General Social Sciences is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #12 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 3 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for general social sciences students pursuing a associate degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 813 associate degrees in general social sciences during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great General Social Sciences School for Your Associate Degree
The social sciences associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality social sciences program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to general social sciences students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of general social sciences students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt general social sciences students go into to obtain their associate degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general social sciences related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general social sciences students working on their associate degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best General Social Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list to help you make the college decision.
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Featured General Social Sciences Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Learn to analyze social factors and become an advocate for individual and community health with this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Brookdale Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in general social sciences. Brookdale Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the rural area of Lincroft.
Soon after graduating, social sciences associate recipients generally earn an average of $22,068 at the beginning of their careers.
Essex County College is a wonderful decision for individuals interested in an associate degree in general social sciences. Located in the large city of Newark, Essex is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Soon after graduation, social sciences associate recipients typically earn an average of $20,849 in their early careers.
Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in general social sciences has to look into Harrisburg Area Community College. HACC is a large public college located in the city of Harrisburg.
General Social Sciences associate degree recipients from Harrisburg Area Community College receive an earnings boost of around $6,554 above the typical income of general social sciences graduates.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).