What the bacc is a post-baccalaureate degree?    

A post-baccalaureate degree or program is a second degree or set of courses taken after a first undergraduate degree is acquired.

Some students may not know exactly what they want to do after graduation. Some may be thinking about graduate school, some about jobs, and others do not know if they chose the right major at all.

For those who are unsure what to do, want more experience, or want to get an entirely new degree in something they actually want to learn more about, a post-baccalaureate degree or program is for you.

To gain more information about this topic, Briana Maltez ‘23 was interviewed to provide a firsthand account of what a post-baccalaureate is all about.

Briana is a photographer for The Nautilus and a post-baccalaureate marine biology student with a maritime administration minor from Houston, Texas, class of 2028. Most post-baccalaureate programs take one to three years to complete.

She initially graduated from Texas A&M Kingsville with a degree in Agricultural Business in 2023. Naturally, we asked why she wanted to come back to school for a second degree in marine biology.

“I didn’t want to do anything Ag Business Related” she stated. “There wasn’t anything that really stuck with me… but I wanted to finish the degree because I only had one year left when I made the realization.”

It was a family trip to Florida that sparked her love for Marine Biology and was ultimately what made her realize that she wanted to pursue a second degree in Marine Biology. She wanted to do something that she “loves” doing.

Luckily, acquiring a post-baccalaureate degree is done so typically without taking the “general education” classes such as history and political science and you almost entirely take the major/minor specific courses and no “Hullabaloo U” classes.

However, she went on to mention that coming back to school after graduating can make her “feel old, but also sometimes young” because she is older than everyone else and even married. 

But because she is still quite young overall, she blends in with the freshmen because she is taking all freshman science classes for her new degree. Befriending them and getting to learn more about the “young lingo”.

Furthermore, the “application” process is very similar to how many applied to school the first time. Through ApplyTexas, graduated students will apply as a U.S. transfer students, and the school will automatically designate the applicant as a post-baccalaureate student. Making sure to check the yes option when asked, “Are you seeking a second degree”.

When asked about her plans after her second degree she stated that she “wants to get a masters” and that the post-baccalaureate gave her a “specified path that allows for a specific specialization… ideally out of state”.

She emphasized that she wants to study beluga whales, something that may not have been possible without a post-baccalaureate program like what is offered at the Texas A&M College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies.

Overall, she recommends students start early and get involved in research and organizations and to make many friends. She went on to say to not “be afraid to break the norm”, seeking a second degree if your first one is not ideal is normal.