Is an Associates Degree worth pursuing?

[Ronfar]

Nothing wrong with CC's as long as you see if your credits will transfer to another school.
This May i'll finish a double associates in Marketing and Sales. I plan on finishing my BA at Akron or Kent, depending what school will take the most credits.

[Zigma]

We have 2 guys that graduated from ITT. In this industry is about what you know and if you can do what you say you can do.

No, it's who you know and not what you know.

[Talka]

ITT tech

do NOT. EVER. go to ITT Tech, unless you specifically want one of their degrees and only that. Their credits will NOT transfer. I repeat, do NOT go there unless you are 100% sure their degree is as far as you EVER want to go.

[Vuitton]

This is only true when your goal is to get a bachelor's just to say you have one, and work in a field completely unrelated (or that doesn't specifically require the degree) that merely asks that you have a college level education. That is, if you get your degree in philosophy then work at an accounting firm, or want to be an executive team lead at Target, the above quotes apply.

However, a bachelor (in the correct field) is absolutely necessary for other fields of study. Namely engineering, education, sciences, medicine, law, etc. My career requires a degree (in civil engineering) not to merely have a college level education, but to be educated in that field. It's also a requirement for my engineering license. Had I not had my degree, it doesn't matter how many connections I had, even if my dad owned an engineering firm. I would not be able to be in the career that I am in now.

There is no universal answer as to whether a degree is worth it. It all depends on what you want to do, and what the requirements of the field are. Nothing makes me sadder than seeing someone waste money by going to college that doesn't know what they want to major in, or worse, is majoring in something simply to have a degree. College is part of a career plan, not something you do just 'cause everyone else is doing it. Some career paths require connections and portfolios, not degrees. Others require extensive education and advanced degrees. Take a break for a year or two if you have to, just figure out what you really want to do with your life, *then* go to college.

Everything Khamsin said is correct, but in regards to if CC is worth it the part in bold is especially relevant. CC is great for acquiring your general electives to transfer and to let you dabble in various academic fields and explore what you like and what you don't like to help you orient yourself for what you really want to do and what you really don't want to do. Sometimes fields sound really great until you take a few classes and realize you hate it, and this is what getting an AA at a CC is good for.

A CC (I don't consider tech or vocational schools CCs, so ITT is not a CC, but "Your City's Name Community College, is) is just a Junior College / Preparatory College for a University. It allows you to work towards your BA without having to know what you want your BA in or to commit to a University or pay University tuition rates. So when you're done with your AA you have some experience of what to expect at University, and also have experienced classes in various academic fields, and time to ponder what career path you really want to take.

ITT Tech, Bates Tech, Art Institute, ect. These are vocational / tech schools that offer two and four year degrees. They are similar to community colleges and universities in that they all offer degrees, but community colleges are designed for the credits and degrees to transfer across into Universities. These private vocational / tech schools can't do this. The community colleges are public and are integrated into the educational system much like the state universities are, this allows them to transfer credits. Usually public community colleges will network with others (such as in the west coast and hawaii, or the pacific north west regions) to allow transfers to any of the schools in the region.

So if you want a safe bet on what transfers and what doesn't: public community college credits will almost always always always transfer to public universities in the same state. And almost always in neighboring states. You should still verify, but its very common.

Public community college credits will transfer to some degree to private universities in the same state or region, but not a whole lot.

Private tech / vocational credits will almost never transfer outside the school.

So Public -> Public = OK
Public -> Private = Kind of OK
Private -> Public/Private = Almost never.

And finally, just to cement this in everyone's mind: public community colleges are not the same as private tech/vocational schools even though they both offer degrees.

[Senary]

do NOT. EVER. go to ITT Tech, unless you specifically want one of their degrees and only that. Their credits will NOT transfer. I repeat, do NOT go there unless you are 100% sure their degree is as far as you EVER want to go.

Their credits will not transfer to any school, but they will transfer to specific schools like I mentioned (these are usually local Regional accreditations and not National). I know for a fact that some online and South Western Campus schools take their credits.

Only schools with the same accreditation are required to accept any of your credits. Others will accept what they do because they want your business. Make your decisions based on what your goals are. Draft your career plan and map out educational goals to help meet that plan.

Talk to everyone involved that you can talk to. Know where you are going and how you are supposed to get there before you start driving or you may find yourself wasting A LOT of your TIME and MONEY.

Have I told you to talk to a counselor yet?

Yea..

[Francisco]

Is pursuing an Associates Degree the same as pursuing a Bachelor's Degree if both are offered?

That is, if I wanted to get an Associates Degree in field X, then after getting it, I decided I wanted a Bachelor's, am I pretty much halfway home?

[Dolmen]

Is pursuing an Associates Degree the same as pursuing a Bachelor's Degree if both are offered?

That is, if I wanted to get an Associates Degree in field X, then after getting it, I decided I wanted a Bachelor's, am I pretty much halfway home?

In essence, yes. There can be different ramifications, specifically if you're transferring schools after earning the Associates, or if it's the same school offering both.

[Nystul]

If you're trying to figure out what level of education you "need" specifically, the smart thing to do is troll around job boards and read descriptions for positions that you want. If you're interested in starting out as a Marmoset Washing Technician, and the job descriptions for that positions all require BS degrees in Mammalian Washing Sciences, then you need more education. If they all just want a 2 year associates in Marmoset Tech then thats where you need to go. Look a few levels up and also read about benefits companies offer in that line of work. Where I work, I get like 5k a year to take classes at Johns Hopkins. If I wanted to get my MBA, why go BEFORE I apply when I can go after getting into the field and get a chunk of it paid for?

Also, there IS such a thing as too much education because you start to price yourself out of certain jobs. "oh, you want this entry level position but we hire people with associates for this and you have a BS, we think you'll get bored"

Start with the job you want, get THAT education, then look forward and position yourself accordingly.

[Pamelita]

I don't know if it was already said (too lazy to read pages 2 and 3) but you don't HAVE to get a degree in that; you can always get a degree in something similar and do an internship in the field you're interested in. Many places put more importance on your job experience and want people with degrees mostly because they want workers who won't flake out on them, lol.

[Zoolander]

Also, there IS such a thing as too much education because you start to price yourself out of certain jobs. "oh, you want this entry level position but we hire people with associates for this and you have a BS, we think you'll get bored"

Hah, definitely true, although I think this comes more into play with PhDs and Masters. I've known people who don't even put their Masters on their applications because the job they were applying for was a shit job and it would have only hurt. Graduating college right now does suck.

When you guys are referring to an Associates degree in "insert specific field" you realize that the first two years of most degrees are the same outside of maybe a couple of classes? An associates is a general degree, you don't get it "in" anything except AA vs AS, unless it is a specific/terminal program. The meat of any major is in the junior and senior years.

[Meresgi]

Hah, definitely true, although I think this comes more into play with PhDs and Masters. I've known people who don't even put their Masters on their applications because the job they were applying for was a shit job and it would have only hurt. Graduating college right now does suck.

I fucking hate that about applying to some jobs, in my area the fact that I have a BA puts me at a disadvantage when compared to the people w/o a highschool diploma or GED who are applying as well. So fucked up.

[Linliel]

I think once you get to the PhD level it's a completely different kettle of fish though. If you're willing to travel abroad, a PhD is a pretty damn good job-getter in many fields. I'm a philosopher, and you'd expect my area to have so few jobs, but Europe is really into funding million-euro projects about ethics (moral philosophy and ethical governance are my areas) so there's a surprising amount of money here for researchers. I wouldn't want to enter the US academia market unless someone headhunted me for a position... and then it'd have to be a very very good position! I like Europe! Honestly, from what I've heard from others, academia in the US sounds like it's horrible for new PhD graduates.

[Nystul]

I guess what I'd argue against is education for the sake of education. Focus on career first. Figure out what you are looking to do, find what level of education you need to get started, and focus on that first. Many employers are very interested in promotion from within these days because new hires are expensive and risky. As such, you'll frequently have the opportunity to get further education that is partly/fully paid for by employers (obviously depending on field etc). But yea. Find the job track first, then get the education you need to be a competitive hire.

And yes, academia for new PhD's is pretty rough these days. It's not so much about available positions per se- you have two problems. One, due to the economy folks that would normally go into industry in some capacity are seeking the relative stability and security of academia (tenure and all that). The other problem is funding. Especially in the sciences, funding has become increasingly competitive. Getting a grant is not easy these days- even for established professors.