Help with roadmap for Bachelors in Social Science

[jamfam75]

Hi there. I am looking for some help with a plan for a Bachelors in Social Science. I have credits from two 4 year schools, and one community college. I'm hoping some of my credits may be applied as UL. Any help would be greatly appreciated. My credits are as follows.....

4 year school #1

English Comp I
English Comp II
Math for Liberal Arts I
Math for Liberal Arts II
Intro to Statistics
Computer Science
American Government
State & Local Government
Microeconomics
Intro to Judaism

4 year school #2

Accounting I
Intro to Psychology
Intro to Sociology
History of Western Civilization I

Community College

Art Appreciation
History of Western Civilization II
Abnormal Psychology
Public Speaking
Concepts of Personal & Community Health
Macroeconomics

CLEP

Biology 72
American Literature 75
U.S. History II next week

[jamfam75]

I think I need to add that I'm looking to test out of everything that I possibly can. And also money is the biggest problem. I have the time if needed, but I need the most low-cost path. And I really want to avoid any more history courses if possible, which the exception of U.S. History I which I plan to take in the next month or so.

[IrishJohn]

Take a look at this: Sanantone's BA in Social Science - Degree Forum Wiki

Obviously some of your previous classes will fill in slots where this page has exams to take.

Here's an older one (remember a capstone course is required now): Bricabrac's BA in Social Science - Degree Forum Wiki

For free electives, consider FEMA and check out the other options here: Sources of Credit - Degree Forum Wiki

[rebel100]

Does it HAVE to be Social Science? You could do a BS liberal studies (with concentrtion in Social Science) at COSC considerably cheaper than the SS degree at TESC. I can show you how to maximize your PELL grant with them too. We can probably keep the costs under or really close to the grant.

If that can work I will work up the plan.

[sanantone]

The TESC bias inside me is burning to come out. LOL. Although I think it could be more time consuming picking COSC, if you can save a substantial amount of money, that would be great. I'm not particularly a fan of liberal arts and general studies degrees, however. They require a lot more explaining to employers.

[jamfam75]

It doesn't have to be SS. I would be very grateful if you would be willing to work up that plan! A little background...I am disabled and have never worked. If and when I were ever to enter the job market, the kinds of jobs I could do would be very limited, so I figured having a Bachelors and hopefully a Masters, would open up the job possibilities for me. That being said, I am mostly working towards a degree for the enjoyment, and personal satisfaction. Money really is the biggest obstacle due to my very limited income. But I am open to any degree plans in whatever subject area, so any ideas are welcome and appreciated!

[sanantone]

What do you want to do if and when you enter the workforce? That's a very important answer to have before you choose your major. Social Science and Liberal Studies are very broad, but can tailored to focus more on one area. Social Science is easier to focus on related subjects that usually apply to the same kinds of jobs, but that's pretty limited to social services/criminal justice and political science/history/anthropology.

[rebel100]

Ok,

In all honesty I don’t see much difference between the SS vs LS degree plans…they aren’t the same, but for our purpose I’m gonna call them equal. If you have your heart set on some specific Grad program I would check with them and see if the degree matters to them, I would be shocked if they care, but you need to check if that’s a concern. I have a liberal studies degree from COSC and I was accepted into every Masters program I applied to (a couple of good no name state schools and WGU where I wound up for the MBA)

So the requirements:

COSC will require you to take the following Gen Ed’s:

English Comp 1 and 2 (6)…completed
Speech (3)…completed
Literature/Fine Arts (3)…completed
Math (3)…completed (statistics covers it for sure)
Behavioral Science (3)…completed with Psychology or Sociology
Natural Science (4-6)…completed via CLEP Biology (great score btw)
US History/Government (3)…completed

You Need:

Ethics (3)…You need this, there are several ways to take it. You could test out via DSST, take a course that includes an Ethics component that is UL, or maybe (I haven’t confirmed this yet) take the free Business Ethics Course from saylor.org

Global Understanding (3)…The Human Cultural Geography DSST fills this and other requirements, you’re Intro to Judaism might suffice.

Non US History/Culture (3)…here again the DSST HCG will work so you can put this and global to bed with the one test. There are several other DSST’s that work, any global/cultural class works. I took world geography at CSU-Pueblo for this one, made an A and really enjoyed the class.

Cornerstone (3credit) LL…you have to take this at COSC it’s basically like an English comp course where the subject matter is you and your degree. In the course you will do a little research and plan your degree completion in detail. It will cost around $800 and you can use PELL money for it

I see 75 credits, all lower level … you should qualify for an AA by satisfying the 4 requirements above which would add about 9-12 credits leaving just 33-36 for your BS/BA

I believe you can handily finish the bachelors in two semesters and a few tests as follows (you could be done by late August or so, definitely be the end of the year):

The Plan:

Take the DSST Human Cultural Geography exam because it fills two requirements. $100

Get with the financial aid office at COSC to manage your grant. You will need to complete a consortium agreement with them and another school to access all your PELL money. I really like CSU-Pueblo for this, they have a ton of self paced courses that should be right up your alley. They will adjust the dates to match COSC so that the courses can count towards the 12 hours (minimum) you need to complete each semester for full time qualification so that you can get the full grant.

Here is a link to the CSU-Pueblo courses: Sociology > Division of Continuing Education > Colorado State University-Pueblo Sociology and Psychology have dozens of Upper level course…your essentially going to need 30 credits at the UL in one or two disciplines. I concentrated in Organizational Leadership (a good choice for you perhaps) and health care. I did 18 UL credits including the Capstone in Org Leadership, 9 UL credits in Health Care. And completed 9 UL credits basically as electives…you can mix and match so long as you can articulate it into the degree plan you design in the cornerstone course.

So lets say in the first semester you take the following 12 credits:

COSC Application…$75
Cornerstone (3) COSC…$900
Plus the enrollment fee…$228

Sociology Course at CSU-Pueblo (3UL)…$475
Sociology Course at CSU-Pueblo (3UL)…$475
Sociology Course at CSU-Pueblo (3UL)…$475

$2622.00…you may have to front the cost of the CSU-Pueblo courses but the PELL grant should eventually cover it $2800 or so per semester (takes a month or two to get it usually, COSC should wait for their money…you may have to front the cost to CSU). You should wind up with about $200 to go take a DSST/CLEP with.

Finish with 15-18 credits that are covered more or less by the grant, all but 3 credits are UL…buy the books cheap on the internet.

Second Semester

Capstone (3UL) COSC…$900
Enrollment fee…$228
Graduation Fee…$205
Sociology Course at CSU-Pueblo (3UL)…$475
Sociology Course at CSU-Pueblo (3UL)…$475
Sociology Course at CSU-Pueblo (3UL)…$475

This amounts to 12 Upper Level credits runs you $2758….again you gotta get creative with the books. You would have the following Upper Level credits 9 from semester 1, 12 from 2nd semester, 6 from CLEP/DSST = 27. You will need to find at least one more exam from the Master list of exams at COSC to finish up. http://www.charteroak.edu/Current/Academ...r-list.pdf

If your still short any LL you can use FEMA for free…you have 3-6 credits that are flexible. I might complete the FEMA PDS just to pick certification up and give yourself 6.5 free credits. http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/pds/PDS%20Brochure.pdf

Note that you might be able to get additional aid over the Summer to bang out some of this…but your gonna need 12 credits/semester to keep full time status during the school year.

You might check with University of Idaho Independent Studies office and see if they will work with you on the dates of completion in a consortium agreement with COSC…if they will you can get all your UL there for around $100/credit Courses-Independent Study in Idaho-University of Idaho

[jamfam75]

Thanks so much for that information! I will do some research/investigation into this, it sounds like something I could definitely do.

As to what I would like to do, my dream would be to teach courses at the community college level, either traditional, or online. I'm not looking to teach high level courses at any fancy, big name schools. I believe in the community college system (it definitely helped me get back to school) and it would be great to be able to help others return to education as well. I know I pretty much have to earn at least a Masters to teach, so it is important that whatever area of study I end up in for the Bachelors, it needs to allow me into a graduate program.

[sanantone]

I thought one of the evaluation hobbyists would swoop in here. Here is my evaluation. I'm not too certain where Concepts of Personal Health and Community can go outside of free electives, but you already have enough general education electives and TESC limits the number of 100-level credits that can go in the area of study to six.

English Composition - 6 credits
English Comp I
English Comp II

Humanities 12 credits
Intro to Judaism
Art Appreciation
Public Speaking
American Literature - 3 credits (split)

Social Sciences - 12 credits
American Government 100-level
Microeconomics 100-level
Intro to Psychology 100-level
Intro to Sociology 100-level

Natural Sciences and Mathematics - 12 credits
Need College Level Mathematics
Computer Science Recommended - Your Computer Science course here.
Biology CLEP - 6 credits

General Education Electives - 12 credits
Intro to Statistics (natural science and mathematics)
Macroeconomics 100-level (social science)
American Literature - 3 credits (split/humanities)
State & Federal Government 200-level (social science)

Extra courses
History of Western Civilization I 100-level (social science)
History of Western Civilization II 100- level (social science)
US History II CLEP 100-level (social science)
Abnormal Psychology upper-level (social science)

Free Electives - 27 credits
Concepts of Personal Health and Community (health)
Accounting I (business)

I do not know how TESC will transfer in your Math for Liberal Arts courses. I labeled the courses that weren't put under specific categories so that you would know that they are interchangeable.