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The differences between assistants and adjunct professors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an assistant, becoming an adjunct professor takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an adjunct professor has an average salary of $98,821, which is higher than the $37,363 average annual salary of an assistant.
The top three skills for an assistant include patients, customer service and patient care. The most important skills for an adjunct professor are course curriculum, syllabus, and semester.
| Assistant | Adjunct Professor | |
| Yearly salary | $37,363 | $98,821 |
| Hourly rate | $17.96 | $47.51 |
| Growth rate | -8% | 12% |
| Number of jobs | 557,900 | 22,488 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 50 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
An assistant intern is responsible for facilitating administrative and clerical tasks as assigned by the management. Assistant interns' duties include keeping records of meetings, receiving calls and handling customer inquiries, assisting on writing reports and data entry processing, cooperating and providing support for business events, and adhering to company policies and regulatory procedures. Successful assistant interns must have excellent time-management, multi-tasking, and communication skills. They must be a team player and fast-learner to handle various tasks in the corporate industry.
Adjunct professors are instructors who are employed on a contractual basis, commonly in part-time positions. They teach courses in the same manner as full-time professors do, but they are free from some of the duties of those fully employed university instructors or in tenure-track positions. They create, develop, distribute, review, and manage course syllabus materials. They teach students, evaluate their performance, and maintain records of attendance, engagement, and progress. They may also facilitate lectures, conduct seminars, and do other administrative tasks within the department. Most adjunct professors enjoy teaching as part-time because they have more flexibility in terms of schedule, can avoid the dilemma of the higher education system and it's known to be less stressful and demanding.
Assistants and adjunct professors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Assistant | Adjunct Professor | |
| Average salary | $37,363 | $98,821 |
| Salary range | Between $16,000 And $82,000 | Between $44,000 And $219,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Providence, RI |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Latham & Watkins | Rhode Island School of Design |
| Best paying industry | Education | Education |
There are a few differences between an assistant and an adjunct professor in terms of educational background:
| Assistant | Adjunct Professor | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Here are the differences between assistants' and adjunct professors' demographics:
| Assistant | Adjunct Professor | |
| Average age | 50 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 40.7% Female, 59.3% | Male, 51.5% Female, 48.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 7.0% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.1% Asian, 11.3% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 16% |