Among the professional degrees in the United States, one particular form was the graduate-entry first-professional degree, often denominated as a doctorate. The U.S. Department of Education defined these as: "A first-professional degree was an award that required completion of a program that met all of the following criteria: (1) completion of the academic requirements to begin practice in the profession; (2) at least 2 years of college work prior to entering the program; and (3) a total of at least 6 academic years of college work to complete the degree program, including prior required college work plus the length of the professional program itself." The use of the term "first-professional" was discontinued by the Department of Education as of 2010-11, when new post-baccalaureate award categories were introduced. Prior to this, first-professional degrees (so defined) were awarded in the following ten fields: