AA Degrees

Associating my Associates

Associates degree, a term that you probably keep hearing time and time again here at AOC. Some of you might be asking yourselves, what are they? And I don’t blame you, it’s a term that is completely new compared to other High School programs, and you may especially be confused if you are brand new to AOC. Why don’t I explain things?

Associates degrees, what are they? Well in a general sense, they’re a degree above a High School Diploma, but under a College Bachelor degree. You can think of an Associates as half of a bachelors. Because here’s the neat thing about them. It’s a certificate of completion that can essentially cut your college time in half. Instead of spending 4 years at college after High School, if your credits are accepted, you can spend 2 years instead.

But notice a key phrase I said back there. “If” your credits are accepted. To earn an Associates, you need to complete a certain number of credits from specific courses to fulfill the requirements for the degree. The credits are awarded upon completion of the class, and each class grants a different amount of credits. Also, credits can overlap. If you take one class and the credits from that class fulfill the needs of 2 separate associates, then it will apply to both.

However, not every college will accept all credits that you take here at COC. UCs and CSUs are typically the only colleges that will take the credits you earn at COC, however you can always attempt to try to get your credits accepted in other places. For more information, use assist.org to help you check out colleges that accept credits from COC.

There is some yellow tape that needs to be covered with regards to associates however. They can be quite difficult to earn, not necessarily in the coursework difficulty itself, but rather the amount of coursework you will have. Typically, if you want an associate degree, you’ll have to take Summer classes, and potentially even winter classes as well. Another thing to note is, you don’t need the associates degree itself to have your credits get transferred. For example, if you took Calc 1-3, you wouldn’t need a Math associates degree in order to have those Calc class credits to transfer.

So now you’re asking yourself, well what’s the point of getting an associate degree in the first place then. Arguably the largest benefit to an associates degree is how it can help guide you on your educational career. Typically, the courses required for an AA will also lead into the classes required for the major you may want to pursue eventually. Even if there isn’t an AA that will pertain to a field of study you are interested in, working towards an AA can clear out a lot of the general education classes required in college. And most importantly, you can use it as bragging rights. After all, not EVERY high schooler applying to college has an associates degree….

So that's it, that's all there is to know about associate's degrees. Whether you choose to work towards one is entirely your decision. Best of luck with future endeavors, and until next time.