I doubt much of your associates degree would transfer into an ID bachelors. You might knock out much of your liberal arts and elective credits, but you most likely will have to take at least 3 years of ID studios. ME and ID educations teach very different thought processes.
Essentially, the designer is the architect of the product, and the ME is the structural engineer. The architect is focused on how people use the space and how the spaces interact with one another and the surrounding existing landscape of buildings, while the structural engineer is more focused on the forces on the building, the construction, and making sure everything is sound.
It is not a perfect analogy, but it is similar in product development. The designer is more focused on the user, how the product impacts a person’s life, the context and marketplace that product exists in, while the ME is more focused on the manufacturing, construction, and quality issues in their solution finding process…
Of course to be great, or even good at either role, you have to have an understanding of and appreciation for the other.
many of us don’t really see design as a job, but more of a way of living, seeing, and applying creativity.