what is the difference between a graduate and an undergraduate degree?

Undergraduate degrees include Associate degrees (2 year degrees) and Bachelor degrees (4 year degrees). Graduate degrees are Masters and PhDs.

Yes, you must get a bachelors before getting a masters. A bachelors is a four year degree, whereas a masters is usually 2 or 2 1/2 years AFTER your bachelors. For example, if you want to get an MBA you must first get a four year degree ( a bachelors) in accounting, etc.

A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study.

In the United States, most standard academic programs are based on the four-year bachelor’s degree (most often bachelor of arts, B.A., or bachelor of science, B.S.), a two-year master’s degree (most often master of arts, M.A., or master of science, M.S.; both of these programs might be three years in length) and a further year or so of course work, plus teaching experience and the writing of a dissertation for the doctorate (most often doctor of philosophy, Ph.D.) for a total of about nine years from starting the bachelor’s degree (which is usually begun around age 18) to the awarding of the doctorate. This timetable is flexible, however, as, for instance, students in accelerated programs can sometimes earn a bachelor’s in three years, or on the other hand a particular dissertation project might take four years to complete.

Some schools offer an associate’s degree for two full years of study, often in pre-professional areas. This may sometimes be used as credit toward completion of the four-year bachelor’s degree.

In the United States, there is also another class of degrees called “First Professional degree.” These degree programs are designed for professional practice in various fields rather than academic scholarship. Most professional degree programs require a prior bachelor’s degree for admission (a notable exception being the PharmD program), and so represent at least about five total years of study and as many as seven or eight.

Some fields such as fine art or architecture have chosen to name their first professional degree after the bachelor’s a “master’s degree” (e.g., M.F.A.) while the professional degree in medicine is known as “doctor” (e.g., MD or DO); the legal profession has renamed its degree from Bachelor (L.L.B.) to Doctor (J.D.). Despite being named “masters” some masters degree programs may require about the same amount of time to complete as “professional doctorate” programs in other fields so the naming is somewhat arbitrary. For example, despite being a “masters” level degree, the first professional degree in architecture may require 3 to 3.5 years to complete. There is currently some debate in the architectural community to rename the degree to a “doctorate” in the manner that was done for the law degree decades ago.[1] It is important to recognize that first-professional degrees in these fields, which are normally earned after the bachelor’s, are not normally original research oriented degrees. [2]

Some examples of specific degrees follow each general term. For more information, see the article about the general term.

Associate’s degrees (U.S.): AA (Associate of Arts), ABS (Associate of Baccalaureate Studies), AS (Associate of Science), AAS (Associate of Applied Science), AFA (Associate of Fine Arts), AES (Associate of Engineering Science), AGS (Associate in General Studies), AAT (Associate of Arts in Teaching), AOS (Associate of Occupational Sciences)

Foundation degrees (U.K.): Fd A., Fd Mus., Fd Ed., Fd Eng., Fd Mus., Fd Sc., FdTech

Bachelor’s degrees: BAcy, BArch, AB or BA, BSc or SB or BS, BSc(Agr) or BSA, BBus, BSBA, BSPH, BCom or BComm, BDes, BFA, BEc, BEd, BAI (Dubl.) or BEng or BE, BD, BDes, BHE, BIS, BJ, LLA, BPharm, BPE, BHK, BCL, LL.B., MB ChB or MB BS or BM BS or MB BChir or MB BCh BAO, Vet.M.B., BN, BMus, B.Math, BPhil BTech, BBA, BAdm, MA (Hons), BDS, BSW, BVSc

Master’s degrees: MA, MS or MSc, MCM, MA (Oxon/Cantab/Dubl), M.St., MLitt, MAcy or MSA, MArch, MEd or EdM, DEA or DESS,[1] Lic. Arts, MS, MALD, MApol, MEc,MPhil, MRes,MRUP, MFA, MLS, MTh, MTS, M.Div., MBA, MSF, MHA, MIA, MPA, MPAS, MPD, MPIA, MJ, MSW, MPAff, MLIS, MMedSc, LL.M., MN, MPS,MPH, MPSA, MPM, MPP, MPT, MRE, MTheol, LLM, MEng, MAS, MSci, MBio, MChem, MPharm, MPhys, MMath, MMus, MESci, MGeol, MRUP, MTCM, MSSc, BCL[2] (Oxon), ThM and MAT

Licentiate degrees: LDS, JCL, STL, SSL, LSS, LRSM

Specialist degrees: Ed.S., SSP

Engineer’s degrees: Ch.E., B.E., C.E., C.E., E.E., E.A.A., E.C.S., Env.E., I.E., Mat.E., Mech.E., Nav.E., Nucl.E., Ocean E., Sys.E.

Doctoral degrees: Au.D., J.C.D., Ph.D., P.Th.D., EdD, DProf, EngD, DTech, DNursSci, DBA, DPA, DGov, D.D., M.D., DDS, DSc, DLitt, DA, DMA, DMD, DPS, D.Min., DMus, DFA, DCL, DCL, LL.D., LHD, ThD, S.T.D., J.U.D., SSD, PharmD,[3] DrPH, DPM, DPT, DPhil, DOM, OMD, PsyD, DSocSci, DSW, ND, D.C., DO, OD, DVM, V.M.D, J.D. and D.H.Sc.

Professor degrees: S.T.P.