to answer your first question about upper level credits, every degree will require a certain number of upper level credit to be in certain areas, excelsior college for example makes you get at least 18 upper level credits in your major and 12 in other areas that you can do at anytime in your degree process. it would make since to do these last because there is a lot of stuff in upper level classes that you will be building on from knowledge from lower level classes.

The second question is a little more diffcult to answer. This is very dependent on the masters degree you pick. For example if you want a MBA you will most likely need so many hours of accounting, but some schools do not require and prerequisites so you could get a BA in history and a MA in geology. it really depends on the program and the school that offers it.

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AAT, Electromechanics, Excelsior College 2007
BS, Political Science, Excelsior College 2008
MSSL, Strategic Leadership, Mountain State (currently enrolled) 2009