What are the chances of a 3-year degree being accepted into Masters?

[Imsonicaal]

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Recently it seems possible that a 3yr basic Psych degree was allowed entry to some Masters programmes.

I applied and did ask the staff if my chances of being accepted are really slim, but they said I could try.

I was wondering if I should place my hopes there, or focus elsewhere?

Any advise would be great
Thankyou

 

[socialcog]

Recently it seems possible that a 3yr basic Psych degree was allowed entry to some Masters programmes.

I applied and did ask the staff if my chances of being accepted are really slim, but they said I could try.

I was wondering if I should place my hopes there, or focus elsewhere?

Any advise would be great
Thankyou

What is a 3 year degree 'basic' degree? Are you referring to a 3 year undergraduate degree (ie: you got out faster than the top of bell curve) or applying to Masters programs and asking to complete it in 3 years.

I do not follow....

 

[deleted176373]

Recently it seems possible that a 3yr basic Psych degree was allowed entry to some Masters programmes.

I applied and did ask the staff if my chances of being accepted are really slim, but they said I could try.

I was wondering if I should place my hopes there, or focus elsewhere?

Any advise would be great
Thankyou

It boils down to this, either you have an accredited Bachelors degree, or you don't. If you do, no problem... if you don't... it's gonna be tricky to get anyone to look at you, but you could try to slip under the radar. I am not sure how closely they really look at undergraduate accreditation since so many colleges exist. I would expect them to scrutinize this in the top applicants if it looked fishy.

Mark

 

[Imsonicaal]

Hey I meant a bachelor's degree in psychology without the honours year.. Sorry if I didn't put it clearly..

Will my chances of acceptance be higher if I brush up on my statistics and uh, write an awesome proposal? As of now I haven't got a clear topic yet.. 🙁

Yes, it's an accredited degree.

 

[JockNerd]

Hey I meant a bachelor's degree in psychology without the honours year.. Sorry if I didn't put it clearly..

Will my chances of acceptance be higher if I brush up on my statistics and uh, write an awesome proposal? As of now I haven't got a clear topic yet.. 🙁

Yes, it's an accredited degree.

You're still going to be up against other applicants with 4-year honours degrees and research experience. I suppose if you completed an independent research project and worked as an RA it's not out of the question.

Based on the way you spelled honours, I'm guessing you're Canadian. Canadian programs are virtually impossible to get into without an honours project, since pretty much everyone in Canada in psych does one.

 

[Ollie123]

Okay, I've been wondering this for awhile now, but never actually asked.

How does Canada work its undergrad system? I keep seeing people referring to "Honour's Degrees" and that just isn't something I've ever heard of. Plenty of schools have honors programs were you can do independent research (most people who want to go on do so).

Am I understanding it correctly that in Canada a "Bachelor's" is more like halfway between an Associate's and a US Bachelor's, with the Honours degree being the standard 4 year degree? Is there any difference between the Honour's degree and a regular Bachelor's besides a research project?

Just curious. Seen a lot of discussion about this and never had any idea what folks were talking about.

 

[JockNerd]

Okay, I've been wondering this for awhile now, but never actually asked.

How does Canada work its undergrad system? I keep seeing people referring to "Honour's Degrees" and that just isn't something I've ever heard of. Plenty of schools have honors programs were you can do independent research (most people who want to go on do so).

Am I understanding it correctly that in Canada a "Bachelor's" is more like halfway between an Associate's and a US Bachelor's, with the Honours degree being the standard 4 year degree? Is there any difference between the Honour's degree and a regular Bachelor's besides a research project?

Just curious. Seen a lot of discussion about this and never had any idea what folks were talking about.

Here's how it works at my Canadian UG school. I think this is fairly standard across universities up there.

There are three main types of undergrad degrees: general, advanced, and honours. General degrees are 90 credits (3 credits/course/term), so a three-year degree. These types of degrees qualify you for certain types of government jobs which require *a* degree, but in themselves aren't all that useful.

Advanced degrees are 4-year degrees (120 credits). This is just more coursework in your major and minor. For psych, this is typically insufficient to advance to graduate study in Canada, since it doesn't necessarily include an independent study requirement.

Honours degrees are 4-year degrees (120 credits) as well. However, you have no minor. Thus, your credits are focused on your honours area. You also take additional honours-level courses, which are advanced courses in certain specialized topics. For example, I took an advanced neuropsych course and a course on social psych and health to fulfill my honours course requirements. An honours degree also includes a thesis.

You can also do funky things like double-honours (an honours degree with research in, say, psych, and another honours degree with research in, say, criminology, at the same time).

Honours degrees are pretty much required for Canadian students applying to Canadian schools, since everyone does them. For Americans applying to Canadian schools, a 4-year degree with a senior thesis would be equivalent.

 

[thewesternsky]

It also varies from school to school. I know of schools in Canada where honours degrees absolutely require a honours (senior) thesis; other schools where an honours thesis is required only if you don't do a double-major; and a couple schools where an honours thesis is not a requirement at all (though doing a thesis would obviously give you an advantage when it comes to grad apps). You can also do a minor with an honours degree at many schools, as long as you also complete the coursework in your major.

The uniting factor seems to be that honours degrees take four years and require more coursework in the major than General (three year) degrees, though there may be more to it than that.

 

[Music333]

How does this apply to US schools for PhD and PsyD programs? Will it work against me if I graduate in 3 years instead of 4? (I'll be able to graduate with two majors and a minor).

 

[irish80122]

I think you will be able to get into a masters program here as long as you have a 120 hour degree and a good GPA and all of those good things. There are a lot of people who get into masters programs who didn't do a thesis.

 

[Ollie123]

I made it into a pretty well respected funded US PhD program without a thesis. Our undergrad advisor wasn't very good and just didn't push anyone to do things, so I didn't find out how helpful it would have been until later.

Clearly though - its possible to get in without one. I think its probably even more important to have lots of work experience with research without a thesis though.

As for graduating in 3 years instead of 4, it really doesn't matter for a US program, as long as you still get everything done that you otherwise would. If you graduated in 3 years, but because of that didn't do a thesis or only have 1 year of research experience instead of 2...you're at a disadvantage if you were to apply right now compared to someone who graduated in 4. Of course, you could also spend that extra year working in a research lab, or potentially running an off-the-record thesis or something like that, and be in even better shape.

I think most programs view graduating early as a personal decision. Good for financial reasons, but it doesn't really "count" as a plus or a minus, it just kind of is. What matters is how much you've done and how good it is, whether you spent 2 years in school or 6.