Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery
Medical degrees differ from other undergraduate degrees in that they are professional qualifications that lead holders to enter a particular career upon receipt. This is not the case with most other undergraduate degrees, so whilst the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery are undergraduate or graduate degrees (depending on the institution), they are perhaps more accurately conceptualised as a so-called first professional degree. Other professions whose qualifications follow a similar pattern include:
Bachelor of Arts
A student who first achieves a general Bachelor of Arts degree with a sufficiently high overall average may be admitted to a "postgraduate" Baccalaureatus cum Honore degree in the same field; it requires a minimum of one year but may also take longer; it typically does not exceed two years. Students may be required to undertake a long high-quality research empirical thesis (Honours Seminar Thesis) combined with a selection of courses from the relevant field of studies. The consecutive B. cum Honore degree is essential if students ultimate goal is to study towards a two- or three-year very high research master's degree qualification. A student holding a Baccalaureatus Cum Honore degree also may choose to complete a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program without the requirement to first complete a master's degree. Over the years, in some universities certain Baccalaureatus cum Honore programs have been changed to corresponding master's degrees.