Online education programs allow you to work at your own pace. You can take as long as you like to complete a degree or work at an accelerated rate. Additionally, resources, classes and assignments are often accessible at any time of day. Concord Law School, a distance learning program, for example, allows students to access materials on a 24 hour, seven day a week basis.
Joint degrees are a means for students to obtain a bachelor's and a master's degree simultaneously. The program at the University at Albany, for example, puts students on a program to complete both degrees in as little as six years. Joint degrees can also offer added benefits such as a waiver of admissions fees, early acceptance into the program and an opportunity to take both undergraduate and graduate level courses at the same time.
Fast tracking is available through selected universities wanting to entice a bachelor's degree student into staying on to complete their master's. Fast-track candidates must usually maintain a high grade point average and excel in the field they are studying. The fast track philosophy allows students to begin taking graduate level courses when they are one semester--or 15 credits--away from fully completing their undergraduate program.
Master's degree graduates stand out with employers, particularly when graduates specialize in particular fields of study. As of May 2010, given a gloomy economic climate, students who obtain a master's degree to become a physician's assistant, for example, are more likely to be hired quickly, according to Forbes. As hospitals and medical facilities cut staffing positions and are unable to afford as many doctors as in previous years, physician's assistants are able to perform many of the same duties as standard physicians and are very desirable to professional employers.