The Student Room Group

does your master degree need to match your bachelor?

for instance can you go from history to economics?
You can, but you may find the work hard as post grad is the highest level
Reply 2
No, but some courses require you to have done an undergraduate degree in a related field to be eligible.
Reply 3
Original post by UWS
No, but some courses require you to have done an undergraduate degree in a related field to be eligible.


by courses you mean degrees?(i'll study in the uk but im not from the uk so we may use different terms)
so would history and economics be considered related as social sciences(even if the later is more "hard")
Reply 4
Original post by adriann23
by courses you mean degrees?(i'll study in the uk but im not from the uk so we may use different terms)
so would history and economics be considered related as social sciences(even if the later is more "hard")


Yes.

It's probably worth contacting the university to see what they require.
Reply 5
Original post by Persona5
You can, but you may find the work hard as post grad is the highest level

i thought the highest level is phd
It's the same as saying 'I've done maths, physics and chemistry A-level. Can I do a music degree?' The answer is 'possibly' - providing you meet all the entry requirements. In the OP's question it will be for the university to decide whether the modules and grades in the history degree will give someone an appropriate level of understanding to be able to do an economics masters degree. Masters degrees usually build on the knowledge someone gets in an undergraduate degree.

'Postgrad' usually just means any degree you do after an undergraduate degree.
Original post by adriann23
for instance can you go from history to economics?


An economics MSc would require an undergraduate degree in a quantitative subject. So in the example you give, no. A lot of contemporary economics is really just the application of mathematical techniques borrowed from various sciences/mathematics to economic variables. (Oh how I wish it was kicking back and reading 'The Wealth of Nations' sometimes...)

In general, you can but it depends on what. I.e. within the humanities and social sciences, you'd have quite a bit of room to move around (e.g. someone with a politics degree could probably do an international relations masters, as could someone with a history degree). Every course is different, though, so you'd have to find out for each one.
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 8
ok, so we got 2 yes(as in yes you can go)1 maybe and one no! is there anywhere where i can learn for sure? preferably before coming to england just to be rejected:frown: like a university faq or something?
Reply 9
Yes - ask the universities you want to go to. There is no universal rule.
Reply 10
hmm, what happens if the subjects are more related? i know from a friend that at least in France you can go from law to history(and i assume the opposite) does this generally hold in the UK? given that both are qualitative subjects.
They don't have to be related, I went from Creative Writing to Events Management
Original post by adriann23
hmm, what happens if the subjects are more related? i know from a friend that at least in France you can go from law to history(and i assume the opposite) does this generally hold in the UK? given that both are qualitative subjects.


Postgraduate degrees, unless they explicitly say they are 'conversion' or 'ab initio', are higher degrees and require an appropriate foundation of knowledge. What is considered an appropriate foundation varies by subject and University. Law in the UK is either an undergraduate degree, or subsequent commercial study, so it is not usually possible to do a PG Law degree without a PG undergraduate degree, but again, check with the University.

The answer is, there is no absolute pattern, but common sense prevails, you aren't going to get on a Masters in Nanoscience with an undergrad in Art History. You probably can get an offer for a postgrad in History if you have an undergrad in Art History. You might go from Law to History in a less competitive university, you won't go History to Law anywhere, unless the Law is History of Law or something very specific.
Reply 13
hmm, oh well off to economics undergrad. i go. thanks for your answers everyone
As an econ undergrad, it may be hard to find a reputed applied econ programme that lets you in directly without stats and math 1&2, econometrics, and intermediate micro and macro. However, there are a lot of good unis (Nottingham for example) where you can get a diploma and then progress to the msc. An extra year, but it definitely doable.

Not sure about theory-based courses.
Original post by adriann23
hmm, oh well off to economics undergrad. i go. thanks for your answers everyone


What do you want to do career-wise? If you want to study economics postgrad or be an economist why study history for 3 years?

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