Please help! TESU BALS degree plan

[kphung29]

Hi everyone!  

It's been many years since I last visited the forums.  Much has changed since my initial credit evaluation back in 2011-2012.. with many different options now to receive credit.  I stumbled upon bjcheung77's 2018 TESU BALS w/Psychology minor using SL & Study.com resources.  I am hoping to finally finish my degree using this path and just submitted my transcripts for evaluation.  Here's all my courses I've taken so far, the ones with an asterisk is what TESU approved when I did the evaluation years ago.  The others were taken at schools after the evaluation but I expect them to transfer as well.  Please let me know what's the most efficient way and what courses I should look into using SL/Study.com .  Thanks in advance for all your help!


Community College of Allegheny County                                  
MAT 080 Arithmetic Fundamentals                    4 - did not transfer
ENG 100 Basic Principle Comprehension          3 - did not transfer
MAT 090 Algebra Fundamentals               4 - did not transfer
ENG 101 English Comp 1                         3*
CIT 100 Intro to Computers                       3*
MAT 108 Intermediate Algebra                  4*
PHL 101 Intro to Philosophy                      3*
PSY 108 Human Growth & Development           3*
ENG 102 English Comp 2                          3*
PSY 101 Intro to Psychology                     3*
ECO 103 Principles of Microeconomics    3*
SOC 101 Intro to Sociology                       3*
BIO 151 General Biology 1                       4*
ART106 Art Appreciation                           3*

Colby Community College
BIO 280 Principles of Microbiology          4

Coastline Community College
FN170  Nutrition                                    3*
PHYS120 Physics 1                              4*

Southern California University of Health Sciences 
CHEM 101 General  Chemistry  1            4
CHEM 102 General Chemistry 2              4
BIO 152 General Biology 2                      4
CHEM 201 Organic Chemistry 1             4

Davenport University                                                                   
MKTG 211 Marketing Foundations         3*
SOSC 201 Diversity in Society                3*
HLTH 110 Medical Terminology             3 *

[Ideas]

I'm sure you can finish the BALS

Have you looked at the BOG AAS degree? If you want an almost-free Associates degree along the way.

[bjcheung77]

LOL, Ideas beat me to it, I would also recommend the almost free BOG AAS Associates degree from either WVNCC or Pierpont as they are the two most popular providers. If you would like to go to another one, there are 9-10 choices. You have all the requirements for all of them, you may need to ask for a residency waiver as one or more requires a "3 to 15 credit residency" requirement.

The only fees involved are sending in your transcripts to the school of choice after you decide which one is best for you. I would check all of them out, as when I looked at their programs, all of them required 12 credits from a Regionally Accredited B&M college.
West Virginia College System link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virgi...ege_System

But if it was me, in addition to that BOG AAS, I would recommend going for an ASNSM Biology, en route to your BALS (no concentration or with concentration) - FREE. Did you take Anatomy & Physiology I in addition to your Biology 2, or did you take just one or the other?
You're missing a few general education requirements and your Area of Study. https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/ba/Liberal-Studies.cfm

[kphung29]

Thank you for the prompt response!  I took General Biology 1 and 2.. not A&P 1.  Would it be easier in my current situation to do no concentration vs with concentration?  Also, if you're able and willing, could you set up my customized plan so I have an idea where what is going?  I'll try to look around the forum in the mean time and see if I can comprehend this better.  Thanks again!

[quigongene]

Looks like if you went the BOG AAS route with Pierpont you could easily get an Area of Study in science.

[bjcheung77]

As per above, you have the majority of your General Ed requirements, and a bit of the AOS. I've created a template for you - one that will get you the ASNSM in Biology and the BALS Psychology Concentration. I assume that the Biology 2 you took that provided 4 credits had a lab, if not, you will need a corresponding lab course.  I added an additional Biology - Pathophysiology as an interesting course for you to round out your Study.com subscription.

I only have one question for you, "how busy are you?", married/got kids? The reason I ask is, Study.com courses are "going through a change" January 1/2018.  I would recommend you do the 4 UL Psychology/Patho-physiology courses FIRST (ASAP).  Then work on the 4 final Study.com courses afterwards.  Lastly, work on your Straighterline courses (in 2 months) along with your capstone, finish the final month of the capstone with the free courses.  This will allow you to "finish" the requirements all in 4 months time frame!

1st month: 4 Study.com UL courses (as per my template)
2nd month: 4 Study.com LL courses + Capstone
3rd month: 6 Straighterline + Capstone (I recommend all open book SL finals+easy courses)
4th month: 3 Straighterline (closed book/harder courses)/FREE courses + Capstone

Note: This plan is probably the easiest/fastest, but not the cheapest BALS - Saylor/Shmoop are cheaper.  You can swap out the courses if you wanted to, but these are the recommendations for an interesting degree.  Take 4 courses at Study.com in one month vs in two months - $199/month subscription gets you two exams, an extra exam in another course is $70/course.  So four a month would be $340 vs four in two month subscriptions.  You need these 4 UL courses ASAP.

[kphung29]

Thank you for your responses. Special thanks bjcheung77 for the custom plan! I will take a look and see if there's any courses I'd swap with. I do have a question regarding my MAT108 course... I noticed you put College Algebra through SL but my old evaluation TESC cleared my Intermediate Algebra. Perhaps I can take another course instead of College Algebra? Here's what it showed:

D: Mathematics (Completed)
> Complete a 3 semester hour college-level Mathematics
> course.
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
1.. MAT108 Intermed Algebra......... 4.00 B MAT-115 *CC *TE

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Also, I noticed on the template, my hard sciences are getting only 3 credits? Each one had labs so 4 credits total per my original post. Perhaps that'll change my free electives and general electives?

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Also, I noticed on the template, my hard sciences are getting only 3 credits? Each one had labs so 4 credits total per my original post. Perhaps that'll change my free electives and general electives?

[bjcheung77]

Most degrees from TESU requires College Algebra, but you are correct, for the BALS it only requires Intermediate Algebra which I placed into the general education electives.

The extra credits you get for the labs, see if you can get them to move it into the BIO 241 Human Genetics course in the AOS. As per my PM, you can replace the Pathophysiology course with the Microeconomics course you have. Doing so will shave two courses and $140 off the degree cost.

Also mentioned, you can take a Saylor or Shmoop course as they are the cheapest, but may not be the easiest/fastest route. You can replace your College Algebra with something you think will be easy for you.

[kphung29]

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to get feedback on this updated degree plan.  I tried to structure everything based on bjcheung77's recommendations and courses I'd like to take.  I do have a question regarding the Insurance Ethics course (2 cr) for fulfill Civic and Global Learning.  Would credits elsewhere supplement the 1 credit deficiency?  Also, if there's any errors elsewhere please let me know!  Thank you!

[dfrecore]

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to get feedback on this updated degree plan.  I tried to structure everything based on bjcheung77's recommendations and courses I'd like to take.  I do have a question regarding the Insurance Ethics course (2 cr) for fulfill Civic and Global Learning.  Would credits elsewhere supplement the 1 credit deficiency?  Also, if there's any errors elsewhere please let me know!  Thank you!

You get a waiver and then the 1cr is put down in Gen Ed Electives.  Tons of people on here have that course for their Ethics requirement.