Online Masters Degree

A Master’s is a graduate degree awarded by a university after one to three years of study, research, or a combination of both. Prior to admission to a Master’s program, the student is required to have completed a Bachelor’s degree. Achieving a graduate degree implies that the student has mastered a specific field of study, or operations, with profound levels of theoretical knowledge and a high ability to solve complex problems. With only 9.4% of the U.S. population holding a graduate degree, it is no surprise that a Master’s graduate will earn close to 25% more than an undergraduate over the course of a lifetime.

The following are the most known types of Master’s degrees:

  • Master of Arts (MA) and Master of Science (MS): There is virtually no difference between the MA and the MS on the basis of their academic requirements. Their difference is mainly nominal. Therefore, whether the student is awarded one degree or the other depends on the institution and/or the faculty attended. However, both degrees are equivalent in status.
  • Master of Business Administration (MBA): The MBA is a business education program designed as an introduction to the fundamental aspects of business management, such as accounting, marketing, human resources (HR), operations management, and finance. Some MBA curricula allow the student to select a specialization that will account for roughly one-third of his/her studies.

Because a significant proportion of applicants to Master’s programs consists of seasoned professionals, a program’s flexibility to the student’s already full schedule is a critical decision factor in the choice of a school. Much like the online Bachelor’s degree, the online Master’s, due to the electronic nature of its course work, gives the student the convenience to study anytime, anywhere, by reducing travel and relocation expenses to nothing, and to manage professional and academic life more efficiently than if the student was required to physically attend class.

In the present recessional climate, the pressures of keeping up with the demands of the workplace combined to the need to develop and maintain individual competitive advantages makes the online Master’s time-saving factor a central reason behind its rise in popularity. For many students, saving time also means to dedicate more time to course work rather than to travel time and, consequently, to take up more course load than if they were to attend a brick-and-mortar university. This, in turn, might translate into a quicker graduation and faster access to a new career or to a long-sought promotion.

The following list provides some of the best known universities offering online Master’s degree programs: