Would an Associate's Degree add to my college application? It won't change my classes or grades.

Answered

Hi @person

Thanks for your question. I think this is a tricky question to answer. I'm aware that some States in the US like Florida, Texas, Connecticut and the State of Washington have high schools that allow you to do either dual enrollment or concurrent enrollment with local community colleges and state colleges to earn your AA Associates Degree while in High School. And other high schools are pretty liberal in allowing their students to concurrently enroll in college courses with the same end in mind.

The intent for your HS and those in your school district to do this is to give a hand up to accelerate your college experience with advanced standing with the State Colleges that both acknowledge and willingly participate in such programs. Their hope is to get smart kids to stay in state and attend their colleges rather than have an intellectual capital depletion of talent to out-of-state private colleges.

The tricky thing is that not all colleges outside your state will recognize these AA degrees as transferable credits and the top colleges may not allow you to apply as a first-time incoming freshman if you have 60 college credits for which you earned an AA degree already. Usually, the best bet is to apply to the in-state colleges that recognize and fully embrace the idea of you entering their campus with advanced standing and will give you full value credit for the courses and grades you've earned in HS.

Therefore, I would strongly advise that prior to finalizing the list of colleges you wish to apply to, you contact each and everyone directly and find out how they will treat this. Some might tell you NOT to fill out the Common App stating you have an AA degree otherwise you will be asked to re-do it as a transfer application. While others like the in-state college that are prepared to deal with your transcript will process you efficiently.

After looking at Dartmouth's policy, it's clear they would consider you a transfer applicant if you have completed the equivalent of even 1 semester of college work and up to 2 years of college work.

I don't know if I fully answered your question. I do know that top college are not interested in giving anyone advanced standing when you apply as a freshman. Schools like MIT, Caltech, and Brown and Williams appreciate students who have challenged themselves with course rigor, but they fully expect you to repeat all of your STEM APs when you matriculate. Brown and Williams do not give anyone college credit for their APs regardless of their AP test scores. Each college is different so that's why it's important to check ahead. And if you are a 9th or 10th grader reading this, I personally do not recommend doing these AA degree programs especially if your intent is to get into a Top 25 university. It doesn't make you a more compelling applicant.

Good luck.