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Scottish MA (Undergraduate)

 
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Oliver



Joined: 19 Apr 2008
Location: Seoul, Korea

PostPosted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:44 am    Post subject: Scottish MA (Undergraduate) Reply with quote

Hi all,

I am having some difficulties with the MA undergraduate degree for visa processing.

In Scotland the ancient Universities issue what is known as an MA (Master of Arts) for undergradaute degrees. However, these are exactly the same as the more commonly used term BA (Bachelor of Arts).

I sent my recruiter my original degree but because it says 'MA' they were confused and thought I was sending them a POSTGRADUATE masters.

I asked my University for confirmation that this was the same as a BA but they are not very helpful and would like to charge me for them writing a letter.

Thus, I told my recruiter just to send it for visa processing as I am sure other scottish students have been in the same boat when trying to get a visa.

Has anyone with an undergraduate 'MA' applied for a visa before? Did you have any problems? If so, how were they resolved?

Kindest,

Oliver
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Hyeon Een



Joined: 24 Jun 2005

PostPosted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:53 am    Post subject: Re: Scottish MA (Undergraduate) Reply with quote

Oliver wrote:
Hi all,

I am having some difficulties with the MA undergraduate degree for visa processing.

In Scotland the ancient Universities issue what is known as an MA (Master of Arts) for undergradaute degrees. However, these are exactly the same as the more commonly used term BA (Bachelor of Arts).

I sent my recruiter my original degree but because it says 'MA' they were confused and thought I was sending them a POSTGRADUATE masters.

I asked my University for confirmation that this was the same as an BA but they are not very helpful and would like to charge me for them writing a letter.

Thus, I told my recruiter just to send it for visa processing as I am sure other scottish students have been in the same boat when trying to get a visa.

Has anyone from an ancient Scottish University had this problem before? And how did you resolve it?

Kindest,

Oliver


I too graduated from one of the Ancient universities and have an undergraduate MA. I've had no problems with immigration. None of my visa processing has been done through recruiters though. You should tell the recruiter "it's a Scottish thing, immigration understands, just send it to them".

In 3 of the jobs I've had in Korea I've been put on a higher payscale for having the Scottish MA.

A good, though slightly underhand, way to explain it (if you're English like me) is that "In England people usually study for 3 years and get a BA. I studied at St Andrews/Glasgow/Edinburgh/the other one(Aberdeen??) for FOUR years and received an MA not a BA". That's always worked fine for me.

If you work for a public school there's a good chance it'll push you up a paygrade. This is also true if you work at a University (which you probably won't since this sounds like your first job.)

Having a Scottish undergraduate MA has been awesome for me in Korea.

On a related note, graduates from Oxford and Cambridge receive an MA automatically one year after graduating with a BA (even with no further study.) I'm not sure if this is for all colleges at those Universities, but it's been true for my friends. That'd work even better than a Scottish undergraduate MA since you'd have both bits of paper too.

Good luck.
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Oliver



Joined: 19 Apr 2008
Location: Seoul, Korea

PostPosted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

cheers,

exactly the reply I was hoping for.

Oliver
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