Does a Master’s degree usually have some sort of relationship to the undergraduate degree or can they be in completely different fields? For example, someone with a degree in engineering studying for a Master’s in Latin American history?
A graduate degree does not have to relate to your undergraduate degree at all. However, most graduate degrees require a level of work that would necessitate a strong foundation in whatever it is you are studying before you start. If you stray too far from your education you will find getting the degree difficult and a university may not even allow you to try if you cannot satisfy them that you have some ability in the desired area of study.
I do know that the reverse of your example wouldn’t fly.
I’ve seen documentation from a university indicating that applicants for their science master’s programs should have a BS in a hard science as a background.
Thanks WaM.
I would think the type of graduate degree being sought has a lot to do with it. A professional degree (such as engineering) requires a great deal of very specific education. Compare this to something a bit more general such as art history or philosophy.
My oldest brother has two masters and two PhDs in electrical engineering and high energy physics. For one of his thesis he did work at the Stanford Linear Accelerator. There is no way in hell a university will let someone who just decided they want to pursue a PhD in high energy physics near that equipment.
I suppose it is conceivable that you could self-educate yourself in a professional discipline without a formal education (albeit exceedingly difficult…especially if the discipline requires lab work you haven’t had) so if you want a university to allow you to seek a graduate degree in that discipline I imagine you would have to prove to them your knowledge is sufficient before letting you start.
This just occurred to me…
Consider medical doctors and lawyers. If you want to be one of those most people generally take their undergrad degree in pre-med or pre-law. However, to be admitted to medical or law school you just need to pass your entrance tests which essentially prove to the university that you have enough knowledge to make progressing to the more advanced stuff reasonable. If you can pass those tests with an undergrad degree in (say) journalism I don’t see why the university would have cause to prevent you from entering the graduate program.
[sub]NOTE: Although we generally do not address attornies as ‘Doctor XXX’ they do possess a doctoral degree. You graduate from law school with a Doctor of Jurisprudence.[/sub]
Actually, most if not all med schools have some pre-requisite courses, many of them in sciences. You don’t need a science major to enter med school, but you need to complete those extra classes before going to med school. In some cases, you can take them as electives or general education courses.
I went on to graduate work in a College of Communications after having taking my undergrad degree at a school that did not offer even one single communications course.
I had to take two undergrad courses along with my grad work to get me over the minimum qualification, but that was the only hurdle. I was also accepted at other grad schools even without any communications coursework, much less a degree.
At the time I was in it, KU had no actual “pre Med” or “pre Law” degree, just a list of “highly, highly recommended courses”. Which later became “required” courses, but still no actual “pre-Med” program.
The engineering school required an engineering BS for any field except engineering physics, where one could have a physics BS.
I don’t know if things have changed at this point again, but that’s how it was 10 years ago.
Una
Sometimes you are required to take a few foundation courses (prescribed by the university to which you’re applying) and clear them to qualify for admission to a master’s course.
For a master’s degree in art history, this is fairly accurate–I’ve seen several people come into an MA art history program whose undergraduate focus was in something other than art history (studio art, interdisciplinary humanities, literature, etc.).
However, I think I should point out that to get your PhD in art history, your education will have to be much more specific in nature. That is, you can get your MA in art history without necessarily having a BA in the same subject, but once you get to the doctoral level, you’d better have narrowed down your interests to a particular specialization (usually a particular period of art history).
Some advice for anyone who’s thinking of pursuing their doctorate in art history.
P.S. An undergraduate degree in art history is usually so general that it’s pretty much worthless in terms of landing a job immediately after graduation. That’s why if you’re going to work as an art historian, you’ll have to pursue an advanced degree, wherein you’ll get that more specific kind of education
I got my bachelor’s in Political Science/History. I got my master’s in English. I didn’t have to take any additional courses to enter the Master’s progarm; they were not required (though I did have a few courses in English as an undergraduate).
So it does depend on what you’re applying for.
I got my B.A. in Spanish, with a minor in Russian. I got my M.A. in Russian & East European Studies. About half, if not more, of the people in my M.A. program had unrelated, or tenouosly related, degrees. It was definitely a program where life experiences were also counted for admissions purposes; we had former Peace Corps volunteers, military officers, journalists, theologians, etc. I’d never had a related course other than Russian language, but somehow I survived (although it was painful at times, especially when I was thrown into an upper-level poly-sci seminar or history seminar along with 3rd-year Ph.D. students in the field, and expected to compete with people who had devoted several years of their lives to the subject).
Another friend of mine did an M.S. in Civil Engineering after her B.S. in Physics. Related fields, of course, but definitely not 100% overlap. It can be done, but it requires some really hard work.
I recently received an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering; my B.S. was in Chemical Engineering.
I’m getting a Business undergrad degree, does anyone know if I can try for a Masters in Psychology?
Out of curiosity is it possible to seek a graduate degree without having any undergraduate degree? Assume that maybe you have some experience in your field of study but for whatever reason you never attended college.
I know that universities will occasionally grant honorary degrees to people if they feel that person’s life work merits it but I think that’s a little different.
An old H.S. buddy of mine is currently finishing his Ph.D. in math at Cal Tech, in spite of having dropped out of college after his freshman year. He’s a certifiable math genius, as you might imagine; he spent most of the intervening years (10 or so) writing mathematical software. He’s just one of those sickeningly smart people. Again, it can be done, but only under very special circumstances.
That sounds like it would be a tough one.
I did the reverse of what you are talking about doing.
AFAIK, a master’s degree doesn’t teach you much more new material than a corresponding undergrad degree. In fact, my alma mater recommend against taking a master’s in some discipline where you already have a bachelor’s. Doctoral is the way to go.
It had better teach you something new. Otherwise what’s the point?
IIRC a doctoral degree is something else compared to a masters or undergrad degree. A doctoral degree needs you to add to the knowledge base for a given discipline thus advancing the field. Of course, in your quest to add knowledge to a field you learn something as well.