I'm DONE!

[SweetSecret]

I’d been holding out on posting this until the final grades were in, but - I’m done! I will commence in September at TESU with a BA in Liberal Studies. This term I completed TECEPs for Marriage & Family, Sales Management, & Marketing Communications. I was on TESUs pay-per-credit plan and transferred in with about 95+/- credits. I am finishing with 134.65 credits. Really wish I could get a 2nd degree from the extra credits or an Arnold Fletcher Award, but I don’t think I. Most of my alternative credits were online classes, or portfolio reviews from other colleges - probably about 60% of my credits were from alternative learning.

I started college in ’99 and bounced around a lot because of work. Neither of my parents graduated college, so they just saw it as un-necessary for me. I found DegreeForum around January 2013, but it took me about 6 months of looking at posts before I joined. I have been through a whirl wind! Divorce, work injuries to my knees that left me unable to work but ineligible for unemployment starting in 2012, really bad home life (DV - which I never spoke of here), knee surgery, and then permanent injuries to my back. I was ineligible for FASFA too… so finding DegreeForum was a saving grace! I started out with so little that I couldn’t even afford the application fee to TESU. The good people here directed me to FEMA, and I started earning free credits. Then I applied for a scholarship to help with TESU’s fees, got turned down the first time, and the second time I applied they awarded me less than $100 - just enough to pay the application fee. After TESU accepted me I applied for the scholarship again and was awarded about $600, which covered a number of my TECEPS. After years I finally took up some freelance work, worked some insane hours per day for awhile - but was still limited because of the injuries. I currently am applying for disability. I also received about $1,700 from the Dept of Vocational Rehabilitation to help me pay for the rest of my degree. If there’s anything I’ve learned from this its how important it is to surround yourself with a good community of positive people (especially with similar goals - i.e. DegreeForum), and how to be resilient. If I can get through this though… I know anyone can!

I want to thank you all for helping me through finishing my degree, and I’m sure I’ve accidentally left people off this list - but a special thanks to the following people:

KayV - Thank you for welcoming me so warmly to the forum and helping with my initial transcripts.

AngelaP - Thank you for providing me information that helped me feel confident in choosing TESU, particularly knowing each of the schools would probably award me about the same number of transfer credits.

Bricabrac - Thank you for being kind enough to share study notes & let me know about the textbook companion website links… which really helped me to prepare for one of my first TECEP exams. This was invaluable! Without initially being told that textbook companion sites existed I am not sure I could have finished the degree!

GoodYellowDogs - Thank you for helping me to not sweat some of the math related issues on the TECEPs, and just generally keeping me calm. I had a lot of stress, and being calmed once in awhile did wonders for me.

GMT - Thank you for reminding me that what I do even during my worst days I can help inspire others… that was really important to me when things were really not going well for me. You really helped push me to persevere!

PassIt1 - Thank you for the reassurance about the Marketing Communications exam. You were right, the essays weren’t actually bad at all and it ended up being the TECEP I scored the highest on out of the 7 TECEP exams I took!

ShotoJuku, Soliloquy, Prloko, Jonathan Whatley, Dfrecore, Lindagerr, Hunter91, Life Long Learning, Mamasaphire, MedNat, Bjcheung77, LaterBloomer, Lavagirl, Tedium - All of you were great at helping to cheer me on to the finish line!

Rebel100 - For answering so many of my questions non-stop. Its great that you spend so much time helping so many of us on here!

HappyDayRuth - Thanks for being around and being so nice during our Capstone course! That really helped me feel like I was a regular student with a cohort! I hope we will be able to maintain a connection in the years to come.

Cookderosa - I think if this forum had a mother, someone always looking out for everyone and giving dependable advice… you would be it! Thank you!

Sanantone - Just for being here… because all the information you had posted before I ever joined was a huge part in convincing me to join. You have been a total inspiration to me time and time again, and given stellar advice! You are really like an educational rock star! I owe you… seriously. If there’s ever anything I can do - name it.

THANK YOU, Thank you, thank you!

If anyone else is out there and just reading this thread, still debating on joining DegreeForum to finish their degree… do it! I promise you will NOT regret it!

Now onto graduate school! I am going to start studying for the GRE, but I’m still trying to understand how that works. I’m wanting to study social entrepreneurship (definite) and possibly social work or creative therapies (dance/theatre).

So now I have three new questions:

1.) I’m not sure if I need to just sign up for the GRE or if I have to sign-up for certain parts of the GRE? I know its a long shot, but I am looking at applying for full ride scholarships to some of the top schools plus University of Southern California (No GRE required for either program I’m looking at), because I really need to re-build my offline network. If none of them accept me I can always fall back on ENMU or WGU for a regular MBA. I know I’m generally not going to be a top candidate based on my GPA, but I do think that because I have managed to deal with so much - my background shows a great deal of diversity & resilience… which universities want.

2.) I’m really confused on how to calculate the cumulative GPA that I assume I’ll need to list on graduate school applications. All the calculators I find online only allow you to calculate the GPA for like 10 courses at a time. I know I have 2 Fs from years ago (way before joining here), one was my second college course ever ('00 when I was more worried about getting a job than studying algebra) and the second was from about '07 when my computer stopped working and I lost all my files including my final project. Also have a D from statistics years ago, but pretty much the entire class either got Fs, Ds, or Cs so I'm not as worried about that one. I think overall I'm still around 3.0 +/-, and given what I've been through I'd say that's doing well.

3.) Since my credits are done but I haven’t actually commenced yet, does anyone know if I’d be eligible to take the Texas A&M University’s free graduate course in August? I'm thinking I could, but figured it's worth asking the experts.

P.S. I might delete some of the more personal details out of here later... but I just wanted you all to know the reality of how much your support has meant to me.

[jsd]

Congrats! Good luck with your future endeavors!

[AngelaP]

Yay! Congratulations on never giving up on yourself and making it to the finish line! :hurray:cheersmate

[alleycat]

Congrats! Outstanding job! Wonderfully inspiring post! I wish you the very best in grad school!

[davewill]

Congrats. I think some school is going to be very impressed with your resiliency.

[LaterBloomer]

From your cheering squad, Congratulations!!!

It's amazing the diversity of life experiences that are represented on this forum. Thank you for telling us your story. Maybe someone hiding in the shadows will read it and realize that someone else had similar barriers, was able to overcome them, and be encouraged to start his or her journey.

Good luck with pursuit of your graduate degree.

[Prloko]

ShotoJuku, Soliloquy, Prloko, Jonathan Whatley, Dfrecore, Lindagerr, Hunter91, Life Long Learning, Mamasaphire, MedNat, Bjcheung77, LaterBloomer, Lavagirl, Tedium - All of you were great at helping to cheer me on to the finish line!

So now I have three new questions:

1.) I’m not sure if I need to just sign up for the GRE or if I have to sign-up for certain parts of the GRE? I know its a long shot, but I am looking at applying for full ride scholarships to some of the top schools plus University of Southern California (No GRE required for either program I’m looking at), because I really need to re-build my offline network. If none of them accept me I can always fall back on ENMU or WGU for a regular MBA. I know I’m generally not going to be a top candidate based on my GPA, but I do think that because I have managed to deal with so much - my background shows a great deal of diversity & resilience… which universities want.

2.) I’m really confused on how to calculate the cumulative GPA that I assume I’ll need to list on graduate school applications. All the calculators I find online only allow you to calculate the GPA for like 10 courses at a time. I know I have 2 Fs from years ago (way before joining here), one was my second college course ever ('00 when I was more worried about getting a job than studying algebra) and the second was from about '07 when my computer stopped working and I lost all my files including my final project. Also have a D from statistics years ago, but pretty much the entire class either got Fs, Ds, or Cs so I'm not as worried about that one. I think overall I'm still around 3.0 +/-, and given what I've been through I'd say that's doing well.

3.) Since my credits are done but I haven’t actually commenced yet, does anyone know if I’d be eligible to take the Texas A&M University’s free graduate course in August? I'm thinking I could, but figured it's worth asking the experts.

First, CONGRATULATIONS! Its a huge accomplishment.
Second, Thanks for the kind words. It's always nice to read that I am of help to at least one person Now for your questions.

1) I'm not a big expert on the GRE, but I believe unless the program requires something else, the General Test should suffice. Some programs also give you the option of taking either the GRE or GMAT. A high score opens up opportunities and can help adcoms forgive other less than stellar areas of an application; so study hard.

2) As far as calculating your GPA, you don't need to do that yourself for an application. The school you're applying to will have their own formula. If it's for your own purposes, its pretty straight forward. For the most part, grade points are as follows (from A to F including + and -): 4.00, 3.66, 3.33, 3.00, 2.66, 2.33, 2.00, 1.66, 1.33, 1.00, 0.00. You multiply your grade point by the number of credits the course is worth ( An F is worth 0.00). Calculate your total grade points and divide by the total ATTEMPTED (to include Fs). I wager you can find a calculator online or even make your own in Excel. In your application, you can explain how you made some mistakes early and your later grades are more indicative of your capabilities. Most schools understand the first two years of college are hampered by immaturity. UPDATE: Here is a simple online GPA calculator: http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/sPages/gpa.cfm

3) I have no knowledge of the A&M course, hopefully someone with knowledge can help you out on that one.

[KayV]

CONGRATULATIONS! So proud of you!

[SweetSecret]

Thanks again for the support!

As far as calculating your GPA, you don't need to do that yourself for an application. The school you're applying to will have their own formula. If it's for your own purposes, its pretty straight forward. For the most part, grade points are as follows (from A to F including + and -): 4.00, 3.66, 3.33, 3.00, 2.66, 2.33, 2.00, 1.66, 1.33, 1.00, 0.00. You multiply your grade point by the number of credits the course is worth ( An F is worth 0.00). Calculate your total grade points and divide by the total ATTEMPTED (to include Fs). I wager you can find a calculator online or even make your own in Excel. In your application, you can explain how you made some mistakes early and your later grades are more indicative of your capabilities. Most schools understand the first two years of college are hampered by immaturity. UPDATE: Here is a simple online GPA calculator: Calculate Your Grade Point Average

How does this work with all of my TECEPS, CLEP, & the one withdraw I have on my transcripts? Or do I just ignore those? A large portion of my credits are from portfolio assessment (credit but no grade) and the TECEPS.

[davewill]

Thanks again for the support!



How does this work with all of my TECEPS, CLEP, & the one withdraw I have on my transcripts? Or do I just ignore those? A large portion of my credits are from portfolio assessment (credit but no grade) and the TECEPS.

Correct. Ws (unless they are WFs), tests, PLA, and credit/no-credit courses are all ignored for GPA purposes. It causes problems for some people here who have tested out of EVERYTHING. They have no real GPA for a program to evaluate.