How do you achieve multiple degrees?

[Ariadne]

I am wondering how it works when you want to get degrees in different subjects or areas. If I have my Associate's degree, can I get another one if I feel like it and how would I go about that? Does it use the same base education credits that the first one used? The same question for Bachelor's; does it depend on the school? Will one school allow you to do a second Bachelor's and do they use many of the base credits for the second or third degrees?

I'm not looking at it from the perspective of using these for work, but just for the love and joy of learning and I've been impressed by many of the members here who have many degrees. How do you do it?

Thanks!

[ss20ts]

It all depends on the college. Some will let you earn multiple degrees and some will not. You probably need to figure out which degrees you want to complete and who offers them. Then find out if you can complete multiple degrees or how you can complete multiple degrees. I have 2 associate degrees, 2 bachelor's degrees, and I'm finishing my second master's in November.

[Avidreader]

I don't think there is a limit to how many degrees you can get from a given college in my country. It is unlikely you will get prior credit for passed courses like in the US. But you can take a challenge exam that asks questions of an entire degree and collect degrees like Pokemon.

The us is much more restrictive.

[FireMedic_Philosopher]

I am wondering how it works when you want to get degrees in different subjects or areas. If I have my Associate's degree, can I get another one if I feel like it and how would I go about that? Does it use the same base education credits that the first one used? The same question for Bachelor's; does it depend on the school? Will one school allow you to do a second Bachelor's and do they use many of the base credits for the second or third degrees?

I'm not looking at it from the perspective of using these for work, but just for the love and joy of learning and I've been impressed by many of the members here who have many degrees. How do you do it?

Thanks!

In the US generally your general education credits - introduction level freshman and sophomore classes- will transfer.... So generally you won't be repeating them. 

You will be required to complete all the "major" required classes for each degree. For example, you won't be taking Freshman math again, but you will have to take any courses the new degree requires that you have not already completed.

Now three " yeah buts..."

1) every college has a minimum number of classes you must do at that college in order to graduate. So... if you transfer to a new university, even if your program only has 20 new credits, but the school requires 25 or 30 to be done "in house" you will still have to do the extra courses.

2) some colleges only let you earn one degree at a time... so you can't graduate with a BS, a BA, and a BFA  simultaneously. You may have to do them one by one. 

Some schools do let you "double major" that is, complete all the coursework for two programs, but will only issue you a single diploma. The courses WILL be noted on the transcript though.

3) Some schools do not accept transfer credit if those classes were part of a completed degree. In other words, they would only count classes that were not part of a finished degree. Graduate schools are notorious for this. For example nothing from my MS could count toward my MBA... I had to do it all. 

That said, there are no "gen eds" at the masters level, though some classes from degree "A" might turn out to be pre-requisites of degree "B" ...and in that limited case the class might be waived at the new school. But that is a case by case event.

All in all I have multiple degrees, from the associate level through to the masters level. This includes an AA(History) AS (life sciences) AAS (Emergency Medicine/Paramedic) and ALS (philosophy) all from the same community college... simply because I love to learn. Only the AAS was career oriented.

The original AAS took two years (5 semesters) of full time work... Once that was done the others each took two semesters to finish, while working and taking classes part time.

I went to get my BS at a school across the state. My state says they didn't HAVE to accept my credits... and they didn't accept any of my 100+ undergrad credits for transfer. I did another solid four years to get my BS, where I was a double major... so two programs, but only one diploma.

It kinda sucks you don't get two diplomas...but if I had done one then another back to back I "could have" except no one told me at the time... 

My MS meant nothing credit wise when I went after my next degree, but it did mean I could skip the GRE entrance exam.

My masters level work is not helping me at the PhD level, other than being a checked box on the application, since a masters of some sort is a pre-req... but it doesn't matter "what" it is.

ymmv

[Leojames26]

If you’re all about learning and want to dive into different subjects, you can definitely go after multiple degrees!

For Associate’s degrees, you can totally earn more than one. Some of the general education credits from your first degree might transfer over, so you wouldn’t have to redo those. You’d just need to focus on the specific courses for the new area of study. It’s pretty flexible, but it does depend a bit on the school’s rules.

When it comes to Bachelor’s degrees, it’s the same idea. Some schools are cool with you earning a second Bachelor’s, while others might suggest moving on to a Master’s if you’re looking to branch out. If you do go for another Bachelor’s, a lot of your general ed credits will likely count, so you can jump straight into the core courses for your new major. Again, it all depends on the school’s policies, but it’s definitely possible.

If you’re doing this just for the love of learning, that’s amazing! Just check with the schools to see what their rules are. It sounds like you’re on a pretty exciting journey—go for it!

[bjcheung77]

Yes, it's possible to get multiple certs, associates, bachelors and so on... The main thing you want to ask yourself is, if it's a need or want... Another thing is, you want to make sure you've got the energy, money, time to go on these extra educational degrees, if the ROI/Value is there and you've got the time management to get it done, sure. Just because some people want the most of their education, doesn't mean everyone can 'handle' the class work or assignments, projects, work, etc...