Editor’s Note: This is the fourth and final installment, titled “Evolution of U.S. Admissions Practices and Broader Implications for Graduate Schools,” as part of a multi-part series on “The New Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree in the U.S.: Redefining Graduate Admissions and International Credential Recognition.” See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Stay tuned for the final paper release.
By Robert Watkins, University of Texas at Austin and AACRAO IESC member, and William Paver, Ph.D., co-founder of AACRAO EDGE and AACRAO IESC member
We have now seen the evolution of U.S. graduate admissions practices toward three-year bachelor’s degrees and the challenges facing one U.S. institution as it considers accepting three-year bachelor’s degrees for graduate admission. Moving forward, we next need to examine the broader implications for graduate schools in the U.S. There are thousands of graduate schools at institutions in the U.S. Of course, opinions, institutional needs, and overall institutional variety and mission will result in multiple approaches to the issue of admission to graduate study in the light of the now transformed undergraduate degree landscape. Even so, some factors should be considered as U.S. graduate schools debate admissions policy.
The first factor to examine is the overarching concept for the two types of degrees. The traditional principle behind the U.S. four-year 120-credit (or more) degree has been mobility. The degree needed to contain enough varied coursework beyond the major and the minor to permit admission to graduate study, even to a program not precisely identical to that of the undergraduate degree. While this is not always true (i.e., for engineering, fine arts, most science majors), there is some room for latitude (i.e., for business for non-Bachelor of Business Administration degrees, Law School, mobility into various programs in the arts, etc.). This is possible due to the broad extent to which the traditional bachelor’s degree contains general education. If this element is what is sacrificed in a three-year 90-credit degree, such flexibility is curtailed.
Also, the concept behind the shorter degrees may be such that graduate study is not the intended pathway for these graduates. Thus far (and it is certainly early days), the impulse behind these new degrees is not only to finish a degree more quickly and cheaply but to get the graduates into the work force in a more timely and less expensive fashion. Assuming this remains the case, the decision for graduate schools may not be so very difficult after all. The 90-credit bachelor’s degree is not designed to easily move on to graduate study compared to the longer, more broadly constructed 120-credit bachelor’s degree. What may transpire for U.S. graduate schools is a situation akin to that found in Ontario, Canada, where the 90-credit three-year bachelor’s ordinary degree is not accepted into graduate study, and only the four-year honours bachelor’s degree is admitted.
At this juncture, the three-year bachelor’s degree is certainly not widespread in higher education institutions in the U.S. One of the salient features of the three-year bachelor’s degree is the fact that they have been approved by some of the U.S. regional accrediting organizations. A reasonable question to ask at this point is why the regional associations have taken this step currently; further research into this question is warranted and necessary to understand the intent of the associations regarding this matter. For example, is the primary reason for this step to reduce the economic burdens imposed by the four-year bachelor’s degree credential, as the costs of higher education escalate?
The impact of the potential of three-year bachelor’s degrees to alter how students are admitted to graduate schools should be studied, and the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) should be consulted as part of that process. The opinions of their membership group will have a direct effect on the work of the AACRAO and its International Education Standards Council (IESC), and AACRAO should consider convening a group to discuss the issue of three-year bachelor’s degrees. This meeting could also include representatives from the regional accrediting associations, particularly the ones that have formally approved the creation of three-year bachelor’s degrees. Other groups that may have an interest include the Educational Testing Service (ETS), NAGAP, Institute of International Education (IIE), and TAICEP.
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