Program Overview
The Associate of Science in Social Science (A.S. Social Science) is designed to prepare students to transfer to a four-year institution and pursue a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree in an area of the social and behavioral sciences.
Pathways in Social Science
The program requirements for the A.S. Social Science are very flexible and include a long list of elective choices. This degree supports many different possible majors after transfer, and the best choices for a student who wants to major in Psychology after transfer look very different from the choices for a student who wants to major in Criminal Justice. A pathway through a degree provides a recommended set of choices that are more specific for setting up for a major after transfer.
This program supports the Transfer Virginia common curricula in Criminal Justice, Psychology, and Sociology. We have created pathways guides for these post-transfer majors. These guides give recommendations for elective choices and course sequencing. Download a guide and use it with the transfer resources below to develop a plan to complete your degree!
The transfer majors listed above aren’t the only ones that might fall under A.S. Social Science. History and Communication Studies may also fit well under this degree, along with some Health Science plans. Students should carefully consider the requirements of their intended four-year institution and work with an advisor to determine if the A.S. Social Science provides the most appropriate plan of study for their transfer goals.
Setting up for Success
Even within the major-specific pathways guides, you’ll still see spots to make choices, because the exact recommendations depend on not only what you want to major in, but where you want to transfer to. It helps to decide early on what your first choice four-year institution is for transfer, but it’s fine to still be considering options. Here are some steps you can take to help make the transfer process go smoothly:
- Look in the Transfer VA Resource Center to see if there is a guide that is an exact match for what you want to major in at your preferred transfer school.
- If there is no Transfer VA guide available, there may be information on that school’s website. Start from our Academic Advising transfer guides page to see a list of links to the transfer information we’ve pulled together for each four-year institution in Virginia. Here is the link to our main transfer advising support page.
- Pay close attention to what math your four-year institution requires or recommends. Nearly all social science majors need Statistics, but there are two different levels: MTH 155 (Statistical Reasoning) or MTH 245 (Statistics I). MTH 245 has a prerequisite of either MTH 154 (Quantitative Reasoning) or MTH 161 (Precalculus I) so you need to figure that out in advance to set up for it. It may be possible to place directly into MTH 245 – work with an advisor.
- Some four-year institutions will have a world language requirement, especially if you are looking at a Bachelor of Arts program. Look for that on the transfer guide as well – you might be able to complete the language requirement at BRCC. If there is a world language requirement and you’ve already studied a language in high school, you may be able to start at the 200 level. Again, work with an advisor!
- Our advisors can help you pull all the information together and work out a semester-by-semester plan using the pathways worksheets. They can also help you out if you want to major in something there’s no pre-existing pathway for, and can look over the requirements and help you make a custom plan.
Related Programs and Other Pathways
BRCC also offers many Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S) career and technical programs. An A.A.S. program is designed first with employment after graduation in mind, and is not a transfer-oriented award. However, some A.A.S. programs have transfer pathways agreements with specific institutions that are an alternative to traditional transfer.
If you are interested in majoring in Social Work at a four-year institution, consider our Human Services A.A.S. program. Students completing the Human Services Program are prepared through articulation agreements to enter the Bachelor of Social Work program at James Madison University (JMU), Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), or Mary Baldwin University (MBU).