Successful completion of a magistracy is not a reason to stop there. Many students prefer the transition to the next step of the educational ladder called "graduate school." For someone, obtaining a degree seems to be pointless. However, for those who want to study the chosen profession from all sides and fully devote themselves to it, graduate school is a breath of air. It provides an opportunity not only to engage in science, but also to expand the horizons of your future.
What is graduate school?
If higher education in the classical sense involves students attending lectures and other types of classes during which they gain knowledge, then the situation is different with graduate school. Here you will no longer be able to skip pairs or pass exams automatically for the top three. The ultimate goal of training in this case is to get a student a Ph.D. degree, which is earned by hard work.
Therefore, we can say that graduate school is in a sense an independent form of education, since it implies to a greater extent the work of a student under the guidance of a teacher. In the end, to achieve the desired results, the young specialist is engaged in his own research. According to its results, he writes a scientific or so-called candidate's work. In the process of developing a project, a student learns not only to absorb information, but also to analyze it according to various criteria.
Graduate School Forms
Masters planning to connect their lives with science need to know that this can be done under various conditions. So, postgraduate studies are allowed in three forms:
- Full-time (day).
- Correspondence.
- Competition.
Immediately it is worth highlighting the most preferred option for future candidates of science. Of course, this is an extramural form of education, because it allows you to combine education with work. Moreover, in most cases, graduate school is a paid education, so you can not do without regular income.
Full-time study is suitable for those students who seriously intend to engage in scientific or, possibly, even teaching. It will allow more time to devote to research work and consultations with the project manager, while graduate school in absentia noticeably limits these opportunities. However, if you suddenly decide to get a job, you will have to transfer to another form.
The final type of study for graduate students is job seeking. In order to receive education in this way, you do not need to take entrance exams and regularly attend a university. A student attaches to a particular department with the ability to independently write a dissertation and pass exams.
Learning Features
Obtaining a Ph.D. degree occurs after 3 years of research work of a graduate student, if he is listed on a full-time basis. For extramural students, the duration of the educational process increases by a year.
In addition, postgraduate studies should be accompanied not only by research, but also by teaching. The young specialist is obliged to conduct regular lectures with a total duration of about 50 academic hours per year. This figure may vary depending on the requirements of the university.
As for the direct writing of the candidate work, it begins with the selection by the graduate student of a relevant topic. Then the student undertakes to study the theories of other scientists, conducts his own experiment and, based on the results obtained, makes a unique conclusion.
Since graduate school is primarily an educational process, a young specialist must undergo certification testing of his knowledge in the form of passing three candidate minimums.
Several advantages of obtaining a degree
In most cases, young people are in a hurry to end their studies and, after graduating from a magistracy, begin life in workdays. And indeed, for many, simply not of interest to research work. However, admission to graduate school has its undeniable advantages:
- The prospect of obtaining a prestigious high-paying position.
- Deferment from the army for males. True, this has its own nuances: postgraduate study in the correspondence department does not protect from fulfilling a civic duty, a student must be registered on a full-time basis.
- The opportunity to participate in closed scientific experiments.
- The right to a vacation, after which you can again be restored to the position of graduate student.
Admission to graduate school
Not every student can engage in scientific work on the basis of a chosen university. The applicant must have previously received the education of a master or specialist. The following introductory postgraduate courses are handed over to them:
- Philosophy.
- Foreign language (usually English).
- Profile subject in the chosen specialty.
In addition, the applicant must write a statement addressed to the rector and obtain the agreement of the supervisor. If there is one, an applicant can provide scientific work on a topic related to the specialty of the department. If the student plans to study in the correspondence department, he needs to show the commission an extract from the work book.
Cost of education
Of course, having entered the desired postgraduate school and taking a budget place, you can not worry about additional costs. But sometimes free training becomes just a dream. The student could be worried about the entrance exams, or simply there was a very big competition among applicants. Well, some faculties do not provide budget places for training at all. Then you have to look for the right amount. What is it within?
According to official estimates, the cost of training for graduate students in Russia ranges from 55 to 350 thousand rubles a year. The size of the monetary value for obtaining a degree depends on the policy of the university and the region in which it is located. In any case, the amount is considerable, but it provides the student with education, so these costs are clearly worth it.
As you already understood, graduate school is a means of developing modern science. After all, today's student tomorrow can become a professor and give the world a discovery that will shock him.