The Associate of Arts-Direct Transfer Articulation Agreement (AA-DTA) is the single largest transfer degree awarded by the community and technical (CTC) colleges. The traditional goal of this degree is completion of general education requirements in order to prepare for transfer to a four-year institution. However, a Guided Pathways framework suggests careful consideration of the student's eventual major and inserting electives with marketable skills into the degree to make distinct pathways and align programs into meta-majors. This brief is the first of three reports that review each of the community and technical college mission areas for increasing completions and closing equity gaps. It compares post-CTC college transfer rates of AA-DTA students to students in other major ready transfer degrees. It also looks at the post-CTC college employment outcomes for students who earn an AA-DTA degree but do not transfer. The brief discusses the implications of these outcomes for thinking about how to deploy the AA-DTA degree in a pathway framework to buttress degree completion, post-degree student success and close equity gaps. Finally, it looks at students through another student outcomes analysis lens, the Student Achievement Transfer Cohort. The Student Achievement Transfer Cohort includes a broader group of students than the first time in college students in the Guided Pathways cohort. The brief compares these students and how they are selected into each cohort to look at the spillover importance of Guided Pathways for student success.