What's the difference between Undergraduate and Graduate school?

Question

I'm in my last year of Undergrad work BS Bus Admin w/ Accounting concentration. I will probably get my MBA after that. I'm just wondering what the differences are.

Answer 1

Graduate is for continuing education after u get your bachelors. its a continuation and more in-depth studies.

Answer 2

Everyone else is answering this differently -- like you don't know what the meaning of a graduate degree and an undergraduate degree. I'm assuming you want to know the difference in content.

The dirty little secret is that at the top schools there is very little difference in content between the coursework for an undergraduate business degree and a graduate business degree.

I've taught finance classes at Berkeley (#3 undergraduate), MIT (#2 undergraduate) and Wharton (#1 Undergraduate). At all three schools, the undergraduate students tend to outperform the MBA students.

At Berkeley, the undergraduate classes in business are almost exactly the same as the MBA classes. They have a different number and -- sometimes a different name.

At MIT, they don't even go through the pretext of pretending that they are different. They have the same course number, the same content and are taught by the same people. They have some sections that are MBA only -- but that is so the MBAs feel special and don't get blown out of the water by the undergraduates.

At Wharton, they have different numbers for graduate and undergraduate students. For the more popular classes, they have different sections. But for the more advanced classes, the undergraduates and the MBA students sit in the same room to take the classes. The undergraduates outperform the MBAs.

Many top MBA programs avoid these issues by not having undergraduate business programs (e.q., Duke, Dartmouth, Harvard).

At less selective universities, the undergraduate classes tend to be dumbed down a little, so there is more of a difference between the undergraduate and MBA programs. In many ways, the MBA is just a way for nonbusiness students to catch up.

That is -- it would be if the MBA were only about content. Why would someone with an undergraduate business degre ever get an MBA? Well -- there is some content to be learned. I know someone with a fniance degree from Wharton who got an MBA at Duke -- but took few finance classes & instead beefed up on strategy. An MBA is an excellent way to change directions. If you get sick of accounting, it might be hard for you to change directions -- but if you get an MBA, it will be easy. The MBA is also a great way to make a big leap forward. MBAs from the top schools are able to learn 50-100% more after graduating.

My feeling is that you shouldn't get an MBA from the school where you got your undergraduate business degree. You will learn more seeing a different perspective.

Answer 3

Okay you go to college first to get your undergraduate degree in whatever you want to major in (example Pre-med) that would be your bachelors and then you go to grad school to get your med degree after that you have an internship and then a residency at a hospital and then you are officially a doctor. I'm not exactly sure what the difference between a college and an university is but i don't think its a very big difference. i think it has to do with size. I'm having the same type of questions I'm looking for a good college too.

Answer 4

If you are in your last year of undergraduate work, you probably know that undergraduate work is done before your B.A. or B.S. and graduate work is done after. I assume you are asking more about the differences in the style and quantity of work. Graduate classes often have less work, but a lot more responsibility. The teacher may not feel it necessary to give the students lots of homework to make them study, but simply expect them to learn the material on their own. Instead of telling them to read the chapter and answer the 25 questions at the end, the assignment will be learn the chapter. There may not even be a quiz or assignment based on it at the time, but the final paper or exam will require understanding the material. Of course, sometimes the reading assignments can be incredibly long and then the class can take more time than an undergraduate one. In any case, you need to be more self-motivated for graduate school.

Answer 5

The most significant difference in coursework betwen UG and Grad-level is the type of instruction and the sheer amount of coursework outside of class.

As example, an undergraduate upper-division business class would involve a textbook or two, a few tests, and a paper. A graduate level business class would involve 7-10 books, 15 professional journal articles, several short papers (6-10 pages) and close with a project or capstone paper (15-20 pages).

UG is mostly lecture; Grad is mostly discussion, dialogue, and practical exercise.

Review the Socratic Method of instruction.

Answer 6

Undergraduate means your a youngster a graduate means you have already been there done that, and you are familiar with the the roads less traveled. In otherwords your an experienced well versed individual who can get through just about anything because you know the secret to higher learning persaverence lots of coffee, and pepperoni pizza at 3 am. There is not much difference you'll just have a better chance at getting a decent job that pays well.

Answer 7

After you have completed a BS or BA, then you are no longer an undergraduate.

Any education you receive at a college or university after you've received your BS or BA is graduate study.

Answer 8

The big difference is graduation, really. Before you get your bachelor's, you're an Undergraduate student; once you get your bachelor's, you're a Graduate student.

Answer 9

undergrad is classes below 499, grad is 500 and up

Answer 10

Undergrad school is up to your bachelors... Grad school is anything higher than that.