Undergraduate degree

Undergraduate degree is a contradiction in terms (and thus a misnomer) meaning "pre-degree degree". ["The State Press", Arizona State University; September 11, 2008; page 4, "Making light of a misnomer".]

Recently it is being used to mean first degree or simply degree, the most common and primary academic degree awarded. It is usually offered at an institution for higher education, such as a university.

By far the most common type of undergraduate degree is the bachelor's degree, which typically takes three or four years to complete.

Undergraduate degrees around the world

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the degree of bachelor is the most common type of undergraduate degree, though, confusingly, there are also some master's degrees (which are usually postgraduate degrees) that are undergraduate degrees. These are chiefly the "enhanced" Master's Degrees which are a year longer than the Bachelor's Degree and combine both a three year Bachelor's and a one year Master's.Although as an exception to this rule there is also the Oxbridge MA, which are automatically awarded to all bachelor's degree holders a few years after graduation, and the ancient Scottish MAs, awarded by the ancient universities of Scotland.

North America

First professional degrees sometimes contain the word 'Doctor', but are still considered to be undergraduate degrees in most countries, including Canada. [ [http://www.mcgill.ca/dentistry/admissions/undergrad/ McGill Undergraduate Dental Program] ] [ [http://www.med.ualberta.ca/education/ugme/index.cfm The Undergraduate MD Program at the University of Alberta] ] However, in the United States, most first professional degrees are considered graduate programs by the U.S. Department of Education and require students to already possess an undergraduate degree before admission. [http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-gradposted.html USNEI-Structure of U.S. Education - Graduate/Post Education Levels: Graduate Postsecondary Education] ] These degrees are not research doctorates and not equivalent to the Ph.D. [http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-professional-studies.html USNEI-Structure of U.S. Education - Graduate/Post Education Levels: First-Professional Studies] ] Many countries offer bachelors degrees that are equivalent to American graduate degrees, for example the M.D. degree offered in the U.S. is equivalent to the MBBS degree. [ [http://wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/_WMS/legislation/_files/pdf/compendium/practice97-112.pdf Wisconsin Medical Society: Practice, Organization and Interprofessional Issues] ]

In the United States and rarely in Canada, an Associate's Degree is a two-year degree. It is occasionally undertaken as the beginning of a four-year degree. When doing so, a student transferring to a four-year institution can have difficulty in convincing the receiving institution to acknowledge his previous coursework so that he does not need to repeat a course. Problems are not limited to specific class requirements, but also to requisites for graduation and pre-requisites of the new institution. Such a situation can cause the transferring student to remain in the larger institution longer than originally intended. Some two-year institutions have transfer agreements with four-year institutions, which specify which courses will transfer without problems. [ [http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/transfer/tr_info_ccc/tr_planning.html University of California - Admissions ] ]

ee also

* British undergraduate degree classification

References