Professional Degree vs Academic Degree

When you completed Class 10, you had a relatively simple choice of 3 streams, but now when you pass out of Class 12, you will suddenly be faced with almost hundreds of options for courses. At the college level, the majority of degree courses can be identified as either professional degree courses such as BTech or MBBS, or academic degree courses such as BA, BSc, etc. Academic degrees are traditional whereas professional degrees have been firmly established over the last few years. In this blog of Professional degree vs Academic degree, let us start by giving definitions for each of these types and explore the details of what sets these two types of degrees apart! 

What is a Professional degree?

A professional degree has a focused and specific curriculum that aims to develop your skills in a distinct area of specialization. The purpose of a professional degree is to ensure that you are ready for a career in a given field and have received the necessary training to hit the ground running. It is also known as the first professional degree, a degree that can obtain to work in particular fields below: 

Examples of Professional Degrees

• Medicine
• Engineering
• Law 
• Pharmacy
• Veterinary Medicine
• Architecture
• Psychology
• Education
• Aviation 

A professional degree should meet the following criteria: 

• Completion of the academic requirements to start the practice in the profession
• Two years of college before entering the exam
• The program must last at least six years 

What is an Academic degree?

An academic university degree is designed to foster critical thinking and focuses more on the pursuit of research-oriented tasks in various academic disciplines. They are necessarily designed with any particular career orientation, that is why they are also known as generalists degrees. However, they do develop a broad skill set that can be applied across fields. Some examples of academic degrees are mentioned below:

Examples of Academic Degrees 

• Information Technology
• Computer Science
• Business
• Marketing
• Natural Science
• Management
• Languages 
• Mathematics 

Job Opportunities after Pursuing a Professional Degree

Enlisted are a few of the job opportunities in the professional degrees with the average salary package: 

• Doctor of Veterinary – Veterinary Surgeon, Nature Conservation Officer, Environmental Consultant. 
• Doctor of Pharmacy – Pharmacists, Pharmacy Director, Toxicologist 
• Doctor of Medicine – General Surgeon, Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Internist 
• Juris Doctor – Lawyer, Judge, Lobbyist 

Average Salary Package: 52,700 USD – 300,900 USD (INR 39,13,467 – 2,23,44,638)

Job Opportunities after Pursuing an Academic Degree 

Below mentioned are some of the options you can pursue after getting an academic degree with the average salary package: 

• Computer Science – Data Scientist, Web Developer, Product Manager 
• Information Systems – IT Consultant, Software Engineer, System Analyst
• History – Historian, Librarian, Researcher 

Average Salary Package: 58,875 USD – 113,309 USD (INR 43,72,019 – 84,14,252)

Professional Degree vs Academic Degree

When it comes to distinguishing these two degrees, that distinction isn’t always crystal clear. However, the main difference between the two can be exerted in the fact that an academic degree prepares students for research-oriented careers. In contrast, a professional degree prepares students for careers in specific fields. At the bachelor level, the distinction between the two is less obvious. However, they become more apparent at the master and doctorate levels. 

Which type of Degree to Choose?

Choosing between a professional degree or an academic degree will depend upon a number of key factors including

• Your interests and goals
• Your skills set and abilities
• Your career objectives
• Your personality
• Your finances 

We hope this blog on professional degree vs academic degree helped you figure out which one is the best for you! Still have confusion? Reach out to our Leverage Edu experts and make the right career choice. Book a 30-minute counselling session today!