Maybe yall could help...

Hmm....you might want to say where you are from, and where you are looking at colleges. Being more specific about those things would help others help you. Welcome to A2K!

thanks for the welcome cavfancier ..

I'm from Southeast Alabama, (alright, Eufaula) I'd be the first in my family to actually go to college even a 2yr. I've been looking at Wallace Community College, but I'm not sure what courses get you where you want. Theres the few English Lit. classes and world lit. And just plain ole English.. thanks for trying to help .

I'm up in Canada, so I'm not too familiar with your area. I am certain that others here are though. Just hang in there, people will respond, I'm sure.

thanks anyway though.. you were helpful anyways with telling me to give details.

You can't really get any kind of job with an Associates Degree in English. You'd need to have a Bachelor's Degree with a concentration or nothing at all. Some suggestions:

1. Half of the English majors in the world want to write a novel. You don't need a degree. If this is your aim you'd be better off spending time writing.

2. You can be a teacher for general English or a concentration. You need a Masters Degree in Massachusetts but you may only need a Bachelors Degree elsewhere.

3. You can have a Business Writing concentration to apply in many fields - tech, finance, insurance, manufacturing. You'd also need a Bachelors Degree to be quailified as a Business Writer for anyone who may employee you as such.

4. I have a BA in English with a techwriting/journalism concentration. This is best for careers in newspapers, magazines, marketing, and tech documentation (user docs, web page design).

You need to tell us what your goals are. Are you looking for a career or are you taking classes to better your education but don't need to be a primary breadwinner? You can make a good living without a BA - but it's hard, especially if you don't have another skillset like construction, mechanics, etc.. It's just a lot of money to spend if you aren't planning on applying it in a practical manner.

Unless you have the financial luxury of taking classes for the fun of it, you need to think about what you want to get out of it at the end.

I sorta disagree with Sugar. I've been looking for work for a while, and a lot of office-type jobs give precedence to a person with an AA degree and good English/grammar skills.

So while Sugar's right, a BA degree is necessary for many jobs that concentrate on writing or teaching, an AA would be a great place to start. It will help you get a better job than you're qualified for now, and that will help you pay for more education!

Also, if you want to earn your living writing, write! The more you write the better you'll get. Write about everything, and ask friends to critique and suggest. There are free writers' groups around here; one meets weekly in my local library. Everybody writes something and reads it aloud, and the others in the group talk it over -- what's good and bad about it, how it could be improved, etc.

If you can't find such a group, maybe you could start one with like-minded people from your college classes. Good luck and hang around -- a2k is full of good writers and people willing to answer questions!

Yet another county heard from. I agree that you need a bachelor's degree in English (at the very least) to get any kind of reasonable job. I'm a professional editor/proofreader/writer. I work for many large publishing companies. Your chances of getting work along similar lines would depend upon your willingness to relocate to a major metropolitan area where publishing companies are headquartered. In my neck of the woods, you can't teach without a master's degree.

I agree that if you want to write, just do it. Find a group or a class. There are often such classes in schools for adult learning.

Associate degrees are worth pursuing in nursing, secretarial fields, bookkeeping, and not much else. Trust me.

But where will Taffy be without an AA???

Ok yall were sooooooooo helpful ---thank you for that---Okay so ill get my associate degree in english and try to find a remedial job to pay for a bachalores in english .... While searching for a writers group.

(by the way without an AA id probably be at Wal-mart; not that theres anything wrong W/that....I just don't want to be there for the rest of my god forsaken life.. haha. )

Also, I'm always willing to move to a big town, I'm from an itty bitty tiny winnie town...

Wy:::: Maybe theres some groups like that on the internet. I wouldn't doubt that are... probably.

I didn't really expect yall to be so helpful, you helped out alot, thank you. :wink:

If Taffy did have an AA she'd be in the same place she is right now.

Consider this - a BA is almost the same as a high school diploma 20 years ago. The only reason I would get an AA, as already mentioned, would be if I was pursuing nursing but wasn't sure that I wantedto pursue a full RN degree. Otherwise, an AA is a complete waste of time and money. It does not give you a distinct advantage over anyone. You either pursue a job out of high school or you need a BA, end of story. The only other thing I can think of is a legal secretary, but a BA will beat out an AA everytime - and I don't now anyone in any legal field without a 4 year degree.

If you pursue an AA I would do it to build up credits to apply to a BA degree. But if you're stopping at an AA and think you're going to get a job that leads to serious money and/or a career, forget it.

Maybe it's different in other parts of the USA, but in the city it's the name of the game.

Good luck to you , Taffy. I support any form of higher education - just keep your expectations reasonable. The old "The more you put in to it, the more you get out of it" rule.

FWIW, the right AA program still qualifies for the RN exam, at least in New Mexico, or I wouldn't have included it in the list.

By the way, I have an AAS in Accounting. That's why I'm a bookkeeper. I cannot really recommend this much effort in view of the rewards at the end.