Plan Check: TESU BA CS & Math Double Major (RA Credits & Grad School)

[Stimsix]

Hi everyone,

I'm an 18-year-old high school student from China, and this is my first post here. I've been researching TESU for a while and plan to pursue a BA with a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics.

My Situation:
I plan to transfer most General Education credits from Sophia. However, my long-term goal is to apply for Grad School (Masters/PhD) in the future. Because of this, I am very concerned about having a solid GPA and enough graded RA credits on my transcript, rather than just "Pass/Fail" credits.

The Problem (The 30 RA Credit Rule):
I understand TESU requires 30 RA credits for graduation.

1. I plan to take the 16-credit Flat-Rate Term at TESU to get some graded Upper-Level credits and satisfy the residency requirement.
2. However, this still leaves me with a gap of ~14 RA credits.
3. Since I am an international student with zero prior college experience, I have no RA credits to transfer in.

My Questions:

1. Filling the Gap:
Should I just take a second term at TESU to cover these remaining 14 RA credits? Or is it better to find an online Community College?
My worry: I want to make sure these credits satisfy the RA requirement AND provide a Letter Grade (A/B) for my grad school applications. I heard TECEP exams are RA but only Pass/Fail—is that true? If so, I should probably avoid them for my core major courses, right?


2. The "2-Term" Strategy:
Is it a viable strategy to simply do two terms at TESU (approx. 30 credits total) to cover all the RA requirements?
 I was thinking of taking the "hard" courses (like Calculus 3, Linear Algebra, Data Structures) directly at TESU during these two terms. This would give me a real GPA for these core subjects. Is this a common path for people who want to go to grad school later?



I've been trying to plan this out using various tools (and getting confused by Gemin AI chatbox), so I really trust the human expertise here more.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[bjcheung77]

To begin, it's best for you to fill us in with the information requested from the addendum and template here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

It's a good start providing us more details, which city are you from since you mentioned you're in China? Did you know China has their own "study-from-home" Bachelors option? Would you want to do that instead of a degree from here in the US?

1. It's 15 credits flat rate tuition, and the residency credits is only 15 credits as well.
2. You'll need to do 15 cheap, easy, fast credits, from a community college, such as PIMA.
3. Instead of Sophia.org, you may want to do Study.com College Starter as its $95/month.
4. Upgrade Study.com to their College Saver for upper level credits.
5. You can go for Masters from Coursera, EdX, Udacity, other MOOC options, etc.

[libo2554]

Better choose a better school if you want to do PhD in the future.

[bjcheung77]

Better choose a better school if you want to do PhD in the future.

TESU and all the other recommended schools we have will get the student the a PhD. Not sure if I am responding to a bot, but anyways.

[libo2554]

Better choose a better school if you want to do PhD in the future.

TESU and all the other recommended schools we have will get the student the a PhD.  Not sure if I am responding to a bot, but anyways.

I am a business school professor with a masters from MIT and PhD from TAMU, not sure if I am responding to a bot, but anyways. TESU might be fine for not selective masters admission, but not for real PhDs.

[bjcheung77]

I am a business school professor with a masters from MIT and PhD from TAMU, not sure if I am responding to a bot, but anyways. TESU might be fine for not selective masters admission, but not for real PhDs.

Thank you for providing a bit more detail, bots like us need more constructive feedback. Yes, I agree with this, most of the time, I believe we're on the same page, but looking at this for a different demographic group. Having said that, could you take some time to explain how you would work towards the real PhD? Where you would start and what pathways you'll take?

[animuscerebri]

I am a business school professor with a masters from MIT and PhD from TAMU, not sure if I am responding to a bot, but anyways. TESU might be fine for not selective masters admission, but not for real PhDs.

Thank you for providing a bit more detail, bots like us need more constructive feedback.  Yes, I agree with this, most of the time, I believe we're on the same page, but looking at this for a different demographic group.  Having said that, could you take some time to explain how you would work towards the real PhD?  Where you would start and what pathways you'll take?

bjcheung77 mentions a valid point. It would be quite helpful if you could provide more details, libo2554. As you already hold a PhD, you can talk from experience.