What can you really do with an AA/AS degree?

2collegewego
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 15:47:00 +0000

I don’t know your local economy but I do want to point out that if the students are part of an immigrant community, they may be able to find jobs working with that community if their English is strong. In other words, a hiring manager may be much more likely to hire the person with a 2-year degree and fluent Spanish/ Mandarin/ Vietnamese/ Farsi/ Arabic than a person with a 4-year degree and rudimentary language skills.

Are your students educated in their own countries? The best thing for them is usually to learn English well and figure out how to re-enter their field. This sounds obvious but many underestimate the level of English they need to pass licensing exams. I knew a man who was a radiologist in his country and couldn’t pass the x-ray licensing exam because of English. I also know a woman who was a dentist in her country and couldn’t pass the dental hygienist exam because of language skills. They think because they’re testing for a job that is beneath their training, the test will be easy-- but they miss the nuances in a question and sometimes fail to realize that often, the lower position is tested on material (technical matters) that the doctor/ dentist doesn’t learn.

Of the careers listed, nursing is often very open to immigrants. It is a hard study and may be difficult to complete the studies with a family (it will likely take more than 2 years for the AA) but jobs come with benefits.