Postgraduate (Graduate) Education

In order to find a professional job, a college graduate with a Bachelor's Degree today usually will want to consider graduate study.

Students from some countries are only permitted to study overseas at the graduate level. Because requirements are different in many countries, you should inquire about the credentials you will need to get a job in your country before you apply to a postgraduate school in the U.S.A.

Master's Degree: Many international students are able to qualify for the jobs they want after they have earned a Master's Degree. This degree is usually required in fields such as library science,

engineering, or social work. The M.B.A., or Master of Business Administration, is an extremely popular degree that usually takes two years. Some Master's programs, such as journalism, only take one year.

In an academic Master's program, students study such fields as history and philosophy. These degrees are considered stepping-stones toward a doctorate (Ph.D.).

Most time in a Master's program is spent in classroom study. A Master's Degree candidate usually must prepare a long research paper called a "master's thesis."

Doctorate (Ph.D.): Many graduate schools consider the Master's Degree as the first step towards attaining the Ph.D. (doctorate). But at other schools, students may prepare directly for the doctorate without also earning a Master's Degree. It may take three years or more to earn the Ph.D. Degree. For international students, this time may be as long as five or six years.

For the first two years, most doctoral candidates enroll in classes and seminars. For at least another year, students will conduct firsthand research and write a thesis or dissertation. This paper must contain views, designs, or research that have not been previously published.

A doctoral dissertation is a discussion and summary of the current scholarship on a given topic. Most universities awarding doctorates also require their candidates to have a reading knowledge of two foreign languages, to spend some required length of time "in residence" attending class regularly, to pass a qualifying examination that officially admits candidates to the Ph.D. program, and to pass an oral examination on the same topic as the dissertation.