Hospitality Management AS -> Any BA

[BeepBeepBeep]

First, thank you to the administrators and supportive members of this forum – what an incredible resource for people like me who are doing their best to navigate my higher education options!

I am pursuing a bachelor's degree to then apply to master’s programs in special education or applied behavioral analysis to become a BCBA.  I currently work as a registered behavioral therapist providing early intervention for children with autism.  I moved to this path after previously earning an associate degree in hospitality management from a California community college and getting burnt out working in luxury hotels for several years. 

BCBA programs require a bachelor's degree, though they do not usually care what field (and sometimes only want nationally accredited rather than regionally).  I began my process by starting to study for a couple new CLEP exams (using ModernStates) and looking into UoPeople’s bachelor’s programs before finding this forum!  I generally would like to pursue a BA relevant to ABA (psychology, education, social work), but would prefer efficiency if a different program would be significantly faster/cheaper to complete given my associate’s in hospitality management.

I am still learning (from this forum and wiki!) about the non-CLEP options for credit sources, which I think will be a huge help.  But I’d love some general guidance on choosing a school and program.  I think I will ultimately submit initial evaluations to a few schools to know for sure, but I am uncertain mainly about how useful my RA hospitality-specific credits are.  For example, would hospitality law or management fulfill a business law or management requirement?  I know I will only know for sure from the evaluations, but I am trying to get a general sense.  If many of my credits could apply to a management BA, it might make sense to follow that route and request initial evaluations for those programs.  But I feel like most of my credits will only be elective credits and not useful for most BA programs.
Thank you so much for reading this and for any help!
 
Location:                                      North Carolina
Age:                                                29
Desired Degree:                        Bachelor’s (any is fine, but psychology/education/social work preferred to then pursue a Master’s in ABA to be a BCBA)
Regional accredited credits:             
         Cypress CC:   HRC120           Sanitation & Safety                  3.0, A
                             HRC101           Intro to Hospitality                   3.0, A
                             HRC152           Hospitality Purchasing              3.0, B
                             HRC164           Hospitality Law                        3.0, A
                             HRC125           Restaurant Management           3.0, A
                             HRC160           Hotel Operations                      3.0, A
                             HRC 170          Beverage Management             3.0, A
                             HRC230           Hospitality Leadership              3.0, A
                             HRC231           Cost Control in Hospitality         3.0, A
                             HRC232           Special Event Management       3.0, A
                             HRC295           Hospitality Internship               3.0, A
 
                             PHIL170           Logic and Critical Thinking       3.0, A
                             ASTR116          Intro to Astronomy                  3.0, B
                             ECON105         Principles of Microecon             3.0, B
 
                             KIN110           Surfing                                     0.5, A
                             MAD195          Science Fiction in Film               3.0, A
                             DANC101        Multicultural Dance in US            3.0, A
                             DANC105        Ballet I                                     2.0, A
                             DANC107        Modern Dance I                         2.0, P
                            
CLEP exams:             Taken: College Composition (3 credits from CC)
                                             Sociology (3 credits from CC)

                                  Currently Studying:    Psychology
                                                                 Human Growth & Development
 
Credits:            50.5 RA w/ grade, 2.0 RA w/ Pass, 6.0 CLEP

Budget & Timeline:     Here is how I’d order my top five factors by relative importance
1.     Time to completion
2.     Total cost
3.     Program relevance (i.e. more relevant to an ABA master’s program vs a degree that might be faster to complete using my hospitality management credits)
4.     Program quality (how much do I feel I am learning/retaining)
5.     Intensity/difficulty

[bjcheung77]

BeepBeepBeep, you're missing some of the most important information asked for on the addendum and template. You're selectively leaving those out, it may seem extra to you, but theses minor details provide a huge picture of what recommendations I and other members would provide. Please provide an update to what is missing: Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

[ss20ts]

What's a BCBA???

Typically hospitality courses do not transfer as business courses. They are often transferred as hospitality courses which can be used to fulfill general electives. I say this as someone who has a year's worth of hospitality credits. Hospitality law isn't anything like business law. Given the credits you have you may want to look into a BLS with Management or Psychology minor or the BA in Psychology from UMPI. They will accept the hospitality credits as long as they're from an RA college. It looks like you want to go into a field with licensing, I wouldn't go to U of the P for that personally.

[BeepBeepBeep]

Update per bjcheung77:

certifications/military experience: community college certificates in event management and hospitality. registered behavioral therapist
Budget: hoping to spend less than $5k
Commitments: fulltime work
Dedicated time to study: a couple hours per day, can usually be flexible with my schedule
Timeline: as fast as possible, hopefully in around a 1-1.5 years or less if possible
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: none for the BA, possible with some employers for the applied behavioral analysis masters after

---

What's a BCBA???

Typically hospitality courses do not transfer as business courses. They are often transferred as hospitality courses which can be used to fulfill general electives. I say this as someone who has a year's worth of hospitality credits. Hospitality law isn't anything like business law. Given the credits you have you may want to look into a BLS with Management or Psychology minor or the BA in Psychology from UMPI. They will accept the hospitality credits as long as they're from an RA college. It looks like you want to go into a field with licensing, I wouldn't go to U of the P for that personally.

"Board Certified Behavior Analyst", sorry I didn't mean to just put the acronym. It will be a master's program, and they generally do not care what type of Bachelors of someone holds for admission.

Thanks for the insights! I think that's what I expected for the hospitality courses.  I'll definitely look into the BLS, can you tell me what about my credits makes you think it could also be a good option?

[bjcheung77]

Apply to UMPI for the BLS with a minor of Psychology, you can add the 4 classes that can go towards MAOL as well for residency credits. The BLS will take the bulk of your credits into the general education and electives. You can then complete the rest of the on Sophia.org to max the transfer credits to 90+. To finish off the credits, you need the 10 classes or 30 credits residency requirements at UMPI.

[mohelena02]

My sister in law works in hospitality and got the BLS in Management from UMPI. To clarify she got the degree before 'breaking' into the field which was her career goal.

[BeepBeepBeep]

Apply to UMPI for the BLS with a minor of Psychology, you can add the 4 classes that can go towards MAOL as well for residency credits.  The BLS will take the bulk of your credits into the general education and electives.  You can then complete the rest of the on Sophia.org to max the transfer credits to 90+.  To finish off the credits, you need the 10 classes or 30 credits residency requirements at UMPI.

Thank you!  Looking into planning this now