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Potatoloco Degree Journey Blog
#1
Figured this would be good as place as any to document my journey to a degree and be able to look back on it. Decided to put this in the off topic section because I won't always post about school, though that is the central subject. I wish there was another section on the boards dedicated to just threads such as the one I'm making.

Anyhow, feel free to comment, ask questions, make fun of me, criticize/critique, etc.

So reader's digest version for the first "blog" post.

Had a business for close to 2 years and decided to sell it mainly because of lack of family time. I loved what I did, but when it comes to family, I can't sacrifice time with them. So I've become a stay at home dad of 2 sons (16 months and 3 months) for the time being. This is mainly due to help me to finish my degree at a quick pace and the cheapest daycare we can find is $1200 a month. Add that and the cost of actually testing out and finishing the degree, it becomes more cost effective to stay home with the kiddos. Other than that, I'm 26, been married for over 4 years. My wife graduated with an engineering degree a few years ago, so she has a leg up on me in that department, Smile.

I've decided I'm going for a human resource degree from TESC. I have approx. 70 credit hours before undertaking this journey last month, but I'm pretty sure I've got 60 hours to go before finishing up.

As of right now, I'm enrolled in both Business Communication and Micoeconomics at a B&M and I've also clepped Marketing and finished Accounting 1 on straighterline this past month. I'll be finishing up Accounting 2 and Precalculus this coming week. Hopefully I'll be able to clep Management this Monday and give myself 15 credits done within the past month.

I've got a few goals on this journey. The first goal of having 36 credits done by end of May. The ultimate goal is finish degree by the end of the year.
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#2
Good luck man. This is definitely the way to go, at least for a number of undergrad majors. And I've gotta say, TESC will be a headache to deal with advisor-wise but having that degree in the end will be worth it.
I m edumakated thanx to distunce lerning.

MEd, Texas A&M University, 2018
MBA, University of North Dakota, 2014
MS, University of Illinois Springfield, 2010
BSBA, Thomas Edison State University, 2008
AS / AAS, Tidewater Community College, 2004
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#3
I second that tesc is hard to deal with. Their customer service is very govt employee ish.
BSBA CIS from TESC, BA Natural Science/Math from TESC
MBA Applied Computer Science from NCU
Enrolled at NCU in the PhD Applied Computer Science
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#4
Good luck!! You can do it... just be careful with the stay-at-home thing. I did it for a while and it did not suit my personality at all. I was depressed and miserable. I also found that no matter how hard I was working at home, all of my friends treated me like I was leading some sort of privileged life.

The other thing you'll want to watch out for is having a hole in your resume. Yes employers will want to see your degree, but they will not like taking off time to finish school. (Kind of unfair, isn't it?) I would recommend doing something that you can put on a resume to make it look like you never stopped working. You can even volunteer a couple of hours a week, or create a website and call yourself "webmaster" or be a "consultant" for a friend's business.

Sorry! Didn't want to bring up the negatives, but of course I've done it myself so I'm speaking from experience. Most of all, it'll be wonderful to spend some quality family time and to focus on your studies. You should be able to reach your May credit goal with study and forum feedback!
Regis University, ITESO, Global MBA with a focus in Emerging Markets 4.0 GPA, Dual-university degree (Spanish/English) 
COSC BS, Business Admin

My BS Credits:
Spanish 80 | Humanities 67 | A & I Lit 72 | Sub Abuse 452 | Bus Ethics 445 | Tech Writ 62 | Math 53 | HTYH 454 | Am. Govt 65 | Env & Humanity 64 | Marketing 65 | Micro 61| Mgmt 63| Org Behavior 65| MIS 446|Computing 432 | BL II 61 | M&B 50 | Finance 411 | Supervision 437| Intro Bus. 439| Law Enforcement 63|  SL: Accounting I B | Accounting II C+| Macro A | ECE: Labor Relations A | Capstone: A| FEMA PDS Cert 
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#5
bawhitsett Wrote:Good luck man. This is definitely the way to go, at least for a number of undergrad majors. And I've gotta say, TESC will be a headache to deal with advisor-wise but having that degree in the end will be worth it.

ryoder Wrote:I second that tesc is hard to deal with. Their customer service is very govt employee ish.

Luckily I've got a lot of experience dealing with different vendors or people over the phone. I've developed a lot of patience with people, but am also very persistent on the phone if something isn't good enough. So they'll probably get to know me pretty well in the next few months. Smile

burbuja0512 Wrote:Good luck!! You can do it... just be careful with the stay-at-home thing. I did it for a while and it did not suit my personality at all. I was depressed and miserable. I also found that no matter how hard I was working at home, all of my friends treated me like I was leading some sort of privileged life.

The other thing you'll want to watch out for is having a hole in your resume. Yes employers will want to see your degree, but they will not like taking off time to finish school. (Kind of unfair, isn't it?) I would recommend doing something that you can put on a resume to make it look like you never stopped working. You can even volunteer a couple of hours a week, or create a website and call yourself "webmaster" or be a "consultant" for a friend's business.

Sorry! Didn't want to bring up the negatives, but of course I've done it myself so I'm speaking from experience. Most of all, it'll be wonderful to spend some quality family time and to focus on your studies. You should be able to reach your May credit goal with study and forum feedback!

Thanks!

I'll admit, stay at home isn't an ideal situation. I went from working 60-70 hours a week at all times during the day to this. Luckily I have built a resume that's heavy in customer service and business related activities, and I still do consulting/volunteer work, though I don't consider it really working. Technically there won't be any gaps. As I get closer to the degree, I'm going to assess the situation and see what entry-entry-entry level jobs there are. Since I'm switching career fields, I'm anticipating having to just focus purely on building experience the next couple of years.

Thanks for the notice and advice from everyone. I'll definately take in first hand experience from other people.
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#6
A few steps closer as of today. I'm all but finished with Accounting 2 and Precalculus on straighterline. Have 72-75% averages, but have the final in each one to do today.

Also passed Principles of Management this morning with a 56. That seemed to be right in line with what I was making on all the practice exams. I took a different studying approach for this exam. I took all 3 Peterson's practice tests and 2 off the REA book. Then I just looked over those tests. All of that was done in about a 4 day period in about 8 hours and I'm definately not the type to get prepared for a clep that quickly. But the strategy seemed to work fairly well at getting a passing score. I don't think I will alter my approach too much other than giving myself more time to review over the material for future tests. Taking a lot of exams and then reading back over seemed to get the information to stick better.

From what I understand, there's a lot of overlap from Management to Supervision. So the plan is to take the DSST Supervision test asap, either this Friday or early next week. In the mean time, I'm going to take straighterline Macroeconomics, and hopefully finish within the end of the week.

So as of right now, counting finishing my finals today, I've knocked out 15 credits this year. That gives me 3 months and 21 more credits to go before I get to 36. Just gotta keep chuggin' along.
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#7
Sounds like you're really moving along!

There is also a lot of overlap from management to Organizational Behavior and also human resource mgmt. If you need either of these, you should take them all together and you'll really be able to fly through them.

PM me if you need any help with Accounting or Macro. Lol... from my grade you may not want to ask too much about accounting though..
Regis University, ITESO, Global MBA with a focus in Emerging Markets 4.0 GPA, Dual-university degree (Spanish/English) 
COSC BS, Business Admin

My BS Credits:
Spanish 80 | Humanities 67 | A & I Lit 72 | Sub Abuse 452 | Bus Ethics 445 | Tech Writ 62 | Math 53 | HTYH 454 | Am. Govt 65 | Env & Humanity 64 | Marketing 65 | Micro 61| Mgmt 63| Org Behavior 65| MIS 446|Computing 432 | BL II 61 | M&B 50 | Finance 411 | Supervision 437| Intro Bus. 439| Law Enforcement 63|  SL: Accounting I B | Accounting II C+| Macro A | ECE: Labor Relations A | Capstone: A| FEMA PDS Cert 
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#8
Thanks for the info burbuja. I wasn't sure how much overlap there was between all those tests. I'm definately taking Supervision this Friday and probably what I'll do is take Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management the following Fridays.

Thanks for the offer of help, I just got one more test in Acct 2 and I'm done. Supposed to take it the other day, but just had time to finish up my math. Macro though should be interesting though....I've taken Micro in a DL self paced course, have a "B" currently, but have put my final on hold until I finish up Macro and finish up this next batch of testing over this next month. If I have any hiccups on Macro, you'll be hearing from me!

So with that being said, I'll insert a new mini goal to have 30 credits done by March. That would mean I'd complete Supervision, Organizational Behavior, and Human Resource Management on DSST. And also finish Macroeconomics and Statistics on SL.

So, how my journey truly started.

For those that are reading this and are thinking about starting or finishing a degree after a long layoff, I can honestly say it is possible. I started quick out the gates back in 2002 and through B&M had 59 credits done. Then had a layoff from school and in a 4 year time span I got 10 credit hours done. So essientially that give me 69 credit hours in 8 years. I had no idea something like Clep and DSST existed. Or an Excelsior, TESC, Charter Oak, etc. existed. The amazing thing is, academic advisors, etc., do not tell you those options are even available at their own campus.

I think what really opened my eyes was after selling my business telling myself I'm going to finish what I started. I was gung ho, marched right into the advisors office and got the slap of reality that I was 75 hours away from a degree. I figured I could finish in 2 years. Then another reality set in, classes that were pre-reqs for other classes ended up filling up and closing fast and I saw my 2 year plan swell to 3 years.

I got on the computer and looked up how to finish college fast. Long story short, I ended up on this site and after a couple of months of "figuring out" how this all works, I took the plunge. I dedicated myself to getting my degree. Because of sites like this, SL, and colleges such as TESC, Excelsior, etc. the possibilities of testing out of a degree become reality.

I went from being enrolled in 12 hours this spring semester and staring straight into the abyss of being 63 credits shy of a degree come this May, to already having 15 credits finished in less than 2 months and looking at the possibility of having 30 credits by the end of March. I can't being to explain how that does wonders for ones motivation. To know that you can get a degree based on your terms.
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#9
Small update before I head out with the kids and wife. My testing center couldn't fit me in on Friday, so I have to wait until tomorrow (Monday) morning to take the DSST Supervision. I haven't really studied much for it as I passed the Management Clep this past Monday. Whether that's a mistake or not is yet to be seen. I will probably review over the IC cards tonight and in the morning for a quick refresher.

In the meantime I finished up Accounting 2 on SL with an 88. Blah, really wanted an A, but the second half of the class kicked my butt. I had a 96 average after the mid-term and it was downhill from there. Ah well, I'm just happy to be past all the accounting classes.

I also started chipping away at Macro on SL. I've already pretty much finished up Micro at a B&M distance learning program, so Macro is a breeze at this point. I have 3 tests done, but I will say there are A LOT of them. I'm going to try to do at least 5 today. I really want to be finished with it this week and maybe sneek in another DSST at the end of the week. Though because of the testing center being closed, I may have to wait until Friday March 11th to take another DSST.

Definately what I have gotten out of this experience thus far is PLANNING. It's very important to know what classes you need, what goals you have, and develop a plan of action. I've found planning things out at least 2 months in advanced has helped me stay on tasked while allowing a little flex when needed.
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#10
Had an adventure with the testing center this morning. Went to take the test and the proctor couldn't get the computer to access the DSST exam after I drove 30 minutes and watched her for 30 minutes trying to access the exam. So I got to drive 30 minutes back home and wait until the afternoon to take it. Finally got back up there and got to take it.

Principles of Supervision was an odd test. It took me about 25 minutes total and I passed with a 433. I ended up not studying for it at all and just went with the overlap from Management. I think it's entirely possible to take both tests together. Some of it did seem tricky. There were a few times at least 2 answers seemed to be the right one. At the end of the day, I just went with my first instinct and moved on with no second guessing.

So at the end of 2 months I have 18 credits down. Looking back and getting exact timelines I have 15 credits in exactly 5 weeks. I'm going to make a slight adjustment to my timeline. Will wait until March 11th to take another DSST. Hopefully in the mean time I'll finish up Macro before this Sunday.
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