Coterminal Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Well I was reading Approaching Stanford and I came across this passage:
[QUOTE]
Coterminal Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees
Bachelor’s and master’s degrees may be pursued simultaneously.
The two degrees do not have to be from the same
department, though they can be. You may, for instance,
combine a BA in economics with an MS in management
science and engineering, or a BS in biology and an MA in
East Asian studies.

[/QUOTE]

Does this mean that I could finish both a bachelors and a masters of ChemE in 5 years? This really interests me because I am 99% sure I'm going to do a masters after my bachelors. Also would I miss out on important things like research if I do this? Thanks</p>

2

<p>Yes, it's possible. If you have some AP credits, it might help as well.</p>

3

<p>Doing a BS and MS in ChemE in 5 years isn't really different from getting a BS in 4 years and then the MS in another year, except that you can spread out the grad classes over more than just the last year.</p>

4

<p>Well isn't masters supposed to be 2 years? I have some AP credits but not too much (about 25)</p>

5

<p>No, all MS Engineering degrees at Stanford can be completed in 3 quarters (45 units = 3 quarters of 15 units each). In practice, though, many grad students find it easier to spread this out over 4 quarters and a summer, or 5 quarters, but this varies by discipline. It's pretty easy to complete MS&E in a year, for example, but almost everyone in EE takes longer. Like I said, doing a coterm allows you to spread out those grad classes, but the number of required units is exactly the same.</p>

6

<p>So is it useful? Or should I just do my bachelors and then proceed to masters?</p>

7

<p>You don't have to make any decisions at this point. Just see how it goes when you are there.</p>

8

<p>Oh I'm not planning on making this decision any time soon, I was just curious. Trust me I'm not going to make any rash decision about this right now, I'm not even certain I'm going to go into ChemE anyways. :)</p>