Breakdown of Окончив бакалавриат, он поступил в магистратуру.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
в
in / to (direction)
окончить
to finish, graduate from
поступить
to enroll
Questions & Answers about Окончив бакалавриат, он поступил в магистратуру.
Why does the sentence use окончив instead of a normal past tense verb?
Окончив is a perfective verbal adverb formed by dropping the past tense -л from окончил and adding -в. It translates to "having finished." We use it here to show that finishing the bachelor's degree was fully completed before the main action (enrolling) happened. Remember that both actions must share the same subject (он).
In English we "graduate from" a degree. Why isn't there a preposition before бакалавриат?
The verb окончить (to finish / to graduate) is a direct transitive verb in Russian. It takes the accusative case without a preposition. You directly "finish a bachelor's" (окончить бакалавриат) or "finish a school" (окончить школу).
Why is магистратуру in the accusative case (в магистратуру)?
The verb поступить (to enroll / to enter) indicates a directed action towards an institution. Just like walking "into" a building, entering a university or program takes the preposition в plus the accusative case to show the destination.
Does он поступил mean he applied, or that he was actually accepted?
It means he was accepted and enrolled! The perfective verb поступить indicates successful entry. If you only want to say someone "applied," you would use a phrase like подал документы (submitted documents).