Myth 5 – Bachelors is 4 Years & Masters is 2 Years Program

In this article, our guest Abdul busts one more myth – Master’s is a two-year program while bachelors is a four-year program

He has busted four myths so far about Studying in the USA and the Green Card process.

You can find the links to at the end of this article.

Master’s takes two years, and Bachelor’s takes four years to complete

There is nothing like a two year or a four-year program.

Everything is based on a credit hours system and how many credit hours you can take in a semester.

Credit Hours system will look confusing for international students who come from a different education system.

If you think that you can complete your masters in one year, then there is nothing stopping you from doing that.

• Masters Degree requires 30-36 credit hours
• Bachelors degree requires 120 credit hours

If you assume a master’s degree, which is 30 credit hours, and it takes two years to study this program, then going by this logic, a bachelor’s degree, which has 120 credit hours should take eight years to complete!

Realizing this, I got a panic attack, but with time and dedication, I was able to complete my bachelor’s in the stipulated amount of time that I had set for myself.

I took 15 credit hours during the fall and spring semester and almost 12 credit hours during the summer.

During my final semester, I took 26 credit hours to complete my bachelor’s degree.

If you put your mind right down to it, nothing is impossible.

So, what is Credit hours, and how does this Credit system work?

Worry not.

Read this – What is Credit Hours, and how does it work?

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Credit Hours and Duration of the Degree

That was Abdul’s Myth buster.

I’m adding additional context to this duration below.

So, how soon can someone complete the Bachelors Degree in the USA?

Let’s take the Credit Hours listed by Abdul for our calculation.

• Year 1
  • Fall – 15 Credits
  • Spring – 15
  • Summer – 12
  • Total = 42 Credit
• Year 2
  • Fall – 15
  • Spring – 15
  • Summer – 12
  • Total = 42 Credits (Total of 84 in 2 years)
• Year 3
  • Fall – 15
  • Spring – 21
  • Total = 36 (Total of 120 Credits)

So, how long did it take for this Degree Plan to complete Bachelors Degree?

Just three years!

Now, compare that to India or your country.

In India, the courses and semesters are pretty set. So, it makes it impossible to speed-up the degree completion process.

Each student is supposed to study specific set course in a semester for 4 years with little flexibility in choice of courses and make it short.

Other Ways to Complete Degree Faster

In addition to taking more than required credit for a full-time enrollments, some students take AP courses in High School.

AP stands for Advanced Placement.

High Schools in the USA offer AP courses (which are equivalent to college courses).

While students are studying 9, 10, 11, 12th grades, they are also taking additional AP courses.

If you have taken 15 credits for AP courses, that means, required credits to complete Bachelors could come down from 120 to 105.

Myth Busted Series

1. Myth 1 – H1B Visa is Required to File Green Card
2. Myth 2 – Scholarship is Not Available for International Students 
3. Myth 3 – It’s Impossible to get Part-time Jobs for F1 Students
4. Myth 4 – Don’t Study Bachelors Degree in the USA
5. Myth 5 – Masters takes 2 years & Bachelors takes 4 years to complete
6. Myth 6 – Employer Will Not Apply for Green Card in the first year
7. Myth 7 – OPT is issued only after Graduation
8. Myth 8 – You can study at one university at a time