Need help planning BA in Liberal Arts at Excelsior

[guessilldoit]

Hello! I am very sorry if this the wrong place to ask, I’m new to degree planning. I’m in 11th grade and am graduating at the end of this school year to save up money and study in what would have been 12th grade (I can’t work more than 20 hours while enrolled in school). After Excelsior, I plan to attend a 2-semester Teacher Preparation Institute at a state college. I’m hoping that I can become a certified teacher by 2024 or 2025 to teach history, humanities, or maybe biology.

I chose subjects I’m interested in or good at. The only things I struggle with are math and chemistry, but I plan to study before I take the courses like I would for CLEP and DSST. I don’t know if all of these credits transfer, actually count as upper level, or if they would even earn me a bachelor’s. I was wondering if someone could review it and give me advice? The only credits I have currently are from ENG 100 College Writing from USM, but I trust that I’ll pass each course and exam and will retake it if I do fail.

If this does work, I’ll be taking CLEP Biology and CLEP Analyzing & Interpreting Literature in May or June. I’ll start taking Sophia courses, then Straighterline, and then Study.com. During all of those, I’ll study for the CLEP and DSST exams. After that, I’ll enroll in Excelsior College.

Thank you for any and all help!

Excelsior College BA in Liberal Arts (121 Credits, 120 if I don't take Chemistry Lab)

Excelsior Requirements (7)
Excelsior Cornerstone A: Foundations or Cornerstone B: Pathways
Excelsior Information Literacy
Excelsior Liberal Arts Capstone (Upper Level)

Written English (6)
USM ENG 100 College Writing (From dual enrollment)
Sophia English Composition II

Humanities (9)
Sophia Art History I
Sophia Art History II
Sophia Ancient Greek Philosophers (If this doesn’t count as Ethics, then Sophia Intro to Ethics)

Social Sciences/History (9)
Sophia US History I
Sophia US History II
Sophia Introduction to Psychology

Natural Sciences/Mathematics (12)
Sophia College Algebra
Sophia Introduction to Statistics
CLEP Biology (If fail, Straighterline Biology & Lab and Sophia Environmental Science)

Additional Arts and Sciences (27)
DSST General Anthropology
CLEP Spanish Language (Assuming 6 credits, if fail, English and American Literature CLEP's)
CLEP French or German Language (Assuming 6 credits, if fail, CLEP Humanities or CLEP Social Sciences & History)
CLEP Analyzing & Interpreting Literature
Sophia Introduction to Sociology
Study.com Intro to World Religions
Study.com Advanced Technical Writing (Upper Level)

Distributions (51)
Distribution 1 - History (24)
DSST Civil War & Reconstruction (Upper Level)
DSST Rise & Fall of the Soviet Union (Upper Level)
CLEP Western Civilizations I
CLEP Western Civilizations II
Study.com American Civil Rights Movement
Excelsior African American History (Upper Level)
Excelsior A History of Women in America (Upper Level)
Excelsior Transatlantic Slave Trade (Upper Level)

Distribution 2 - Biology/Science (27)
Straighterline General Chemistry I & Lab
Straighterline Anatomy & Physiology I & Lab
Straighterline Anatomy & Physiology II & Lab
Study.com Basic Genetics
Study.com Microbiology
Excelsior Advanced Investigations in Biology (Upper Level)
Excelsior Nature of Plants (Upper Level)
Excelsior Evolutionary Biology (Upper Level)

[rachel83az]

At first glance, your Excelsior plan seems okay but there are a few things to note. Right now, Excelsior is the only one of the Big 3 that doesn't require RA credit. This might change between now and whenever you're able to complete your degree. You have that covered by listing about 34 credits taken at Excelsior itself. However, that just those credits drive the cost of an Excelsior degree up to over $14k. This does not include the cost of the books that you'll need, other Excelsior fees, or the other classes from things like SL or SDC that you also have listed.

TESU's History degree should be cheaper than that (even with the RA credit requirement) and it's already been planned out. COSC has a BALS with a History concentration that should be even cheaper still. https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/curre...istory.php

Based on what you have listed, I would suggest a TESU History degree + BALS with Humanities or Social Science concentration (TESU counts these as ONE degree and careful planning would mean that the additional cost would be minimal) + the "free" ASNSM Biology. The biggest expense for the ASNSM Biology would be the Biology II w/lab requirement.

And there is a third option that could be even cheaper! UMPI has an online history degree. If you complete everything at Sophia.org, you'll be at least halfway to this degree. https://online.umpi.edu/programs/ba-hist...ience.aspx The rest of the degree (according to those obtaining other degrees at UMPI) shouldn't take you that long to finish. If it somehow takes you an entire year, that's only $8400. If you choose UMPI, I would suggest that you might also be interested in getting the BALS with the Educational Studies minor. https://online.umpi.edu/programs/bls-edu...minor.aspx once you have met the requirements for the History degree.

[guessilldoit]

At first glance, your Excelsior plan seems okay but there are a few things to note. Right now, Excelsior is the only one of the Big 3 that doesn't require RA credit. This might change between now and whenever you're able to complete your degree. You have that covered by listing about 34 credits taken at Excelsior itself. However, that just those credits drive the cost of an Excelsior degree up to over $14k. This does not include the cost of the books that you'll need, other Excelsior fees, or the other classes from things like SL or SDC that you also have listed.

TESU's History degree should be cheaper than that (even with the RA credit requirement) and it's already been planned out. COSC has a BALS with a History concentration that should be even cheaper still. https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/curre...istory.php

Based on what you have listed, I would suggest a TESU History degree + BALS with Humanities or Social Science concentration (TESU counts these as ONE degree and careful planning would mean that the additional cost would be minimal) + the "free" ASNSM Biology. The biggest expense for the ASNSM Biology would be the Biology II w/lab requirement.

And there is a third option that could be even cheaper! UMPI has an online history degree. If you complete everything at Sophia.org, you'll be at least halfway to this degree. https://online.umpi.edu/programs/ba-hist...ience.aspx The rest of the degree (according to those obtaining other degrees at UMPI) shouldn't take you that long to finish. If it somehow takes you an entire year, that's only $8400. If you choose UMPI, I would suggest that you might also be interested in getting the BALS with the Educational Studies minor. https://online.umpi.edu/programs/bls-edu...minor.aspx once you have met the requirements for the History degree.

Thank you for helping! I'll look through everything you suggested. I hope you have a good day and stay safe!

[rachel83az]

If you decide that you do ultimately want Excelsior, we can help you to plan for that. But definitely look into these other options before deciding for certain that this is what you want.

[dfrecore]

So, EC no longer has the "2 depths" requirement, nor will they give you an AoF/concentration for the BALA degree. So you would just be getting a regular old BALA from them; not sure if that matters, but it would certainly change the UL Bio requirements. Not sure this is the way you want to go for a Bio teacher? Not certain how a school would feel about it. But this is a mighty expensive BALA degree, IMO.

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I would say that a history degree will be much cheaper for sure, you can do one at any of the Big 3 or at UMPI.

A Biology degree is going to be a pricy option because of the UL courses needed. A different option might be to do a second degree at WGU - the BS in Science Education (Secondary) or BS in Science Education (Middle Grades). This would also lead to licensure in your state, as long as your state was one of the ones WGU works with for this degree.

Otherwise, I would say that you're better off with "just" a history degree, because the amount of time and money you'll have to spend to do Biology might not be worth it. You can always go back later to finish that degree if you still like teaching and still want to go that direction (you may find that you enjoy teaching history and don't even want to go back for a biology degree; or you may find that you hate teaching, and don't want to continue with it at all). Also, you may find that you have access to funds for tuition reimbursement with a job, in which case you could do this without spending your own money.

My advice would always be to finish one degree before doing a second - life happens, and being partway to 2 degrees is not as useful as completing one and then seeing where that takes you before worrying about a second.

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Some other things to consider:
1) saving up money is great, but saving money doing DE courses is also great, and might be more bang for your buck. There are many schools that are very cheap (or even free, depending on your state) for you to take, that might save you thousands. I would look at those before deciding to graduate early.

2) you might consider working at a company that will pay for your schooling! My daughter works at Papa John's, and they will pay 100% of a BA and/or MA degree if you work 20+ hours a week (caveat; you have to go to Purdue University Global or University of Maryland Global Campus, and neither school has a history or biology degree, so this won't be the company you choose). This is just one example, there are a lot of companies that will pay for your tuition. Again, you could get a LOT more money choosing a company that pays for school than you could possibly save up.

Just some additional things to consider.

[guessilldoit]

At first glance, your Excelsior plan seems okay but there are a few things to note. Right now, Excelsior is the only one of the Big 3 that doesn't require RA credit. This might change between now and whenever you're able to complete your degree. You have that covered by listing about 34 credits taken at Excelsior itself. However, that just those credits drive the cost of an Excelsior degree up to over $14k. This does not include the cost of the books that you'll need, other Excelsior fees, or the other classes from things like SL or SDC that you also have listed.

TESU's History degree should be cheaper than that (even with the RA credit requirement) and it's already been planned out. COSC has a BALS with a History concentration that should be even cheaper still. https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/curre...istory.php

Based on what you have listed, I would suggest a TESU History degree + BALS with Humanities or Social Science concentration (TESU counts these as ONE degree and careful planning would mean that the additional cost would be minimal) + the "free" ASNSM Biology. The biggest expense for the ASNSM Biology would be the Biology II w/lab requirement.

And there is a third option that could be even cheaper! UMPI has an online history degree. If you complete everything at Sophia.org, you'll be at least halfway to this degree. https://online.umpi.edu/programs/ba-hist...ience.aspx The rest of the degree (according to those obtaining other degrees at UMPI) shouldn't take you that long to finish. If it somehow takes you an entire year, that's only $8400. If you choose UMPI, I would suggest that you might also be interested in getting the BALS with the Educational Studies minor. https://online.umpi.edu/programs/bls-edu...minor.aspx once you have met the requirements for the History degree.

I have been researching the history concentration at COSC and I was wondering if you know if there is a certain number of credits I have to take there? I know about the cornerstone and capstone, but I am unsure about other things I must take.

[rachel83az]

For the general studies degree with the history concentration COSC, you only need to take the capstone and cornerstone there. Everything else transfers in. You do need 24 RA credits, but you can get those at Olivet Nazarene easily for $1200 - which is really reasonable for credits from an actual college/university.

[Chirp]

Hello and welcome to your college journey! Should you continue on with excelsior, I would suggest posting in that forum from now on!
I am a current EC student, Completing my BS in History. Your list if fairly good, and is close to what I thought mine would look like a year ago. However, there are things on it which are outdated, and answers you can only get once evaluated. After evaluation, you have 6 months to decide if you want to enroll. You tell them which 2 degrees you want them to evaluate your credits for.
I had them do BS in liberal arts, and history for me.

So, bottom line is you need 30 UL credits, and 91 LL credits. 41 classes if you will. If you take 13 credits from EC, thats kinda the sweet spot. Price-wise. It also gives you the 3 required classes with them ( cornerstone, capstone, and information literacy ) plus 2 more. Four of the five will be UL ( cornerstone B is UL if you transfer in enough credits ). Which means only finding 6 more UL to transfer in. This is where the forum really shines. We help each other find these classes. Also, your college advisor. For example, some of the classes you thought were UL in your list aren't any longer.

So, here is what I would suggest. Unless you really like/ want to take CLEPS and DSST, I would consider Sophia the Heck out of your LL list. Seriously. If you like how they work, that is. Some people prefer study.com or others.

[guessilldoit]

Hello and welcome to your college journey! Should you continue on with excelsior, I would suggest posting in that forum from now on!
I am a current EC student, Completing my BS in History. Your list if fairly good, and is close to what I thought mine would look like a year ago. However, there are things on it which are outdated, and answers you can only get once evaluated. After evaluation, you have 6 months to decide if you want to enroll. You tell them which 2 degrees you want them to evaluate your credits for.
I had them do BS in liberal arts, and history for me.

So, bottom line is you need 30 UL credits, and 91 LL credits. 41 classes if you will. If you take 13 credits from EC, thats kinda the sweet spot. Price-wise. It also gives you the 3 required classes with them ( cornerstone, capstone, and information literacy ) plus 2 more. Four of the five will be UL ( cornerstone B is UL if you transfer in enough credits ). Which means only finding 6 more UL to transfer in. This is where the forum really shines. We help each other find these classes. Also, your college advisor. For example, some of the classes you thought were UL in your list aren't any longer.

So, here is what I would suggest. Unless you really like/ want to take CLEPS and DSST, I would consider Sophia the Heck out of your LL list. Seriously. If you like how they work, that is. Some people prefer study.com or others.

Thank you! Some of the CLEP's I will be taking are actually my final exams for this year (homeschooled) or because I was planning on studying the language either way, so other than Western Civilization I & II, I'm still going to take them. Thank you for telling me about the fact that some of my information is outdated, I was having trouble finding recent information. I created a slightly different plan of everything I will take before I go to college so I will hopefully be able to transfer everything in and it is honestly okay if some things don't get accepted since I'll be studying things I'm interested in. I decided that, if I go to Excelsior, I'll apply for the History or Liberal Arts degree and have removed the biology courses other than the CLEP and Straighterline Biology lab. I won't be in college until Fall 2022 (taking a gap year instead of doing 12th grade so I can save up money), so I have time to figure everything out. Thank you again for helping!

[ss20ts]

Thank you! Some of the CLEP's I will be taking are actually my final exams for this year (homeschooled) or because I was planning on studying the language either way, so other than Western Civilization I & II, I'm still going to take them. Thank you for telling me about the fact that some of my information is outdated, I was having trouble finding recent information. I created a slightly different plan of everything I will take before I go to college so I will hopefully be able to transfer everything in and it is honestly okay if some things don't get accepted since I'll be studying things I'm interested in. I decided that, if I go to Excelsior, I'll apply for the History or Liberal Arts degree and have removed the biology courses other than the CLEP and Straighterline Biology lab. I won't be in college until Fall 2022 (taking a gap year instead of doing 12th grade so I can save up money), so I have time to figure everything out. Thank you again for helping!

If you're not planning to enroll at EC until Fall 2022, I wouldn't get too attached to this plan. Colleges make changes every year. EC also makes changes every year to their degree programs. 2 years is a long time. Many of us are waiting for EC to add the 30 RA credit requirement which TESU, COSC, and UMPI already have. TESU and EC are accredited by the same organization so it's probably just a matter of time.