Associate's vs. Minor?

[SoliDeoGloria]

Hello,

I just thought I would ask this and see what you thought. What is the difference between getting an Associate's degree and getting a minor within your major? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? I'm currently working towards an Associate in Science in Business mostly by CLEP and DSST, but finishing it at a community college. I doing this over a minor because it seemed like a smaller step than trying to tackle a whole B.A. at once and because I could test out of more classes this way. But I was curious if any of you had any thoughts or experience with this question.

[Snickerdoodle]

Isn't a minor and a Bachelor's degree typically completed simultaneously, while an Associate's is completed before the Bachelor's? And a minor doesn't have to be related to your major.

[Yanji]

Isn't a minor and a Bachelor's degree typically completed simultaneously, while an Associate's is completed before the Bachelor's? And a minor doesn't have to be related to your major.

I think there's a few schools out there who will "award" a minor on transcripts for post-bacc students who have completed the necessary coursework. (I think Oregon State does something like this for post-Bacc students from other schools)

So I guess to answer the original question, you cannot even compare a minor with an Associate degree. What do you mean by "minor within your major"? I've heard of double major, major with minor, double major with minor and others, but I've never heard of "minor within major"... wouldn't that just be a major?

[bluebooger]

Hello,

I just thought I would ask this and see what you thought. What is the difference between getting an Associate's degree and getting a minor within your major? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? I'm currently working towards an Associate in Science in Business mostly by CLEP and DSST, but finishing it at a community college. I doing this over a minor because it seemed like a smaller step than trying to tackle a whole B.A. at once and because I could test out of more classes this way. But I was curious if any of you had any thoughts or experience with this question.

with Excelsior you have to do 2 areas of study
first area of study) is your major = 30 credits in a related subject: psychology or history or computer science
second area of study) is just to give you a broader education = 12 credits in a related subject: psychology or history or computer science


let's say you're doing a BB or BS in psychology
they don't want you taking only psychology classes because college is supposed to be a place to "broaden your mind", to make you well rounded, not a place to focus on one subject.
Focusing on one subject is what a Masters degree is for.

So to fulfill your BA / BS requirements you take mostly psychology classes, but you also take 12 credits in Art History for your "broadening the mind / 2nd depth" requirement.

Of course it doesn't have to be Art history. It could be poetry, or economics, or biology or finance or anything as long as its not related to psychology.
Now with Excelsior 12 credits are required. But if you take 21 credits then you get a Concentration (I don't think Excelsior does minors)

so if you get a BS in Psychology and take only 12 credits in Art History then all your diploma will say is "BS in Psychology"
but if you take 21 credits in Art History then all your diploma will say is "BS in Psychology / Concentration in Art History"

In my opinion if you're going to do a concentration then it should be somewhat related to your major, like
"BS in Psychology / Concentration in Biology"
or
"BS in Math / Concentration in Computer Science"
or
"BS in History / Concentration in Asian Studies"

I think its a great idea to do an Associates before a BA/BS
its good to have a degree and you can earn an AS quickly
most (probably even all) of the AS credits will apply to the BS

the AS credits will fulfill most of the 2nd depth requirement (you still need at least one upper level class) and quite a few of the courses required for the Concnetration (if you decide to go that route)

this is only Excelsior
I have no idea what COSC or TESC does

[Yanji]

let's say you're doing a BB or BS in psychology
they don't want you taking only psychology classes because college is supposed to be a place to "broaden your mind", to make you well rounded, not a place to focus on one subject.

Being British, I often think the "American way" is weird or sometimes plain wrong. But as far as undergraduate education goes, I totally agree with the concept of general education. cheersmate