Colorado Technical University

what is a professional degree and what is a doctoral degree?

do i need a bachelors degree to get a professional degree? how do i get a professional degree? how do i get a doctoral degree? can i get both doctoral degree and a professional degree at the same time?

Public Comments

1. A professional degree is just a degree for a given profession, like teaching or electrical engineering, so this could be a bachelors. A doctorate means you've studies a lot more.
2. Professional degrees include degrees in medicine, law, optometry, etc. Yes, you need a bachelors degree before you can apply for these programs, with very few exceptions. Get a bachelors degree and take the entrance exams (MCAT, LSAT, etc) to apply. Doctoral degrees are the highest degree in a field, and are research degrees. If you get an MD, you can treat patients. If you get a PhD in medicine, you're doing research. While professional degrees take 3-4 years depending on the degree, the doctoral takes a different amount of time depending on the person, and is usually 4-8 years after the bachelors degree. Getting both at the same time will likely prove impossible. First, I don't know of any programs that would allow you to enroll in another at the same time. Second, any one of these programs is more demanding than a full-time job. You wouldn't have the time to do both.
3. A professional degree can be either a licensure degree (results in a license to teach or nurse, etc.) or a terminal degree for a given profession. For instance, the terminal degree in law is Juris Doctor, in art is often a Master's of Fine Arts (MFA). These are primarily for those individuals who wish to practice the field and are not wishing to teach at the university level. A doctorate requires completion of a course of study and unique research (usually in the form of a dissertation). Doctoral study is usually completed after a Bachelors Degree and a Master's Degree have been completed. Some fields also require a period of work experience in the field and often a Specialist or other intermediary degree prior to entering a doctoral program. Doctoral degrees vary: Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosopy, DvD is a Doctor of Divinity, Ed.D. is a Doctor of Education (not of Philosophy of Education). Some fields have a joint Master-Doctoral route (common in Engineering), some have a Speciality-Doctoral route (common in Education), similar to 5th year Bachelor-Master programs. Check with your particular field of interest.
4. http://www.degreemoblog.info/professional_degree.html