HELP: Associate Degree Before Starting College?

College Search & Selection Community Colleges
1

Hi Everyone,

I’m a high school senior who is looking into community college to get an associates degree BEFORE officially starting college. I go to a very rigorous school (lots of AP classes and “magnet school”) and for the last trimester of my senior year which is approximately 12 weeks, we do not have any more class.

Using this 12 weeks of free time, I have been seriously thinking about pursuing an associates degree in Computer science, specifically Programming and System Analysis, through my local community college that is very close to my house. I’ll be able to bike over for class and hopefully get the number of credits needed (36 credits at $85 per credit making it $3,060) in the three months of free time I have.

However, I’m not planning to go into computer science or programming in the future, instead I’m thinking social sciences or humanities, potentially working internationally. I want to get an associates because I just think it’ll be a very valuable skill to have, especially in today’s very tech focused society. Moreover, having a skill set in these two disparate fields (STEM and Hum) could be uniquely useful.

Some people will probably make the good argument that I could just teach myself how to code. However, I have two reasons against it, but correct me if I’m wrong!

  1. Having an associates degree will legitimize my skillset in computer science more than simply saying that "I know how to code ___ language etc".
  2. If I am PAYING and forced to go to class to pursue an associates degree, it will motivate me a LOT more and I wont procrastinate,

I’m just wondering if it’s worth the time, money and effort? Will some colleges allow me to potentially double major if I already have a certain number of credits? Will future employers potentially look down on it because it was from a community college?

I’ve done a little bit of coding in school, but the introduction into coding was through Physics, it was modelling object motions and it was such a BAD intro into coding that I really didn’t like it. However, I think that coding and programming has lots of potential and I would be willing to invest in the effort if it would be beneficial in the future.

Based on my situation, do you think that it would be a good investment? Please share your thoughts or personal experiences or potential drawbacks of getting an associates

In an off-hand, but potentially important note, I’ve been accepted to my in-state flagship honors college on a full-tuition scholarship (still paying room and board) because of NMSF, but I don’t know if I want to go there. In fact, I’m leaning towards not attending my in-state college. I know that I could potentially transfer those credits or something like that, but there is a high likelyhood I won’t attend in-state.

2

It seems unlikely to me that the schedules would line up.

It also seems unlikely to me that 36 credits in 12 weeks would be a manageable workload. Three semester credits is usually about 45 classroom hours (3 hours per week for a typical 15-16 week semester), plus an expectation of an additional 90 outside hours (reading, studying, projects, papers, etc.). So you have an anticipated workload of 135 hours per week, and 168 total hours in a week, leaving you with 4.7 hours a day for eating, sleeping, showering, biking to class, etc.

3

@allyphoe 36 credits total, and with the AP credits I already have, I should have around 20 (rough estimate)

4

Does the community college also work on a trimester? All of my D’s dual enrollment classes were 16 weeks each, and starting late wouldn’t have worked at all. Also, does the school allow dual enrollment students to take 16 credits (assuming you get 20 credits for the APs)? Again, my D’s colleges restricted high schoolers to 9 and 12 credits per semester respectively. I also agree that the stars would have to align for all the scheduling to work out so that all of the classes you need to build to the degree plan are available and do not conflict.

5

Go pull out the course schedule and the equivalency charts, and see if the logistics work out. If they do, come back and tell us what your actual schedule would look like.

6

@milgymfam No, its a semester system, I missed registration by five days, classes started around last Monday. I will try and contact them about it Tuesday, and it will be around 16 weeks if I start now.

Thank you for letting me know about the restrictions! That is very helpful

I’ll contact them and see, if it is possible, hopefully the AP credits will really help reduce the number of credits I’ll have to take, and ensure I don’t have to take basic pre-reqs like math. I’ll have to see with class scheduling etc.

If things work out somehow, hopefully I can also make up the introductory work I’ve missed from the first week.

7

@allyphoe Okay. Is there somewhere you can point me for calculating AP credits? I’ve taken and passed many STEM APs with mostly 4s and 5s but how can I find out if they can substitute credits and/or pre-reqs?

Edit: I think I’ve found it

8

Also, most associates degrees are 60ish credits and even community colleges have a residency requirement- that’s something else to ask them about too. Are you sure it’s such a low credit degree?

9

@milgymfam I’ve been on their website trying to search the credit requirements, however it is pretty vague. I will PM you

10

Be sure that your 4 yr college won’t consider you a transfer student if you have an associates degree. That could seriously impact both acceptance and financial aid.