• Question: How long does it take on average for students to earn their degree?

    Asked by anon-217084 to Savannah, Lucy on 19 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Savannah Clawson

      Savannah Clawson answered on 19 Jun 2019:

      This really depends on the country in which you are studying but here in the UK most degrees are 3 years long. These are called “bachelor” degrees, e.g. a bachelor of science (BSc). On top of this, you can do a master’s degree which will normally be 1 year long – so that’s 4 years in total. I did what is called an “integrated master’s” which basically just sticks the two together so my whole course was 4 years long and I am now a “master in physics” which I think sounds pretty cool 😉

    • Photo: Lucy Budge

      Lucy Budge answered on 19 Jun 2019:

      Savannah has got this covered very well!

      Just to add that in Scotland it is a little different due to different school systems. As far as I’m aware to get a bachelor’s degree takes 4 years, and a master’s is again an extra year on top. If you go from an English (and I think Welsh/Northern Irish) school to a Scottish university you can have the option to skip the first year.

      Then if you want to go further and do a PhD (where you become a “Dr”) this generally takes 3-4 years (on top of a bachelor’s and master’s) but is much more variable. So by the time I’ve finished education I will have done 8 years at Durham University!

Comments

  • Photo: Harrison

    Harrison commented on :

    As Savannah correctly observed, this depends on the country. It can also depend on the subject. Where I teach in the United States, an undergraduate degree normally requires 4 years to complete. A postgraduate degree (called a graduate degree in the US) takes around 5 years. For a decade I was in charge of the high energy physics research group at Florida State University before I stepped down last year. During that time, I strongly encouraged students to complete in about 5 years. (Completion times were creeping up, which I thought was not good for a young person.) One thing I emphasize to students is that a PhD is just the starting point. Their real education as professional scientists begins afterwards! Becoming really good at something takes a huge amount of effort.