After your high school graduation, you might be overwhelmed with the available academic programs you can find at universities. Not only that, but you might get confused with the degrees like bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, and the like. What are their differences? It seems like these degrees are hard to understand, but they are easy to differentiate with. Besides, you take these college degrees in order. Meaning, you cannot earn a doctorate first then get a bachelor’s degree after. It is essential to know more about them so that you can make plans for your college life.
College Degrees in Order
As mentioned, you cannot take a doctorate without completing your undergraduate and graduate programs first. SO to help you understand more about these academic programs, here are the college degrees in order.
Associate’s Degrees
You may consider associate’s degrees first if you have a hard time to fund your schooling. It is because they will only require you two years of study. Meaning, you can receive a diploma in no time. These two year-degrees allow you to pursue a career of your interest.
You have the option to continue your education by getting a bachelor’s degree or start a job with an associate’s diploma. Taking college degrees begin with either associate’s degrees or bachelor’s degrees. The benefits of completing these academic programs include saving money since you will only study for two years.
Bachelor’s Degrees
Suppose you choose a bachelor’s degree over associate’s degrees. Instead of two years, you need to study at least for years to receive your diploma. Although it is quite a long time and will require you to spend money, the results are gratifying once you receive your certificate. With bachelor’s degrees, you can now access more career opportunities and start the profession you like. You have a higher chance of landing your dream job because having the diploma certifies that you have acquired the necessary skills and knowledge.
Besides, most companies nowadays are conducting background checks to assess applicants. For sure, you want to impress your employer. Therefore, you need something that can validate your skills. Aside from that, employers also evaluate the attitude of the applicants through your school records. With bachelor’s degrees, you can be confident with what you have gained from the university.
Master’s Degrees
Although getting a master’s degree is optional, you can be more professional when you pursue it. Completing this graduate program enhances your learnings. Therefore, earning a master’s degree is highly recommended. Usually, you need to spend additional years to complete these programs. However, it still depends on the university and the course you will take. If you want to earn a master’s degree faster than conventional ones, you may look for legitimate degree makers who can provide you with short courses. Doing so saves you time and money for educational expenses.
Doctorate
Earning doctorate degrees are also optional. You can take them if you want to pursue the highest education or get teaching opportunities. Know that these are not exclusive to those who wish to become professors in a university. Anyone can obtain doctorate degrees, but you need to have a strong will to get them because it will require additional years of study.
When taking a doctorate, you need to invest money in the course materials and other educational expenses. Worry not because you can access more career opportunities after completing doctorate degrees than those with bachelor’s degrees. Aside from that, you’ll be more confident knowing that you have acquired the highest form of education.
Professional Degrees
These are graduate degrees that you need when acquiring a license to work in a specific field. Not all degrees require certification, but those that need licensing include medical degrees. Besides this profession, professional degrees can also be offered in psychology, finance, business, and engineering.
Specialist Degrees
Specialist degrees are academic programs that you can pursue after obtaining a master’s degree. These degrees allow you to receive additional expertise and knowledge in a specific discipline. Not only that, but they can also provide you with industry-level certification. This document is necessary for state licensure.
Professional Certificates and Licenses
Some people don’t believe that earning a college degree is ideal for achieving your academic goals. They believe having a professional certificate is more beneficial, especially if you will pursue a higher education based on economics. Other than that, earning a professional certification is also a lot less expensive.
Online Degrees
Online degrees are any academic program mentioned above that you can take online—meaning, whatever interests you, you can earn it in the comfort of your home. Besides, there are many benefits that you can enjoy with online degrees. Taking online degrees has always been more convenient from saving more funds to studying on a flexible schedule.
Where to Earn Your Degree
For sure, you could be wondering where to get our degree. Below is a list of universities that offer high-quality education no matter what program interest you:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Stanford University
- Harvard University
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
- University of Oxford
- ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
- University of Cambridge
- Imperial College London
- University of Chicago
- UCL (University College London)
- National University of Singapore (NUS)
- Princeton University
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU)
- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
- Tsinghua University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Yale University
- Cornell University
- Columbia University
- University of Edinburgh
- University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
- University of Hong Kong (UK)
- Peking University
- University of Tokyo
- Johns Hopkins University
- University of Toronto
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
- University of Manchester
- Northwestern University
- The University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
Earning a degree is quite challenging because you need to spend years and exert a lot of effort. But as long as you are fulfilling your goals, you can acquire as many degrees as you like. But make sure to get college degrees in order and use them to your advantage.