Can anyone explain me how US academic degrees are ranked?
I can't get my head around it. Masters, Doctorates, PhDs, majoring, minoring etc...
US academic degrees
Leo Johnson
Zachary Ward
minor: bachelors degree
major: masters degree
but it's completely retarded because some guys can do a phd(doctorate) after only a bachelors degree.
nothing makes sense
Alexander Price
>minor: bachelors degree
>major: masters degree
That's totally wrong. OP, university in the US is divided into undergraduate (what most people mean when they say they're "in college") and graduate school. In undergraduate, you have to specialize in one subject. That's your major. Sometimes people are retarded and their school lets them make up majors, like "interdisciplinary studies". Some people specialize in more than one subject, meaning they have to meet the major requirements for every major (some people do double majors, rarely do people do triple majors). Minors are like sub-majors. They have less requirements than a major, and really don't mean shit for anything. Companies don't care about them and neither do graduate schools. Minors and double majors aren't required to graduate, only majors.
Once you finish undergrad in your chosen major, you get a bachelor's degree. From there you can apply to graduate school, which means you get a masters or PhD. Aside from some specialty disciplines and unique cases, most schools offer masters degrees along with PhDs. Masters degrees usually only require an extra 2 years of school. You don't need to do research, although some schools require a thesis. Aside from that, masters usually don't get funding for their school and need to take out student loans just like undergraduates. They usually aren't considered as prestigious as a PhD and done mostly for professionals in the private sector.
PhDs are doctorates. PhD students do the 2 years of school that a masters student would, but they end up doing research for the university building up to a thesis. They normally get awarded a degree in 5-7 years total (meaning 3-5 years research) and get to be called "doctor".
Ayden Cox
To extend on this, there are multiple types of each degrees:
Bachelor's of Science (BS), Liberal Arts (BA), fine arts (BFA), etc. In the bachelor's case, the same major might be available as a BS or BA, or some other combination, depending on the specific courses you take. For instance, the environmental studies dept at my Alma mater typically offered a BA, but taking some extra math, stats, and biology courses (20 credits or ~6 semester-long classes) would grant you a BS instead.
Master's are similar in that there are Master's of Science, Business, Arts, Education, Engineering, etc.
There are also terminal and non-terminal master's. Typically a terminal master's involves only coursework and is the final degree you get. A non-terminal master's involves research, a thesis, and is typically pursued as preparation for application to a PhD program, either to make up for shit undergrad grades or make up deficiencies if you're switching fields from Bachelor's to PhD.
Doctorates come in several varieties as well: philosophy (PhD), education (EdD), engineering (EngD) are the big three.
A doctoral program typically features 1-2 years of mostly coursework followed by a set of comprehensive exams (sometimes waived for various reasons, like a relevant master's), then 3-5 years of teaching, research, publication, and thesis writing. Some doctoral programs may offer master's degree if you decide to quit before finishing the full thesis.
Kayden Perez
There are also distinctions of Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Cum Laude which are basically the equivalent of the UK 1, 2:i and 2:ii distinctions iirc.
Leo Butler
>5-7
A PhD is normally around five years--assuming you're fresh out of undergrad--or three years if you're going from a M.A. --> PhD
>7 year doctorate programs
I'm really interested to hear more though, jesus fucking christ
Jace Bailey
And there are associate's degrees as well, which are open enrollment 2 year degrees offered at community colleges (places that offer cheap tuition for low-level courses, technical training like welding, nursing, truck driving, etc).
These are usually either terminal or taken as preparation for a Bachelor's program. Most universities partner with local community colleges to allow transferring lower-division (first and maybe second year of bachelor's) course credit. It's common to do the first 1-2 years at a community college, then transfer to a uni for two years to get a bachelor's as a way to save money.
Personally, I took several courses at community college while I was still in secondary school, enrolled in a bachelor's program at uni immediately after secondary school, and continued taking night courses at community college, allowing me to finish a bachelor's in 2.5 rather than the normal 4 years, and for a fraction of the price.
Cameron Morris
retard. why talk with such authority about something you clearly know nothing about?
Nathaniel Sanders
>pretending its even remotely a hard system
nice bait 1/10 made me reply
Mason Ross
I did a 2 year Master's and I'm in my 5th year PhD. I'm intentionally delaying graduation because I am doing research with patents owned by the university. I lose access to all this cool shit as soon as I graduate, so I'm just not doing my dissertation yet.
Ayden Wright
You're clearly an outlier.
Josiah Gutierrez
So you're paying out of your own pocket? Surely they don't fund you for that long.
Christopher Cooper
Wtf are post docs? Like gigs for people with a PhD? For what purpose and why do you need one
Andrew Rivera
The eternal student
Benjamin Wilson
OP here.
Thanks for your time anons, that was really clear. I now can have an analogy with my own country's degree system.
Nicholas Hall
>middle school=school
>highschool=school
>college=school
>university=school
The fuck is wrong with americans?
Brandon Brown
Post docs are PhDs hired to work on a specific project. They are temp workers.
Christian Williams
post-docs are not students at all, it's just what you do after a doctorate if you're not lucky enough to land a permanent position.
Lincoln Stewart
Ignore this post because it's absolutely wrong.
If you're a high school faggot and have no idea how college works don't post on Veeky Forums pretending you do
Jacob Taylor
Completely wrong Lmao
Brandon Wood
en.wikipedia.org
>Major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits.
en.wikipedia.org
>An academic minor is a college or university student's declared secondary academic discipline during their undergraduate studies.
>Some students will prepare for their intended career with their major, while pursuing personal interests with a minor, for example, majoring in civil engineering while minoring in a foreign language or performing arts.
>Other students may pursue a minor to provide specific specialization and thus make themselves more attractive to employers. It is not infrequent for a physics major to minor in computer science, or an engineering or economics student to minor in mathematics.
>Students intending to become secondary education teachers often major in their teaching subject area (for example, history or chemistry) and minor in education.
Jack Cruz
admissions.carleton.ca
>What is the difference between a Major and a Minor?
>A Major is the field in which a student focuses during the course of his/her degree. A student will generally complete 10 out of the necessary 20 credits in an Honours degree in the Major subject area.
>A Minor is a secondary concentration of courses that often complements the Major. This usually requires completion of 4 required credits in the Minor subject area.