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100+ credits, need to pick a degree, school HELP!
#1
Hi all,
I've been reading through the forums here and preparing for CLEPs but I really need help with my mess of a transcript. The CLEPs I'm planning to take are to get into a Nursing Program at a local community college which gives me an ASN. I will most likely go on to get BSN at online school like WGU, in the future.
However, I need to complete a bachelor's degree to be promoted (and pay for all this!) at current job. So I figured between the CLEPs and credits I could get a degree between now and June or hopefully sooner!
I don't necessarily want a BA but if it is the easiest (& cheapest) course then I will settle. One of the colleges I attended (Evergreen) had a design your own degree progrAm which I was thinking sounded similar to the PLA. A community college I attended had an associates degree in scuba diving/marine environment so I took a lot of those classes. I was hoping maybe to put together something focused on that??
Otherwise maybe Psychology or ???
My transcript is also kind of sketchy from going to Evergreen where credits were on the quarter system. My credits have not transferred as whole credits so I'm hoping someone will have advice on how this will work for me. For example I need 6 credits for Eng Comp. I have a 3 cr Eng Comp 1 class and a 2.66 credit Eng Comp 2 class. Can I add on 1.33 credits in Comparative Lit? Or 2 credits of expository Prose? And if that is accepted, what happens to the difference since I only needed to fill 6 credits? Does that go to Gen Ed or Free Elec?
Also I have zero Upper Level credits! What do I do with this mess?
Well here's the transcript if anyone can help! Any advice is appreciated!!

TRANSFER CREDIT ACCEPTED BY INSTITUTION -Top-
Loyola College

AST 1002 Astronomy B
3.000


ENC 1101 English Composition I C
3.000


PCB 2030 Environmental Biology A
3.000


PSY 2012 General Psychology D67
3.000


TRF* 0001 Interm French 1 C
3.000


TRF* 0002 Prin Historic Geology C
3.000


TRF* 0003 Hist Mod Civ I B33
3.000


TRF* 0004 Human Ecology C33
3.000


TRF* 0005 Evolution of Life B
3.000


TRF* 0006 Intro to Theater C
3.000




Unofficial Transcript
The Evergreen State College

ENC 1102 English Composition II S
2.660


SPN 1120C Beginning Spanish I S
2.660


TRF* 0007 Hist of Latin Amer S
2.000


TRF* 0008 Latin Amer Lit S
2.000


TRF* 0009 Nat Hist of Latin Amer S
1.330


TRF* 0010 2nd Yr French S
0.660


TRF* 0011 Elem Russian S
5.320


TRF* 0012 Intro Irish Gaelic Lang S
4.000


TRF* 0013 Irish History S
3.330


TRF* 0014 Celtic Folklore S
2.000


TRF* 0015 Slavic Folklore S
2.000


TRF* 0016 Expository Prose S
2.000


TRF* 0017 Slavic & Celtic Cult S
1.330


TRF* 0018 Comparative Lit S
1.330


TRF* 0019 Russian I S
5.62

Unofficial Transcript
2013: College Level Exam Program

HUM 2250 Humanities in the 20th Century S
3.000



Unofficial Transcript
INSTITUTION CREDIT -Top-

OCB 1000 CR Introduction to Marine Biology A
3.000

ISC 2132 CR Basic Research Diving A
4.000

OCB 2102C CR Marine Data Collection A
4.000

OCE 1001 CR Introduction to Oceanography A
3.000

SBM 2000 CR Small Business Management A
3.000

SPC 1040 CR Introduction to Speech Comm A
3.000

CTS 2750C CR Microsoft Works A
3.000

MTE 1053C CR 2 & 4 Cycle Outbrd Rep & Maint A
3.000

MTE 1811 CR Basic Seamanship A
3.000

BUL 2241 CR Business Law I C
3.000

EOC 2714C CR Recompression Chamber Oper B
2.000

MCB 2010 CR Microbiology A
3.000

MCB 2010L CR Microbiology Lab A
1.000

Unofficial Transcript
TRANSCRIPT TOTALS (CREDIT) -Top-
Attempt Hours Passed Hours Earned Hours GPA Hours Quality Points GPA
Total Institution:
38.000
38.000
38.000
38.000
144.00
3.78
Total Transfer:
68.280
68.280
68.280
30.000
75.99
2.53
Overall:
106.280
106.280
106.280
68.000
219.99
3.23

Currently enrolled in:
ART 1750C CR Ceramics I
3.000

BSC 2085 Anatomy and Physiology I
3.000

BSC 2085L Anatomy and Physiology Lab
1.000

I will also be taking A&P II in the spring for 4 more credits.
I am gearing up for these CLEPs: College Algebra, Intro to Psych (got a D in it freshman year), Human Growth and Development, Chemistry.

And as if that weren't enough, scuba diving credit through PADI and ACE. The ACE recommendations for the following scuba classes are:
1.0 cr for open water
1.0 credit for advanced open water
1.0 cr for rescue
2.0 cr for dive master
2.0 cr for instructor
1.0 cr for EFR instructor
1.0 cr for Nitrox
1.0 cr for wreck specialty
1.0 cr for underwater photography specialty
1.0 cr for underwater navigator specialty
1.0 cr for search and recovery
1.0 cr for night diving specialty
For a total of 14 credits.
Before you laugh, my CC has an associates degree, well actually 3 different ones based around diving and the marine environment. Because I was already an instructor, I taught as an adjunct for these classes, but did not take any of the dive classes at my CC except for Basic Research Diving for 4.0 credits. At my CC these credits would have been worth:
3.0 cr open water
3.0 cr advanced open water
3.0 cr rescue
3.0 cr dive aster
3.0 cr instructor
3.0 cr underwater photo
For 18 credits.
I have read that the "big 3" will accept for credit things that B&M schools will not like work experience, life experience etc and are especially more inclined to accept a class for credit if another accredited school already does.
So, all I need is the piece of paper for now, what is the easiest, cheapest route? What do I do about UL credits? And am I able to make some kind of funky degree out of this stuff in a PLA type situation? (Otherwise I'll go back to easiest, cheapest.)

Thank you for help and advice!!
#2
Designing your own degree is not like a PLA. PLA stands for prior learning assessment where you write a paper, complete a project, or show some kind of documentation of college-level learning outside of college. These courses usually have to match a course that's offered by a college. In other words, the course has to actually exist in academia. You can't just make up something strange like underwater basketweaving. The Big 3 don't directly give credit for work and life experience per se. They will give you credit for PLAs, some certifications, and training that's been ACE or NCCRS approved. You can't just hand them your resume and receive credit. The PLA projects can be quite time consuming to the point that some people have said that they'd rather just take the course. The PLA is really just a way to save time and money, but it doesn't always reduce the effort required by much.

Unless all of your credits came from community colleges, you can't be sure they're all LL. COSC and EC will automatically give you LL credit for courses that are labeled as LL from the school of origin. TESC, however, does not follow the labels other schools have given to courses. With Microbiology, for example, as long as it wasn't taken at a community/junior college, the course will be UL at TESC regardless. TESC matches the course to what's in their own catalog and PLA database. It looks like the fastest degrees for you to complete at TESC will be natural sciences and mathematics, liberal studies, and humanities. Since you have so many credits to transfer, I advise that you apply to all 3 schools for an evaluation.

As far as designing your own degree, TESC and COSC do have programs where you can do this. TESC offers the LDAS (learner designed area of study) as a BS, BA, BSBA (bachelor of science in business administration), and BSAST (bachelor of science in applied science and technology). COSC offers individualized studies and liberal studies.
Graduate of Not VUL or ENEB
MS, MSS and Graduate Cert
AAS, AS, BA, and BS
CLEP
Intro Psych 70, US His I 64, Intro Soc 63, Intro Edu Psych 70, A&I Lit 64, Bio 68, Prin Man 69, Prin Mar 68
DSST
Life Dev Psych 62, Fund Coun 68, Intro Comp 469, Intro Astr 56, Env & Hum 70, HTYH 456, MIS 451, Prin Sup 453, HRM 62, Bus Eth 458
ALEKS
Int Alg, Coll Alg
TEEX
4 credits
TECEP
Fed Inc Tax, Sci of Nutr, Micro, Strat Man, Med Term, Pub Relations
CSU
Sys Analysis & Design, Programming, Cyber
SL
Intro to Comm, Microbio, Acc I
Uexcel
A&P
Davar
Macro, Intro to Fin, Man Acc
#3
Florida Keys Community College?

If you've taught a course for degree-level credit at a regionally accredited school (but haven't taken the same or an equivalent course yourself), TESC has a pathway to grant credit for that course. At least two posters here who are college instructors have used this. This may work out for you.

If a course is offered in-house by the college and worth 3 cr in that college's own credit, and you can apply for credit for instructor from TESC, the ACE recommendation for PADI courses probably shouldn't matter. A 3 sh course called "Open Water Diver" offered in-house by an RA college could easily be significantly more demanding than the PADI "Open Water Diver" course – regardless of whether a PADI Open Water Diver course and certification is subsumed within that 3-sh college course.
#4
Jonathan Whatley Wrote:Florida Keys Community College?

If you've taught a course for degree-level credit at a regionally accredited school (but haven't taken the same or an equivalent course yourself), TESC has a pathway to grant credit for that course. At least two posters here who are college instructors have used this. This may work out for you.

If a course is offered in-house by the college and worth 3 cr in that college's own credit, and you can apply for credit for instructor from TESC, the ACE recommendation for PADI courses probably shouldn't matter. A 3 sh course called "Open Water Diver" offered in-house by an RA college could easily be significantly more demanding than the PADI "Open Water Diver" course – regardless of whether a PADI Open Water Diver course and certification is subsumed within that 3-sh college course.

I'm one of the two Jonathan is referring to. If it wasn't 1:30am I might be a little less groggy, so I'll try and keep it clear. I'll check back tomorrow to see if you have questions. There are a few things to point out. 1. Scuba is going to count as a free elective in the liberal arts majors you are considering, so while I'm happy to explain the credit for prior teaching process, it won't matter, your free electives are already full.

For as many credits as you have, it makes an unusual problem. Typically, you think you're closer than someone with maybe 50 credits, but the issue is in distribution of credit. For instance, if you were in a degree program that accepted only 3 credits in underwater basket weaving, you having 100 credits in underwater basket weaving would not be any more advantageous than someone next to you wtih just 3. That's not a discouragement, but it's meant to get you focused quickly. You don't have much wiggle room, so I wouldn't register for Spring unless you're sure everything counts OR if it's a nursing prereq. Obviously you need nursing prereqs (whatever they are) so you'll have to get those completed. Beyond that, classes like ceramics, are probably not helpful.

Your community college will likely not allow you to use CLEP to replace your psychology "D" however TESC will. Smile That said, unless it's a nursing prereq for your program, let it go- you don't need to devote any time to fixing it. A CLEP does not do GPA repair, and a "D" will transfer into your gen eds.

Based on what I know about nursing, it looks like you may be deficient in lab sciences. The burden of that, is that they are sequence restricted. In other words, you're in A&P - so you'll do II next semester. You have micro, but do you need chem 1 & 2? If so, you need to get chem on your schedule for spring and dump ceramics, which still is adding 2 more semesters to your load. I see you're planning on using the CLEP for chemistry, but be sure that will fly with nursing school admin. Same for college algebra. In my experience, this may be unwise, but if you dive into your potential nursing program admission procedures, be sure you're not undercutting your GPA and be sure you're okay being ranked as an applicant with a pass/fail credit. In some schools, they "assign" it the weight of a grade "C" which you DON'T want.

Sorry, I'm normally more solutions driven, I jsut wanted to chime in while you were still in the planning phase. Without spending time, I can't say for sure, but you might be more efficient using the marine option at your school. I;ll look tomorrow with you and see. At this point in the game, you don't want to waste any more time or money. Smile
#5
cookderosa Wrote:I'm one of the two Jonathan is referring to. If it wasn't 1:30am I might be a little less groggy, so I'll try and keep it clear. I'll check back tomorrow to see if you have questions. There are a few things to point out. 1. Scuba is going to count as a free elective in the liberal arts majors you are considering, so while I'm happy to explain the credit for prior teaching process, it won't matter, your free electives are already full.

For as many credits as you have, it makes an unusual problem. Typically, you think you're closer than someone with maybe 50 credits, but the issue is in distribution of credit. For instance, if you were in a degree program that accepted only 3 credits in underwater basket weaving, you having 100 credits in underwater basket weaving would not be any more advantageous than someone next to you wtih just 3. That's not a discouragement, but it's meant to get you focused quickly. You don't have much wiggle room, so I wouldn't register for Spring unless you're sure everything counts OR if it's a nursing prereq. Obviously you need nursing prereqs (whatever they are) so you'll have to get those completed. Beyond that, classes like ceramics, are probably not helpful.

And these are great points. To tie these together with one of sanantone's great points above,

sanantone Wrote:As far as designing your own degree, TESC and COSC do have programs where you can do this. TESC offers the LDAS (learner designed area of study) as a BS, BA, BSBA (bachelor of science in business administration), and BSAST (bachelor of science in applied science and technology). COSC offers individualized studies and liberal studies.

you might consider using diving credit in a self-designed major or concentration. For instance, I could see a self-designed program in Environmental Education built on credit in
• dive training and dive professional training (the PADI IDC may be upper-level credit)
• education (e.g. Foundations of Education; Introduction to Educational Psychology; UL course credit)
• environmental studies (e.g. Environment and Humanity; Global Environmental Change which is a six semester hour UL course from TESC that's well-liked around here)
• possibly general outdoor education, and possibly recreation (by PLA or by coursework; I believe several schools offer courses in these online)

Another reasonable degree title would be Maritime Studies (this could be modelled on, and it could draw on courses from, the online B.A. in Maritime Studies from the University of West Florida.) Maritime/marine/nautical archaeology is also its own academic field. I believe Texas A&M is the name brand in the field in the U.S. Flinders University in Australia, together the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, have a strong graduate program online.

This said, if you're going for nursing, (a) I salute you!, and (b) I would recommend planning out and following approximately the most direct path possible. This might involve applying diving credit toward a major/concentration; conversely, it might involve leaving some of what you could possibly claim in credit in diving to the side if you chose a major/concentration in which it wouldn't fit.

I managed a dive center and I've considered pursuing the sort of major/concentration I outlined above myself. But I'm also a pre-health student. Direct prerequisites are my Job One.


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