Would you go to a technical college to earn your Associates of Applied Science (AAS)?

Question

I don't want to wait to see if I get accepted into the community college I am in. The technical college offers the same degree I can obtain @ Community College or university. I am really concerned about hospitals taking my degree seriously and hiring me because of my degree type. I spoke to the advisor of the college and she said that I am still eligible for the same board exams and is Accredited by the Respiratory Therapist Organization. It would just be another name on my diploma. What do yall think I shoudl do? What would yall do??? All the answers from Honest people are truly, truly appreciated...Thanks and God Bless!!!

Answer 1

Generally speaking, a technical college and a community college are the same.

Where there is a difference is in who runs the college. The are public and private colleges. Publics are run by the state. Among the privates, there are non-profits and there are proprietary colleges.

As reputations go, the publics are usually best respected (at this level, not at the university level). Then the private non-profits (say a nursing school run by a hospital) and then the proprietary trade schools.

Some of the trade schools are very good at what they do though and in some fields it's the only place to get good training. In other fields, the only difference between them and your local public community/tech college is in the price - proprietaries can be very expensive.

If you are concerned about the reputation of the degree you're looking into, call or visit a couple hospital HR departments and ask them what they think about the college. What I think doesn't matter if your future employer doesn't agree.

Know too, in most areas of health care, it matters very little where you went to school. It matters whether you have the license or certification to practice in that field. There's an old joke "what do you call the lowest graduate from the worst medical school? --- 'doctor' "

Check with HR where you want to work and see what they say.