Grad school Definition and 1000 Threads

A graduate school (sometimes shortened to grad school) is a school that awards advanced academic degrees (e.g., master's and doctoral degrees) with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. A distinction is typically made between graduate schools (where courses of study vary in the degree to which they provide training for a particular profession) and professional schools, which offer specialized advanced degrees in professional fields such as medicine, nursing, business, engineering, speech–language pathology, or law. The distinction between graduate schools and professional schools is not absolute since various professional schools offer graduate degrees and vice versa.
Many universities award graduate degrees; a graduate school is not necessarily a separate institution. While the term "graduate school" is typical in the United States and often used elsewhere (e.g., Canada), "postgraduate education" is also used in English-speaking countries (Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and the UK) to refer to the spectrum of education beyond a bachelor's degree. Those attending graduate schools are called "graduate students" (in both American and British English), or often in British English as "postgraduate students" and, colloquially, "postgraduates" and "postgrads". Degrees awarded to graduate students include master's degrees, doctoral degrees, and other postgraduate qualifications such as graduate certificates and professional degrees.
Producing original research is a significant component of graduate studies in the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. This research typically leads to the writing and defense of a thesis or dissertation. In graduate programs that are oriented toward professional training (e.g., MPA, MBA, MHA), the degrees may consist solely of coursework, without an original research or thesis component. The term "graduate school" is primarily North American. Additionally, in North America, the term does not usually refer to medical school (whose students are called "medical students"), and only occasionally refers to law school or business school; these are often collectively termed professional schools. Graduate students in the humanities, sciences and social sciences often receive funding from the school (e.g., fellowships or scholarships) or a teaching assistant position or other job; in the profession-oriented grad programs, students are less likely to get funding, and the fees are typically much higher.
Although graduate school programs are distinct from undergraduate degree programs, graduate instruction (in the US, Australia, and other countries) is often offered by some of the same senior academic staff and departments who teach undergraduate courses. Unlike in undergraduate programs, however, it is less common for graduate students to take coursework outside their specific field of study at graduate or graduate entry level. At the Ph.D. level, though, it is quite common to take courses from a wider range of study, for which some fixed portion of coursework, sometimes known as a residency, is typically required to be taken from outside the department and college of the degree-seeking candidate, to broaden the research abilities of the student. Some institutions designate separate graduate versus undergraduate staff and denote other divisions.

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  1. redflactober

    Physics [Nuclear Experiment vs Nuclear Theory] [National Lab/General Outlook]

    Hello all, I have a question for those with knowledge of Nuclear Physics career outlook. I am at a point where I need to decide soon. I know I want to go to grad school, I know I want to study Nuclear Physics, but I'm a little torn between which method of study to undergo. I would not mind...
  2. C

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  3. F

    Programs Physics MSc vs Theoretical physics MSc

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  4. juggernaut5452

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  5. T

    Expressing Neurodivergency Obstacle in Grad School Personal Statements

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  6. T

    Admissions How Can I Overcome Limited Research Experience for Grad School in Physics?

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  7. E

    Physics Questions by a First Year UofToronto Physics Student on Grad Admissions

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  8. F

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  9. deuteron

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  10. kori2003

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  11. Hassan Raza

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  12. Fabes124

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  13. vilshyk6

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  14. W

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  15. PhysPaig

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  16. nsypgorz

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  17. K

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  18. J

    Admissions Applying to PhD programs after a few years out of academia

    So I graduated in 2019 from a smaller state university with 2 honors BAs in physics and applied math. 3.83 GPA, all A's in my 400 level classes, few years of computational research and some independent honors projects, and I was involved with tutoring, TA'ing, led the SPS chapter, etc. Didn't do...
  19. pensive in PA

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  20. decisivedove

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  21. Pipsqueakalchemist

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  22. F

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    Hello, I was going back to university for Grad school (Master's degree) this fall in Electrical Engineering, but since my application and admission, the uni created a brand new program in computational neurosciences, and I am heavily considering to follow this path instead. Thrilling! However...
  23. I

    Admissions Research experience for physics grad school application

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  24. D

    Admissions Will I Have to Lie in My Statement of Purpose?

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  25. robertya1027

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  26. danbmurphy

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  27. M

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  28. AJSayad

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  29. MRB29

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  30. R

    Programs How to pursue a physics grad program with a math degree?

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  31. AJSayad

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    Hi everyone, This may (or may not) be a silly question to ask but I figured I would throw it up on here and see where it takes me. I'm a senior ME major and I am currently looking into and applying to MAE (ME/Aerospace) PhD programs and I was wondering if it would be possible/realistic to take...
  32. SeaShanty2

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  33. P

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    Let’s start things off straight: I LOVE physics. I love the opportunity to understand the world more in depth and mathematically and have had good experiences with all my professors in all of my classes. I have loved the teaching experience I have had as a several-time TA, as well as the deeper...
  34. P

    Grad school is fleeting and I literally don't care anymore

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  35. P

    Physics Grad School - Am I ready?

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  36. C

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  37. V

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  38. A

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    Hello, I know there are countless threads asking if you can go to grad school in Physics with an Engineering degree, and I know that the answer depends on my score on the GRE. I am not asking this. What I want to ask is: supposing I have a good GRE score but am coming from Engineering, can I...
  39. V

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  40. P

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  41. fissifizz

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  42. J

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  43. P

    Admissions Comments on my Physics grad school list?

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  44. N

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  45. TechieDork

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  46. S

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  47. angela6884

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  48. STasnim12357

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  49. P

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  50. P

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