<P> The median number of years for completion of US doctoral degrees is seven . Doctoral applicants were previously required to have a master's degree, but many programs accept students immediately following undergraduate studies . Many programs gauge the potential of a student applying to their program and grant a master's degree upon completion of the necessary Ph. D. course work . When so admitted, the student is expected to have mastered the material covered in the master's degree despite not holding one, though this tradition is under heavy criticism . Finishing Ph. D. qualifying exams confers Ph. D. candidate status, allowing dissertation work to begin . </P> <P> The International Affairs Office of the U.S. Department of Education listed over 20 "frequently" awarded research doctorate titles accepted by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2008 as representing degrees equivalent in research content to the Ph. D . The current NSF list of research doctorates included in the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates, contains 18 awards, although not all programs leading to awards on the list are necessarily considered research doctorates . The Doctor of Music and Doctor of Industrial Technology were dropped in 2008 and most Doctor of Education programs were removed in 2010 and 2011 (although some remain on the list), after it was determined that these were professional, rather than research, doctorates . </P> <P> Many fields offer professional doctorates, such as pharmacy, medicine, public health, dentistry, optometry, psychology, speech - language pathology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, health science, advanced practice registered nurse, chiropractic, naturopathic medicine, law, architecture, education, teaching, business, management, and others that require such degrees for licensure . Some of these degrees are also termed "first professional degrees," since they are also the first field - specific doctoral degrees . </P> <P> A Doctor of Pharmacy is awarded as the professional degree in Pharmacy replacing a Bachelor's . It is the only professional pharmacy degree awarded in the US . Pharmacy programs vary in length between 4 years for matriculants with a B.S. / B.A. to 6 years for others . </P>

What are the two types of doctoral degrees