Against All Odds..

[farohsun]

First off, I'd like to thank you all for being an inspiration. I joined the site about a week ago, and I've been amazed by your resolve and dedication to advancing your education.

Ok, so, on to my story. I don't have a HS diploma or GED. Luckily, I've developed a special set of skills [ like TAKEN -- ] that have landed me several decent paying governmental gigs and afforded me the ability to take care of my family.

My oldest daughter will be graduating from HS soon; that being said, I've decided to finish what I started almost two decades ago.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I need a GED or diploma and I'm a little confused where I should start. I've taken a few college level business courses and I have roughly 10 credits.

I've set my sites on B.S. in Marketing and I'm wondering if there are templates online which identify the CLEP and DANTES exams necessary to complete particuar degrees?

Any and all feeback is welcomed and sincerely appreciated. Personally, I'm a very private and proud fellow, I'm still in awe that my ego is even allowing me to share this with anyone.


Thanks for reading... Peace!

[GLMRGIRL717]

Congratulations on continuing your journey. I would say the first place to start would be to research if your state offers a College Credits for GED program. For example, NY will issue you a GED if you have 27 general education college credits under your belt. That would open up financial aid opportunities for you since you won't qualify with having a GED. Look into some Straighterline courses as well to round out your gen ed requirements!

[EI2HCB]

First off, I'd like to thank you all for being an inspiration. I joined the site about a week ago, and I've been amazed by your resolve and dedication to advancing your education.

Ok, so, on to my story. I don't have a HS diploma or GED. Luckily, I've developed a special set of skills [ like TAKEN -- ] that have landed me several decent paying governmental gigs and afforded me the ability to take care of my family.

My oldest daughter will be graduating from HS soon; that being said, I've decided to finish what I started almost two decades ago.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I need a GED or diploma and I'm a little confused where I should start. I've taken a few college level business courses and I have roughly 10 credits.

I've set my sites on B.S. in Marketing and I'm wondering if there are templates online which identify the CLEP and DANTES exams necessary to complete particuar degrees?

Any and all feeback is welcomed and sincerely appreciated. Personally, I'm a very private and proud fellow, I'm still in awe that my ego is even allowing me to share this with anyone.


Thanks for reading... Peace!

As a foreigner in the United States (now citizen ) I have had to prove that I had a "high school diploma" from Ireland. The fact that it was from Ireland caused some delays for financial aid. You can take CLEP and DSST tests without a GED or High school diploma. Enrolling in a college may present you some difficulty without one. I think physically visiting your local community college and chatting with them regarding their requirements may be worth the trip. In addition I think that the owner of this site covers some GED prep stuff if you decided that you needed it. edit: I just checked, if you click on the link below and go to the launch page the second tab over is for GED preparation materials.

[topdog98]

Charter Oak State College does not require a high school diploma or G.E.D. for admission. (These would be necessary to receive financial aid). The only requirements to enroll are that you are 16 and have at least 9 college credits.

They do not offer specifically a degree in Marketing, but a more general degree in Business Administration is very easy to test out of. This is the degree I am pursuing. You can take several marketing classes/tests as electives if desired. Two online classes are required through Charter Oak.

You are in the right place and you can absolutely do this. Let me know if you want any more information about Charter Oak.

[rebel100]

I think Charter Oak may take you without a HS diploma/GED. I believe with 9 credits at the college level you should be eligible. Right now they take FEMA free of charge, credit by exam, straighter line, so there are plenty of ways to get in. A quick option to get started might be an AS relying heavily on FEMA with an eye toward completing your BS there as well.

What credits do you have? What degree do you want to pursue? A test out option wouldn't exactly be FA eligible anyway....so that point might be moot anyway.... Depends on what your looking to do.

[sanantone]

You can petition to be accepted by TESC.

You are eligible to become an undergraduate student at Thomas Edison State College if you are:

An adult 21 years of age or older (unless you are participating in a special college program)
A high school graduate or have successfully passed a General Educational Development (GED) test
Individuals not meeting this criteria, but who feel they warrant special consideration for other reasons may petition the director of Admissions and present appropriate documentation to support their being accepted to the College. Students admitted through special consideration are subject to the same academic policies and requirements as those admitted unconditionally.

Thomas Edison State College: Applying is easy and can be done 24/7 through our online application and no ACT or SAT scores are required to apply

I have a degree plan for TESC's BSBA in Marketing.
Sanantone's General Education Options - Degree Forum Wiki
Sanantone's BSBA in Marketing - Degree Forum Wiki

[publius2k4]

First off, I'd like to thank you all for being an inspiration. I joined the site about a week ago, and I've been amazed by your resolve and dedication to advancing your education.

Ok, so, on to my story. I don't have a HS diploma or GED. Luckily, I've developed a special set of skills [ like TAKEN -- ] that have landed me several decent paying governmental gigs and afforded me the ability to take care of my family.

My oldest daughter will be graduating from HS soon; that being said, I've decided to finish what I started almost two decades ago.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I need a GED or diploma and I'm a little confused where I should start. I've taken a few college level business courses and I have roughly 10 credits.

I've set my sites on B.S. in Marketing and I'm wondering if there are templates online which identify the CLEP and DANTES exams necessary to complete particuar degrees?

Any and all feeback is welcomed and sincerely appreciated. Personally, I'm a very private and proud fellow, I'm still in awe that my ego is even allowing me to share this with anyone.


Thanks for reading... Peace!

Congratulations on deciding to advance your education!

Like you, I left high school early. I later got my GED, and began the 10 year process that finally lead to my BS.

As stated earlier in this thread, you only need your GED if you plan to use financial aid. You can be admitted to both Charter Oak and Thomas Edison State College without a GED or HS Diploma, but the US Dept of Education will not grant you any federal financial aid without them. So the need for a GED pretty much depends on your situation.

Since you're a government employee, I'm sure you've probably already taken several FEMA EMI Courses (like NIMS). These can be used for credit at Charter Oak.

Here's a link to a pretty decent Business Admin roadmap I made a couple of months ago. It's (more or less) accurate. There are a couple of other recommendations made in the thread that I haven't applied to the plan yet (I'm a slacker).

As far as where you should start, just pick a test and take it! Judging by your post, your grammar seems to be on par with college level, so the CLEP College Composition or the CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting literature would be great exams to get you started.

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

Good luck!

[farohsun]

Thank you all for responding, I really do appreciate the feedback. I plan on being a member here for a while and will mke it a point to share my progress. Thank you!

[Lindagerr]

Good for you for finding the courage to ask for help and share your concerns.
Don't wait it is never to late to start but the younger you are when you finish the better the opportunities that will open up for you.

I worked in a chem lab for over 30 years without a degree, when I finally got my degree the best part was how good I felt that I had finally finished something I had wanted to do for so long.

I have a friend who's mother went back and got her GED at 63 years of age, when she died at 86 her children put that fact in her obituary because they knew how proud she was to have done it.

So it is never to late and you can probably study for the GED and some CLEP's at the same time. Welcome to the forum. All of us old timers love to pay forward all the help and advice we received so never hesitate to ask.

PS: I graduated with my AA the very same day my youngest graduated high school.