HSD; No credits. Looking to complete my BA by the end of 2027

[Day]

Your Location: NJ
Your Age: 39
What kind of degree do you want?: BA in PoliSci
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 0
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0
Any certifications or military experience?: No!
Budget: 20k
Commitments: Open
Dedicated time to study: Full time
Timeline: Be graduated by Summer 2027
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Approved for 8k Pell /y

My goal is to get my BA with a GPA of 3.8 or higher from a more prestigous uni, so that I can apply to Law schools and have a better chance at `old people` scholarships. I want to do as many credits as possible on Sophia/Study (which I've only learned about today, along with this forum), transfer them to TESU, and then use those credits to transfer into my final Semester (Or 1.5 Semesters) at either Rowan or Penn World Campus.

I'm dangerously new to this field, and it feels ripe for me to be taken advantage of. Chatgpt is telling me that certain courses *will* transfer over, but it's hard to gauge the accuracy of genai. Youtubers asking for hundreds for personalized guides doesn't seem like the worst path; however after reading this forum, I feel like you all might have advice that would help fill in some knowledge gaps before I fully commit.

[Hotdogman1]

Sophia and Study.com offer courses that come with ACE credit recommendations, which are suggestions for college credit (not guarantees). The final decision on whether to accept those credits lies with the receiving university.

Your current plan involves completing multiple courses through Sophia and Study.com, transferring those credits to TESU, and then transferring again to your intended graduation institution. Unfortunately, this strategy is unlikely to succeed. While TESU does accept a large number of ACE credits, these will still appear on your TESU transcript as transfer credits and not as TESU awarded coursework. In other words, TESU will not "launder" the credits to make them look like they originated there. For this plan to work, your final university must also accept the same volume of ACE and transfer credits. Most schools have strict limits on both. If you did find a university like that, it would probably be more efficient to skip TESU and directly apply there.

There are still plenty of options but what does "a more prestigious uni" mean and which law schools were you aiming for?

[Day]

Sophia and Study.com offer courses that come with ACE credit recommendations, which are suggestions for college credit (not guarantees). The final decision on whether to accept those credits lies with the receiving university.

Your current plan involves completing multiple courses through Sophia and Study.com, transferring those credits to TESU, and then transferring again to your intended graduation institution. Unfortunately, this strategy is unlikely to succeed. While TESU does accept a large number of ACE credits, these will still appear on your TESU transcript as transfer credits and not as TESU awarded coursework. In other words, TESU will not "launder" the credits to make them look like they originated there. For this plan to work, your final university must also accept the same volume of ACE and transfer credits. Most schools have strict limits on both. If you did find a university like that, it would probably be more efficient to skip TESU and directly apply there.

There are still plenty of options but what does "a more prestigious uni" mean and which law schools were you aiming for?

Understood. This is the first I've heard of laundering credits. That's funny as hell, and yeah, seems like it shouldn't work. Makes sense. 

I listed Rowan and Penn State as more prestigious.

With that said, I guess Sophia and learning are out. How can I be *completely* sure that Rowan/Penn would accept the coursework from TESU or UMPI? Should I schedule consultations with the Unis?

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board! Basically, take time to review posts, threads, WIKI... Moreover, if you're looking at any top 25, 50, or 100 higher, they're going to to be looking at a complete package, not just a prestigious or recognized institution where you got the bachelors from. Your main requirement actually are to obtain graded credits, ACE providers such as Sophia.org, Study.com, etc are pass/fail.

You would have shot yourself in the foot if you graduated a bachelors with a majority of credits from ACE sources. Your best bet is an institution from a recognized public/state university system. UMPI BA History/Political science would be my recommendation, get a double major or a dual degree if you wanted to, max your ACE credits obviously, but take at least 60+ credits to get the max GPA.

[Heartstrings]

I wanted to add that some schools require a certain amount of credits be completed at their institution in your final semesters at their institution. Resesarch the school and find out if thst is the case.

[Day]

I wanted to add that some schools require a certain amount of credits be completed at their institution in your final semesters at their institution. Resesarch the school and find out if thst is the case.

Yeah, Penn requires 36; Rowan requires 30. I did see that, but I appreciate you pointing it out had I not ! <3

Welcome to the board!  Basically, take time to review posts, threads, WIKI... Moreover, if you're looking at any top 25, 50, or 100 higher, they're going to to be looking at a complete package, not just a prestigious or recognized institution where you got the bachelors from.  Your main requirement actually are to obtain graded credits, ACE providers such as Sophia.org, Study.com, etc are pass/fail.  

You would have shot yourself in the foot if you graduated a bachelors with a majority of credits from ACE sources.  Your best bet is an institution from a recognized public/state university system.  UMPI BA History/Political science would be my recommendation, get a double major or a dual degree if you wanted to, max your ACE credits obviously, but take at least 60+ credits to get the max GPA.

Thanks :3

So, if I got 60 credits from ACE, that would be okay?

For instance: if I graduated with a 3.8 for 60 credits, would I see a negative weight?

[bjcheung77]

It really doesn't matter how many ACE credits you take, I would get the max of 90 to transfer into UMPI... Again, you can do the double major, such as BA History/Political Science, or do something like the BA Accounting, if you wanted to double major, you can do BA Accounting, BA Business Admin, BA Psych, whatever that's in the YourPace program.

Transfer more than the 90 if each major allows, to max that transfer credit. You just need 10 classes for the first major and 10 classes for the second, thus, allowing you 60 graded credits. You get to max your Pell Grant and get two degrees, plus the 4 classes towards the MAOL, and can achieve the highest GPA possible (people have had 4.0 and A+'s).

Essentially, you're doing the balanced mix/match triple trifecta of certs, degree, experience. You get these cheap, easy, fast and it provides you the most ROI/Value, allows you to customize or personalize it to your learning style and subject interests, finally, it ladders upwards - UMPI AALS, BA double major, head start on the MAOL as 3 of 4 classes can transfer into the degree.

[Day]

It really doesn't matter how many ACE credits you take, I would get the max of 90 to transfer into UMPI...  Again, you can do the double major, such as BA History/Political Science, or do something like the BA Accounting, if you wanted to double major, you can do BA Accounting, BA Business Admin, BA Psych, whatever that's in the YourPace program.  

Transfer more than the 90 if each major allows, to max that transfer credit.  You just need 10 classes for the first major and 10 classes for the second, thus, allowing you 60 graded credits.  You get to max your Pell Grant and get two degrees, plus the 4 classes towards the MAOL, and can achieve the highest GPA possible (people have had 4.0 and A+'s).

Essentially, you're doing the balanced mix/match triple trifecta of certs, degree, experience.  You get these cheap, easy, fast and it provides you the most ROI/Value, allows you to customize or personalize it to your learning style and subject interests, finally, it ladders upwards - UMPI AALS, BA double major, head start on the MAOL as 3 of 4 classes can transfer into the degree.

First, thanks for all the time you time you spend on this board. I've read through a lot of what you've written, and it's clear you actually care about helping. Appreciate you. That said, I'm embarrassed to say I'm more than a little confused. Earlier in the thread, you mentioned *not* to do ace credits as a law school would likely be looking for graded credits, but now are recommending that I go for maxed ACE? I am not able to connect these ideas.

What about this path into an online law school:

* UMPI with maxed ACE credits in BA in History/PoliSci (Concentration PoliSci) + LSAT

Would this be seen as sufficient?

Edit:
Also, https://mainestreetcs.maine.edu/psp/CSPR..._GUEST.GBL?

Is there a version of this site for TESU?

Edit 2:
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

This plan lists a lot of credits for sophia, but on the right, it only lists as 12 credits for umpi. Am I interpreting this incorrectly?

[bjcheung77]

First, thanks for all the time you time you spend on this board. I've read through a lot of what you've written, and it's clear you actually care about helping. Appreciate you. That said, I'm embarrassed to say I'm more than a little confused. Earlier in the thread, you mentioned *not* to do ace credits as a law school would likely be looking for graded credits, but now are recommending that I go for maxed ACE? I am not able to connect these ideas.

My answer remains the same, my first post mentioned: "You would have shot yourself in the foot if you graduated a bachelors with a majority of credits from ACE sources." In other words, they'll look at your first bachelors, if you did 90 ACE, and only 30 RA, you're missing 30 RA credits. I still stand by the double major, not a double degree.

My last sentence of my first post indicated the double major using 90 ACE transfer credits and the 60 RA graded from UMPI: "UMPI BA History/Political science would be my recommendation, get a double major or a dual degree if you wanted to, max your ACE credits obviously, but take at least 60+ credits to get the max GPA."

My second post was an answer to your question: So, if I got 60 credits from ACE, that would be okay?
For instance: if I graduated with a 3.8 for 60 credits, would I see a negative weight?

My answer again was the same (2nd sentence): Transfer more than the 90 if each major allows, to max that transfer credit. You just need 10 classes for the first major and 10 classes for the second, thus, allowing you 60 graded credits.

[LevelUP]

UMPI is the best choice if you're aiming for a high GPA (3.9 or higher) Summa Cum Laude honors, and 60 RA credits at the lowest possible cost. Essentially, for each paper you submit, you get two opportunities to perfect it: one for the draft and one for the final version. This gives you a significant advantage that you can't get at other colleges.

I would suggest that if you're planning to earn 60 credits at UMPI anyway, you could pursue a major and three minors. For example, you might choose a Business major with minors in Psychology, Political Science, and Philosophy.
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UMPI_!Minors

TESU has some tough exams, which could negatively impact your GPA. It would cost quite a bit if you did 60 credits there.

Penn State World Campus does accept transfer credits from Sophia, Study.com, CLEP, and similar sources. However, earning a high GPA there can be challenging, and the cost is considerably higher.
Check out this thread for tips on getting into law school.
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Law-School

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This plan lists a lot of credits for sophia, but on the right, it only lists as 12 credits for umpi. Am I interpreting this incorrectly?

You’ll also need to complete the General Education requirements, which are covered by this plan and apply to all UMPI degrees.
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...ts_Roadmap

Three courses required for the major can also count toward the General Education requirements. Those credits are counted in GE in the degree plan.