
These degrees are often referred to with the general term undergraduate degree. Undergraduate students are typically those working to earn a bachelor’s degree (or, less commonly, an associate’s degree). What is an undergraduate student? And what is an undergraduate degree?Īn undergraduate student is a student who is pursuing a degree at the first level of higher education (meaning the level after high school) at a college or university. What’s the difference between wisdom and knowledge? Here’s a lesson on the two terms. The educational status of an undergraduate student is below that of a graduate student. In undergraduate, the prefix under- is used to indicate a lower rank or status. Undergraduate is often shortened to undergrad as both a noun and an adjective.

Undergraduate is also commonly used as an adjective in this same context, in terms like undergraduate student, undergraduate degree, and undergraduate studies. What does undergraduate mean?Īn undergraduate is “a student in a university or college who has not received a first, especially a bachelor’s, degree.” For example, a college student might say I’m an undergraduate at the University of Texas if they were pursuing a bachelor’s degree there. The noun graduate is more general, simply referring to a person who has completed a level of education (someone who has graduated). In terms like graduate student and graduate degree, graduate refers to a level of advanced education beyond the undergraduate level, especially a master’s degree or doctorate. The main difference between undergraduate and graduate is that undergraduate is always used in the context of the first level of college or university education (the level where you can earn a bachelor’s degree). It can be shortened to undergrad in both cases.īy the end of this article, you’ll have an advanced degree in all the different ways graduate, grad, undergraduate, and undergrad are used, and what they mean in each case.

Undergraduate can also be used both as a noun (as in I’m an undergraduate at Stanford University) or an adjective (as in I’m working toward my undergraduate degree).

The same goes for its shortened form, grad, which can be used as a noun (as in Congrats, grads!) or an adjective (as in grad program). The word graduate can mean very different things depending on whether it’s used as a noun (as in recent high school graduates), an adjective (as in graduate student and graduate degree), or a verb (as in I plan to graduate next May). For example, you can become a graduate student after graduating with an undergraduate degree. The level of education that each word involves varies depending on how the word is being used, and there are situations in which both words can be used in the same situation. The difference between undergraduate and graduate is a difference of degrees (*throws graduation cap in the air to celebrate the pun*).
