Is TESC a good choice?

[confusedand25]

I applied for TESC in January and I was planning to start taking courses in April. My major is Criminal Justice. I live in NJ. I am 25 years old, transferring 62 credits from a community college (I was studying to get my AA in Paralegal Studies). Because I take care of my elderly grandmother during the day and night, I cannot attend actual classes and was looking for an online school. I was hoping that TESC would be a good choice in helping me complete my Bachelors degree.

[ironheadjack]

TESC is a great choice! I say that as an alumnus and a NJ resident.

TESC's biggest appeal is its acceptance of many nontraditional sources of credit. If you want to take advantage of CLEP, DSST, ALEKS, and Straighterline tests, TESC accepts them all, which will save you time and money.

If you aren't interested in any "alternative methods" of earning credits, then other NJ state schools might be cheaper if your only interest is in taking courses. Many schools have started offering online classes/programs. You would need to compare tuition prices/fees at each school you are interested in..


My question for you is what do you plan on doing with a BA in criminal justice? From everything I have read and people I've spoken to a CJ degree has very a poor ROI. (Unless you plan to pursue a doctorate and teach)

[sanantone]

If you're open to taking ACE-evaluated courses, Penn Foster and Propero offer many in CJ that TESC will accept. However, you can't use financial aid for these external courses. As Ironheadjack said, a CJ degree can have a poor ROI. Many people get it thinking that they need it to become a police officer when they don't. Other people get it thinking they can go straight to being investigators without working years on patrol when they can't. You can go straight to investigation at some of the federal law enforcement agencies, but these are highly competitive and most of them do not have a preference for a CJ degree.

[confusedand25]

To be completely honest, I don't know what I want to do with a CJ degree. I have been looking at switching my major to Human Resources/Organizational Management. I feel like at this point, I am kind of being forced to finish school in a hurry by family

[OfficerA]

To be completely honest, I don't know what I want to do with a CJ degree. I have been looking at switching my major to Human Resources/Organizational Management. I feel like at this point, I am kind of being forced to finish school in a hurry by family

If speed is an issue (and it has become for me, hence why I'm at TESC myself now), TESC is quite friendly as ironheadjack already mentioned, though it will be through nontraditional credits that this can be accomplished (and preferably one that's as open to non-traditional credits as the BSBA - General Management degree, which is very popular here). As I'm military I'm knocking out a majority of requirements through CLEPs/DSSTs; with proper studying/discipline it's possible to knock out a LOT of requirements even with irregular hours, at record time.

The only downside I've ran into is a stigma associated with nontraditional credits earned; despite me earning 15 credits in a span of 12 weeks (no GPA involved due to them being CBEs, but I do still have a 4.0 overall in any case), my coworker who took one class was chosen for an award over me, as they felt that I "cheated" my way through those credits. I like to think that's just the military being dumb, but oh well. I don't think this may be an issue with you, especially if time is merely the big factor.

But before anything else, ask yourself what you want to do. I'm sticking with a BSBA - General Management degree through TESC, as I've enjoyed management courses/principles in my time in the Air Force as well as it being fairly useful outside once I quit. It also sets me up for an MBA, which according to a Gawker.com post today is the only graduate degree that didn't go up in price that also offered a pretty good ROI.

[ironheadjack]

To be completely honest, I don't know what I want to do with a CJ degree. I have been looking at switching my major to Human Resources/Organizational Management. I feel like at this point, I am kind of being forced to finish school in a hurry by family

Getting a degree is a step in the right direction, but you really need to have a bit of a game plan. If you have an interest in human resources a business degree makes much more sense then a criminal justice degree. If you want to deal with people but don't want to take all of the business prerequisites, then a BA in psychology is always an option.

[Prloko]

If speed is an issue (and it has become for me, hence why I'm at TESC myself now), TESC is quite friendly as ironheadjack already mentioned, though it will be through nontraditional credits that this can be accomplished (and preferably one that's as open to non-traditional credits as the BSBA - General Management degree, which is very popular here). As I'm military I'm knocking out a majority of requirements through CLEPs/DSSTs; with proper studying/discipline it's possible to knock out a LOT of requirements even with irregular hours, at record time.

The only downside I've ran into is a stigma associated with nontraditional credits earned; despite me earning 15 credits in a span of 12 weeks (no GPA involved due to them being CBEs, but I do still have a 4.0 overall in any case), my coworker who took one class was chosen for an award over me, as they felt that I "cheated" my way through those credits. I like to think that's just the military being dumb, but oh well. I don't think this may be an issue with you, especially if time is merely the big factor.

But before anything else, ask yourself what you want to do. I'm sticking with a BSBA - General Management degree through TESC, as I've enjoyed management courses/principles in my time in the Air Force as well as it being fairly useful outside once I quit. It also sets me up for an MBA, which according to a Gawker.com post today is the only graduate degree that didn't go up in price that also offered a pretty good ROI.

Dude, don't worry about Air Force "awards". They are just trinkets like "gold stars" in kindergarten. Everyone gets at least one in their career. The only ones that count are the big ones, Bronze Star (enlisted only as officers get them for doing practically nothing), Silver Star, MOH, and any award for valor,etc. I've gotten a couple achievement and commendation medals just for PCSing or deploying. And the quarterly awards are a complete joke. As long as you fluff your 1206 with volunteer crap and education bullets, you'll win everytime. I was part of one unit that use to just rotate the award winner every three months, what a joke. Then you have the woodchuckers at ALS and NCOA who are trying so incredibly hard for the Levitow, its so obvious and everyone hates them. Even the great Napoleon use to give them out as "trinkets" to get his soldiers to be cannon fodder. He famously said "A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon" (translated of course).

As far as your leadership saying you "cheated". I'm well aware of the military friendly "schools" these guys attend. Columbia Southern, TUI, UMT, DeVry. I have literally sat in an office with a guy who typed a 3 page essay (that was suppoed to be 6) for a final project and got an A. He said he doesn't even think his teacher read it. He also had a Finance class where he didn't even know how to do his homework, easy stuff like bond pricing, etc. He got an A in that course. But he "earned" his credits and I "cheated"? Hardly, I studied my ass off for the Finance exam and passed with a great score and I felt like I actually know the material.

[IrishJohn]

The OP says that they're a resident of NJ, so if testing out of everything is a problem they can take advantage of in-state tuition: Thomas Edison State College: Selecting the Right Tuition Plan