Are you technically a "College Graduate" if you....

[Anonymous]

only have an Associate Degree?

Suppose you have two Associate Degrees?

Can you use the actual term?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Sure, if you have a college degree, you're a college graduate

[Anonymous]

Your diploma says "Montgomery College" or "Northern Virginia Community College" so yes, you are technically a college graduate.

[Anonymous]

People usually don't refer to themselves as "college graduate" on resume or cover letters. People list their degrees earned and highest level of education obtained so it would become apparent if it's associates vs bachelors degree. If you just mean in conversation, I guess associates is technically a college degree so that technically correct and i wouldn't see it as a big foul if someone said it in that way. although I'm guessing most people would assume college degree = bachelors degree.

[Anonymous]

I have a bachelor's and am back in school to become an RN. Damn right I'll count my associates in nursing as a degree!

[Anonymous]

I usually assume when someone says they are a college graduate that they have a Bachelors Degree.

But Junior Colleges are fully accredited colleges too so technically graduating from one is a college graduate.

But not sure.
Like if a high school student qualifies for a college scholarship based on the fact that he/she will be a First Generation to graduate from college.

If a parent has an Associate Degree would that count or not?

[Anonymous]

I've never heard someone use the term "college graduate" who doesn't have a BS/BA, but I guess it's technically correct.

[Anonymous]

The only person I know who regularly refers to herself as "a college graduate" is a very strange individual who emphasizes this in all kinds of inappropriate contexts. I assumed fairly early on that she does so because in her community, it's unusual. That said, her email signature also references her being a "high school and college graduate" and while I've been acquainted with her for several years, I have no idea what high school or college she attended and she has only been sporadically employed during that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never heard someone use the term "college graduate" who doesn't have a BS/BA, but I guess it's technically correct.

+ 1

[Anonymous]

I do think it sounds a bit sneaky. The original poster could state in a job application that she "graduated from college" in, for example, 2008, and avoid putting that degree. If someone isn't looking closely, I believe assumptions would be made that it is a bachelors degree. Not an out right lie, but certainly shitting the truth in my view given the prevalence of bachelors degrees and a common understanding of what a college graduate is.

[Anonymous]

I think it's a deliberate attempt to imply that one has a Bachelor's Degree. If they don't have it, it's being intentionally deceptive.

[Anonymous]

I first went to community college, where I earned an A.A. degree, and then transferred to a four-year university for my B.A. I most definitely did NOT consider myself a college graduate until I completed my bachelor's.

On a tangent, this is not a bad path to take if money is a factor. Many universities like a student with an A.A., since it proves he/she can stick it out through an educational program - and if you do well (say, B average), there are lots of academic scholarships available from full universities.

[Anonymous]

What bugs me is when people call a high school diploma a degree. You don't get a degree in high school.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you are...that's why in surveys and stuff they distinguish if you have a "four-year college degree"

[Anonymous]

Yes but BS > BA > AA

But they are all degrees from college so collage graduate.

We all know not all college degrees are created equal.