Difference between "2-year community or junior colleges" and "4 year undergraduate program" in USA I am confused about the USA education system.
I looked up the Wikipedia page about K-12. In particular, the figure on the right of that page.
Let's supposed I have just finished high school and I want a MSc in Computer Science.

It's pretty clear from the figure that I can apply to a MSc after a &quot;4-year undergraduate program&quot;. My question here is: would this program award me a BSc?

It is unclear to me how the other path, the &quot;2-year community or junior college&quot; would work out. My questions here are:
a. What kind of title would a &quot;2-year community or junior college&quot; would award me? A BSc?
b. Can I apply for a MSc after a &quot;2-year community or junior college&quot;?
c. As I interpret the figure, I think that, after a &quot;2-year community or junior college&quot;, I would still have to obtain a &quot;4-year undergraduate program&quot; before applying for a &quot;Master's degree study&quot;. Here is my big question here: if that is the case, why I should apply to a &quot;2-year community or junior college&quot;, and having to pursue a &quot;4-year undergraduate program&quot; nonetheless, instead of applying directly to a &quot;4-year undergraduate program&quot; after high school? Stated otherwise, why should a person enroll in a &quot;2-year community or junior college&quot; and then pursue a &quot;4-year undergraduate program&quot;, instead of pursuing the &quot;4-year undergraduate program&quot; directly?
Two-year degrees in the US often award either an &quot;associates degree&quot; or some technical certification/profession-specific degree.
These degrees are not typically part of the &quot;bachelors -&gt; masters -&gt; PhD&quot; pipeline or more generic &quot;bachelors -&gt; professional degree&quot;.
Some students may start taking courses at a 2-year school and then transfer to a 4-year school (with or without actually completing a 2-year degree, and hoping to have as many of their 2-year credits count/transfer towards their 4-year degree), because 2-year schools are both less expensive and less selective. 2-year programs rarely have any sort of on-site housing (&quot;dorms&quot;) and limited &quot;student life&quot; opportunities (clubs, social facilities, athletics).
Not all 2-year schools are appropriate for this track. Some are specifically designed as technical degrees to get students into a specific career, and do not provide the &quot;general education&quot; credits (basic math, science, social studies courses) that are useful for transferring to a 4-year program.

If you wanted a MSc in the US, starting from high school you would either:
A) Enroll at a 4-year program, and then
B) Apply to Masters programs*
or
A) Enroll in a 2-year program,
B) Transfer to a 4-year program (bringing with you some or all of the credits you already earned), and then
C) Apply to Masters programs*
If you plan for the &quot;ABC&quot; pipeline it is definitely worth exploring the requirements of the 4-year institution(s) you plan to attend so that you know which courses you take will transfer (some 4-year schools have explicit relationships with particular 2-year schools to define classes that will count for transfer credit). Most students who would follow this path instead of the &quot;AB&quot; path would be doing so either for financial reasons or because the student does not feel academically prepared for a 4-year school (the quality of high school education varies quite a bit in the US, and even a very good student at a disadvantaged high school might have trouble with the jump to a 4-year school).
There is no particular advantage to completing a 2-year degree program before starting a fresh 4-year degree - the only reason to start at a 2-year program if your goal is a MSc would be if you can transfer credits from the 2-year to 4-year program.
(* - it's possible, though not particularly common in the US, that you enroll directly for a combined bachelors+masters program)