Converting a Postgraduate Certificate to a Masters

Certificates are a perfect stepping stone to a Masters degree as you’ll not only be prepared for the intensity and expectations of the course, but you’ll get to learn even more about the specific area of study you’re interested in.

So how do you go about converting your PGCert into a Masters? Follow these steps.

Talk to Your University

Your first stop should be wherever you got your PGCert from.

Because a PGCert is often worth between 1-2 thirds of a full Masters, some universities will let you upgrade your existing postgraduate qualification to a Masters. In order to do this, many will ask you to return for a few months’ extra study, write a dissertation or require you to take on specific modules for extra credits.

Some universities may even drop their fees slightly to accommodate the fact you’re converting rather than starting a qualification from scratch.

Talk to Other Postgraduate Students

To make sure you’re completely ready for a conversion course, that you’ll get the most out of it and that you’re studying at the right place, chat to postgraduate students who’ve converted their PGCert already. I’d especially recommend finding students who are interested in working in a similar sector to you. See how they found it and whether they’d recommend it to you.

Don’t know any? Why not check out our student reviews then?

Research Your Options

If they can’t offer you this, look around for other institutions that might upgrade your PGCert from a different university than their own. They may even take credits earned from your undergraduate course into account when making their decision.

Don’t Worry If You Don’t Have an Undergraduate Degree in That Subject

You can actually study a postgraduate conversion course, even if you haven’t studied that subject at undergraduate level. It’s an ideal thing to do if you’re looking to move up in your career but don’t have enough relevant qualifications to do so.

Usually taking around a year to complete, these taught conversion courses get you up to speed and get you qualified for a specific world of work. You can find conversion courses in a range of professional areas including law, medicine, dentistry, architecture and social work.

Be Aware of Time

You may find that some universities will only consider converting your PGCert into a Masters if you’ve graduated within the last five years.

So, if you graduated a while ago and are starting to consider taking on a Masters, then you might want to start looking around fairly soon…

Keep This in Mind

Your ability to convert your PGCert into a Masters is not only dependant on where you choose to study, but what you’ve studied in the first place.

Not all PGCert subjects can be converted into a Masters, so if you’re looking to go from a PGCert to a Masters with ease, make sure you choose a subject where conversion is likely to be on the cards.

Search Conversion Courses