There are three kinds of degree plans within the Army Career Degree Program:
- SOCAD Army Career Degree: Typical civilian degrees
that match the specialty skills of an MOS,
- SOCAD Army Career Degree - General: Typical civilian
degrees with more general content, and
- SOCAD Army Career Degree - Specialized: Degrees especially
crafted to accommodate the uniquely military or otherwise not-easily-matched-to-civilian-courses
skills of an MOS.
The SOCAD Army Career Degree is based on college degrees that uniquely relate to an MOS's skills and contain specific college courses that match its competencies. (Example: A computer studies degree in which recommended credit for military learning is assigned to college courses typically found in a computer studies major.)
The SOCAD Army Career Degree - General is based on college degrees that match the recommended credit from Army learning experiences to their requirements in more general ways.
Military credit recommendations are assigned to one or more general categories or to specific college courses more uniquely related to the MOS. The degree may have a General Studies, Management, or other broad subject area as the academic major (Example: A computer specialist matched to a degree in Management or General Studies rather than computer studies).
The SOCAD Army Career Degree - Specialized has many
of the same qualities as the General degree except its title
and major courses may be predominantly military in nature or
are otherwise different than a typical civilian course for the
same skill. The degree title and major courses would not typically
be found in civilian higher education. As with the General degree,
the Specialized plan may be useful to Soldiers, but would be
less effective in mapping MOS competencies to civilian college
courses normally associated with their specialty. (Example: A
college degree named for a military specialty and containing
courses that are unique to it.)