How easy is it to turn a 2 year associates into a 4 year bachelors?

Question

At the end of this year I will have an associates degree in Accounting.

I currently go to Johnson and Wales University.

I want to transfer next year but I have no idea to where.

I heard that Its really hard to get out of JWU beacuse they teach there classes in a different order or something.

But I figured If I had an AS that It wouldent matter.

I plan to take as many community College Courses as possible to make up the difference (I haven't had many core classes)

I NEED to graduate with my bachelors in 2010, Ill feel like a bum if it took me 5 years to get a 4 year degree.

How can I pull this off. Any Tips?

I need to graduate at the end of the REGULAR 2010 year, I need to walk with the rest of the 2010 class, If I don't I know Ill feel ashamed for the rest of my life.

Answer 1

Don't feel like a bum. Lots of people take 5 years to get a Bachelors and they didnt even get an Associates along the way. It would be easiest to get your AS to roll into a Bachelors if you found a University that had a 2-Step program.

Answer 2

Generally, 2-year colleges have agreements with 4-year colleges called articulation agreements which specify how the classes you take at the 2-year school will transfer to the 4-year school. If your advisor has been aware that you planned to transfer, they should have maximized the number of transferrable classes for you. If not, you may have taken a number of classes which won't count if you transfer.

If JWU teaches classes in a different order, the problem may be that you would have taken a number of classes as lower division courses (freshman or sophomore) that other schools won't accept unless they are upper division (junior or senior level). That means you may have to repeat some of the classes you've already planned.

What I would do in your situation would be that once I knew where I was going to transfer, I would see if I could take any classes in summer school beforehand, and maximize the number of summer classes you take that year, the next, and probably in 2010. In addition, I wouldn't take any extra classes immediately upon transferring, but I would try for an extra class each of the remaining 3 semesters. That should allow you to fit in an extra 9 classes over the course of 2 years, and to graduate by the end of summer right after you expected to graduate. If you don't need that many additional courses, you can graduate on time.

Answer 3

The reason Johnson and Wales University credits are so difficult to transfer is because they don't meet most accreditation standards. They have NEASC accreditation (they had) but they lack any other (AACSB etc. ) Most schools of business in your area (Bryant,Babson, Roger Williams, URI and others) will not accept the credits for transfer. Johnson and Wales has to many home grown teachers, without PhDs and little in the way of publications. If you can show by your GPA that you have in depth knowledge of the subject matter and demonstrate good critical thinking skills, you may be able to get some of these courses accepted. You may want to look at the CLEP program to get even more degree credits. J&Ws MBA is practically worthless in the business world as well as in the academy and it's a shame. They just don't have a marketable program. With J&W it's all about tuition revenue and very little to do with academic achievement. UMASSD might sit with you to discuss a four year program. They are a highly accredited achool also and have sattelite campuses around.