Selecting a major for your bachelor’s degree can be tough, especially if you are unsure about what career path to follow. The major for your bachelor’s degree can most likely determine your future career—hence, choosing an appropriate undergraduate program can be one of the biggest decisions of your life. These decisions are often overwhelming as they have a lot riding on them.
However, most college degrees can be expensive and out of an average student’s budget. In fact, as per Statistics Canada, it can end up costing more than $15,000 for a bachelor’s program from a reputed institute. An Associate of Arts can be an ideal alternative if you don’t want to invest a lot of time and money for an expensive college education. An Associate of Arts or AA degree can provide you with essential skills to prepare for a career in humanities, social sciences, or business organisations.
If you are curious about an AA degree and its benefits, this blog can provide you with a lot of useful information. Along with a brief introduction of the degree, it stresses the benefits of investing in this course.
What does an AA degree involve?
An AA course is an undergraduate program equivalent to a diploma and suitable for people wanting to start their careers right after high school. The two-year college programme can provide important general and transferable skills to pursue a career in the domains of social sciences, mathematics, literature, or business management. The program can also assist in higher education as many universities allow you to use the credits from the degree for a bachelor’s program.
How can an AA degree be advantageous for you?
Here are the top three advantages of pursuing an AA program after your high school completion.
- An AA degree can provide an aptitude for creativity, mathematical skills and scientific reasoning, a strong sense of social responsibility and an acceptance for a wide variety of views on different subjects which are essential skills for any job in the humanities domain.
- The course also provides several essential skills such as the ability to collaborate with others, research and evaluative skills, great written and oral communication skills and analytical skills. These skills are considered an integral part of any corporate job and will help you establish a successful career in any field.
- Most AA degrees have a generalised curriculum that can provide a broad overview of different domains. Hence, you retain the flexibility to choose a professional domain as per your aspirations and interest.
Career options with Associate of Arts:
The course has a huge career scope and can prepare you to start a career in many interesting roles such as HR assistants, paralegal assistants, media assistants and social workers. You can also begin your career as a library associate, pre-school teacher, administrative assistant, or a language interpreter.
According to PayScale, the average Associate of Arts degree salary you can earn in Canada is $45,000 CAD per annum. Take a look at some of the jobs that you can take up
- Marketing Coordinator:
Marketing coordinators are responsible for initialising marketing campaigns in synchronization with marketing managers. These campaigns are shaped for ideas, services or products. Your exact job duty in this role could vary depending upon the size of the organization and the production in which it operates. The average yearly salary earned in this job role is $42,000 CAD. - Legal Administrative Assistant:
Legal administrative assistant’s employment with lawyers and paralegals, while supporting them with research, filing, correspondence and drafting of documents. They are also accountable for handling the everyday operations of the law offices. Legal administrative assistants make $36,000 CAD on average yearly. - Medical Records Technician:
This position combines office administration duties with information technology duties. Medical record technicians are accountable for maintaining patient records and ensuring accurate information is entered into the system while complying with the pre-set organisational procedures. These people work in hospitals, medical clinics and offices and can earn up to $24,000 CAD per annum.An AA qualification can be a stepping stone to a rewarding career in any domain as most employers consider AA graduates as ideal candidates because of their skills and unbiased perspectives. While choosing an AA degree, look for programs that offer placement opportunities for an enriched experience.
