An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree taken by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. It is usually offered at an institution of higher education, such as a university. The most common type of this degree is the bachelor's degree, which typically takes three or four years to complete.
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In the United Kingdom, the degree of bachelor is the most common type of "undergraduate degree", although some master's degrees can be undertaken immediately after finishing secondary education, however these courses are extended versions of bachelors degree programmes, taking an additional year to complete. Most bachelors degrees take three years to complete, with some notable exceptions such as Medicine taking five years. Often students can initially enrol in a 4 year programme then leave after three years and be awarded a bachelors degree, similarly some schools allow students to extend their three year courses to four. A student undertaking a four-year master's undergraduate course is eligible for a an SLC student loans to cover all four years, rather than just the first three.
First professional degrees sometimes contain the word 'Doctor', but are still considered to be "undergraduate degrees" in most countries, including Canada.[1][2] For example, the Doctor of Medicine (MD) program in Canada is considered an "undergraduate degree." 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.[3] These degrees are not research doctorates and not equivalent to the Ph.D.[4] 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 or MBChB degree.[5]
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[citation needed]. 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.[6]
   | The Undergraduate MD Program at the University of Alberta - Undergraduate Medical Education - Home |
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