Program Overview: Post-Bachelor’s Certificate
Majors Overview March 30, 2015Those who do not want to commit two to three years into a graduate degree program should look into post-bachelor’s certificate programs. These programs are available through many graduate schools.
Post-Bachelor’s Certificate Programs
The focus of post-baccalaureate or post-bachelor’s certificate programs is on a particular subject area or topic. Students who want to prepare for graduate or professional school may benefit from post-bachelor’s certificate programs as well as others who want to enhance their knowledge and skills to ensure career advancement.
Schools offer certificates in various disciplines, such as information systems, education, counseling, political science, math, liberal studies, history, and business. Schools may offer post-bachelor’s certificates in both online and on-campus formats, and students may take between two and twelve months to complete the programs, depending on how many courses they contain.
They are less intense and involve a shorter course of study. Master’s degree programs are more intense and involve a longer course of study than these programs that students could complete in two years or more.
A student may be allowed by the school to transfer credits from a post-bachelor’s certificate program towards a master’s degree program. A graduate degree may be broken up by other schools into a series of post-bachelor’s certificates. Thus, the graduate degree could become easier to obtain and in a shorter time span.
Requirements for Admission
Admission criteria typically require the incoming students to submit transcripts from previous schools attended. It must be shown in the transcripts that a bachelor’s degree has been earned by the students through an accredited four-year school.
Considering a post-bachelor’s certificate as a graduate program, admission requirements related to entering graduate school must be met by applicants. Many colleges require that an applicant has achieved (for their undergraduate work) a grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale.
The applicant is required by some schools to take certain prerequisite courses that they may not have completed as part of a bachelor’s program. They can take these courses during the summer session to meet the requirements for admission to the college.
