I hate you ALEKS!!!

[cookderosa]

When you say "The down side to this path is always that you end up with a mountain of credit that exceeds the elective category." are you saying that some of my elective credit would not be able to be put towards my bachelors degree? I kind of figured that there would be enough elective credit in a 4 year program to absorb anything I could put towards my two year program.

I hope it's OK that this thread is moving away from the original topic, if it's not somebody should let me know and I'll start a new one or PM some people
Thanks!

Ohhhhh...ha ha....my favorite rant. I'll try not to. I'll even try to use an example that isn't culinary arts

Let's say you earned an AAS/AOS degree in Hopscotch. *lol hang with me

Typical AAS/AOS degree is 60-63 credits. Roughly 45-48 in the subject, roughly 12-15 in general education requirements/electives. (each school may vary +/- but it'll be close)

So, how does that transfer?

If you go into a generic bachelor's degree, you'll need 120 credits which look something like this:
60 general education
33 +/- in major
27 +/- electives

So, in the example above, you'd have 45 hopscotch credits. Well, they can't be used in general education since they are not math, science, humanities, or social science. If your major is NOT hopscotch, they can't be used in major- which would leave the elective category. So, even though the credits are regionally accredited, totally legitimate- the fact remains that there are only 27 slots. So, fill er up.

Now, in the above example, lets say you have 15 general education credits. Fill er up.

So, what does an AAS/AOS transfer in as? 27+15 = 42 transfer

In the business degree it would be worse, since you need a core in addition to gen eds and your major. So only 18+15= 33 transfer

This is a lot of credits and money to loose, and you have 45 credits of the gen eds to complete. Coming in with an AAS/AOS is not the same as coming in with an AS/AA. In an AS/AA, all 60-63 of your credits will be general education and or in-major. These degrees are called "transfer degrees" for that reason. Typically an AAS/AOS is called a "terminal degree" as it is the last degree you can earn in that field.
[INDENT][/INDENT](*sometimes transfer degrees are tweaked by the college and turned into terminal degrees- always watch out for this!!!!! A community college can take a perfectly transferable subject like business and make it terminal by offering classes through a AAS/AOS department instead of the AS department. It's cheaper, but now the student's credits won't transfer)

I have always had a major MAJOR issue with this concept- and having taught in an AAS program for 17 years, I always felt like we were suckering students. I would say that it is one of the primary reasons I am changing careers...not too much of a rant, but this is one of my hot buttons lol.