Certificates and Displomas are for Technical Specialty. For example X-Ray Tech, which only takes 18 months.

Associate Degree is a 2 year degree with 20 credits in a Major and 40 credits in general solids.

Bachelor is a 4 year degree with 40 credits in a major and 80 credits in general solids. SOME Bachelor degrees MIGHT REQUIRE MORE CREDITS, anywhere from 120 to 132

MAsters is 45 to 72 Credit Hours of post graduate studies and either a Thesis or and additional 20-30 or so credit hours or a work exerpeince program.

PH D is generally 60 – 120 credit hours post graduate studies (less if from a MAsters position), depending on major and a group project that gets published or an orals board or a dissertation that breaks new ground.

A lot varies here based on major.

Medical majors do between 60-72 credit hours of post graduate work in class room plus hundreds of work experience credit hours in hosptials and clinics and labs. They also have to do a group project under Doctorate supervision and and Indepdent research papager.

Clinical Psycholoyg majors do about 60 hours of classroom work and hundres of hours of on the job training under supervision doing personal and group sessions and they take an ORals Board.

Research Pschologists and Scientists and Math and Computer people and Liberal Arts Majors and History MAjors do 60 – 90 hours of additional studies, plus they teach undergraduate classes, plus they work on staff projects, plus they do indepdent research, plus they have to do a Disseratation that breaks new ground or a Thesis on some problem to get their PHD.

Dissertation or Thesis is not an option of the candidate but of the Department.

You basically “class room” qualify for a MAsters in 5 total years (1 – 1 1/2 years after your Bachelors) or your PH D in 6-7 total years, BUT you must ALSO MEET the DEPARTMENT RULES about Personal PRojects, Getting Published, Group projects and a Thesis or Dissertation.

Some MAsters programs let you get a MBA, MFA, MS or MA with 2 years post graduate class room work, others don’t and require a thesis or independent project that SHOWS you have MASTERED the subject.

Well I have my Associates in Arts with a focus in history. It is a good degree but it does not have as much in depth study as I had to do to get my Bachelor’s in Arts. I learned much more and I find that the job market is better for someone with a Bachelor’s degree. Yes there is a difference in the two, in may job postings you will see must have an A.A. or an A.S. meaning an associates degree in arts or sciences. A diploma is more of a technical degree. Like one may get if they go to school to be a mechanic or a plumber. The Associate degree would be more useful in the business world but if you want to get into something like mechanics and so on then a diploma would do. A bachelor’s degree is even better. It opens up a lot more jobs to the ones who have it. The Master’s degree is 2 years more and is just an advanced degree in an area usually where one already has a bachelor’s. A PhD is a degree that is a doctorate degree. It means you have an expertise in an area. It requires 2 to 3 more years of study. There are some programs that allow people to go straight for their PhD, after they get a bachelor’s degree. They are usually 5 year programs. I hope this helped you out some. =)

Diploma is the physical piece of paper.

A certificate is usually something you can achieve in a short amount of time that is very specialized, often an extension of some other line of study. Certified Computer Network Security Specialist – means you specialize in network security but, you would already need to know computer networking.

Associates degree is usually a 2 year or 3 year program that specializes in a specific field. Dental Hygiene is an example of something requires an associates degree. Basically you take a certain number of course credits in order to achieve the associates.

Bachelor’s, usually a 4 year program. More general in nature, usually a science or liberal arts focused course of study. Again measured in course credits, where you need to pass a certain number of core classes focused on either science or liberal arts (english/philosophy/etc..).

Master’s is usually a 2 year program, with the Bachelor’s as a prerequisite. The main thing in a master’s program is the thesis. The thesis is a very extensive study regarding something within the field of study your masters is focused on. Thesis may be a project of some sort.

Phd a.k.a. doctorate involves a faculty sponsor and an extensive research project in a very specialized area. Not sure what the time frame is, but most likely another 2-3 years after the masters. Again a very extensive research project done in conjunction with a faculty member. These are the types of projects that turn into Nobel prizes or major scientific or technological break through.

I think diploma is only used for k-12 school (but i could be wrong).

A Certificate is usually awarded for completing professional training not necessarily for completing college coursework

Associate Bachelor, Master and Doctorate (PhD,EdD, etc) are all degrees awarded for completing various levels of college.

Associates are given after completing a 2 year degree (normally awarded at the junior college level)

Bachelor is usually a 4 year undergraduate degree

Master is a graduate degree …awarded for college coursework completed after undergrad (some master’s programs require the student to also complete a Master’s Thesis in addition to completing regular course work, but you don’t always have to do a thesis)

Doctorates are post-graduate degrees awarded to students studying a particular course of work . You almost always have to complete a Thesis in this type of program (unless you are awarded and Honorary Doctorate…then you just show up at you alma mater give a sucky graduation speech to the current graduating class, then stand in front of all the hard working students and receive a free degree without having to do the work)

Certificate and diploman are abt the same thing. At this stage you are qualified to have a job period; Associate’s is a 2 yr degree; Bachelor’s is a 4 yr or more degree in your major you’ve chosen in college/university. Masters is your area of specialty; Ph.D is a doctorate degree….you’re pretty much an expert in your field of specialty.

First, MD and PhD are the two doctorate point levels. An MD isn’t a grasp’s diploma (a grasp’s diploma is an MA or MS, possibly others). the version is that those with an MD pass by way of scientific college and scientific residency and those with PhDs do no longer.

certificate is usually 6-8 weeks Good pay

Diploma is 6-8 months good pay

Associates is 2 years good pay

BA is an additional 2 years excellent pay

masters is 1-2 additional years after BA excellent pay

Phd is 1-3 Additional years after MA excellent pay