Athabasca U - BGS (Guinea Pigs Wanted)

[mariobros1985]

I was seriously considering transferring to Athabasca a month ago after almost all of my Metropolia credits didn't apply to my degree and was enticed by the lack of a capstone as well as the fact that I have a ton of community college credits that can transfer to the school, but I realized that the BACS will be the better degree in the future. I went mapping out the courses that I believe that I would receive as transfer credit based on their transfer database and list of courses (I realized that they will take certain community college courses as upper level based on some random community colleges that I saw with courses transferred in their system) and realized that I was a little too far away from completing all the upper level credits that they needed (I probably have all the necessary lower level credits to satisfy the degree though). They basically require a lot of upper level credits (45), which is basically half the degree (45/90 credits total) while TESU only requires 18 upper level credits total for their 120 credit Bachelor's degrees. I think I might have like 18 or 19 upper level credits at most for the Athabasca degree if I were to transfer them in.

It's basically too much work and money/time for not the best degree, but if someone has a lot of previous upper level credit from community colleges or four year degrees, then it might be a good option to just end your degree searching there.

[PosiKeto]

I did this - transferred 90+ RA credits to Athabasca and received the Bachelor of General Studies. I didn't need to complete any of their courses as there was no residency requirement. But there is a catch because I have no GPA with them, and my transcript is essentially blank (none of the transfer credits are listed). How can I use this degree to get into a U.S. graduate program?

[wow]

I did this - transferred 90+ RA credits to Athabasca and received the Bachelor of General Studies. I didn't need to complete any of their courses as there was no residency requirement. But there is a catch because I have no GPA with them, and my transcript is essentially blank (none of the transfer credits are listed). How can I use this degree to get into a U.S. graduate program

US graduate programs usually require a 120-credit bachelor's, but you could try a noncompetitive or open enrollment program, e.g. Walden, Capella, UMPI, American College of Education, etc. and see if you qualify.

[SteveFoerster]

US graduate programs usually require a 120-credit bachelor's

Given all the buzz lately about 90 credit Bachelor degrees in the US, I wonder how long this will still be the case.

[wow]

US graduate programs usually require a 120-credit bachelor's

Given all the buzz lately about 90 credit Bachelor degrees in the US, I wonder how long this will still be the case.

True. And PosiKeto, you could try for competitive/smaller programs too--I didn't mean my comment to discourage you from doing so. I would expect to run into more roadblocks there, but some may have flexibility if you're overall a good fit otherwise.

[bjcheung77]

Could you please provide more details on how you got the BGS? Plus, what exactly are you looking for at the Masters level? It really depends what you want to do or field you want to go into...

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Could you please provide more details on how you got the BGS?  Plus, what exactly are you looking for at the Masters level?  It really depends what you want to do or field you want to go into...

Likewise because I was interested in it before just for the sake of seeing if I could (like pierpont -- reminds me, I think DeanLewis was able to snag it even with a prior degree lol)

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I was seriously considering transferring to Athabasca a month ago after almost all of my Metropolia credits didn't apply to my degree and was enticed by the lack of a capstone as well as the fact that I have a ton of community college credits that can transfer to the school, but I realized that the BACS will be the better degree in the future. I went mapping out the courses that I believe that I would receive as transfer credit based on their transfer database and list of courses (I realized that they will take certain community college courses as upper level based on some random community colleges that I saw with courses transferred in their system) and realized that I was a little too far away from completing all the upper level credits that they needed (I probably have all the necessary lower level credits to satisfy the degree though). They basically require a lot of upper level credits (45), which is basically half the degree (45/90 credits total) while TESU only requires 18 upper level credits total for their 120 credit Bachelor's degrees. I think I might have like 18 or 19 upper level credits at most for the Athabasca degree if I were to transfer them in.

It's basically too much work and money/time for not the best degree, but if someone has a lot of previous upper level credit from community colleges or four year degrees, then it might be a good option to just end your degree searching there.

Its very unusual to be able to transfer in all UL credits and not complete any there at Athabasca. Not impossible if you've been bouncing from college to college and program to program to collect a bunch of UL credits, but unlikely. When I think of Athabasca, I find it quite quaint as I reflect on John Bear's (god bless him) old guides and seeing what the university and some others like COSC and Excelsior used to be

[FireMedic_Philosopher]

I would almost recommend transferring all but a single introduction level class, and doing that at Athabasca...so as to get an official GPA at the school.

Saying you have a degree with no GPA is infinitely harder to use than a degree WITH a GPA.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Saying you have a degree with no GPA is infinitely harder to use than a degree WITH a GPA.

Infinitely may be too strong. Half a million alumni of WGU do alright!

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Saying you have a degree with no GPA is infinitely harder to use than a degree WITH a GPA.

Infinitely may be too strong. Half a million alumni of WGU do alright!

Was just about to say WGU