Associate Degree?

Q: The associate's degree is primarily a US invented degree... it was intended to recognize those who went to University for two (instead of the usual four) years of University... hence, it is NOT equal to a Bachelorate degree... it is like half of a Bachelor's degree then... The US associate degree is equivalent to the first two years of a traditional four-year bachelor's degree program. That is to say, to complete an associate degree, you need around 60 semester-hours credit. A bachelor's degree requires around 120 semester-hours credit. Credit gained while studying for an associate degree can frequently be applied (as transfer credit) to a bachelor's degree program, meaning that you will then need to gain a further 60 or so semester-hour credit to obtain a bachelor's degree. Undergraduate-degree credit is classified as upper and lower division (or upper and lower

level) credit. Upper-division credit is usually gained in the third and fourth years of the program although there is no reason (particularly in the case of distance-learning programs) why you shouldn't gain such credit early on in the program. You can gain an associate degree with only lower-division credit but a bachelor's degree normally requires a minimum of 30 upper-division semester-hours credit. To proceed to most graduate programs, a bachelor's degree is normally required. The major exceptions are some MBA programs which accept students without an undergraduate degree but with appropriate professional qualifications and/or work experience.

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