professional degrees
Licensed practice prerequisites
Professional degrees are graduate credentials that prepare students for specific licensed occupations—law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and similar fields.
Unlike academic degrees focused on research, professional degrees emphasize practical training and clinical experience: She earned her JD from Harvard Law, After completing his MD, he began his residency.
The term distinguishes these programs from doctoral degrees aimed at scholarship rather than practice.
- MBAGraduate degree in commerce
- lawBinding principle or regulation
- nursingMedical caretaking profession
- medicineCurative substance or practice
- architectureBuilding design discipline
teaching · dentistry · criminology · pharmacy · public administration · civil engineering · veterinary medicine · bar exam · accounting · finance · optometry · licensure · physical therapy · tassel · commencement ceremony · mortarboard · public health · robe
- professional educationcontinuing education, vocational college, trade school, trade schools, business school
- educationeducation, school, schools, teachers, students
professional degreesundergraduate degrees
Initial college credentials
bachelor's degrees · associate degrees · secondary education · high school diploma · GED
professional degreesacademic degrees
Formal university certifications
PhD · Master of Arts · Master of Science · liberal arts education · academic research
professional degreesautodidacticism
Practice of self-instruction
informal education · life experience · on-the-job training · apprenticeships · street smarts
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