Just deciding that you want to further your education and go for a Master's degree is not enough these days. There are endless full time course programs and part time course programs to select from, and then you have to choose between professional and academic degrees. If you aren't very sure what you want to be when you grow up, it could take you awhile to figure out what you want to do in this next leg of your educational journey.

Professional Master's Degrees

A professional master's degree is designed to prepare you for one career field. It is not designed for a big thesis paper that requires months and months of research. It isn't just for intellectuals who want to spend years of their life become experts at some field of study. This type of master's degree is designed to give you essential skills, resources and knowledge needed to make it big in a chosen career field.

In most cases, you will go directly from your master's degree program to the work force, or you may already be working in the workforce as you go for this type of degree. There is no need to go on to the doctorate level in most cases, since you should have the knowledge you need to get a higher paying job in a specific field after completing this full time course or part time course program.

Two examples of professional master's degree programs would be the Master's of Education and the Master's of Business Administration, or MBA. These degrees are designed to prepare you for higher level jobs in the education or business world.

Academic Master's Degrees

This is the type of master's degree that typically gets followed up with a doctorate degree, or perhaps some time in an internship position. These programs are well suited to intellectuals who are very into a given field of interest. These programs will allow you to extensive research, conduct heavy scientific explorations, and write elaborate papers that others may actually want to read in academic and professional journals.

This type of master's degree will not prepare you for one specific career field. Rather, it can establish you as an expert in a given area and that in turn may open up a variety of career options. For instance, many people will take this type of degree program and end up working as a well paid consultant while going for their doctoral degree.

Which of these master's degree programs you select will depend on your goal. If you just want to impress your boss and qualify for a higher salary, then you are probably lining up for the professional master's degree program. If you want to fully immerse yourself into a particular area of study or conduct official scientific research, then an academic degree program is probably more suitable to your interests.

Whatever you select, make sure you decide correctly between part time course programs and full time course programs. This will make a huge difference in what you get out of the program.