Is an Associates Degree worth pursuing?

[kuronosan]

I'd love to get my bachelor's, I can't find any schools in my state (VA) that offer one for what I'm interested in (CAD, something along the lines of http://degreedirectory.org/search/fi...earchButton=Go ). There are plenty of places to get an associate's degree however; ITT tech, westwood, probably other places.

I'm still doing some searching in hopes of finding a bachelor's program for it in VA, but in the event that it doesn't exist...should I just go for the associate's instead?

Also anyone have experience with schools like ITT tech?

The more education the better. Any degree is better than having just a high school diploma.

[Mizango]

The more education the better. Any degree is better than having just a high school diploma.

Basically what I was saying. I mean if someone's ONLY option is an associates then yeah, go for it. I would definitely go for Bachelors first and foremost, but if you have choice between 2 years of college and 11th grade physical science and general math then the Associates doesn't seem all that bad lol.

[Woozie]

http://www.earnmydegree.com/online-e...ion-value.html

So I guess, technically speaking, associates degree really is better than no degree at all. But I'd still say to get a bachelors (if it was an option in your field).

[Mizango]

But I'd still say to get a bachelors (if it was an option in your field).

Absolutely.

[scaevola]

Is there any evidence that individuals with associate's degrees that are directly on-point are more employable in your field than BSes in related fields? Banking on hyperspecialization is generally a terrible way of going about your education.

[kuronosan]

Unless you have years more experience than somebody with a 4-year degree you will never be hired before them.

This is coming from personal experience, where my father has had a rough time advancing in his career because he has more than 30 years of experience in his field but only a two-year degree.

[Purrrfect]

NVCC does have a lot of classes, a lot more technology than we have down in the Richmond area. I just finished an engineering AS at our CC here. CC>4 year is definitely a good bet money-wise, but you have to know up front that the last 2 years are still gonna be damn pricey. Additionally, CC classes are very compatible with a day-time job, 4 year schools couldn't care less. This is my problem now...

[Nirokun!]

Nursing faculty is difficult to find and you have to have so many faculty per student, so how difficult entry is depends on what nurses make in the area vs what instructers are paid. Most nurses make more than college professors/instructors, so it's hard to find people to teach the kids. Sad but true.

I petitioned and got in, no waiting :DDDDD I went to a community college ADN program (probably going to do an online ADN to BSN program, I've heard good things) and got my ADN, awaiting to take my test.

Yeah, basically elaborating on Tyche's point just a little: Floor nurses will make more than nurse instructors (who are also nurses required to have master's degrees in order to be able to teach.) You basically have to find nurses who "want" to teach. Which is hard to do because the funding is poor and their salaries arent the greatest. I was scared as shit that I wouldn't make it into the program, and was so happy the day I received my letter

[tyven]

Check out:
http://www.nvcc.edu/curcatalog/programs/

Northern Virginia Community College always ranks in the top for community colleges in the States. I've taken many classes there, and the professors are normally excellent (there are a few that are horrid, but that's everywhere). The positive is that there are a lot of adjunct professors that work in the field, thus giving you points of contact for obtaining a job in the future. NVCC has an Associates in Architecture Technology (http://www.nvcc.edu/curcatalog/programs/pdf/ARC-AAS.pdf), so look into that.

And yes, an Associates is worth pursuing. Two years at NVCC will set you back ~$3,500 in tuition, and ~$2,100 in books. Plus, NVCC has a deal with many Virginia universities where if you earn an Associates from NVCC, you're automatically accepted into a 4-year university.

do it. NOVA is the shiznit. i went there for a year before transferring into radford

[Caiyuo]

I hadn't noticed the distinction pointed out yet, but there's also a difference in Associates, being the type Woozie is talking about that are essentially all your general ed classes and some electives that are good for nothing but using as a transfer to a 4-year college so you jump right into your core curriculum, and a literal 2-year degree program that's a scaled down bachelor's involving some slight general ed with the rest being core classes relevant to your major.

With the former you can save a lot of money by finishing the first 2 years of a Bachelor's at a Community college because the per-credit hour cost is going to be much cheaper and these aren't classes you're going to be concerned about getting amazing instructors with anyway because your career hopefully won't be at all dependent on some random general education courses. If you're looking at the latter, then what's being said so far applies pretty well because it's better than nothing, but obviously not as worthwhile as a Bachelor's would be.

Another thing to note for consideration is a 2-year could possibly allow you 2 years to work in the field and gain experience to build a resume where you might not have otherwise if doing a 4-year degree, but that's extremely dependent on the individual as well as the economy. Obviously that won't pan out well if you can't find a suitable job that will give worthwhile work experience. Just food for thought, but stressing that it's simply a scenario and not something I'd specifically plan for and depend on happening.

[Cheerios]

I'm attending an online university atm (Phoenix), and I'm kinda doubting it's even worth a shit. It sure does cost a lot for the bullshit courses they offer, too!

[Purrrfect]

Also, when I was trying to find an engineering school with online classes DeVry was the only one I saw that was accredited by the ABET, but that only applied to their campus classes I believe, so even their online stuff didn't count. I imagine your CAD focus will run you close to engineering schools.

[nitsuj]

Anything is better than nothing, for sure.

But like someone said above, *everyone* these days has a Bachelor's degree. So if you get your 4-year degree, you're "on par" with the norm. The Associates will be sub-par. The masters will set you apart.... etc.

However, Masters or PhD can still be over qualified, so I imagine AA can still be *under* qualified for some positions. It just depends on what you want to do.

[Heavencloud]

Really the best thing about the Associates is the fact that you generally can bypass general ed for your Bachelors. I'm getting me Associates in 1 year by taking a shit load of credits & knocking out a bunch of education requirements for my major (gen chem, gen bio, stats).

I was going to get my Associates in Science at first but I switched to Associates in Arts so that I could bypass more of the general ed requirements (their pretty similar tbh) - just something to think about.

[Moosey]

These schools are the worse. They advertise like infomercials. They convince you that less pay and hardly any work can make you wealthy in a few short years, then people graduate and find out that not only can't they find a job, but they can't even get their credits to transfer when they try to go to a 4 year school to finish up their B.S.

So another piece of advice for the OP (though this was already mentioned), wherever you go, make sure your credits will transfer when you graduate (even if you don't think you'll ever want to go any further than associates).

thats true, luckily for me though, the school I went to(keiser "university") had recently gotten accredited by the same association as the local CCs and universities, so the majority of my credits transferred, and i'm only having to take like 5 classes to get an associate of arts. got an associate of science from the other school but that wasn't good enough to transfer to the U with.

[Cleverness]

There's nothing wrong with Community College's. After I dropped out at 18, 6 months later I signed up and went to one and honestly it was probably the best thing that happened to me. Went there and got an Associates in Engineering Science and everything but the Pre-Calc class I had to take my first semester + my Intro to C++ class transferred when I went to NYU-Poly. Also learned I can apparently teach math when I got offered a job as a math tutor and taught math to a small class of students over the summer and winter breaks and majority of them passed their COMPASS test.

It's something you can do part time at a small cost if that's the situation, and as long as you take it seriously and get good grades you won't have much of a problem getting into a 4 year school. Which is something you SHOULD consider, since nowadays getting a bachelor's doesn't even mean a lot in this job market, the higher the better.

So tldr; yes its worth it if you're in a position where getting a bachelor's isn't financially or time-wise viable for you, or you were like me and decided to go around getting high and fucking white women instead of going to class.

[Pringles]

do it. NOVA is the shiznit. i went there for a year before transferring into radford

This ^. After Dropping out of Northwestern after a year due to financial concerns, went to NOVA and was able to work towards an associates while working full time without having to get any loans and paying the bill outta pocket for classes. People around Northern Va give NOVA a negative connotation, but the professors/teachers there give a lot more time and care and are more hands on than a lot at major universities.

Like it was mentioned earlier, if you want to get a Bachelors from a VA university, most will accept you automatically as a Junior with your associates, which allows you to knock out half your education at a significantly lower cost.

[Kazen]

I'm sure people here will make fun of the way I did things, but whatever. I found a local CC and looked at the colleges they had a partnership with and colleges that will accept all transfer credits. After I found a CC that offered credit transfer to a college I liked I got my AA and I took the maximum amount of general education credits that you are allowed to transfer. Now I'll have my BA in May 2011 and I just transferred here in the fall of last semester.

[Dolmen]

This ^. After Dropping out of Northwestern after a year due to financial concerns, went to NOVA and was able to work towards an associates while working full time without having to get any loans and paying the bill outta pocket for classes. People around Northern Va give NOVA a negative connotation, but the professors/teachers there give a lot more time and care and are more hands on than a lot at major universities.

Like it was mentioned earlier, if you want to get a Bachelors from a VA university, most will accept you automatically as a Junior with your associates, which allows you to knock out half your education at a significantly lower cost.

The part in bold is true a million times over. The number of professors at NOVA I've had that are willing to get together on weekends to explain material is amazing. You get a lot of great professors because they teach for the love of the subject. If you have to take history, take T. Wesley Flemming (Annandale or Woodbridge). After the final, you go out to a bar and drink (if you're 21+). :D

Edit - This thread has really brought the NoVA people out.

[Nuker]

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