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No previous college and wanting a Marketing degree
#1
I'm 42 years old and have one certification in healthcare. I've been riding the same job with it for 22 years and I recently have had to face the fact that it's a dead end, and the way the field has evolved, that particular job has less demand now. It motivated me to explore what I really want to do. Honestly, I have been oblivious to the legitimacy of Social Media Marketing as a job. While job listings for what I do are becoming uncommon, I see so many listings for some form of Digital Marketing.

Why Digital Marketing? I realized I've already been doing it to a lesser extent, fairly successfully, for several years. While I don't yet understand analytics or SEO, I've grown a few brands on social media. Nothing major, but they met my goals. The one that I'm most proud of is for my own original band. I've been designing ads and promotions for a few years, which resulted in signing to a record label. I'm fairly experienced by now with content creation - graphics, video editing, audio production. I love doing it, and I want to do it for a living.

The thing is, even Social Media jobs mostly require a Marketing Degree. I learned about WGU and Sophia, the various paths you can take in lieu of a traditional 4 years of tuition. I applied to WGU for the BSBA in Marketing. I've been accepted with a start date of Sept 1, because I wanted to do some of the more challenging courses (for me) on Sophia.

Over this last month, I've completed 6 courses on Sophia. I plan to keep cramming during the remaining time to earn as many credits as possible. My eyes are so dry.

WGU was the first school I really looked into. After admission, I looked at other schools, some with more focused programs on Digital or Social Media Marketing. Those are appealing to me because I'm not that interested in Business or Marketing in general, just the Social Media aspect of it. However, these other schools didn't have the lower tuition or acceleration that WGU offers.

Something else to consider is the fact that with the WGU degree, I would still need certificates, probably the Meta Social Media Marketing certificate, maybe others too. I'm fine with certificates because those are the meat and potatoes of what I'm really excited about.

Most recently, I learned about the Pierpont Board of Governors Associates degree. I've looked over the wiki and pulled up several West Virginia college websites (which are generally the same info) and I'm really interested in this. While a Bachelor's degree is, and would still be a goal, I would hate to pass up the opportunity to use my growing Sophia (and maybe Study dot com later) credits for an Associate's degree. Also, if the Meta Social Media Marketing certificate's ACE credits can be used towards this degree, that seems to be a bonus. I emailed their Director, Nancy Parks today to ask if my healthcare certification could be applied too. This was her response:

"That certificate is not yet on the State's list of standardized awards.  If you know of another college that does offer credits, please let me know, and I can propose that our program give an equal number of credits based on that precedent."

So this is where I'm at currently. I need to decide if I should go ahead with WGU and therefore miss an opportunity to qualify for the Associate's, or get all my credits together and go for the Associate's, then possibly work on the WGU degree later. 

I'm open to any and all suggestions!

Oh, and in response to her saying she would propose giving an equal number of credits as another school, I found this with my RPSGT credential:

https://www2.tesu.edu/oplr/client.php?client=BRPT
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#2
Instead of WGU, have you considered TESU? WGU is pretty set as far as what courses you have to take to complete their degrees. TESU, on the other hand, allows you to bring in (almost) anything. TESU might cost a bit more, depending on how quickly you could theoretically finish WGU, but it would allow you to focus more on courses that might be of more interest to you than just generic marketing.

You can see suggestions for the AOS courses here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan
In progress:
TESU - BA Computer Science; BSBA CIS; ASNSM Math & CS; ASBA

Completed:
Pierpont - AAS BOG
Sophia (so many), The Institutes (old), Study.com (5 courses)
ASU: Human Origins, Astronomy, Intro Health & Wellness, Western Civilization, Computer Appls & Info Technology, Intro Programming
Strayer: CIS175, CIS111, WRK100, MAT210
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#3
TESU, WGU, UMPI, and SNHU all have Business Administration degrees with marketing concentrations.

SNHU does also have a specific marketing degree with concentrations in social media or digital marketing
https://www.snhu.edu/admission/academic-.../EyQ-V48te

Course-wise, the SNHU marketing degree is similar to a Business Admin degree with a marketing concentration though it adds some additional marketing courses.

UMPI will probably be the quickest, cheapest, and least stressful degree path to take. There are electives available so there is room to customize your degree path based on courses that interest you and the skills you want to learn. WGU is ok too but gets expensive if you won't finish in 6 months.
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

Any marketing degree will probably work for you. I would suggest getting the Google digital marketing cert and doing an Udemy digital marketing boot camp type of course. 

https://www.coursera.org/professional-ce...-ecommerce
Degrees: BA Computer Science, BS Business Administration with a concentration in CIS, AS Natural Science & Math, TESU. 4.0 GPA 2022.
Course Experience:  CLEP, Instantcert, Sophia.org, Study.com, Straighterline.com, Onlinedegree.org, Saylor.org, Csmlearn.com, and TEL Learning.
Certifications: W3Schools PHP, Google IT Support, Google Digital Marketing, Google Project Management
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#4
The downside of a marketing degree is that it's a business degree first and foremost. So you have to be ok with that.
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If you choose TESU, you are not really "stuck" with their courses as you would be with another school; but you're stuck instead with what's available inexpensively via alt-credit. Not a lot out there for Social Media (1 course from SDC). You also need 30cr of RA, and you don't have any, so they are not my first choice.
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UMPI obviously, has the BABA w/Marketing concentration, and their concentration is decent, although again, not a lot in your preferred area. But the price is right, and you can always get certs later.

WGU has a good Business/Marketing degree - and with their 25/75 (or 30/70) split of GE to major coursework, you're going to get a LOT of business and Marketing courses. So that's a bonus. Since you have no credit, this is a good school to go with. If you can get 90cr before enrolling, then I would do so - you're going to pay a lot if you need 2 terms to finish.

Also, keep in mind that WGU does not allow any transfers in AFTER enrollment, so you don't have as much time as you might think to complete everything you need.
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Finally, I'm going to suggest SNHU. You would have to take 30cr there anyway, so they may as well be in your major/concentration. I know you can do the entire GE through ACE, as well as a lot of the business core, so they're a good option. The main reason I suggest them is because they have the major/concentration you want. They have a BS in Marketing, with a business core (30cr), major core (18cr), and concentrations (12cr) in either Digital Marketing or Social Media. That's a lot more of the marketing coursework that you will get anywhere else. I'm just not sure if you can get away with only taking 30cr there, or if you'll need more than that.

SDC has several Marketing courses that may work in order to free up space:
BUS 102: Principles of Marketing
BUS 202: Intro to E-Commerce
BUS 203: Intro to Retail Merchandising
BUS 309: Digital Marketing & Advertising
MARK 301: Marketing Research
MARK 302: Consumer Behavior
MARK 303: Global Marketing
MARK 306: Principles of Selling
MARK 308: Applied Marketing
TESU BSBA/HR 2018 - WVNCC BOG AAS 2017 - GGU Cert in Mgmt 2000
EXAMS: TECEP Tech Wrtg, Comp II, LA Math, PR, Computers  DSST Computers, Pers Fin  CLEP Mgmt, Mktg
COURSES: TESU Capstone  Study.com Pers Fin, Microecon, Stats  Ed4Credit Acct 2  PF Fin Mgmt  ALEKS Int & Coll Alg  Sophia Proj Mgmt The Institutes - Ins Ethics  Kaplan PLA
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#5
Thanks for all the info, I'll be thoroughly reviewing everything over the weekend.

I did reach out to SNHU with some questions a few weeks ago and got no response. That didn't give me a good impression, but I am interested in their Social Media Marketing program. They are the only school that hasn't responded to any inquiries. 

Something that's not clear to me yet - which schools are potentially competency based? I wouldn't necessarily be accelerating through courses, but I also like the concept of moving forward though a course at my own pace. Can you do this with SNHU, TESU, UMPI? With my job, I do three 12's a week. So on a work day, I essentially have no free time. But on days off recently, I have spent up to 10 hours a day on Sophia. Having some flexibility would be good. How rigid are the weekly schedules of TESU, SNHU, UMPI? Do you have to fulfill the entire amount of time in the courses, or can you complete the work and move on?

(06-04-2022, 10:48 AM)LevelUP Wrote: UMPI will probably be the quickest, cheapest, and least stressful degree path to take.

The wiki states, "The GEC of UMPI is one of the most complex and hardest to understand of any college." Can anyone elaborate on that?

This is what I came up with for myself up to this point. The completed courses I did throughout May, and would have June & July before my transfer cutoff. I've read that Saylor is generally not recommended. Some of the WGU business courses only had those alternatives. My plan was to tackle the most challenging WGU courses with alternatives.

[Image: courses.png]
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#6
(06-04-2022, 01:08 PM)dfrecore Wrote: Finally, I'm going to suggest SNHU... I'm just not sure if you can get away with only taking 30cr there, or if you'll need more than that.

Well, I looked at their site again for the Social Media Marketing degree, and if I understand that correctly, you can transfer up to 90 credits, leaving 30 remaining at an annual cost of $9,600.
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#7
Interesting, you hit almost all the info I would like to read without using the template... Anyways, I do agree 50/50 that UMPI is the way to go for you! Basically, your first and updated posts have all the info I was looking for... Let's begin with your original thought of laddering the AAS to UMPI as an example, you can make your cake and eat it too! My proposition is below...

You can complete a Pierpont BOG AAS with an Info Systems emphasis to get you the Associates, ladder that up to the UMPI BAS with MIS and/or another minor, it depends on your preferences.  I think this is best and will allow you to take some extra credits in Design, Marketing, or whatever else you would like to learn and that is if you're not looking for a Business/Marketing degree but more of an Applied Science with minor and courses you're interested in.

For UMPI (like PUG or other institutions), if they accept the Meta and Google certificates, you would have hit 45 technical credits for the BAS, that is if you need all those credits, I would do the UX Design and Meta after the Pierpont AAS as they're closest to what you're looking at, then add the Data Analytics and Project Management.  Link: Coursera

UMPI BAS/BLS should have 60-62 elective credits for you to play around with the requirements for the degree and your interests.  For the BA/BABA, they're more like 18-21 credits, you would have a very "set" course list with little wiggle room for what you want to study.  So, it's all in your court now, how do you want to play this depends on you! *eats my fluffy yet yummy cake with fruits*
In Progress: Walden MBA | TESU BA Biology & Computer Science
Graduate Certificate: Global Management & Entrepreneurship, ASU (Freebie)

Completed: TESU ASNSM Biology, BSBA (ACBSP Accredited 2017)
Universidad Isabel I: ENEB MBA, Big Data & BI, Digital Marketing & E-Commerce
Certs: 6Sigma/Lean/Scrum, ITIL | Cisco/CompTIA/MTA | Coursera/Edx/Udacity

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#8
I didn’t see anyone mention the Meta Social Media Marketing Certificate available on Coursera. (Free through the American Dream Academy). That can be worth ACE credit at some universities.
MBA, starting July 2022
BA, Sociology 
Certificate, Paralegal Studies
Certificate, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace
Certificate, Global Entrepreneurship & Innovation Virtual Bootcamp
Sophia: 17 credits
 
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#9
(06-04-2022, 08:05 PM)bjcheung77 Wrote: You can complete a Pierpont BOG AAS with an Info Systems emphasis to get you the Associates, ladder that up to the UMPI BAS with MIS and/or another minor, it depends on your preferences.  I think this is best and will allow you to take some extra credits in Design, Marketing, or whatever else you would like to learn and that is if you're not looking for a Business/Marketing degree but more of an Applied Science with minor and courses you're interested in.

For UMPI (like PUG or other institutions), if they accept the Meta and Google certificates, you would have hit 45 technical credits for the BAS, that is if you need all those credits, I would do the UX Design and Meta after the Pierpont AAS as they're closest to what you're looking at, then add the Data Analytics and Project Management.  Link: Coursera

UMPI BAS/BLS should have 60-62 elective credits for you to play around with the requirements for the degree and your interests.  For the BA/BABA, they're more like 18-21 credits, you would have a very "set" course list with little wiggle room for what you want to study.  So, it's all in your court now, how do you want to play this depends on you! *eats my fluffy yet yummy cake with fruits*

I've read in some previous posts on this forum (see, I do search before asking  Tongue ) that Pierpont won't transfer credits afterwards, does that still ring true? There was one particular thread in which several people said they won't, but I think you need to earn one credit from Pierpont or something of that nature. Any details on that?

Also, thank you all for helping me form a strategy. I really value all of your input.
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#10
(06-04-2022, 08:00 PM)upgrayedd Wrote:
(06-04-2022, 01:08 PM)dfrecore Wrote: Finally, I'm going to suggest SNHU... I'm just not sure if you can get away with only taking 30cr there, or if you'll need more than that.

Well, I looked at their site again for the Social Media Marketing degree, and if I understand that correctly, you can transfer up to 90 credits, leaving 30 remaining at an annual cost of $9,600.

Yes - the problem is not that you only need to take 30cr for residency, but the fact that you may find more than 10 courses that don't have alt-credit options available.  Just because you think something should work doesn't mean that the school will accept it.

So that's the main caveat here.
TESU BSBA/HR 2018 - WVNCC BOG AAS 2017 - GGU Cert in Mgmt 2000
EXAMS: TECEP Tech Wrtg, Comp II, LA Math, PR, Computers  DSST Computers, Pers Fin  CLEP Mgmt, Mktg
COURSES: TESU Capstone  Study.com Pers Fin, Microecon, Stats  Ed4Credit Acct 2  PF Fin Mgmt  ALEKS Int & Coll Alg  Sophia Proj Mgmt The Institutes - Ins Ethics  Kaplan PLA
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