Is an Associate's Degree (AA) needed to transfer to University of Washington as a junior?

I’m planning to transfer to University of Washington, UCs, Ivy Leagues and Purdue as a junior from a community college. My counselor told me to take the AA degree, but is it really needed? I asked a lot of friends and most of them told me that it is not needed, but they are somewhat afraid of not taking it because they think that not having the AA degree will lower their chances of getting accepted by UW. Is this true?

Has anyone of you transferred to UW? If yes, did you complete the AA Degree program?

Stop asking your friends about this unless they are college transfer admission officers. The people who can answer your question with accuracy are in the admissions offices at the places on your application list. It is perfectly OK for you to email them.

Many colleges and universities will consider that a transfer with a full AA or AS degree has completed that place’s full gen ed requirements even when there isn’t a one-to-one correspondence between classes taken at the CC and what the receiving institution offers. This can be a huge advantage. The student only has to finish off requirements for his or her major after arriving.

Also, if you do finish your AA or AS, you can report that on a job application where it looks a lot better than “two years of college classes”.

How hard would it be for you to finish your AA or AS where you are? Which classes are the ones you don’t want to have to take?

The vast majority of transfer students accepted at UW come from Washington community colleges. The transfer planning worksheets show which classes are important when applying to a particular major.

https://admit.washington.edu/apply/transfer/tools/

I would definitely message admissions. I’m a transfer student who just completed my AA and has been accepted to every school I’ve applied to so far. UW admissions notifications for transfer students have not come out yet, so I can’t say yet if my Associates helped me get in. So if you’re looking for a direct answer, complete the associates so you can enter University prepared for your intended major. Associates can only help your chances in my personal opinion.

An associate’s from a Washington community college definitely helps your chances (especially when the associate’s you chose matches well with your intended major.) However, it’s less of a benefit if you are from out of state. Based on the college list, I wasn’t sure if OP is from Washington.

"Transparently, vocational or technical courses would not be considered as rigorous as academic courses.

With UW transfer admission, the highest priority goes to students from Washington state community colleges who have strong preparation for their intended major and upwards of 90 quarter credits or 60 semester credits. The admit rate for transfer students coming from outside the Washington state community college system last year was 18.5%."

Source: UW Admission Professional, Reddit AMA 2017

I was specifically told by UW Admissions that they don’t care about Associate Degrees specifically, just the actual credits you have. So there are courses that your CC might require to get an Associate Degree which are not beneficial at UW. If you replace those credits with something that better aligns with your degree’s graduation requirements, you are at no disadvantage for not having the Associate Degree.