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my sister raised a question about degrees, of the bachelor variety. now I know we've been all through the sisters-in-law, and cupsfuls, blah, blah, but ah well, count me too lazy to liu today... In reply to:
On August 30, 1881, the Dakota Territorial government granted a charter for the establishment of Yankton College. Mount Marty opened as a junior college (in the midst of the Great Depression) in 1936, and its first four-year bachelor degrees were awarded on May 29, 1951.
which should it be?
bachelor #1: bachelor's degrees
bachelor #2: bachelors' degrees
or
bachelor #3: bachelor degrees
or?...
formerly known as etaoin...
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but warrer bout the maths?
Mount Marty opened [...]in 1936, and its first four-year bachelor degrees were awarded on May 29, 1951. {e.a.}
That's about three degrees of separation, surely!
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well, they didn't offer none of them fancy four-year degrees until '51, up 'til then, it was only two-year degrees...
formerly known as etaoin...
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> only two-year degrees...
or 15, one :)
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I choose Bachelor #1 because it just makes sense to me. It's the degrees that are plural, not the bachelors. FWIW, it scores 936,000 on the googleometer, with #2 and #3 each scoring 289,000.
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the agreed upon dictionary entry is "bachelor's degree", based upon this def. of bachelor (from AHD):
2. A person who has completed the undergraduate curriculum of a college or university and holds a bachelor's degree.
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thanks, Nancy and tsuwm! and mav... well, I laughed. 
formerly known as etaoin...
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I not sure I'd agree with you here tsuwm.
If the rule were to say Bachelor's degrees, wouldn't we have to say closet's organisers, hand's warmers, car's heaters. But we don't say that, we say we'll go out and get some closet organisers, hand warmers and car heaters.
Edit...
Strawberry jams, mint teas...bachelor degrees
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According to The Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed., 1993) "... when academic degrees are referred to in general terms as doctorate, bachelor's degree, master of science, they are not capitalized." (7.26 at p. 244) I do not offer this as authority re capitalization but as evidence of the usage of "bachelor's degree" in a respected source.
In my own pedantic way, I would be reluctant to use the term "bachelor's degree" for any purpose. It strikes me as colloquial. I think it better to use the precise term, e.g. Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Legal Letters, Bachelor of Divinity. I have no authority for this preference save my ear.
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so, how would you re-phrase the original statement?
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