Program Overview
The Associate of Science in Science (A.S. Science) is designed to prepare students to transfer to a four-year institution and pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in an area of natural or physical sciences, information technology, or mathematics.
Pathways in Science
The program requirements for the A.S. Science are very flexible and include a long list of elective choices. This degree has to work for many different possible majors after transfer, and the best choices for a student who wants to major in Biology after transfer look very different from the choices for a student who wants to major in Math. 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 Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Information Technology, Mathematics, and Physics. We are developing 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!
Biology Pathways Guide (coming soon!)
Information Technology Pathways Guide (coming soon!)
Mathematics Pathways Guide
The transfer majors listed above aren’t the only ones that might fall under A.S. Science. Agricultural Sciences and some Health Science majors may fit well under this plan. Students should carefully consider the requirements of their intended four-year institution and work with an advisor to determine if the A.S. Science provides the most appropriate plan of study for their transfer goals.
Setting up for Success
Even within the major 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 pathways 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.
- Work with Academic Advising to determine your math placement. Most science majors require or recommend Calculus I (MTH 263) and Statistics (MTH 245). Some may allow MTH 261 (Applied Calculus). All of these courses have some level of Precalculus prerequisite, but it may be possible to place past that based on your high school coursework.
- 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
If you are planning on majoring in Computer Science or Engineering after transfer, those have their own degrees at BRCC. We offer an A.S. Computer Science program and an A.S. Engineering program.