<p>Well here's the situation, after completing my current bachelors I'm going to apply for a PhD program. However I also want to complete a second bachelor degree in a totally different field. I know that majority of the PhD students receive some sort of funding for completing their PhD. So what I have been thinking is that is it possible to take undergrad level classes while doing PhD in a completely different field and still get funding for those classes ? And then later on as I satisfy all the Bachelor requirements I can apply for graduation. Is it possible ?</p>
<p>At some institutions it is possible to audit any course you feel like while pursuing a grad program. At some institutions provided you can convince your PhD committee that coursework in X is necessary for some project you will pursue in Y, then it is OK to take those classes.</p>
<p>But quite frankly, I have to ask you why you are willing to put yourself through the long hard slog of a PhD program in Y while dreaming of a second BA in X. If X is the career you want to pursue, then change majors now and just graduate with that degree instead.</p>
<p>No, that’s not going to be possible. When you apply to a graduate program, you are admitted to that specific graduate program, not an undergraduate degree. Your funding will cover graduate-level courses, and you will have your hands more than full with a full-time load of classes required for your degree (generally 9 credits) and the work involved in a teaching and/or research assistantship position.</p>
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Even so, those courses must be graduate-level courses, not undergraduate courses. To receive graduate degree credit for an undergraduate-level course generally requires approval from at least the dean of the particular college, if not a university-wide committee… if there’s even such a process allowed.</p>
<p>You can always just finish your PhD and then get an MA in whatever other field you want to study; many terminal Masters programs will accept people with prior graduate work even if it isn’t in that field. This isn’t actually super uncommon.</p>
<p>Each institution sets its own policy about this kind of thing. For example, when I was in grad school that university did not require any classes whatsoever. I needed to be “in residence” at that university for a certain number of semesters. Everyone in my lab group took at least two 100 level classes in something or other in order for us to get up to speed in some subject we’d missed along the way. Provided our grad advisor signed off, there was no problem. Had I been headed overseas for research, they also would have approved whatever language courses deemed necessary. So do read the policies at each institution on your list. Some have much more flexible requirements than others. In addition to the university requirement of so many semesters on campus and my thesis, the only specific departmental requirement I had was to attend the weekly department seminar for two semesters. The rest of the time I was expected to be engaged in research related activities in a classroom or in our lab.</p>
<p>I was able to take advanced undergraduate courses for my graduate program in history. I took courses that complemented my graduate program. These courses counted for credit. For example, I was working on a master’s thesis that involved North Carolina history so I took an undergraduate course on that subject. I also took advanced undergraduate courses on southern history.</p>
<p>“So what I have been thinking is that is it possible to take undergrad level classes while doing PhD in a completely different field and still get funding for those classes ? And then later on as I satisfy all the Bachelor requirements I can apply for graduation. Is it possible ?”</p>
<p>Yes, it is possible to take undergraduate (junior-senior) level courses as a grad student. However, you’ll be taking them while enrolled in graduate school and not as an undergrad. Thus, you can never apply to graduate with a second BA/BS because the graduate school doesn’t award those degrees.</p>
Right, but you are taking them as a graduate student. They’re applying as graduate-level credit toward your master’s degree. You can’t “double-dip” and also use that course as undergraduate-level credit toward a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your replies. Anyone would like to add anything else ? :D</p>
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<p>I know this is an extremely stupid idea but based on my current situation I can’t go and pursue my second bachelors right now, so the only way I could have done it was when I was getting fully funded while in graduate school. So now I think I will just apply for my second bachelors at some universities with lesser tuition and lesser residency requirements. :D</p>