Welcome from the Dean
There was a time when a high school diploma was all anyone needed to establish a fulfilling career. That was a pretty long time ago. Today we live in a world where the bachelor’s degree is the “coin of the realm” in terms of achieving maximum opportunity and fulfillment in the work place.
Increasingly, “A master’s or professional degree is required for people who want more specialized-career-focused training, or who want to position themselves for future leadership positions.
Graduate school usually involves a two-year commitment, and that may be a bridge too far for some college graduates and their families. One way the College of Arts and Sciences is working hard to bridge that gap is by offering accelerated master’s degree programs (AMP’s) which provide students with the option of earning a bachelors and a master’s degree in a total of five years.
CAS AMPs include biology, chemistry, English, Greek & Latin, historic preservation, history, physics and psychology. These programs provide for early admission with up to six concurrent credits counted toward the bachelor's and master's degrees (effectively a six-credit scholarship for the graduate program). Most programs also allow students to take an additional three credits of graduate coursework while still an undergrad. Other benefits include earlier entry into the working world, less student debt, and avoiding the cost of graduate admission tests and application fees.
Working closely with their advisors, undergraduates like Kiara Day ’18 are successfully transitioning into an AMP program.
Kiara is looking forward to working in academia or in the museum world. “The AMP gave me a big leap forward in my education,” she said. “I am happy with my decision to continue at UVM with the AMP because it has allowed me to keep down the cost of a graduate education and it offers an excellent opportunity to continue my connections with our outstanding history faculty.”
If you know a student who is considering attending UVM, or first or second year student thinking ahead to earning a master’s degree, let them know about our AMP programs. For more information, visit https://www.uvm.edu/graduate/accelerated-masters-degree-programs
Bill Falls
Dean of Arts and Sciences
