Going to School Again for Another Major

The Second Bachelor'due south Degree: V Big Whys (and One Chief Challenge)

You have your bachelor's degree, and yous're well into your career. Just something isn't quite right. It might be a matter of salary, advocacy, opportunity, or conviction—or even just a feeling that y'all're non really fulfilled in your work.

Regardless, something has to change.

I strategic way to change it is by getting a second bachelor'south degree. Today, more work-experienced adults with a degree are returning to schoolhouse for a subsequent degree—a caste that may exist related, tangential, or even completely unrelated to their beginning.

Maybe you've thought about a second bachelor'south degree, simply you're on the fence. Will it be worth information technology to you? How might it alter your career path? Should you go for a primary'south instead? There are many questions.

It may help for you to kickoff by considering these 5 common reasons why others similar y'all are returning to schoolhouse.

"Whys" to Consider a Second Bachelor'due south Degree

1. Meet Requirements You Need to Accelerate.

Has your career hit a ceiling? Perchance you've topped out in terms of pay or promotions for your electric current role. If you're successful enough to be crouching at the meridian of a tall platform that certainly deserves congratulations. Merely getting to the next level may require a caste that yous don't concord.

For example, permit'due south say a person has a bachelor's degree in English. She used it to go her first job, as a marketing writer. And then, with experience, she became a marketing associate and eventually a senior marketing acquaintance. She's proven herself at the company and she loves her job. Just the next level upwardly is the managing director position, and the company requires a specialized degree in either marketing or business organization. Unable to use, she'll lose that promotion to someone else with the right caste. She could motility to some other career path in the company or get to another employer, but in either instance, she'd have to work her mode back up again.

She could work with her employer, letting them know that she's going after the appropriate degree. The second available'southward could be the departure maker in her promotion—while preparing her for the new responsibilities that lie ahead. Earning a 2nd bachelor's degree may exist a ceiling buster if you lot're looking to move up inside your company.

TIP: Many companies offer a tuition reimbursement program to help employees pay for their education. Talk with someone in human resources to see what'due south available.

When it comes to paying for school, grants are among your all-time options. Simply practice you know how to find them? Remove the guesswork by downloading this free guide.

2. Have a New Career Path

After years of working in i field, you may find yourself in a hard spot:

• The field is advancing and you demand to keep up,
• You lack a growth path for the next step up,
• You're bored with the status quo and you're looking to take a new path, or
• You've been laid off or allow become—and you want to build a career in a new, stable industry for tomorrow'southward workforce

Maybe your time in your current field has been generally unsatisfying, uninteresting, or non financially rewarding. Regardless of how you reached this point, information technology's clearly time to accept active steps toward some other career. It can exist a time that's both exciting and daunting.

In many cases, your years of work feel in 1 field will non mean much to an employer hiring you for an entirely different line of piece of work. Employers may view career switchers with a critical eye, asking questions similar: Will they like the work?, Do they know what this field entails? Practice they know what it takes to do this job well?, and Volition they but leave again for however some other job?

For your next employer, a second caste is powerful, tangible proof of your noesis in and commitment to the field. By education you specific, immediately useful skills y'all need, it makes y'all more attractive to employers—and less of a gamble than a job applicant without a degree. It may fifty-fifty forestall you from having to start over at the lesser and work your style up.

3. Stay Electric current and Positioned for Success

Over time, some degrees can grow less important or outdated. It tin can hurt yous in terms of shrinking opportunities, lower pay, tougher competition for the best jobs, or even layoffs. Consider a traditional degree in computing, which has grown outdated, while a related specific caste in cybersecurity is now in loftier demand. A second bachelor'southward caste in a similar, thriving manufacture tin can help y'all deftly squeeze your way out of a shrinking field—and apply some of that knowledge toward new opportunities with growth potential.

TIP: Before you become back for that second, related degree, consider the importance of transferred credit from your prior caste. A person working in data processing may already have taken most of the key coursework (general education requirements) and perhaps most of the avant-garde math courses required for a second degree. Planning alee with your college didactics counselor tin can salve yous time, effort, and price.

four. Grow into a Promotion

A promotion feels great because it says you've mastered your previous part and you're ready for more responsibility. Only sometimes getting that promotion moves you lot abroad from your existing talents and feel—and throws y'all into an arena of entirely new skills. You're suddenly facing new challenges that yous're unprepared to solve.

A mutual case is nurses who are promoted into administration. Whereas they one time managed patient intendance, now they manage budgets and human resources bug. They're still in the aforementioned field and with the same employer, but it'due south a whole new set of demanding commitments.

When finding yourself in a new position with new and unlike responsibilities, a second bachelor'due south degree tin can help in terms of:

Fast tracking  - You could learn on the task, just a degree volition fast runway your cognition into an area like finance, economics, or accounting. And that keeps you looking similar the right person to promote.

Specialization - A business degree holder might demand to specialize in marketing. A communications degree holder might need to specialize in public relations. Perhaps a registered nurse wants to enroll in an RN-to-BSN program to admission a whole new enshroud of well-paying jobs.

5. Get Proper Credit for Your Skills

Have you been doing something as a function of your job, say bookkeeping, but you never really studied it? Information technology happens all the fourth dimension. You but learned it on the job. You're good at it. And you've been doing it for years.

But two things tin can happen over time:

• You aren't getting the benefit of the proper championship of "auditor" or the commensurate salary
• Your current employer knows you can do the bookkeeping and accounting, but future employers who await at you will only see an "office manager," meaning you have an under-inflated task title and worth

Getting a 2nd degree can take an area that y'all already know very well and boost your career standing, giving you lot legitimate credentials to prove your knowledge.

TIP: Since y'all already have a lot of feel in the area, in that location's a chance you lot tin can "test out" of some of your coursework. Some schools offer guidance on CLEP (college-level archway proficiency) exams, which can save yous fourth dimension and effort so you tin get your caste faster.

Why a Second Bachelor's Over a Master's

Some people will wonder, "If I'1000 putting in the piece of work and fourth dimension for a available's, why not just get a master's? Won't I become the same benefit but with even more clout?" Information technology tin can be hard to answer the master's question.

The truth is that every person's goals, time availability, and career situation are dissimilar. Sometimes a available'due south degree is the smart option to accuse upwardly your career choices. Sometimes, you lot may want something more.

How a Second Bachelor's Compares to a Master's

• Complete in Less Time—For a subsequent bachelor's, consider how much fourth dimension might be saved via the transfer of credit. A second bachelor's caste, for instance, generally requires fewer courses in general education, a notable benefit when you lot're trying to go in and go out apace. For a bachelor's program, a student's previous coursework for another degree is more likely to transfer than for a master'south program, which has far more than rigorous standards.
• Graduate with a Lower Out-of-Pocket Price—A second bachelor's caste may be lower in toll than a chief's. Employer-paid tuition reimbursement programs may also drive your decisions, so cheque into what might exist covered.
• Limit the Intensity of Your Studies—Master'southward programs are more challenging, and they require an extreme amount of reading, researching, and writing. Call up about electric current commitments in your life and whether you tin can add a significant challenge to it.

Bachelor's vs. Master's: Form Intensity

At that place's a large difference in the type of curriculum between the two programs. To see which is right for you, encounter the comparison betwixt a Bachelor's in Accounting and a Principal'due south in Accounting below.

Bachelor's Curriculum
Focused on helping you develop best practices & tactical skills

Major Focus

• Intermediate Accounting I
• Intermediate Accounting 2
• Cost Management
• Federal Income Revenue enhancement I
• Federal Income Tax II
• Bookkeeping Data Systems
• Auditing
• Accounting Research & Analysis

Major Electives

• Accounting Ideals & Professional person Responsibilities
• Fraud Examination

Master's Curriculum

Focused on providing you with analytical skills & awarding

Core Courses

• Introduction to Research in Accounting
• Financial Bookkeeping Theory
• Management Control Process & Systems

Electives

• Enterprise Resource Planning
• Forensic Accounting
• Avant-garde Auditing & Data Mining Techniques
• Enterprise Risk Assay & Direction

Just You Can Decide

How volition yous know if a second bachelor'due south degree is correct for you? Enquire yourself a lot of questions. Honestly assess your goals, constraints, and ambitions. Past identifying your whys, you tin can start now toward the all-time career move for you.

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Source: https://www.franklin.edu/blog/second-bachelors-degree

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