Professional student

A Professional student has two uses in the university setting:

• A professional student, in the United States, is a student majoring in what are considered the professional degrees. These include Law (J.D.), Medicine (M.D.), Business Administration (M.B.A.) and Nursing (R.N.). While most professional degrees are graduate degrees, there are exceptions in fields such as nursing.

• "Professional student" is a slang term commonly used in colleges to describe a student who stays in school for many years rather than embarking on a career. To avoid these types, some four-year colleges have imposed limits on the length of time students can be enrolled in order to open up their limited slots to new students. However, the colleges allow for demonstrated exceptions (e.g., a student who holds down a full-time occupation or has a family to raise, who is clearly demonstrating progress toward a degree).