Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I want to become an administrative assistant, legal secretary, office assistant... Something in that kind of administrative support area. I don't have any interests to go beyond anything like that, so I don't want to get a bachelor's degree with all that debt, and I'm really not a fan of the only university that's in driving distance to me.
So now I am trying to decide on if I should get an associate's degree in something business-related in hopes of learning skills, or use my credits I got from the university I went to before to just get an Associate of Arts to get the degree faster and cheaper because most job postings I see just say "Required education: Associate" or want a high school diploma plus experience. (Currently my only experience is 5 months of being a customer service rep in an office in a seasonal position.) It's difficult to know if an educational background in business means anything in this area or not, since a lot of things can be learned on the job.
If I were just getting out of high school now, I would definitely go for a business-related associate degree, but now I feel bad wasting credit hours from before when I wanted to be an ESL teacher. I didn't pay for much because I had scholarships and grants, but still.
The Associate of Business Studies degree options are legal support, marketing management, general management, office management, retail management, accounting, medical administrative assistant, small business management, and administrative assistant; though I have been told associate degrees in administrative assisting specifically are a waste.
I have so many options so now I feel a little overwhelmed and am afraid of making the wrong choice. I'm not really concerned about making a lot of money because I live in a relatively affordable area and am never planning on having a family to care for. Though if retail paid a living wage, I would work in a book store or clothing/shoe store forever if I could.
In my view... the individual course work required for an associates degree is mostly about formalizing
the knowledge base of those who are already doing those tasks and to a lesser degree for those who
will transfer to a 4 year school and complete the bachelors in something or other..
The associates degree itself is something that will happen along the way for some.
Seeing it as a goal in itself is missing the point.
1) An "associate of business studies" is likely not to be worth the paper it's printed on.
2) Secretaries are a rapidly vanishing breed. Not a good field to get into.
3) Computer skills are what you will need in any modern office.
Excellent advice.
Learn to code. Or learn to use some business applications such a accounting software, billing software, tax software. It is not computer work per se but if much more useful to have as real skills.
So how long would you have to study to get the associates in business vs the general associates using your existing credits? I know people with associates specializing in accounting and in office or business management and they have no trouble finding jobs. With accounting you would do bookkeeping, which is useful and there jobs out there.
So how long would you have to study to get the associates in business vs the general associates using your existing credits? I know people with associates specializing in accounting and in office or business management and they have no trouble finding jobs. With accounting you would do bookkeeping, which is useful and there jobs out there.
Business associate: 2 years. I would be starting over except for like two English classes being covered from some of my transferred credits.
General associate: 1 year. With not one business-related class in there.
Unfortunately, in today's job market an "associates" in anything is not likely to be worth the paper it is printed on. I hire for a living and an associates is looked at as the same as a high school diploma when screening applications.
It may have value in transferring to a four year program if you planned properly and took the right classes that are transferable to the university you plan to transfer to.
I agree with the majority opinion here. Look at it this way: there are two reasons to do this, 1. to gain knowledge and skills that will be useful in a job; 2. to look good on a resume.
I highly doubt that an Associate of Business Studies degree will give you any knowledge or skills that will be useful on the job. I also doubt that an associates degree will aid you in your job search.
If you decide to do this, I would suggest that you do it as inexpensively as possible at a community college and that you look at the ability to transfer those credits to a college where you can get a bachelors degree.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
