How valuable is a general associate degree if you do not go on to get your bachelor's?

Answer 1

THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS

CAVEAT: All college students are not ACADEMICALLY oriented. Some may care little for history, English, Sociology, Biology et al. This lack of interest in the traditional trivium/quadrivium base of knowledge does not indicate stupidity or any lack of intelligence relative to the students that pursue such academic avenues of study. Rather, some student's interests lie in more hands-on, VOCATIONAL, subjects such as eleccticy, mechanics, Cosmetology, data-entry and health-related jobs such as LPN, RN, or NA.

If you don't't believe this is the case, ask your dentist or lawyer to fix your automobile engine or ask your mechanic or cosmetologist to defend you in court or do a root canal on you.

First the bad news. Honestly, an Associate Degree is not a great deal of good at all if you want to use it for your ACADEMIC level of qualification for most jobs. It looks good that you are educated in the general studies but if you don't plan on going for your BA, I would get a AAS degree which studies a certain field like a job study. A general degree AA, is just the basic math, English and science.

Now for the good news. A great many jobs are not "academic" in nature and an Associate Degree in a VOCATIONAL field from an accreddited Community/Junior/On-line College is very valuable to employers. Vocational instructors often have close contacts with local businesses and industries who serve on their curriculum advisory boards and offer suggestions for new cutting-edge technology or procedures actually used in the current labor market. These business contacts often serve as a job referral source since they are familiar with the curriculua and students.