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Student Guide - Associate Degrees

Degrees | Entrance Requirements | General Education

Engineering technology is a field that offers hands-on work in a variety of environments. Engineering technologists are often described as achievers and producers with practical skills.Most students holding associate degrees in engineering technology will be employable in hands-on positions in technical environments in two years. Students who are interested in pursuing further education after an associate degree may go on to get their baccalaureate and masters degrees in a variety of engineering technology and engineering fields offered at Penn State. Please contact us for more information.

Degrees

NOTE: Programs change frequently, so it is best to consult an adviser about degree requirements. The programs listed above are for the current semester. Click here to view associate degree programs archived by semester, and choose the semester in which you were admitted to the program.

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Entrance Requirements

Students entering any of the associate degree programs for the fall semester must have completed high school or high school equivalent of all required courses. Required courses include three courses in the algebra through trigonometry sequence and one unit of biology and one unit of chemistry. If these courses are not completed, preparatory course work may be necessary at Penn State.

1. Applying for undergraduate admission at Penn State is a relatively simple process. Apply at any of the following Penn State campuses where the specific program is offered.

2. Have filed, by no later than early spring, a completed Admissions Application Form (preferably using the Web application provided at www.psu.edu/dept/admissions) to Penn State. It is important that students maintain current local address information with the registrar's office at their campus of study.

Only students who meet required criteria will be considered for acceptance to an associate degree major.

All students who are not accepted to a major in this process should see an adviser regarding their future plans. Students not assigned to a major will not be allowed to register for classes as degree students, but may take courses as non-degree students.

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General Education

Philosophy of General Education Requirements

Jump to the list of general education requirements

For those institutions preparing associate and baccalaureate graduates for entry into the engineering technology profession at the basic level, the Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (TAC of ABET) requires the curricular content of an engineering technology program to include course work in mathematics, science, communication skills, arts, humanities, social sciences, analysis, and design.

TAC of ABET's criteria are intended to broaden the student's liberal education through the development of in-depth understanding. It cannot be overemphasized that an integral part of the engineering technology educational program is intended to make technicians and technologists fully aware of their social responsibilities and better able to consider related factors in the decision-making process. This philosophy also appears in Penn State's General Education requirements.

General Education requirements consist of certain courses, taught outside the College of Engineering, that are required for graduation. At Penn State, associate degree students must complete 21 credits of General Education, and baccalaureate degree students must complete 45 credits of General Education. Of these, 9 and 18 credits respectively, must be taken in the Arts, Humanities, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. To satisfy those requirements, students must select courses from the list of approved General Education courses in those disciplines. (See http://bulletins.psu.edu/bulletins/bluebook/general_education.cfm)

Students may select from a wide range of courses to fulfill the General Education requirements. A student's own judgment, interest, and curiosity will determine the courses to select. THERE IS NO BEST COURSE FOR ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY! There is only a best course for a student, and the student is the only one who can determine that course. Descriptions of the goals of the various courses follow:

Studies in the Arts entail "the development of aesthetic understanding and appreciation." In order to achieve the broadest understanding and experience possible in this area, the student may select from courses that deal with art history, art appreciation, interrelationships of the arts and architecture, communications, and music.

Studies in the Humanities are characterized by their basis in the common experience of human beings. The studies of the humanities should, therefore, develop competency and skill in interpretive understanding of the human condition and of the values inherent in it. Humanistic studies today are divided into: (1) history and culture, (2) literature, (3) philosophy, and (4) advanced language.

The aims of the Social and Behavioral Science requirements are to introduce students to the scientific analysis of: (1) the forms, practices, and theories of politics; (2) the nature and operation of economic analysis; (3) the interrelationships of social institutions; (4) the dynamics of individual and group behavior and change; and (5) the processes and functions of human communication.

General Education Requirements - Associate Degree Programs

In the College of Engineering, the general education requirements for associate degrees are met as follows:

A. Skills (9 credits required)

  • Writing/Speaking (6 credits)
    • English 15 or 30 (GWS)
    • Communication Arts & Sciences 100A/B (GWS)
  • Quantification (3 credits)
    • Math 81

B. Distribution Component (12 credits required)

  • Natural Sciences (3 credits in courses designated GN)
    • Phys 150
  • Arts (3 credits in courses designated GA)
  • Humanities (3 credits in courses designated GH)
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences (3 credits in courses designated GS)

C. Writing Across the Curriculum Requirement (3 credits required)

  • All students must take at least 3 credits in their discipline of study in courses designated with a "W" suffix.
  • The curricula of all associate degree engineering technology programs include a required technical course with a "W" designation that satisfies this requirement.

D. United States Cultures and International Cultures (3 credits required)

  • All students must take at least 3 credits in United States Cultures/International Cultures (courses designated as US or IL). These courses provide opportunities to increase understanding of the relationship between people of different cultures and widen international perspective.
  • Engineering technology students are encouraged to use one of the "Distribution Component" course requirements listed above to fulfill this requirement. Courses that fulfill the (US or IL) requirement are indicated in the listed Schedule of Classes each semester.

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