Fastest to complete - Excelsior which degree

[wonderjojo]

i looked at the catalogs and compared.

pliz share your input.

which is the most flexible and fastest to complete.

1. BSL Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies (no major)
   
2. BAL Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies (no major)
   
3. BS Bachelor of Science (with major)
   
4. BA Bachelor of Arts (with major)
   
   
5. BSB Bachelor of Science in Business(with concentration)
   
6. BPB Bachelor of Professional Studies in Business and Management
   

i just want a Bachelors degree............ i will specialize when i get to masters. i want to do the maximum possible testing......... at minimal cost.

if this is a repetition, sorry, i am applying today.

[marianne202]

I believe that the BALS or BSLS would be the fastest depending on where your current credits favor or your course interest lays, but if you want a Master's degree you should look at the programs or schools you are considering to see if they have a requirement to get into their program. I know some want work experience or an undergrad degree in the area of study of the master's. If that is a requirement for yours you are much further ahead to make sure your undergrad matches your grad school needs. Also if the grad school program is competitive you may have to explain why you are pursuing a grad degree in a different subject area, as you would not necessarily be as well prepared as someone with a related undergrad degree. This is just something to think about before you leap and think fastest or cheapest is the best choice, it may not be in the long run. I did two undergrad degrees to make sure I had my bases covered. Good luck. Sorry if this wasn't the answer you were looking for.

[wonderjojo]

tks. 2 degrees. that's great!

i just want out of the undergrad place. not sure which Masters program yet, considering teaching. i will deal with their pre-reqs when i get that stage.

[OneDayDegree]

I too am in the same boat. Being 40 I would like to achieve the degree ASAP. Marianne, I see from your signature you achieved your BSLS in roughly a year. Can you give a breakdown of how many exams you took per month and roughly costs associated. Also, did you take all test before enrolling with Ex-college or did you enroll and start your testing, I am confused on the enrollment portion.

Thanks!!

[burbuja0512]

tks. 2 degrees. that's great!

i just want out of the undergrad place. not sure which Masters program yet, considering teaching. i will deal with their pre-reqs when i get that stage.

I started testing last year knowing that I eventually wanted a graduate degree, but I wasn't sure of details.

I originally enrolled with a concentration in psychology and began testing through all of the general ed requirements. I would search online from time to time to see which masters would interest me.

A few months ago, I found the perfect program for me. Once I knew which masters degree I wanted, I looked closer at the program and realized that there were quite a few business pre-requisites that I had to meet before being accepted. Luckily, I hadn't started my psych tests at that time, so I changed my major to business. This way the time and effort I spend on my MBA pre-reqs also help me fulfill my undergraduate goals. I also checked with the masters program to make sure that CLEP and or DSST won't be an issue just in case.

So... I would suggest starting. Just get going. Begin with your general requirements and while you're doing this, take breaks from studying to search the web for a program that suits your interests, helps your career goals, and meets your financial requirements. Then, if you need to switch your testing plans mid-stream, at least you'll have the general ed stuff out of the way.

[OneDayDegree]

Burb, so just go ahead and start testing on pre-reqs then later determine which degree wanted and when getting close, is that when you enroll at one of the Big 3 thats fits the bill to be evauluated?

I started testing last year knowing that I eventually wanted a graduate degree, but I wasn't sure of details.

I originally enrolled with a concentration in psychology and began testing through all of the general ed requirements. I would search online from time to time to see which masters would interest me.

A few months ago, I found the perfect program for me. Once I knew which masters degree I wanted, I looked closer at the program and realized that there were quite a few business pre-requisites that I had to meet before being accepted. Luckily, I hadn't started my psych tests at that time, so I changed my major to business. This way the time and effort I spend on my MBA pre-reqs also help me fulfill my undergraduate goals. I also checked with the masters program to make sure that CLEP and or DSST won't be an issue just in case.

So... I would suggest starting. Just get going. Begin with your general requirements and while you're doing this, take breaks from studying to search the web for a program that suits your interests, helps your career goals, and meets your financial requirements. Then, if you need to switch your testing plans mid-stream, at least you'll have the general ed stuff out of the way.

[creative]

I too am in the same boat. Being 40 I would like to achieve the degree ASAP. Marianne, I see from your signature you achieved your BSLS in roughly a year. Can you give a breakdown of how many exams you took per month and roughly costs associated. Also, did you take all test before enrolling with Ex-college or did you enroll and start your testing, I am confused on the enrollment portion.

Thanks!!

OneDay- It is best to start your testing FIRST! The enrollment fee lasts for one year. So in other words, if you do not finish your testing in one year -- you pay an enrollment fee for another year. So it is beneficial to get most of your testing done and when you are close to the finish line ( or you know you can complete it within a year) then it is time to enroll and have your final evaluation done and wrap things up etc. This is one HUGE bit of advice I learned on this forum and it has saved me from paying TESC the enrollment fee of $2,800 (out of state) twice. That is a big savings!! It has taken me a little over a year to finish and I would have had to pay the enrollment fee twice.

[grauwulf]

Be careful, your bachelors degree will have an impact on what graduate programs you can get into. For example, UMBC (an honors + research university) won't accept a B.A. for entry into a graduate science program. If you "can" get admitted you will be required to take the prerequisite undergrad classes. That's just one example, but I know that many programs are like this. If you do school first and then decide what you want to do with your career, you could end up having to do undergrad twice! At least partially.

I'd suggest figuring out what you want to do, at least generally, and then applying yourself accordingly. Save yourself the time, money and frustration and just do it write the first time.

Defiantly get started on your general education requirements, as others have said, as soon as you can. Knocking out that 40-50 credits really helps to get you on the ground and running fast.

Best of luck!

[burbuja0512]

Burb, so just go ahead and start testing on pre-reqs then later determine which degree wanted and when getting close, is that when you enroll at one of the Big 3 thats fits the bill to be evauluated?

Well... almost. You should pick your school and start testing based on that school's general ed requirements

For COSC, I have a set list of what all majors require. I just went down the list and took a test to meet the requirement. This took me 6 months to get out of the way, but now that I'm better at testing, I could do it much faster if I had to.

So, after general ed is out of the way, I was on to my psych concentration. That's when I found my perfect MBA program. The MBA program has Macro, Micro, Accounting I and II as pre-requisites. I wouldn't even be able to apply without these classes! Since a business concentration at COSC includes all of these as part of the curriculum, I decided to switch my major to business. This way I could meet my MBA pre-reqs while simultaneously meeting the business concentration requirements.

However, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, I called and spoke to the professor in charge of the program. Even the admissions person I spoke to on the phone didn't feel comfortable guaranteeing me that they would accept CLEP/DSST. Once I spoke to the professor, and he assured me that CLEP/DSST are fine, I felt pretty good about it.

I guess my point was, it was a good thing that I started working on my general ed requirements before knowing what graduate degree I wanted to pursue. Otherwise, it would take me that much longer to finish. However, once you figure out what you want to do for graduate school, be very careful to meet their requirements however you have to.

HTH!

[ryoder]

Burbuja makes a great point. I "wasted" a few clep credits on things I don't need for my business degree because I didn't know I was going to do business until a few months ago. I was filling in gen eds and free electives for a degree in general studies with an it concentration at usf.
If I had used business classes to fill in some of those free electives i would be done by now. So I will graduate with quite a few brick and mortar classes that do nothing for me and a few clep exams too.

I went from the bsgs in it to a bsls at tesc to a bsba cis at tesc and i am glad I made the choice. I will go into an MBA program after i graduate and will be much more prepared than people coming in with an unrelated degree they acquired ten years ago. This willgiveme the advantage I need to accelerate through it quickly.