If you’re changing careers, an online digital media communications bachelor’s for career changers can be worth the cost when the job you want routinely asks for a bachelor’s degree and you need structured practice to build current work samples. It won’t prove your skills by itself, so check transfer rules, course format, and portfolio opportunities before enrolling.
Key Takeaways
- The degree makes the strongest case when job postings name a bachelor’s degree as a normal entry requirement.
- A career changer needs a focused portfolio that connects past experience with the new role, rather than a collection of unrelated class assignments.
- Transfer credit, prior learning, and short course terms can change the time needed to finish, which affects how long you pay tuition before you can use the degree in a new job search.
This route fits people who need a degree and structured practice at the same time. Coursework can give you a defined place to develop new samples while your earlier experience supplies context for the role you want. The key factor is not having a portfolio in the abstract; it is whether the work demonstrates the communication decisions that the target job requires.
The case is weaker if you already hold a relevant bachelor’s degree, can build credible work samples without another degree, or want a job that depends more on advanced design skill than communication strategy. In those situations, another bachelor’s may add less value than targeted practice or a portfolio built around the specific work you want to do. Review the transfer policy and prior-learning rules before comparing completion timelines, because the advertised course sequence may not be the sequence you actually follow.
Is an Online Digital Media Communications Bachelor’s Worth It for Career Changers?
The answer starts with the job posting, not the program brochure. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that public relations specialists typically need a bachelor’s degree. The occupation had median pay of $74,750 in 2025 and is projected to have about 23,000 openings each year from 2025 through 2035. For a person moving from sales, service, health care, education, or another field, that degree requirement can be a real hiring barrier. In that case, the degree is doing a specific job: helping you pass an education screen that could otherwise stop your application before anyone reviews your experience.
Editing presents a slightly different test. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says editors typically need a bachelor’s degree in communications, journalism, English, or a related subject, plus writing and proofreading experience. Median pay was $77,920 in 2025. A degree may clear the education screen, but an employer can still reject an applicant who lacks edited clips, publication work, or other proof of careful writing. A communications degree can support that transition, but it does not substitute for evidence that you can revise copy, catch errors, and work to an editorial standard.
Read several postings for the role and market you want. Record what appears more than once, then compare those demands with the degree. The digital media communications career paths can help you separate communication-heavy roles from jobs centered on design or production. This comparison also shows whether the degree needs to do more than satisfy a checkbox. If postings repeatedly ask for a portfolio, editing samples, or a particular production skill, your plan should account for how you will build that evidence while earning the degree.
- Stronger fit: The target role commonly requests a bachelor’s degree, communication skill, and a portfolio. The degree can address the education requirement, while class projects, internships, or independent work can help supply the portfolio.
- Weaker fit: The role depends on one technical tool that a shorter course could teach. Paying for a full bachelor’s degree makes less sense if the employer’s main filter is a narrow skill the degree will not uniquely provide.
- Poor fit: You cannot name a target role or explain how the degree removes a hiring barrier. Without that connection, you have no reliable way to judge whether the program’s cost and time are buying access to the work you want.
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Your Portfolio Must Carry the Career Change
A diploma can confirm that you completed an education, but a portfolio gives a prospective employer something concrete to evaluate. For a career changer, that distinction matters because coursework alone does not show how you would handle an actual communications assignment. Avoid filling the portfolio with unrelated class exercises simply because they earned a grade. Each sample should support a task found in the target job, such as planning a campaign, editing web copy, creating a media package, explaining audience research, or measuring the response to published content.
A useful portfolio also makes your role in the work clear. If a project was completed with classmates, identify the portion you planned, wrote, designed, or analyzed rather than presenting the finished piece as if you handled every part. Include the brief, the audience, the goal, and the limits that shaped the decision. That context lets the reader judge your process as well as the final image, video, or page.
Program titles offer useful clues about where that work may lead. Brenau University offers the Bachelor of Arts in Communication & Media Studies, while Rochester Christian University offers the Bachelor of Science in Communication & Media. Those titles suggest a broader communication base than a degree named for one design specialty, but the title does not establish what you will be able to show at graduation. Compare the actual assignments, project requirements, and opportunities to revise work, because two programs with similar titles may leave you with very different portfolios.
The National Center for Education Statistics defines Digital Communication and Media/Multimedia as different balances of writing, design, production, and media analysis. This classification is a starting point rather than a description of your coursework. If your goal is social media work, compare the degree with the skills discussed in how to become a social media manager and then check whether the required assignments let you practice those skills.
- Include a short brief that states the audience, goal, and limits for each project.
- Show your decisions, not only the finished image, video, or page. Explain what you changed, what you left out, and why the final format fit the audience.
- Connect earlier industry knowledge to the new work when it gives you a useful specialty. That connection should be visible in the project itself, not just mentioned in a biography.
- Remove samples that do not support the job you plan to seek. A smaller portfolio with a clear direction is easier to assess than a collection of every assignment you completed.
Your old career does not need to disappear from the portfolio. A former teacher might create public information content for an education group, while a retail manager could build a campaign around customer behavior. Those examples work because the earlier experience informs the communications problem without replacing the communications work. The portfolio should show a move into communications while preserving knowledge that a new graduate may not have.
That balance is also where degree choice affects your career-change strategy. A program with broad communication assignments may give you more kinds of work to select from, while a program built around one specialty may produce a narrower but more focused set of samples. Neither approach is automatically better; the useful question is whether the required work matches the jobs you intend to pursue and leaves you with evidence you can explain clearly.
How Long Will the Transition Take?
The published degree length tells you the program’s standard path, not necessarily your path. Liberty University’s Bachelor of Science in Digital Design - Media Design requires 120 credit hours, uses primarily 8-week courses, and accepts transfer credit for up to 75% of the degree, according to Liberty University. That combination could matter greatly to someone bringing substantial college credit into a career change. It also creates a practical question: how much of that accepted credit will actually satisfy degree requirements rather than sit in a general elective category?
Southern New Hampshire University, which offers the Bachelor of Arts in Digital Photography, explains that a bachelor’s degree typically takes four years and 120 credits. It also notes that transfer credit, course load, and work schedules can change the timeline. A career changer should therefore request a written transfer review before judging how soon any program can lead to graduation. The review should show where each prior course applies, which requirements remain, and whether the proposed sequence leaves gaps that could add another term.
Short terms are not automatically faster. They compress reading, projects, and deadlines into fewer weeks, so the calendar can look efficient while the weekly workload becomes harder to absorb. A student taking one course at a time may progress steadily, while two project-heavy courses can compete for the same evenings. Review the admissions and transfer credit guide before submitting transcripts or assuming that old credits will apply. The key factor is not the length of each course by itself; it is how the course pace, remaining requirements, and available study time fit together.
- Ask which credits meet major, general education, and elective requirements.
- Find out whether professional training can earn prior-learning credit.
- Check whether courses use fixed meetings, weekly deadlines, or independent pacing.
- Map portfolio projects beside work and family obligations before registering.
The best timeline is not always the shortest one. A rushed plan that leaves no time for strong samples may produce a degree without enough proof for the transition. A slower sequence can be the more useful option if it gives you room to complete portfolio work and connect assignments to the kind of role you want next. The useful finish line includes graduation, a focused portfolio, and a clear story about why your earlier experience belongs in the new field.
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Compare the Degree Against the Job You Want
Digital media communications is not one occupation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that media and communication occupations had median annual pay of $74,250 in 2025. That category covers jobs with different entry rules and skill demands, so the overall figure should not be treated as a promised outcome from any degree. The number is useful for showing the range of the field, but it cannot tell you whether a particular program fits the job you plan to pursue.
Graphic design shows why the target role matters. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports median pay of $62,960 for graphic designers in 2025 and projects employment to decline 2% from 2025 through 2035. A student seeking design work should examine software practice and portfolio depth more closely than someone aiming for public relations, content planning, or media coordination. The degree may still make sense for a design-focused career changer, but only if the coursework produces work samples that match the roles being considered.
For other targets, the comparison shifts. A public relations or content-planning path may place more weight on writing, audience strategy, campaign work, or digital publishing than on advanced visual design. Media coordination may call for a different mix again. Review several actual job postings for the role you want, then map their stated qualifications against the program’s required courses, assignments, and final projects. That exercise shows whether the bachelor’s builds relevant evidence or simply gives you a broad title.
Program names can help narrow the first comparison. It shows how each verified title points toward a different question for a career changer. A fuller program selection checklist can help with the next review.
| School and Program | Emphasis Named in the Title | What to Verify |
|---|---|---|
| Brenau University — Bachelor of Arts in Communication & Media Studies | Communication and media studies | How often courses produce work suitable for a professional portfolio |
| Rochester Christian University — Bachelor of Science in Communication & Media | Communication and media | Whether projects match the writing, campaign, or production role you want |
| Liberty University — Bachelor of Science in Digital Design - Media Design | Digital and media design | How much design practice, feedback, and portfolio review the program provides |
| University of Wisconsin-Superior — Bachelor of Science in Communicating Arts | Communicating arts | Which courses support your planned communication specialty |
Use the table as a starting point, not as proof that one program leads to a particular job. A title that emphasizes communication may leave you responsible for building the design portfolio yourself, while a more design-focused program may not give you the writing or campaign experience a communications role expects. The deciding factor is the connection between the curriculum and the work you want to show an employer.
Cost completes the test, but compare the full bill rather than the advertised rate alone. Request an estimate that includes required credits, mandatory fees, transferred credits, and any software or equipment you must supply. Then compare that total with a shorter credential, employer training, or direct portfolio work. The bachelor’s is worth the larger commitment only when it removes an education barrier and builds evidence employers can judge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a digital media communications bachelor’s worth it if I already have a degree?
It may be, but first check whether employers require a communications degree or simply any bachelor’s degree plus relevant work. A certificate, selected courses, and a stronger portfolio may be a better use of time if your first degree already clears the education screen. The deciding factor is the barrier the new degree removes: if job postings accept any bachelor’s degree, another full program may add less value than targeted training and evidence of your work.
Do I need a portfolio before applying?
Not every program requires one. Still, a few early samples can help you test whether you enjoy the work before committing to a full degree. They also create a baseline that makes your progress easier to see and give you something concrete to discuss with an advisor or employer.
Can transfer credits shorten the career change?
Yes, when the school applies them to requirements you still need. Ask for a formal evaluation showing which credits fill the major, general education, and elective parts of the degree. The same number of transferred credits can have very different value: credits applied to electives may shorten the transcript without removing the courses that control your completion time.
Is communication a better major than digital design?
That depends on the target job. Communication programs may fit writing, public relations, and campaign work. Design-focused programs deserve closer review if employers expect advanced visual work and a polished design portfolio. Read the course list against actual job requirements, because a program with a communications title may not provide the software practice or visual assignments a design-heavy role expects.
Will an online degree help me move into public relations?
It can meet an education requirement and build useful samples. You will still need to show writing, audience judgment, campaign planning, and a clear connection between your prior experience and the organization’s work. The degree supplies structured coursework, but it does not automatically explain why your earlier career belongs in a communications role.
Can this degree lead to editing work?
It can support the move if the coursework develops strong writing and proofreading skill. Editing employers may also expect published clips or direct experience, so course assignments should become part of a focused portfolio. Review each assignment for a usable final piece, rather than assuming that completing the class alone will demonstrate the level of editing an employer needs.
What should a career-change portfolio include?
Use samples tied to the target role, such as web copy, campaign plans, media projects, or audience research. Add a short explanation of the goal, your decisions, and the result for each piece. A portfolio is easier to assess when the reader can see what you contributed, which audience you addressed, and why the finished work made sense for that assignment.
How do I know whether a second bachelor’s is worth the cost?
Compare the full program bill and completion time with the hiring barrier you need to remove. If another degree does not change your eligibility or produce stronger work samples, a shorter route deserves serious consideration. If it does remove a stated education requirement, the cost may be easier to justify, but the decision still depends on the credits you can transfer, the courses you must complete, and the portfolio you will leave with.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Public Relations Specialists
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Editors
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Media and Communication Occupations
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Graphic Designers
- Liberty University: Digital Design - Media Design
- Southern New Hampshire University: Bachelor’s Degree Timeline
- National Center for Education Statistics: Digital Communication and Media Classification