New to IC

[Mechanix26]

Hello!

I am currently employed full time, and my job entails working rotating 8 hour shifts. It goes without saying that this is not very friendly as far as attaining a college degree is concerned. I currently have a strong desire to change careers, and a college degree is the best way for me to achieve this. In my online search to find a reputable distance degree, I discovered the bain4weeks web site. The information I found intrigued me and I submitted my military transcripts to Excelsior, where I am currently enrolled in the School of Liberal Arts. Further research led me to this site, so here I am! I'll give a quick breakdown of what my evaluation says. First of all, I received 93 credits from my military transcripts (nice!), including completely fulfilling one depth requirement (Natural Science/Math and Applied Professional). What I now need is the following:

General Education (Arts & Sciences Requirement)
5.00 semester hours at the lower level
21.00 semester hours at the upper level

Distribution Requirements
6.00 in Humanities
6.00 in Social Science/History
or
3.00 in Humanities
9.00 in Social Science/History

Written English Requirement
3.00 semester hours in Written English

A depth in the Arts & Sciences
Each depth consists of at least 12 semester hours in one specific discipline,
including 3 hours at the upper level.

Information Literacy Requirement
INL*102 INFORMATION LITERACY

I have done/will soon do a couple of things to help fulfill these requirements. I have ordered the Information Literacy course from Penn Foster to satisfy the INL 102 requirement. I will also take the TECEP English Comp I test soon to satisfy the Written English requirement. After this, it is currently my plan to study for and take the GRE Psychology exam. Hopefully I can do well enough to get a fair amount of credits. Beyond this a have a few questions (finally!). Firstly, I'm assuming any credits I earn from the GRE will help satisfy the Social Science/History distribution requirements. Is this the case? I was curious if studying for the various psychology tests on IC would help in preparing for the GRE. Any thoughts on this? I was also planning on taking the DSST Technical Writing exam to satisfy the remaining Humanities requirement. I may decide to pursue a Psychology major instead of simply an area of concentration. To this end, I'm thinking I would also take the ECE Research Methods in Psychology exam. It also looks like I'll have to enroll in Research and Writing in the Major. Is anyone aware of a better alternative to taking this class than with Excelsior? A self paced online course would be ideal. I thank you for any help. I hope this message didn't ramble along too much.

[NAP]

Welcome to the forum!

Looks like your military credits have given you an excellent start at this!

I do not know all of the answers to your questions, but I'll try to answer some of them. Hopefully others will add their expertise.

Yes, your credits for a Psychology major can also count toward the Social Science Gen Ed distribution.

I see that you are planning DSST Technical Wrting for Humanities req. Also consider taking Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP instead. It is supposed to be "easy" - meaning not a lot of study time, but reading long passages and answering questions about them can be tough.

I am pro-GRE, but there have been some conversations on the board about when to take each Psychology exam separately and when to go for the whole thing with a GRE. You'll want to do a search for those. (I'll post one, but there was another one recently that I can't seem to find right now.) I'm sure it depends on the person and the timing of the test.

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...ee-ec.html

Research and Writing in the Major is an 8 week 1 paper 1 credit course at EC for $300. I think. Except for cost, I wouldn't expect it be too bad. I am considering taking it myself. Does anyone have an alternative to suggest?

Also look at the DSST list of exams to see which one(s) you will want to take for upper-level credit.

Between having all of those credits and finding this forum already, you are well on your way to completing your degree!

[alissaroot]

Firstly, I'm assuming any credits I earn from the GRE will help satisfy the Social Science/History distribution requirements. Is this the case?

YES

I was curious if studying for the various psychology tests on IC would help in preparing for the GRE. Any thoughts on this?

About halfway, and don't skip statistics. Pick up a good Introductory psychology textbook and read every word for the other 50%. I have recommended some books in a thread around here somewhere.

I was also planning on taking the DSST Technical Writing exam to satisfy the remaining Humanities requirement. I may decide to pursue a Psychology major instead of simply an area of concentration. To this end, I'm thinking I would also take the ECE Research Methods in Psychology exam. It also looks like I'll have to enroll in Research and Writing in the Major. Is anyone aware of a better alternative to taking this class than with Excelsior? A self paced online course would be ideal. I thank you for any help. I hope this message didn't ramble along too much.

You may not need to take it if you score above the 80th percentile. Anything below that, and you will need it. I am not aware of anything cheaper, but if you score so high on the GRE that this class is all you need, you are still getting a very good deal. Where else can you complete a major with one (albeit difficult) exam or two exams and one class?

[NAP]

One more thought, read everything on the forum and in the Specific Exam Feedback that Alissa (alissaroot) wrote about the Psychology GRE. She took it last October and her score was so high that she earned the full 30 credits at Excelsior!!

[Mechanix26]

Thanks for all the help so far. I'm definitely taking it all to heart. I completed my Penn Foster Information Literacy course today. Next is the TECEP English Comp I test. I was going to do some studying through IC for the CLEP hoping it will have some relevence. I also plan on reading the areas of the Harbrace Handbook recommended by TESC. Again, thanks for the help!