European 3-years bachelors and US grad schools

[Mr.Watson]

Lenght of bachelors degree is 3 years in many countries in Europe like in UK, but in US usually 4 years. So does european bs qualify for applying to US grad schools or is masters degree required for europeans with 3-years degree?

 

[jtbell]

Lenght of bacherlos degree is 3 years in many countries in Europe like in UK, but in US usually 4 years.

This is because US undergraduates generally have to take a number of courses outside of their field of specialization, amounting to a year's worth or even more. We call these "general education requirements" or "distribution requirements." They generally don't matter for graduate school except in so far as they contribute to your overall grade point average (GPA). European undergraduates generally don't have these requirements.

 

[Mr.Watson]

This is because US undergraduates generally have to take a number of courses outside of their field of specialization, amounting to a year's worth or even more. We call these "general education requirements" or "distribution requirements." They generally don't matter for graduate school except in so far as they contribute to your overall grade point average (GPA). European undergraduates generally don't have these requirements.

So european 3-years undergraduate degree qualifies for applying to US gradschools?

 

[nonequilibrium]

Yes, although some Ivy schools in America use the 4 years to see a little bit more than they do in the 3 years in Europe (I'm thinking of Caltech seeing QFT in undergrad). So in general yes you qualify, but you should check the specific curricula of the undergrad studies at the universities you're thinking of applying to to see whether your application will be competitive.