What's the difference between an AA and AS degree?

Question

By AS, I mean Associates in Science, NOT AAS (Applied Science).

What's the difference between an Associates in Arts and Associates in Science degree?

In a planning worksheet I found at my college, it states that an AA is for "students who plan to transfer to a bachelorette-granting school to pursue a bachelor's degree in a liberal arts or business area."

For an AS, it states "an AS degree is designed for students who plan to transfer to a bachelorette-granting degree in a science or science related field."

Okay, that makes sense although I'm not 100% sure what a liberal arts area is. But the thing is I'm undecided about what I want to major in.

Say if I went for the AA degree, I'd still be able to transfer to the same University as I would if I had an AS, right?

Like I said, I'm undecided. So what if I got an AA, transfered, then while I'm at a 4 year school, I decide to do something in a science related field, say computer science for example. I'd be able to do that right?

Or would I only be able to peruse something in a liberal arts or businesses field only with the AA? In which case, should I go with the AS instead?

By the way, what is a liberal arts field? Is that like English or Philosophy?

Answer 1

Well, you already wrote the difference between an AA and an AS.

Liberal Arts majors are subjects such as: history, sociology, psychology, english, french, spanish, poli sci.

Sciene degrees are: physics, mathematics, engineering, astrophysics, geology, etc

You get the idea.

If you get an AA and transfer and then change your major to a science major, you'll probably have to take some extra lower division classes (lower division = first two years, upper division = third and fourth year).

For example, you major in history and get an AA, then change your major to engineering...you'd have to go back and take a bunch of physics, chemistry, and math classes that you WEREN'T required to take for history.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

AA is an Associate of Arts degree and AS is an Associate of Science degree. It really doesn't matter. You will be able to transfer with either. Right now you should be focused on getting prerequisites taken care of, i.e. Math, English, etc... The key is to make sure most of your classes transfer. An advisor should be able to help you with that if you can get an appointment with one.

Answer 3

AS is more respected than AA