My path, plan or lack of one

[cerich67]

So, almost 15 years ago I became aware of the big 3 and so forth with BAin4Weeks, and thought about giving it a go, but didn't.

Background. 52 years old. High school dropout to join the military(Canada), did 10 years in as a cook (have Canadian red Seal Journeyman papers, commonly called "red Seal Chef"), got out and pursued another career field. I have done well at it and own my own business.. that is currently down  sales wise quite a bit with covid and unlikely to rebound quickly, but will most likely remain viable. Been in sales, marketing, product development and also member in some large non profit boards.

I have decided to pursue a degree now, it's really is not for career so much as.. well kinda want one. I "feel" like a BSC in business would be most in line with what I have been up to the last 25 years. 

Previous college credits .. yeah no.

Some stuff that I have  that I could use.. 

Private Pilot, which looks like can be used for 9 credits 
I am a scuba instructor with padi ( and others) but PADI has ACE transcript available. There are 3 upper level there on "Classroom management" and 3 lower for "interpersonal communications"" from my instructor course. Also a bunch of lower level stuff that could apply to PE and/Or recreation. I am not sure how helpful that would be. Of Course, i would get the whole transcript and hand it in and see.




What i have done since making this decision in the last week.. :-)

Read around this forum, decided that maybe I should apply for admission at TESU, which I did. Got a call from them to welcome me that I couldn't take, so will follow up with them next week. i believe, based on the forum, doing now may lock me in on stuff that may change July 1st? 

Saw that Sophia.com has all courses for free. Started in on them and so far have 13 credits done, another 3 done but waiting on touchstone marking to move forward. I "think" I will just knock them all out and if nothing else it will get me some options and also get my mind in the learning mode again.


Now is where things get.. blurry.

I read here about the Pierpoint AA, seems like a inexpensive option and just a side trip as my goal is a Bachelors degree. In addition to the courses from Sophia just have to get 12 credits from a RA school. Purdue has the one free course (3 credits) so i submitted for information on that. The ASU $99 courses also seem a good path to get the other 9 that would work for that.

So.. keeping in mind that I am , like most of us, trying to keep the time and money spent to a minimum, and at this point, I have settled on TESU, beyond the Sophia courses, what would be the best path to a BS or would the hive recommend a BA?

Yeah.. I obviously need to do more work myself, but so many of the plans listed in this forum are older and mentioned pathway links broken.

Thank you in advance.

[natshar]

So, almost 15 years ago I became aware of the big 3 and so forth with BAin4Weeks, and thought about giving it a go, but didn't.

Background. 52 years old. High school dropout to join the military(Canada), did 10 years in as a cook (have Canadian red Seal Journeyman papers, commonly called "red Seal Chef"), got out and pursued another career field. I have done well at it and own my own business.. that is currently down  sales wise quite a bit with covid and unlikely to rebound quickly, but will most likely remain viable. Been in sales, marketing, product development and also member in some large non profit boards.

I have decided to pursue a degree now, it's really is not for career so much as.. well kinda want one. I "feel" like a BSC in business would be most in line with what I have been up to the last 25 years. 

Previous college credits .. yeah no.

Some stuff that I have  that I could use.. 

Private Pilot, which looks like can be used for 9 credits 
I am a scuba instructor with padi ( and others) but PADI has ACE transcript available. There are 3 upper level there on "Classroom management" and 3 lower for "interpersonal communications"" from my instructor course. Also a bunch of lower level stuff that could apply to PE and/Or recreation. I am not sure how helpful that would be. Of Course, i would get the whole transcript and hand it in and see.




What i have done since making this decision in the last week.. :-)

Read around this forum, decided that maybe I should apply for admission at TESU, which I did. Got a call from them to welcome me that I couldn't take, so will follow up with them next week. i believe, based on the forum, doing now may lock me in on stuff that may change July 1st? 

Saw that Sophia.com has all courses for free. Started in on them and so far have 13 credits done, another 3 done but waiting on touchstone marking to move forward. I "think" I will just knock them all out and if nothing else it will get me some options and also get my mind in the learning mode again.


Now is where things get.. blurry.

I read here about the Pierpoint AA, seems like a inexpensive option and just a side trip as my goal is a Bachelors degree. In addition to the courses from Sophia just have to get 12 credits from a RA school. Purdue has the one free course (3 credits) so i submitted for information on that. The ASU $99 courses also seem a good path to get the other 9 that would work for that.

So.. keeping in mind that I am , like most of us, trying to keep the time and money spent to a minimum, and at this point, I have settled on TESU, beyond the Sophia courses, what would be the best path to a BS or would the hive recommend a BA?

Yeah.. I obviously need to do more work myself, but so many of the plans listed in this forum are older and mentioned pathway links broken.

Thank you in advance.

With Sophia and everything in the mind the question quickesr/easiest degree would be a BA liberal studies.


Sophia would fill all gen eds except for civic engagement and the required sos-110. Your gen ed electives would be filled too. And lets say with sophia and your pilot courses and scuba courses, you'd probably have all free electives done too. 

So really  all you'd need assuming you do all sophia and get credit for your scuba and pilot stuff:

3 credits civic engagement (American gov)

15 credits (5 courses but likely less with sophia) lower level liberal studies courses (with sopbia you might even have a few done but I didn't do the math) liberal studies is math, history, English, science, etc. Lots of things fit in here almost anything except business or technical courses. 100-200 level

15 credit (5 courses) upper level liberal studies same as lower level liberal studies but as upper level 300-400 levelm

3 credit capstone as TESU.


Business could also be a good degree but as far as ease goes if you want. But making the best use of sophia and your pilot and scuba courses liberal studies would be less work.

The AA from Peirpont is worthless especially if you have to go through all that trouble just to get RA credit. And each school you'd have to pay $20 for a transcript so it'd get pricey. No need to do Peirpont unless you actually need an associates for a job or something.

[ARhead]

I'd just keep knocking out the sophia credits and focus on learning how this all works. If the Pierpont AA will in some way aid in increasing your income then great, but if not I wouldn't waste the time and money on it and spend that money elsewhere on credits and so forth for your bachelor's degree.

Next thing you might want to do is enroll to tesu with the medical terminology tecep (or another tecep that you might want to take) it's only $50 and will get you into the current catalog year if you do it quick enough I think. You'd want to get on it pronto, I believe you would have to sign up for the june term to get on the current catalog as it switches in July. ten days into the term you would be enrolled. Even if you fail the tecep or don't do the test you will still be enrolled. Doing this will also get you unlimited academic evaluations as well. As well, when you are enrolled and you send credits in and they accept them, they are in, and you don't have to worry about a future situation where the school no longer accepts credits from a source they just on a whim won't accept anymore, and you're SOL with a bunch of useless credits you worked hard for. These schools seem to make changes all the time now so it's smart to hedge.

[cerich67]

I'd just keep knocking out the sophia credits and focus on learning how this all works. If the Pierpont AA will in some way aid in increasing your income then great, but if not I wouldn't waste the time and money on it and spend that money elsewhere on credits and so forth for your bachelor's degree.

Next thing you might want to do is enroll to tesu with the medical terminology tecep (or another tecep that you might want to take) it's only $50 and will get you into the current catalog year if you do it quick enough I think. You'd want to get on it pronto, I believe you would have to sign up for the june term to get on the current catalog as it switches in July. ten days into the term you would be enrolled. Even if you fail the tecep or don't do the test you will still be enrolled. Doing this will also get you unlimited academic evaluations as well. As well, when you are enrolled and you send credits in and they accept them, they are in, and you don't have to worry about a future situation where the school no longer accepts credits from a source they just on a whim won't accept anymore, and you're SOL with a bunch of useless credits you worked hard for. These schools seem to make changes all the time now so it's smart to hedge.

Thank you very much, truly appreciate.

Ok.. i will continue doing the sophia courses, and enroll in a TECEP to get that all locked in.

I agree, need to learn the process more, which is really why posted here. :-)

---

I'd just keep knocking out the sophia credits and focus on learning how this all works. If the Pierpont AA will in some way aid in increasing your income then great, but if not I wouldn't waste the time and money on it and spend that money elsewhere on credits and so forth for your bachelor's degree.

Next thing you might want to do is enroll to tesu with the medical terminology tecep (or another tecep that you might want to take) it's only $50 and will get you into the current catalog year if you do it quick enough I think. You'd want to get on it pronto, I believe you would have to sign up for the june term to get on the current catalog as it switches in July. ten days into the term you would be enrolled. Even if you fail the tecep or don't do the test you will still be enrolled. Doing this will also get you unlimited academic evaluations as well. As well, when you are enrolled and you send credits in and they accept them, they are in, and you don't have to worry about a future situation where the school no longer accepts credits from a source they just on a whim won't accept anymore, and you're SOL with a bunch of useless credits you worked hard for. These schools seem to make changes all the time now so it's smart to hedge.

Took your advice and enrolled in TECEP for June 2020 POS-282-TE Introduction to Comparative Politics. 3 credits so was $150

Next, figure out how to schedule the test..LOL

[allvia]

If you're not sure if you want the BSBA (Business degree - GM AOS or otherwise) or the BALS (Liberal Studies) have TESU add both to your evaluation - this will lock the catalog in for both since you'll be enrolled by taking the TECEP. You may like having the the option to choose which one is best for you a little later on down the road; you just have to email them to ask for this.

[ARhead]

@allvia - I'm glad I saw your reply, I didn't know that. I figured being enrolled would lock all possible degree routes to a year regardless of which one you are currently being evaluated for. My current evaluation is for a BALS. If in the future I were to want to niche down to a BA in history or other Arts degree, would I have to ask them to lock any or all of those as well? Or is it that if you are being evaluated for ANY BA you are locked into that year for ANY BA, and if you are being evaluated for ANY Business degree you are locked into that year for all of the possible business degrees? ....I hope that made sense.

[cerich67]

If you're not sure if you want the BSBA (Business degree - GM AOS or otherwise) or the BALS (Liberal Studies) have TESU add both to your evaluation - this will lock the catalog in for both since you'll be enrolled by taking the TECEP. You may like having the the option to choose which one is best for you a little later on down the road; you just have to email them to ask for this.

Thank you, appreciate the advice!

[allvia]

@allvia - I'm glad I saw your reply, I didn't know that. I figured being enrolled would lock all possible degree routes to a year regardless of which one you are currently being evaluated for. My current evaluation is for a BALS. If in the future I were to want to niche down to a BA in history or other Arts degree, would I have to ask them to lock any or all of those as well? Or is it that if you are being evaluated for ANY BA you are locked into that year for ANY BA, and if you are being evaluated for ANY Business degree you are locked into that year for all of the possible business degrees? ....I hope that made sense.

As an enrolled student you are locked in to the degrees you have active at the time they are added.  Meaning if you enrolled in 2019 your degree plan added a 2019 degree would stay enrolled/locked into that 2019 catalog, but if in 2021 (and you've stayed enrolled) you decide to add another degree plan it would be the 2021 catalog (because it is considered a new degree plan enrollment then).  If you're an enrolled TESU student you can always move up to a newer year catalog, but you can't go back to one.  And yes, sometimes the newer catalog is better (for alternative credit options) than previous years - a degree plan may drop something that you could only get through a 'traditional course' and replace it or add with something that is available through alternative methods.  Being an enrolled TESU student has perks like this; such as this and being able to just transfer in your credits as you earn them. Sometimes a course that is accepted today as UL suddenly gets dropped to LL; if they have already accepted it as UL they don't go back and drop the transferred in credits on your evaluation to LL. These examples are common with most colleges (traditional or otherwise) and not exclusive to TESU; being enrolled has its perks.  TESU is very easy to keep your annual enrollment active because a TECEP takes care of it; it is also another reason that people pay the enrollment fees at COSC (I'm not familiar with EC); the majority of people here earning their degrees through this method don't finish in a 12 month window - many do, but more don't - having things locked in is often worth the small cost to stay enrolled and keep the catalog and your plan on track.

[ROYISAGIRL]

Does the Canadian Military programs give college credit like the US Military?

[ARhead]

Thank you very much for your answer Allvia.

ROYISAGIRL - I'm not sure, from a quick glance it seems Algonquin College has a program for earning credit for military training. If that was what you meant.

https://www.algonquincollege.com/militar...-training/