Of US based, regionally accredited master’s degree (either academic or professional) programs,
What is the easiest to get into? I think someone on this board mentioned that there were some programs with little or no requirements for admission beyond having a bachelor’s degree. E.g. what programs care little for a candidate’s standardized test scores, GPA, or recommendation letters and more or less let anyone with a bachelor’s degree try, and maybe they’ll pass, and maybe they’ll fail and the school laughs all the way to the bank?
What is the easiest to complete? For example, are there ultra-fluffy mickey mouse master’s degrees that are generally a breeze but technically result in a true master’s degree (e.g. MS, MA, MBA, MSW, etc.)
You’ll have thousands of answers, even in the same field. Are you asking about specifics (Master of Fine Arts in A. University is really easy)? Or more general (all MFAs are considered easy, or all sociology programs, etc.).
I assume you won’t accept online programs from questionable expensive online schools, with questionable job acceptance and high cost? (think University of Phoenix although they’re probably one of the better ones) Schools that will give you a degree as long as you keep sending them piles of money?
For more general:
1 examples: the sciences will weight research experience heavily, while others might want portfolios, so things like GRE scores or GPA serve as either minimum cutoffs or tie breakers for two equally impressive students. Humanities might weigh differently. Most programs do not tell you what the minimum is, except maybe GPA and exams.
2: I don’t think you’re saying this, but the difference between an MA and MS (or BA and BS) is basically what the school wants to call the degree they award. Neither is more impressive, it’s more like a degree in psychology at school A is a BA/MA because they’re in the College of Liberal Arts, while a MS/BS is if it’s the College of Science. Or they may represent different subfields.
The other ones you quoted: MBA can be a joke. MSW usually requires lots of hands on experience, and if the work is hard or not, it at least requires lots of time and effort. I don’t know much about MFA, but I’d imagine they can range from intensive to the stereotypical movie joke version.
And of course, MA/MS programs will generally be longer than professional programs. Related is that a thesis might be required.
I’m looking for either. For example, “MLS degrees tend to be a piece of cake to get into - even mediocre students tend to get accepted more or less automatically to every school they apply to”, or “Sociology programs tend to be much easier than any other programs to complete - the classes are so easy”, or “The University of North-By-Northwest Central Kansas tends to admit anyone into their MA in English Literature but the classes are tough tough tough and most people flunk out, but their MEd in Educational Management is really hard to get into (they even reject 9 out of 10 high school principals) but once you get in, the classes are so easy you could get a concussion and lobotomy on your first day and drool all over the course materials and you’d still get at least a B.”
If it’s regionally accredited like Excelsior and Western Governors’ University, it counts. Wow, I just checked and it looks like DeVry, one of the traditional “bottom of the barrel” schools, has regional accreditation nowadays. So as long as the program falls under regional accreditation, it counts for the purpose of my OP.
Totally anecdotal but when I was registering for classes for my MS I was browsing through the catalog and noticed that a Masters in Womans Studies required a grand total of 2 classes and a research paper.
We have more than a few MLS (library science, right?) people on here, hopefully they can chime in how hard it is.
DeVry isn’t even close to what I think of the worst. As far as I know, they may fall under “easy to get into” but not “easy to pass.” I’m thinking of schools that are accredited by something like “the Southwestern Kentucky League of Bible Colleges.” I suppose you could also count a “Master’s Degree in Religion” from the Universal Life Church, which has the admissions requirements of $50 and graduation you take a test.
Hate to say it, but I’ll guess that the easiest is probably somewhere in the Humanities.
There are open enrollment master’s programs that simply don’t have standards, so those are by definition the easiest to get into.
It’s much harder to talk about easy programs to complete because it’s not clear what exactly easy means. I did a master’s degree in computer science at an elite university, and everybody who started the program finished, but that was largely because they only admitted the students who were likely to succeed. Would that count as easy to finish?
What programs? There are some schools (e.g. Harvard Extension) where you can register for graduate courses more or less on an open enrollment basis, but I thought you still had to apply for admission to the program (i.e. candidacy), and you could still be declined even if you had done well.
Make a judgment call. There are two forks to describing a program as difficult - one is the sheer difficulty of the material and one is the effort required. Of course, to some extent the two concepts are interrelated but there are certainly some programs that require more sheer memorization and regurgitation on tests and endless short essays that aren’t too hard individually but there are dozens, if not hundreds of them to do and you have to have them all done now now now than others and others that have more of an emphasis on mastering complex theories that might be beyond a person’s ability even if they had all day to study.
Undergraduate courses don’t all require the same amount of effort for a typical student. Quantum Physics and Differential Equations are complex and involve a lot of pounding math and splitting headaches. Physical Education courses require that you show up and throw the ball but don’t really involve much studying, or even much of an exercise regime.
Depends upon the program. I didn’t find admissions difficult, nor did I find the coursework particularly had - but I had yearmates who took a different track (into more cataloging/technical services) who found some of their classes much more difficult.
That said, there are MLS (and equivalent) programs that I see as essentially “you apply, you get in, you get a degree” - when they pump out 300-500 students or more from one specific program per year, it’s hard for me to see that one as other than a degree mill.
I have not had any difficulties at all in my library school program, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for all of my classmates, so perhaps take that with a grain of salt.
Getting in - I took the GRE, and it was a cakewalk.
Courses - There are 3 required classes for the degree, and one additional “technology” class that can be exempted with an equivalency exam (which was also a cakewalk). From that point on, I decided my program of study and my focus, so I took classes I was interested in and that would not be difficult. No one cares what specific classes you took to get your expensive piece of embossed paper, so why kill yourself in hard classes?
General workload - mostly focused on soft-sciences and creative exercises - making presentation posters to present at conferences, writing up analyses of community or location demographics and interpreting them, creating programs or class presentations.
Lots of working in groups. I found that to be mainly a negative, although mileage can vary here with the program and your specific classmates.
Damn expensive, although it doesn’t appear to be moreso than other programs. My university had limited options for internships, so no real way to offset that cost by working for the university or by TAing.