Getting my last few credits straightened out

[burbuja0512]

Yeah it doesnt affect the BS at all but I wouldnt list an AS on my resume if I had a BS.

For example:
AS Business, Hillsborough Community College
BS Business, University of Tampa

This student probably had too low a GPA or SAT scores to be accepted to the university. I hate to say it but when I was in high school we all looked down on community college.

There are arguments for and arguments against the AS. A friend of mine spent 20k and over two years of her life on an AS. She wanted to get the piece of paper so that at least she would have something to show for her efforts. An associates is better than nothing, right? She also wanted to take a substantial break before she picked up the books again. Of course, now that I've told her about testing, she will be on the fast track to finishing up.

The argument against has a couple of points in my opinion. First of all, an associates costs money to get. If you find that you can test at a decent pace, why bother to pay for it? It's just giving extra money to the school.

Secondly and I hate to admit it, but Ryoder is right. A lot of people understand the effort and time that goes into an associates, but there is a certain type of person out there that doesn't appreciate it. An old VP I used to work with comes to mind. He was the sports star in high school that went straight to the most popular state college and graduated in four years. He still wears his college sweatshirt on casual Fridays and calls in sick when there is a big college game weekend coming up. This is the type of guy that thought that community college was for second-rate students and would look down on people that went to one. We all know that this isn't true, but there's no way to convince this die-hard.

So, what I would do if I didn't have time to get my BS in a year or so is to get the associates. However, I would not list it on my resume once I got my bachelors. I don't think it would substantially hurt you, but it does call attention to the fact that you may not have been able to go to a four-year college right after high school.

The good news is that I think the current high school generation may be slightly changing the trend. My high school guidance counselor made it seem like community college was a step above the state penitentiary, but I have been reading that this advice is changing. I think more and more people are getting wise to the fact that you don't have to pay ridiculous fees for the general ed, lecture-style classes that you get in a four year college for the 100 and 200 level classes. However, even if more people are using community colleges to save money, it will take a while before this generation is in a position to be reviewing your resume.