[Trumpet63]

Hi choof... kinda cool to see all of these responses to your problem. Since I've had similar concerns before, I like to weigh in as well.

I've been going to community college here in Florida for about three years part-time to get an Associates Degree. I'm graduating this May with a general AA degree (Associates in Arts). An AA is generally considered a transfer degree, for people who wish to pursue further education, as I do. You're looking at AS and AAS, which generally have fewer gen-ed classes, and are perhaps less transferable if you were looking to get a Bachelors. If you were going to get a Bachelors at some point, you'd probably have to do more gen-ed.

An AA was a good choice for me because I have/had very little job experience, and generally don't enjoy the idea of climbing the corporate ladder. I have aspirations to later pursue a career in mathematics (or sooner, depending on how it goes), so that definitely means further education. I also have no love for IT, because the idea of teaching people how to use a computer makes me just a little suicidal. I'd much rather look into programming work, and specifically video game programming, which is why I plan to apply to a degree program for computer science, and possibly turn it into computer engineering.

Now, from what I understand about math, and from what you've said about your experience so far (AP calc), you have no idea about what to expect from the field of mathematics. I've been working for my college as a math tutor and a TA for more than two years, and everyone I've talked to, as well as the research I've done, has made me absolutely certain that, on the grand scale of things, calculus, diff eq, and linear algebra are all basic math classes. Unfortunately I can't speak from too much experience on what Bachelor's-level math classes are like, you might ask reuben for more info, because I've only taken up to Calc 2, ie only single-variable calculus, but in general, a career in math involves 4+ years more education after your Associates if you plan on getting anywhere ie becoming a professor, or doing research.

That said, dude you're only getting an Associates, you're supposed to be clueless! If you do well in your classes, you can stay in school for however long you want, and from a practical perspective, it depends on what you want to be doing when you're 50 years old what kind of education you need, and even then you can always go back to school.

In short, get an AA if you want to transfer, or stick with AS/AAS if you want to work sooner, and you can always go back to school.