Pursuing “professional” courses after 12th arts has become a pressure point for today’s humanities students, because of parental or peer pressure from individuals who are more used to the clear cut Science/Commerce career paths. However, it is important for every humanities student to know that this is just not how courses after 12th arts work.
The arts and humanities are not so much about logic and reason as they are about expression and perception. Their career trajectories are, also, much more flexible. For example, a student who pursues one of the many available media courses after 12th arts may end up being a film director, a copywriter, or even a therapist.
Keeping that in mind, we have put together a list of courses after 12th arts that lead to professional qualifications and careers in the humanities that would leave both your career ambitions satisfied and aunties’ questions at bay.
Table of Contents
Digital Marketing
While not strictly a humanitarian field, a digital marketing course would be ideal as, with your knowledge of economics, and your mastery of spin, you could be a great marketer in no time. Digital is also the fastest-growing vertical in 2020, due to the growth in internet-based transactions over the course of this year.
You can learn digital marketing alongside another one of the conventional 3-year undergraduate courses through one of the many 6-month options available all over the country. Alternatively, you could opt for a 2-year postgraduate degree from the State universities.
However, we would recommend that you combine it with your undergraduate degree as a 6-month condensed course would give you plenty of time to intern and learn through practical experience. You can also begin working directly after graduating from college with this option.
Top Institutes: Indian Institute of Digital Education (Mumbai), Delhi School of Internet Marketing (Delhi), Digital Vidya (Mumbai)
Digital Designing
Digital design, also known as graphic designing, these courses after 12th arts combine your creative skills along with your business acumen in order to create stellar corporate design that helps the brand stand out and represents everything it stands for at the same time.
Digital designing can be pursued either through one of the standalone 6-month courses after 12th arts, as a postgraduate specialised option, or even a separate undergraduate course under a wider array of design.
Our recommendation is to opt for one of the many 6-month courses available in the market, alongside another undergraduate degree that doesn’t specialise in design but rather in media skills. For example, a Bachelor’s in Mass Media. This will give you a good base for your chosen career.
Top Institutes: Indian Institute of Digital Education (Mumbai), Zee Institute of Creative Arts (Mumbai), Arena Animation (all over India)
Teaching
A professorial or teaching career is a great option for a humanities graduate. However, unfortunately, none of the courses after 12th arts directly focus on this.
A very good option, however, are some of the new integrated courses combining undergraduate and postgraduate studies that are becoming popular, starting out with a 3-year Bachelor’s in Arts course, and finishes with a 2-year Bachelor’s in Education.
Top Institutes: Amity University (Lucknow), Lovely Professional University (Phagwara), Kasturi Ram College of Higher Education (Delhi)
Literature
Maybe you’ve always been a big reader. Maybe you just really love analysing text. At any rate, a doctorate in Literature is one of the well-sought after career paths for humanities students. However, much like other humanities specialisations, there are no specific undergraduate courses focusing only on this stream.
Doctorates in literature move on to a professorial career, work for top literary magazines and write their own books and textbooks. This translates into a monetarily satisfactory career. But before you apply for a PhD in Literature, you will need to complete at least one of the available undergraduate courses after 12th arts.
We recommend that you pick one of the Bachelor’s in Arts courses after 12th arts. This option provides you with not just general knowledge in humanities, as well as introductions to subjects like psychology and sociology, but also allows you to build a strong base in Literature, your future specialisation.
Top Institutes for BA in Literature: Miranda House University (Delhi), Saint Xavier’s College (Mumbai), Saint Stephen’s College (Mumbai)
Therapist/Counsellor
While you need an MBBS degree in order to pursue a career in psychiatry, there are several options available for humanities students in order to become a therapist or a counsellor.
While you have already been introduced to psychology as a subject in high school, a much more in-depth study is needed to become a certified professional in this area. You can do this by pursuing one of the many available BA courses after 12th arts and specialise in psychology, and go on to pursue a postgraduate diploma in clinical or applied psychology. Conversely, you can also pursue a Master’s in any degree of psychology. After this, you could also choose to pursue a PhD.
Top Institutes for BA in Psychology: Christ University (Bengaluru), Fergusson College (Pune), Saint Xavier’s College (Mumbai)
Economics
Courses after 12th arts in Economics are sought by many students. However, unfortunately, there are no direct courses you can pursue in this case. You can, however, pursue a Master’s in Economics after an undergraduate degree, like BA. This will also help you build up a strong base for your master’s degree.
Top Institutes for BA in Economics: Christ University (Bengaluru), Loyola College (Chennai), Lady Shri Ram College for Women (Delhi), Fergusson College (Pune)