What is the difference between a M.S graduate degree and a Masters graduate degree

What is the difference between a M.S graduate degree and a Masters graduate degree ? Some colleges and universities in the U.S. name their graduate degrees as M.S in "abc " eg) M.S., in Computer Science, M.S., in Information Technology and M.S., in Software Engineriing while some "only" name these deegrees as Master of "abc" eg) Master of Information Systems, Master of Information Technology and Master of in Software Engineriing What is the difference between between a grduate degree being called as Master of "abc" and M.S in "abc "? Is the difference between those graduate degrees which do not have pre-requisite courses being called as Master of "abc" and those with a requirement of pre-requisite courses calling as M.S in "abc "? Or their is no difference whatsoever in this nomenclature? Its is just a University and College policy to name their particular graduate degree as M.S in "abc " and Master of "abc"? Can anyone throw some light on this? Higher Education (University +) - 3 Answers Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions : 1 The exact degree requirements will vary slightly depending upon the educational institution itself. Where I went to school you could get a "Master of 'abc'" or a "M.S. of 'abd'". (Note the regular "Masters" was also known as the Masters of Arts degree.) The difference being that the M.S. degree required a few extra courses in the degree plan and these courses were required to be a specific science designated within the degree. In some cases the "M.S." degree requirements were also more involved in the research project. In any case the M.S. degree requirements are generally more demanding than the Masters of Arts degree. 2 Master's degrees fall into various categories, but there are generally 4 or so overarching categories. M.A. Master's of Arts - most fine arts, humanities, and behavioral science degrees (sociology, economics) fall into this category M.S. Master's of Science - most natural science, computer science and sometimes behavioral science (especially applied, like applied psychology or counseling psychology) fall into this category. {just as an aside, some schools, like Johns Hopkins, refers to their M.S. degrees as Sci.M, but for all intents and purposes, its the same} M. Ed - Master's in Education. Meaning you have a degree in one of the Educational disciplines, like...Education, or Special Ed, or Instruction, or Guidance and Counseling, etc. MSW - Master's of Social Work. Having a concentration in that one field. Similarly, an MDiv is a Master's of Divinity, having a concentration in this. So is a Master's in Public Health (MPH). These are considered SPECIALIZED degrees, in fields that aren't arts, science, or education, but sort of a combination. MBA - Master's of Business Administration. Similar to the specialized degree, however, in the working world, an MBA is considered a TERMINAL degree, meaning it is considered the highest one can achieve in a given field {which translates into "more pay". And frankly, it's not true anymore; there are doctorate's in Business Admin, but virtually all of them teach} Other examples of terminal degrees are PhDs, JDs (law degrees), MDs, and (to some degree) MPH {although there are DPHs}. When you get down to it, the difference between a Master's of Information Technology and an M.S. in Information Tech is all semantics; technically a Master's in IT is an MS in IT. Nobody sees you as "more qualified" because you are one or the other. Hope that clarifies it for you. 3 well, the MS has the more general discipline and that it is more broad and quite "hard". on the other hand a Master's degree focuses on specific disciplines to which the specialization is more defined than the MS degree.

---