HELP!! Three year Canadian Degrees??

I would be interested in seeing a list of NA and RA grad schools that would accept a 3 year BA for entrance. That brings me back to my initial question: Where does a 100 hour BA fit into the picture? A 3 year BA is typically only 90 hours, Briercrest, my current school, offers a 100 hour BA.

Pug

 

Pug,

DL programs may be the obstacle.

try Webster University. They state in their graduate admissions that they make the determination. North may be able to shed some additional light.

http://www.webster.edu/worldclassroom/admissions_grad.html

My recommendation, unless you wish to do some research, is to have your degree evaluated as equivalent by the evaluator recommended by the school of your choice.

However, as I come across DL programs that accept the 3 year without evaluation I'll post.

Kevin

 

And just to make things a bit more complicated:

Quebec high school students attend school to grade 11, then do 2 years of CEGEP (pre university) and then 3 years for virtually all undergraduate degrees (except I believe engineering which is 4). So that adds up to 11 years of primary and secondary education (leaving aside kindergarten), then 5 years of post secondary education for a total of 16 years. In Ontario they used to have to do up to grade 13, then either 3 or 4 years of University.

So I did my Bachelor of Commerce in 90 credits, but I also have a whole bunch of business credits from CEGEP. I have never heard that this is not equivalent to a 4 year degree, but it does get confusing as hell.

As an aside I attended a "real" Concordia University, AACSB and everything.

www.concordia.ca

 

I think the issue is uitility in relation to graduate school. The issue of equivalence is not unique to the U.S. The Canadian system requires the 4 year for graduate school. It would be interesting to see an evaluation of the actual credit level dispersion of a 3 year degree related to the 4 year evaluation. I would suspect that a lot of the basic classes that U.S. degrees require are either covered by Canadian secondary schooling or perhaps not used at all. Can anyone explain further the difference in the 3 year vice 4 year Canadian degree?

Novemberdude brings up a good point about external accreditation (AACSB). However he also points out the 16 years of education which is on par with the U.S. model.

Now, let me complicate things. Doesn't NAFTA address the educational issues in trade and are these sufficient grounds to argue the merits/equivalence of the 3 year bachelors?

Kevin

 

The 100 hour Briercrest degree is a three year degree and is really the equivalent of 3 year degrees at other schools. According to Briercrest's website it is intended for students who do not plan to attend graduate school, so there probably won't be many schools that will accept you into a masters program.

 

<<The 100 hour Briercrest degree is a three year degree and is really the equivalent of 3 year degrees at other schools. According to Briercrest's website it is intended for students who do not plan to attend graduate school, so there probably won't be many schools that will accept you into a masters program.>>


Where did you see that listed on Briercrest's website? I just went to their website. The only narrative I saw regarding a 3 year degree was for their BA in General Studies. The degree program I am in is Christian Studies. Regarding the 3-year General Studies degree, the site does suggest that students can go on to seminaries "that accept 3 year degrees." This is becoming frustrating. Do you think if I graduated with a 3 year BA (100 hours) but took 21 additional hours at the undergraduate level (total of 121) that a grad school would consider the transcripts equivalent?

Pug

 

As far as I know, NAFTA recognises the "bachelor degree" and does not specify length of program.

I think it would be safe to assume that Canadian and British three-year bachelor's degrees are equivalent to American four-year bachelor's degrees. That would put the Commonwealth honours degree somewhere between an American bachelor's and master's, closer to the master's.

The Britsh Dearing Report (Section 7.21) said as much:

"7.21 The team gained the impression, based on an inspection of syllabuses and examination papers, that the American high school diploma compares in standard with GCSE and the associate degree with GCE A-level and Advanced GNVQ, the bachelor’s degree with a UK pass degree or higher national diploma and the Master’s degree with a bachelor’s honours degree from a British university. Further evidence for this conclusion: Howard University in Washington, a university in which over 99 per cent of undergraduates are black, admits overseas applicants from the West Indies with five GCE O-level grades at A-C to the freshman year of their bachelor’s degree programme; Johns Hopkins, one of the most prestigious of the private universities, states in its prospectus that advanced placement is available for students entering with either International Baccalauréat or GCE A-level. The rider must be added, however, that an American education is very much more general than a UK education right up to bachelor’s level; it would hardly be reasonable, therefore, to expect the same standard to be reached in the major subject. It was also noted that, in the highest quality institutions, some individual modules taken by senior students compared well in level with UK final honours standard. A given student would take rather fewer of these more demanding modules than a UK student, however."

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/ncihe/

 

3 year Degrees, Ontario Grade 13

Hi,

I am from Canada, and have both a 3-year Bachelor's degree and a 4-year Honours Bachelor's degree.

For almost 50 years, Ontario had an additional grade of high school, called the "Ontario Academic Year", or grade 13. University-bound students in Ontario completed an extra year beyond grade 12. This extra grade, combined with a 3 year degree, gives the same amount of schooling as an American 4-year graduate.

I chose a 3-year Bachelor's program in Mathematics. It required me to complete 7-8 year-long courses (or 16 semester-long courses, 6 X 8 = 48 credit hours) in Mathematics. The 4-year Mathematics degree requires 9-10 courses in Mathematics. For me, the three degree had more flexibility with course selection. I did my 4-year Honours degree in Computer Science, and it was much more prescriptive on what I had to have.

I also completed a Bachelor of Education concurrently with the three and four year degrees. I needed extra credits. Things have worked out well. I am currently a Mathematics teacher at a local community college. I'm sessional, temporary full-time load right now!

ramona
---------------------
BA (Math) '01 Queen's University @ Kingston
BSC (Honours Computer Science) '03 Queen's
BED (Math/Comp Sci/Comp Engineering) '03 Queen's

 

Also, aren't there more seminar and "project" requirements for the Honours degree? I'd also be willing to venture a guess that the "passing grade" to maintain "Honours" standing would be the same as for the MA (MSc and others).

BTW, just in case you're interested, Augustana is merging with the U of A this July (see: http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/augustana/)

 

The 3-year Canadian degrees are typically known as "Pass" degrees. Not all 4-year degrees are honours degrees, some are 4-year major degrees. It depends what school you get it from. For example, in Alberta you can do a 3-year pass degree, a 4-year ordinary degree, or a 4-year honours degree. The 3-year degrees are usually--though not always--from non-Universities (ie: Such and Such University College). The 3 main Universities in Alberta (U of Alberta, U of Calgary, U of Lethbridge) generally offer only 4-year ordinary and 4-year honours degrees. There are exceptions, some which have already been noted in this thread.

On the other hand, from the traditional Universities in Ontario you will have the option of either a 3-year pass degree or a 4-year honours degree, for the most part. It is much more straight forward in Ontario than it is in Alberta. Quebec is another cake entirely.

Now, the essential difference between these ordinary degrees (both the 3-year pass and 4-year degrees) is that there is a great deal more flexibility in which courses you can take. For example, you might only need to do 8 or 10 courses in Economics if you want a major in Economics. While for an honours degree, you might have to do 12 courses in Economics. Also, for an honours degree you will need to do a thesis or dissertation, whereas you do not need to for the pass and 4-year major degrees. You will generally also need to maintain a higher GPA for an honours program than for a pass or major program. And finally, you would normally take an honours degree if you intend to go on to grad school. Although a 4-year major degree often meets the requirements for grad entry.

In summary, the course work and GPA requirements are more stringent for honours degrees than they are for 3-year pass and 4-year major degrees.

 

A Lutheran school bites the dust.

The provincial government is giving $40,000,000 to the U of Alberta to take it over. I guess nobody ever thought to give $10,000,000 to the Lutherans and let them keep it.

I recently asked an Augustana student how many students were Lutheran. She said maybe 1 percent. I suspect it may be a bit more.

 

I read the news release at http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200403/16156.html, and have yet to figure out how merging the two institutions will improve financial efficiency and support the goals of Campus Alberta.

 

I took out the comma

 

3 year degree into Grad Studies

I finished a three year degree BA in one area and then entered the B Ed After Degree (BEAD) programme. After a while I decided I would rather pursue an MA in the initial field (Anthropology) and so I checked with a number of grad schools and most would require me to finish an honours year first. Instead I completed an Honours degree in a second field (Linguistics) in close to the same time (I overloaded the Fall and Winter semesters and went through the Summer).

The other additional work tacked on to many Canadian honours degrees is the production of a "Honours Paper" or "Honours Project"

Some schools will allow you in with a probationary period and a promise to fill in any gaps that become apparent. But this was case by case when I was looking.

Migwec
Jeff

 

Three Year Canadian Degrees

Here has been my experience with Canadian 3 year degrees and Athabasca University:

Athabasca University

This institution has plenty of experience with distance learning (perhaps the most of any Canadian university). I have taken a few courses through them and their course materials are of good quality. Athabasca offers a large selection of different degree programs. With the exchange rate differential, Athabasca could be competitive in price with Excelsior and you could tailor an Athabasca degree more closely to your career aspirations than Excelsior.

Three Year Degrees

I have a three year B.A. in Administrative Studies from the University of Winnipeg. There were no problems with using this degree to gain acceptance to the Canadian Chartered Accountant (CA) program. Three year Canadian degrees can also be used to gain acceptance to the following programs:

Accounting Designations (e.g. CA,CGA,CMA)
Finance Designations - (e.g. CFA)
Law School
MBA Programs (a classmate of mine used her degree to gain acceptance to the University of Manitoba MBA, which is AACSB accredited)
Education

There may be other programs that aren't listed here. I am not certain about other Masters level graduate programs. In Canadian universities, a 3 year degree might be suitable for admissions if the coursework prerequisities are satisfied. Otherwise, the student may have to complete a pre-Masters program of up to 2 years in length to get the necessary coursework.

Best of luck with your studies!

Regards,

Michael Weedon

 

Re: Three Year Canadian Degrees

Even at AU, there doesn't seem to be a great degree of consistency as to whether or not a 4 year degree is required. Some programmes simply specify a "baccalaureate", while others require a "baccalaureate" (or professional designation--ie: CA, CGA) and experience, while others explicitly state that a 4 year degree is required for admission.

 

Hard to believe that US standards are higher than canadian. Just take a look at the one year part-time MBAs at AIU or the three year part time PhDs at NCU.

My MBA was a two year full time program at a canadian university. Most of the canadian PhD in business require a minimum of 4 years full time work. So how is this compared to the one year part time american MBA or three year part time PhD? are american degrees less rigorous or just more compact ?.

 

Re: Re: Three Year Canadian Degrees

The CGA designation normally does not require a bachelor's degree in most of the provinces. On the other hand, the CA does
require a bachelor's degree.

Bear in mind that in Quebec most of the bachelor's degrees are three years programs. This because students need to finish a 2 year pre-university program (DEC) before starting university. These two years are on top of the high school diploma.

 

Re: Re: Re: Three Year Canadian Degrees

Actually, CGA candidates do now require a bachelor degree in order to achieve the CGA designation. The degree requirements are very loose, though. For example, a 3-year applied degree from SAIT is sufficient to meet the degree requirements of the CGA program. See this link for CGA's statement about requiring a degree prior to receiving designation. "To receive the CGA designation and become a member of the CGA Association, you must earn an undergraduate degree from a post-secondary educational institution..."

 

Actually the Certified General Accountant's Association has an absolutely wonderful education program, unlike the other 2 recognized accounting designations that rely on others to teach.

The degree is an exit qualification rather than an entry qualification and they see to it that you get a degree.

Out of high school you get a job in accounting , then enroll in the program. You take 16 accounting, auditing, taxation etc courses plus 4 general university courses and you get a valuable accounting designation plus a degree. Takes 5 years part time. They typically flunk about 40-60 % of the students in each course. It has a high attrition rate.

The degree awarded was previously a Bachelor of Accounting Studies from the University of Calgary - good. Newer students will get a Bachelor of Applied Studies in Accounting from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology - not as good but not bad.

The CAs and CMAs are planning to merge even though their combined designated membership is larger than the CGAs, the number of students entering their programs is smaller. Rumour is that they plan to copy the CGA program of studies.

A CGA designation from the pre-degree days is recognized as a degree equivalent for entry into many masters programs in Canada.