Need help with college plan

[Banker214]

I have a very humbling request in asking for help in pointing me in the right direction. A little bit of background...I never went to college after graduating high school. I worked my way up through several banking institutions and was able to achieve a high level of success. Along the way, many people told me I wouldn't be able to achieve success without a degree and that only fueled me to prove everyone wrong. With all of the success came the gratification of knowing that I was bucking the traditional mindset of how to excel in the business world. What my narrow focus failed to understand was than one day I would have to start over and prove myself again. I am in that position now. After the economic downturn, I landed in a few spots but have finally found a company that I would like to spend the rest of my career with. I am 35 so that will hopefully be many years to come. I am in mid-level management but without the degree, I am unable to achieve a position as an executive. That left me with a choice...Enjoy the success I have had and accept hitting the ceiling, or taking it to the next level...I chose the latter. I researched online for months and found information about Excelsior College where I could essentially test out of almost all of my degree requirements. My company will even pay for the exams so this seemed like a no-brainer. So far I have taken the following CLEP Exams using the REA books as a study guide:
American Government - 67
US History I - 65
US History II - 67
Principles of Management - 74
Principles of Marketing - 71

I am on Western Civilization I now and hitting a brick wall. Business and US History are my passion so Ancient Greece is not really resonating with me. That led me to InstantCert and this forum. After reading about TESC and their exams, Saylor (which I still don't quite understand) as well as many other pieces of information I find myself thinking even my Excelsior plan (attached) had too narrow of scope. With my lack of knowledge in the entire college process, this has been very intimidating. So here is where I was greatly appreciate any and all assistance/suggestions:

My goal - Attain a Bachelors in Business. It really doesn't matter what the concentration is, as in my world it just needs to be some form of a business degree. My career has been in lending and real estate, but I see degrees in that arena seem to have limited options to test out. My other goal is not go the brick and mortar approach (or do several online courses) if I can avoid it. With 3 young kids and a full time job, I am sure everyone can relate to the limitations there.

I am open to any school (regionally accredited that is and since my company is gracious enough to pay for the fees and exams (I pay for study aids), I am not necessarily looking for the absolute cheapest route. I will be frank...I am looking for the fastest route.

If anyone has started from scratch and achieved success I would love to see your plan. Even sending me to links where I can read more about it would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[UptonSinclair]

You are on the right track. The degree forums wiki Degree Forum Wiki has several degree plans and there are spreadsheets in my signature that may be of use. Straighterline is a great source of business credits if you are looking for a quick path to your degree and you are willing to put in the effort. I believe you will find TESC more flexible than Excelsior. I have switched from Excelsior to TESC.

This is the list of Straighterline courses and how they transfer to TESC. http://www.straighterline.com/colleges/p...uivalency/

My suggestion is to make a copy of the TESC BSBA-General spreadsheet and start plugging in exams, courses, etc. If you have questions about general education courses and where they fit, you can check here General Education Courses It should give you general idea of what counts as humanities, social science,

One the biggest advantages to TESC is the ability to take the capstone through Penn Foster which is self-paced. The capstone at Excelsior scared me off.

Many people use Aleks for math. You can finish 12 credits and meet your math requirements easily. You just need to make sure to enroll in the ACE evaluated courses.

Aleks
Intermediate Algebra
Algebra
Precalculus or Trigonometry
Business Statistics

It has been a while since I dealt with Excelsior so I am not much use there.

[sanantone]

TESC will be the cheapest and fastest route.
Sanantone's General Education Options - Degree Forum Wiki
Sanantone's BSBA General Management - Degree Forum Wiki
http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...post174813

[EI2HCB]

Well Banker you are in the right place. I'm pursuing a BS in Business and HR at Excelsior with possibly a Masters in Accounting to follow that at NIU which is local to were I live. You can choose whichever route suits you best based on your end goal. Are you planning to have a GPA based on testing to present to other employers in the future or is this company your stay with the ship at all costs location. Excelsior gives letter grades for their Uexcel tests and some of the DSST tests. At Excelsior you'll need social science credits for a business degree usually 9 which are currently met by your U.S History 1 & 2 and Am Gov exams which is a nice chunk of credit already in the bag. You got your down payment already You'll also need about 60 science & Arts credit to meet the Gen Ed requirements under my catalog which is a year old that could be met by Arts or Sciences which Western Civ 1 and 2 count as social science on my transcript. I'm not sure which Western Civ is giving you the most trouble. Western Civ 2 is the easier in my opinion since it incorporates European history from 1500 onward so incorporates the great war and WW II etc. I suggested previously "the Western Tradition" Resource: The Western Tradition which is outstanding Weber is known as possibly the greatest history lecturer of all time, even my wife sat down and watched this series alongside me. I took the history stuff first as I have an interest in it then I got bogged down in the other science stuff I'm currently wading through Human Growth and Development and can't say I'm enjoying it. My approach is that through the 120 credits it takes to get a degree there are some subjects which are necessary to get the degree which may not be enjoyable or relevant to attaining it but must be done the positive is that at lease I don't have to write papers and discussion questions in regard to the subjects I'm testing out of. You can do this one step at a time as you have seen in the business world sometimes those who pace themselves succeed in ways those out to make a quick buck never do its the same for those of us plodding along.

[KayV]

Banker214, in addition to the excellent advice above, a few comments on the Excelsior plan you attached. If you decide to stay with Excelsior instead of going to TESC, you will need to take 6 hours of English Composition either through regular classes, or Straighterline's English Comp I and II, or through the UExcel 6-hour English exam, which is very expensive. Excelsior does not accept CLEP College Composition, and at any rate you would have to take the 6-hour CLEP to complete TESC's 6-hour requirement.

Sanantone shared some great resources for you to peruse. The TESC BSBA in General Management is a great, affordable plan, especially if you use TECEP exams to enroll in the Pay Per Credit option. Will your employer reimburse you for TESC as well, or just Excelsior?

[cookderosa]

Welcome!!
First, let me tell you that this forum is full of mid-level career adults just like you. Your story is so familiar, and you'll find tons of support and people just like you here. Excelsior, as well as Thomas Edison and Charter Oak, are targeted toward people like you (like me, like us) for the reasons you describe. No need to feel humbled, you're in good company.

My observations- first, you've got an amazing opportunity since your employer pays for exams! WOW! Most will pay for classes but not tests. Second, excellent scores- really. Third, you've clearly done your homework on what's what. I LOVE it when someone asks a question that comes after they've done their homework (as opposed to "Hello, tell me everything to do, I don't know where to start!"). You've gotten started and you'll get through this in no time. I predict by this time next year you'll be holding your degree. You've already got half of your first year completed.

So, without regard to Excelsior specifically, you've discovered that testing out and RA classes all count. When schools like "the big 3" allow you to cherry pick, it gives you the most flexibility to price shop and time shop. So, there are some options that are a bit faster than others (for example, a 16 week class, might be online/convenient/employer reimbursed, but it's still 16 weeks) In other cases you'll find lots of free credit options, but they're not accepted by every school. Then you'll find fast/cheap options, like CLEP, but they are limited to lower level.... it's a bit of a game trying to plug in classes that meet your own criteria for your own journey. There are options, more than you'll need. So, it's just a matter of figuring out what you like and don't like (Ancient Greece? LOL; I'm right there with ya!) and going from there. Early on in the process, almost everything "counts" because you've not got too many credits in any one section. As you get into your upper levels and have fewer spots open, you'll get fewer choices (statistics is statistics is statistics, but you can choose a class w/teacher, DSST exam, indy-class at home). So don't waste your time on something that you hate, you've got time for that later!

Welcome and enjoy the journey!!

P.S. Check out the link Upton & Sanatone posted, that wiki is full of degree plans that work as written, but you can still make them your own. Regarding the "big 3" you'll have no trouble getting help like "does this class count for that" because everyone here is pretty familiar with most of the degrees and credit options.

[TMW2010]

About 4 years ago I graduated from EC with my degree in Psych. I loved the school, loved the experience, and didn't have quite as many of the issues that some of the other's on the forum appear to have had, except for a long back-and-forth with my advisor about the GRE subject exam, but that was about it.

That being said... If you want a /fairly/ straightforward, totally test out degree and don't need a GPA to go on for a Master's program, I wholly suggest checking out the Thomas Edison BSBA in General Business and Sanantone's plan for it. The program has a high level of accessibility with the options you have for it. The only reason I stay /fairly/ is that I've been a bit frustrated with is that they are rather vague on what would be accepted for some of their sections; they give a short definition, but no real examples of what classes would fit. If you do need a GPA because you plan on continuing on for a Master's (MBA or whatever else) you *may* (or may not) run into issues with the graduate school wanting a minimum GPA, or a minimum GPA for your last 60 credits. The plus side is, many schools have adopted a conditional acceptance policy that lets you get into the program, prove yourself and continue on without any other worries.

Disclaimer: I'm actually working my way through the BSBA in Human Resources/Organization Management program there for giggles, as kind of a side project over the next year, in between my current classes. Sanantone and her plans have been immensely helpful and have made the process fairly painless. The only painful part of the process has been waiting for TESC to spring into action on getting my transcripts evaluated. This goes hand in hand with my frustration at trying to see what courses I have completed, if any, that they consider as fitting in some of those sections, so I'm waiting impatiently so I can finalize my degree plan. I'm using a mixture of tests (CLEPs, DSST, TECEP) and Penn Foster self-study classes to make up the business-specific classes that aren't covered by credits from my Bachelor's or Master's degrees. On the plus side, HRM positions seem to pay rather well if I were to choose that direction in my employment. I'm mainly doing this increase my accounting/financial knowledge enough to be able to feel comfortable applying for department head positions at local schools, the HRM portion is kinda of interesting to me (and fits into a lot of the material I'm covering in my current program).

Edit - I wanted to give a shoutout to Bricabrac for a massive amount of help they've given me concerning navigating some of the Business area options and the wealth of knowledge they've provided concerning the Penn Foster coursework. Additional note if you decide to utilize Penn Foster - several of their courses are showing as being ACE approved through 9/30/15 - if they don't get reapproved, you'll have needed to complete the course by that date to be able to receive credit for it.

[Jima60]

I know exactly how you feel. I'm 51 and no degree, it has been a limiting factor my whole career.

The people on this board are wonderful. Following their advise in 8 months I now have 102 credits towards my bachelors degree at Thomas Edison. I have applies for the Bachelor's to Master's Program so the first 9 credits of my Masters will be the last 9 credits of my Bachelor's degree. All I have left is Penn Foster Strategic Management and the DSST for Business in Society.

A year ago I would have never conceived the possibility of having a Bachelor's let alone starting a Master's program.

This forum had changed my life.

For me the straighterline courses were the way to go. It allowed me to complete a course a week sometimes 2. English 101 and 102 took the longest waiting for papers to be graded but Western Civ I&II I passed in a weekend.

Good luck on your journey.

[Prloko]

One the biggest advantages to TESC is the ability to take the capstone through Penn Foster which is self-paced. The capstone at Excelsior scared me off.

Upton, or anyone else for that matter. Don't forget TESC's business capstone, Strategic Management. It wasn't so bad, just a bunch of case studies. I am really glad I took the course with TESC. The course was actually very thought provoking and I use the subject material at work almost daily. If anyone does in fact decide to take the course at TESC, see if Diana Keyser-McNeff is still a mentor. She was great. She has a great resume (NYU MBA, CFO at several start-ups), provided great insights in class discussions, was very flexible with due dates, and she even agreed to write me a letter of recommendation for Grad School. One thing though, she is an actual business person and will expect to see you back up your case study recommendations with hard numbers; she didn't make it easy, but even still she graded fairly. I ended up getting a B+, the grade I was most proud of in my college career (was a straight A student).

[Back2College2014]

Jima60, what's the difference between CLEP and SL? Are you taking regular online courses at SL or are they abbreviated courses (self-study then take exam when ready)?