Should I bother with an Associates degree?

jjwooyoung

I graduated last year with a B.S in MIS and have been taking extra Computer Science classes in my spare time. I realized that I've met the requirements for a Associates degree at community colleges, should I even bother getting one? Are there any benefits?

Also, all of the classes that I've taken (while in school and after graduating) also meet the requirements for the minor in computer science (at my school) as well, I just never really thought about registering for the minor (they were taken out of personal interest). So I was also wondering, would it be appropriate to say B.S in MIS with minor in CS (even though I didn't officially get the minor) or should I just have those classes listed on my resume.

stryder144

Interesting question. One I've never seen, to be honest. I was expecting the whole "should I pursue an associates instead of/before getting my bachelors"-type of question.

So, I would start by calling the school where you received your BS, ask them if you can transfer in the courses you've taken and get a minor added to your transcripts (and physical degree, if they place minors on paper). If they won't do that for you, and you want to show a potential employer that you have programming classes under your belt, then the associate degree in CS from the CC would make sense. Of course, that assumes that you wouldn't have to pay too much to receive the degree (some colleges, like Excelsior College, allow you to transfer in up to 100% of the class requirements from other schools but then charge you a hefty set of fees before you get the degree).

+1 for the interesting question.