus on a Professional discipline, such as the Master of Business Administration (BA) degree.
What is graduate school: How is it different from an Undergraduate degree?
The Undergraduate program is usually more generalized and they cover a wide range of subjects. The Graduate degree instead narrows the focus to your specific area of study. You will have fewer electives and smaller classes. This enables professors to spend more time with the students, where they can ensure that you fully understand the materials and they can further refine your learning. Often times you will be required to participate in original research projects or even have on the job training through an internship program. The important question you must consider is what is graduate school going to give you to succeed?
What is graduate school: What are the levels of degrees available?
You can obtain a graduate degree in just about any subject matter. Depending on the graduate school you attend, there are three levels of degrees you can obtain.
What is Graduate School degrees called:
Master’s Degree – The master’s degree programs are the first steps in the Graduate programs. You’ve seen them often as a Masters Degree of Business Administration. Normally it takes about 2 years to complete a Master’s Degree program. This is on top of your undergraduate degree.
Specialist Degrees – Typically you will go on to study for a specialists degree after you complete your Master’s. These degrees are normally of a professional nature or for licensing requirements, such as a degree for a principal in education.
Doctoral Degrees – This is the highest degrees that are awarded by Graduate Schools. The student is required to create new information via their own independent research. The degree is awarded after the student researches their topic, writes and defends a thesis or dissertation and can take up to 5-7 years to complete.
In some programs, especially in the medical fields, a Doctoral student will be exposed to a wider range of courses in order to broaden the students knowledge for the real world. These will often occur through residency programs. What is graduate school process of study?
What is graduate school: Courses of study
When a student selects a course of study, whether it be for a Master’s, Specialist or Doctorate degree, they will be required to declare their intended subject of study. Once a student finishes their course work, they will be required to pass one or even several examinations to show their level of competence. Further into their study, most students will take on teaching duties, commonly done as graders or tutors for other students. It is also possible that they could become a lecturer. What is graduate school providing you?
What is graduate school: Doctoral Programs
Doctoral programs, after the 2nd or 3rd year of study, will put the students through another series of tests, often referred to as Quals, Candidacy or Generals. Each of these tests are designed to make sure the student has a good grasp of a large portion of their previous studies within their area of expertise. Some of these exams may be an oral exam. Regardless on the format, these exams are extremely stressful and require a large amount of time to complete. You must pass these test to be able to move on to your thesis studies.
As you can see, the graduate school programs can take a lot of time to complete, and can be extremely stressful. However, upon completion, the degree can provide you many opportunities to succeed professionally. A Graduate degree program may not be for everyone. The time invested and the costs of the programs can be extreme. So be sure that you are ready for the long haul, should you decide to seek a Graduate degree. Just ask yourself, what is graduate school going to do to help you move up in your career.