The Q: I am graduating from a community college, and can choose to get an AA and AS or an AAS. Can you tell me which one would be better to have going into a communications program?

The A: Well, from what I know of associate's degrees, the AA (associate of arts) is the more "general" degree while the AS (sciences) and AAS (associate of applied sciences) tend to focus more specifically on a particular profession. The AS and AAS are a little better-suited to folks who don't especially plan to move on to a four-year school; often, people who take the AS/AAS want to jump right into the workforce, so those programs focus less on liberal-arts classes and general education.

As for which one you should go with... that actually may be better answered by counselors at your own school or by admissions offices at the schools you want to attend. If you know what kind of program you're headed into and you know which schools you're interested in applying to, give them a call (or check out their Web sites) and see what their admission requirements are for transfers. Some schools may require you to have an AA (or an AS) to qualify for admission; many don't. Your two-year school also might have special admissions arrangements with nearby four-years, which would allow you to transfer most or all of the credits you've earned so you can start as a junior at your new school.

So talk to a transfer counselor at your current school, and get in touch with admissions offices at the four-year schools you're interested in going to. It sounds like you've taken the required courses for all three of those degrees, so in terms of knowledge gained there's almost no difference. All you need to figure out now is whether the schools you like have specific admissions requirements that may put one degree above another, and how easily the credits you've earned at your two-year school will transfer with you.

—Myles Helfand, General Advisor

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