After two years of study, if all requirements are met, you can earn an associate's degree; the most common are the Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree or Associate of Science (A.S.) degree. The difference in the A.A. or A.S. degree depends on what area of study you have chosen. If you earn this degree at a two-year community college, you can transfer your credits to a four-year college or university and continue your schooling to earn a bachelor's degree. If you are planning to transfer, make sure that the courses you are taking will be accepted at the four-year university, since each school has its own requirements. The most common types of employment available with this degree are in the medical assisting, paralegal or computer--related fields. Earning this degree is an ideal way to get into the work force quickly. Today, many of the course requirements for an associate's degree can be done online.
After four years of study, with about 120 credit hours, you can earn a bachelor's degree. There are two types: the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree and the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree. The difference is dependent on what area of study, or major, you have chosen. A bachelor's degree is an undergraduate degree and is required for any type of graduate or post-graduate schooling. A bachelor's degree requires some credits to be in general education subjects that are not specific to your major, and upper division courses that are major specific. In today's workplace, completion of a bachelor's degree is frequently important in finding employment, and an individual with a bachelor's degree will typically earn more money than someone without one.
After receiving an undergraduate degree, you can commit to additional schooling to receive a master's degree.There are two types of master's degrees: a Master of Science (M.S.) degree and Master of Arts (M.A.) degree. This type of degree normally takes one to three years to complete, depending on the degree. There are minimum requirements that must be met for a master's degree; it is important to plan for these ahead of time, before your undergraduate degree is completed. Completion of a master's degree typically requires a written thesis, which is a research paper ranging from 40 -- 150 pages.
The highest level of degree attainable is a doctorate degree. There aren't many career choices that require a degree of this type, but you can study to graduate with one in essentially any area. Armed with a doctorate, you will be eligible for the highest paying positions in a field. Two of the most common professions that require a doctorate degree are physicians (M.D.) and psychologists (Ph.D.). A doctorate degree takes four to six years to complete; if you already have a master's degree, it may take slightly less time depending upon the area of study. The most common type of doctorate degrees are in the professional area, awarded when enough schooling is completed to enter a certain profession, or in the research area, awarded when mastery of research methods in a certain field is shown.