Ranked #9 in popularity, general business/commerce is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 32 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for associate degree seekers in the field of general business/commerce. Combined, these schools handed out 3,288 associate degrees in general business/commerce to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great General Business/Commerce School for Your Associate Degree
The general business associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on general business/commerce students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other general business/commerce students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for general business/commerce to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general business/commerce related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general business/commerce students working on their associate degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best General Business/Commerce Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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It's hard to beat Community College of Philadelphia if you wish to pursue an associate degree in general business/commerce. Located in the city of Philadelphia, Community College of Philadelphia is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the general business program report average early career earnings of $35,122.
Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in general business/commerce has to look into SUNY Empire State College. SUNY Empire is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of Saratoga Springs.
Those general business/commerce students who get their associate degree from SUNY Empire State College earn $25,119 more than the average general business grad.
It is difficult to beat Montgomery County Community College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in general business/commerce. Montco is a moderately-sized public college located in the large suburb of Blue Bell.
Soon after graduation, general business associate recipients usually earn about $36,274 in their early careers.
Montgomery College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in general business/commerce. Located in the small city of Rockville, Montgomery College is a public college with a large student population.
After graduating, general business associate recipients usually make about $29,449 at the beginning of their careers.
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).
The general business associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
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