SchoolisHard

This is an article for those unfamiliar with what different degrees mean. They are placed in order of attainment.

Associate of Arts (AA)/Associate of Science (AS)
Time required: 2 Years
Credits required: 60 credit hours

An associate degree is typically awarded by community colleges and can be applied to a bachelor’s degree.

Bachelor of Arts (BA)/Bachelor of Science (BS)
Time required: 4 Years
Credits required: 120-128 depending on the major

This degree is still the standard. Remember your parents telling you “go to college so you can get a degree and a good job” when you were younger? This is the degree they meant.

Master of Arts (MA)/Master of Science (MS)/Master of Business Administration(MBA)
Time required: 2 Years

Slowly becoming the new standard. A master’s degree is kind of a VIP card when it comes to employment. All of the classes you see with the 500+/5000+ ranking in your course catalog are for students pursuing a master’s degree. Must write and defend a thesis/dissertation, which is basically an original work of non-fiction created by the student.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D - “doctorate”)
Time required: 2 Years

Usually reserved for professors, researchers, or smart kids who still haven’t made up their minds yet. After this level you can do some post-doctoral work which is referred to as “post-doc”. Again, must write and defend a thesis/dissertation.

What about law/architecture/medicine?

These students are usually awarded what is considered a “First professional degree”. In the field of law, the degree after a bachelor’s is referred to as a Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.). For medicine there could be an entire article devoted just to the different titles beside Doctor of Medicine (M.D.).

The time required will vary depending on your own ambition and the difficulty of the field you are pursuing. If you follow the typical schedule you are looking at an extra 10 years after high school to get a doctorate.

Let’s clear up something else. Just because your degree says Art or Science at the end of it doesn’t mean you are really majoring in either. I use this example often, but history can be considered either a BA or a BS. For actual art, the major usually has a “fine arts” distinction, as in the Master of Fine Arts (MFA).

See any glaring omissions? Speak up and I’ll add it.