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Bachelor's
and Associate Degrees
The bachelor's degree typically takes four years to complete,
though some students take slightly less time to finish, while
others may take longer. The associate degree usually takes
two years to complete. Associate degree programs may be "terminal"
programs, which lead into specific careers upon graduation,
or "transfer" programs, which correspond to the
first two years of a bachelor's degree and tend to be more
liberal arts based. Under the latter option you could then
transfer into the third year of a four-year bachelor's degree
program. Associate degree programs are offered at two-year
colleges known as junior or community
colleges. Four-year colleges and universities offer bachelor's
degree programs, with a small number also offering associate
degree programs.
The U.S. Bachelor's
Degree
One of the most attractive features of the bachelor's degree
program in the United States is that it is highly flexible.
You can usually choose from a wide variety of courses and
create your own unique program of study. The degree is awarded
after you complete a specified number of credits, which are
usually completed in four years of full-time study. The first
year is called the freshman year; the second is called sophomore;
the third, junior; and the fourth, senior. You may read that
students in the United States often take longer than four
years to complete their degrees. This may be because they
change majors and need to accumulate enough credits in the
new major field to earn the degree. Or it may be because they
take less than a full-time course load per term for academic,
personal, or financial reasons. International students, however,
cannot study part-time and must maintain full-time status.
Courses taken in the first two years are known as lower division
courses, and courses taken in the final two years are called
upper division courses. College catalogs usually assign a
number to a course, which indicates the level of study as
follows:
100 – 199 Freshman
200 – 299 Sophomore
300 – 399 Junior
400 – 499 Senior
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