ASLA Excelsior help

[JB2011]

Hi folks. Long time lurker, finally registered to get a little bit of assistance. I plan on first getting the ASLA at Excelsior, then a bachelors degree from EC. I'm pretty close, does anyone have any recommendations to get there with the path of least resistance?

The ASLA at EC requires:
Written English 3cr
Humanities 9cr
Social Sciences/History 6cr
Natural Science/Math 9cr
Arts and Science Elective 3cr
Applied Proffesional Credits 29cr
Information Literacy Req 1cr

I have the following credits:
B&M Community College
ACNT1303 Accounting 3cr
ENGL1301 Freshman Comp 3cr
ITSC1309 Integrated Software 3cr
ENGL2332 World Literature 3cr
ITSE1350 System Analysis 3cr
POFI2301 Word Processing 3cr
CPMT2345 System Troubleshooting 3cr
GRPH1322 E-Publishing 3cr

Ace Transcript:
Aleks Beginner Algebra 3cr
Aleks Intermediate Algebra 3cr
Aleks College Algebra 3cr
Aleks Trigonometry 3cr
NFA Fire Service Supervision 1cr
NFA Hydraulic Calculations 1cr
NFA Community Safety 1cr

I'm not sure if EC will accept all 4 of the math classes from ALEKS.
I will most likely start out with the A&I Literature CLEP, i've seen some positive feedback on that one, from there i'm kind of stumped as to which direction to go. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
JB

[NAP]

Welcome to the forum JB!

It helps to know your goal(s) – job, grad school, bachelor’s degree major – when you create a degree plan. It can be easier to work backwards – what is required for the goals, so what needs to be included in the undergrad degree.

At the very least, consider starting some of the things you will need for the bachelor’s degree (like depths) now to make it a little easier on yourself later.

Assuming they will accept all of your credits, here’s what I see:

[SIZE="2"]Associate in Science - Liberal Arts at Excelsior College [/SIZE]

Written English 3cr - DONE
ENGL1301 Freshman Comp 3cr

Humanities 9cr – need 6
ENGL2332 World Literature 3cr
A&I Lit CLEP - planned

Social Sciences/History 6cr – need 6


Natural Science/Math 9cr - DONE
Aleks Intermediate Algebra 3cr
Aleks College Algebra 3cr
Aleks Trigonometry 3cr


Arts and Science Elective 3cr – need 3


Applied Professional Credits 29cr – need 8
ACNT1303 Accounting 3cr
ITSC1309 Integrated Software 3cr
ITSE1350 System Analysis 3cr
POFI2301 Word Processing 3cr
CPMT2345 System Troubleshooting 3cr
GRPH1322 E-Publishing 3cr
NFA Fire Service Supervision 1cr
NFA Hydraulic Calculations 1cr
NFA Community Safety 1cr


Information Literacy Req 1cr - need


You are right, they will only accept 9 credits below Calculus. Consider adding Statistics. If you do ALEKS Stats, that will be upper-level and complete a depth in math.

For Social Sciences/History, consider Sociology and Psychology, US History I and II, or Social Sciences & History CLEPs. Check out the Student Guide to Credit by Exam for more possibilities. It will help your studies, if you choose subjects that interest you.

For Info Lit, consider Penn Foster to save money.

There are lots of options for the rest of the credits. I'm sure you'll get some good suggestions for those.


Please note that a new Liberal Arts catalog will be published soon and some of the policies may have changed.

[burbuja0512]

JB,

Welcome! How many CLEP/DSST tests do you plan on doing? The reason I ask is that if you find that you like and are good at CLEPing, you might be able to get your bachelor's quicker than you think.

I started on this path slowly thinking that it might take a couple of years and come to find out, it may actually be possible to finish within a year. If not, I'll be very very close.

If you're looking to save money, why get the associates first? This topic has already been discussed many times here, and there are real and valid arguments on both sides. I just wanted to bring it up in case money is an issue. You would definitely save cash by going straight to a bachelor's.

...just a thought.

[JB2011]

Thanks for the replies folks.
A bachelors degree is definitely a goal of mine. I have been in the IT field for 8 years now, so im leaning more towards either a liberal arts, or business degree.

Money is an issue, if possible, i'd like to CLEP/test out of everything that I can. Though the price for 6cr at Clovis are very appealing.

The reason that I had decided to go with an Associates at first, was simply to get a piece of paper that has eluded me for so long. I may reconsider and go straight for the bachelors if I can formulate a game plan.

Thanks again,
JB

[JB2011]

Just realized that I wasn't clear as to why I did not want to pursue a degree in CIS. Being in this field for so long, I feel that the on the job experience that I have earned outweighs a degree in the field. Which is why i'm leaning towards business.

[burbuja0512]

Thanks for the replies folks.
A bachelors degree is definitely a goal of mine. I have been in the IT field for 8 years now, so im leaning more towards either a liberal arts, or business degree.

Money is an issue, if possible, i'd like to CLEP/test out of everything that I can. Though the price for 6cr at Clovis are very appealing.

The reason that I had decided to go with an Associates at first, was simply to get a piece of paper that has eluded me for so long. I may reconsider and go straight for the bachelors if I can formulate a game plan.

Thanks again,
JB

Just another thought.. why don't you hold off on choosing until you've gone through a CLEP test or two? I found that when I devote a certain amount of time per day, I can knock out an easier CLEP in a week and a tougher one in two. However, not everyone likes or is good at self-study. Depending on your learning style, you could take a month to do a test, or you could be like one of the people here that tests out of a subject after reading the IC cards once.

Here are two different scenarios in my family, to give you an idea of how/why we're choosing either the AA or BS path:

Me: Started off slow, but realized that HEY I can do this pretty quickly!! I have 15 years of experience in the business world, which does help for some tests, and speak fluent Spanish, a 12 credit CLEP. If I had gotten my associates, I would have basically had to pay several thousand dollars more for a piece of paper that at my career level, would do absolutely nothing for me. Not to mention that if I got my AA, in six months it would be obsolete anyway after I got my BS.

15 year old DS: Very advanced in certain areas, but is behind in others. He's at least a year or so away from getting to college level writing, but pretty close in math and science. He's learning quite a few things that are necessary, but won't get him college credits. It will probably take 2-3 years before he gets to the 60-credit mark. Once he does that, we'll happily pay for his associates degree. He'll be much slower than many of the people on this forum, but hey, he'll be a 17 year old with an associates degree! While his peers graduate from high school, he'll be figuring out what he wants to do for his undergrad.

[NAP]

Okay, so if you may be heading for a business degree, that changes things a bit.

While waiting for an updated catalog, you should be able to get an updated (11/2010) list of requirements by choosing the major on this page and downloading the requirements at the bottom of the next page.

http://www.excelsior.edu/ecapps/degreePr...e.jsf?gw=1

Even if you get an AS in Liberal Arts, it may help to start working toward the business requirements. You may want to consider taking microeconomics and macroeconomics to meet the Social Sciences/History requirement instead.

You may want to take Precalculus or other business related requirements. Also, look at Stats options because ALEKS is treated differently in the business degree. Here is a thread about it:

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...stics.html

It looks like you won’t need depths for a business degree. I don’t think it requires the same number of upper-level credits as a liberal arts degree.

I really don’t know much about business degrees, but there are many people on this forum who have completed or are completing theirs.