TESU Second Degree - Mathematics

[mog538]

Hi everyone,

I had been looking at completing a second bachelor's degree through Thomas Edison and I see that their catalog has changed since I graduated as the Natural Science/Mathematics degree is now a Liberal Studies degree. As my first degree was Liberal Studies, I believe I am not eligible to complete another one so am considering the pure Mathematics degree.

I only have two math courses listed on my current transcript:

Mathematics - MAT129 (6 semester hours)
Quantitative Methods - MAT119 (5 semester hours)

I am hoping to pick the forums' brains for the best sources of credit outside of TESU for any other math courses. I used Straighterline before for a lot of courses and know they have some math courses. I did not particularly enjoy ALEKS but would use it if there was a course covered there that was not available through Saylor or Shmoop or Study.com (I see a lot of online resources like the letter S!)

As always any advice you can give is much appreciated, thanks.

[amalgamate]

I'm actually in a similar boat. I have BSc business from excelsior, just finished a BSc in computer science from Oregon State University (post bacc cs program). Between the two I have a ton of credits that i think will cover most of a math degree. Since I'm a software engineer, a math degree is looked at highly so I'm looking into a 3rd degree in math(BA math form tesu). I applied, sent transcripts and am just waiting for evaluation. I've also applied to Georgia Tech's MS in Computer Science program so this would most likely be if I was denied from there or the credit for the math degree would be low enough to justify doing it before masters.

I'll let you know what they count towards what after my evaluation is done. I have a little bit more math than you but I don't know if they'll count it because its all weird computer science math. My hope is that I'll only have to do cal 1, 2, and 3 and maybe a few other random things here and there.

You mentioned ALEKS, I did statistics through there when I did my business degree from excelsior and it wasn't too bad.

[TrailRunr]

I did the math degree at TESU as a double major with CS and I know a few others have completed the math program. My signature has details on my program.

You can do calc 1 and calc 2 from SL. There are loads of options for stats. After that, it gets dicey. It doesn't appear Boston University is going to do the edx courses on differential equations anytime soon, so that's a huge loss of 3 upper level classes. APU has math courses a little bit less than half the price of TESU when you account for the free e-textbooks from APU's book grant. Discrete math from a community college will count as LL credit.

The difficulty of math courses will increase greatly. I hope you thought stats and intermediate algebra were easy. The first jump in difficulty is from precalculus/intermediate algebra to calculus. Then the difficulty ramps up even more with Linear algebra and differential equations, which are more abstract than the earlier calculus courses. There is another huge jump in difficulty for abstract upper level courses like real analysis, but you don't necessarily need to take them because they're not required. Don't plan to finish the SL Calc courses in a week. The Control-F strategy for SL testing doesn't help.

Basically what I'm saying is that the math degree is way harder than TESU's other degrees.

Another problem is that the what-if evaluator counts courses in math that shouldn't count which is pretty much every 100-level math course. You need to have advisor go through and remove your ineligible courses like MAT 119 and MAT 129.

[mog538]

Thank you amalgamate and TrailRunr. I appreciate any information, as TESU's courses and requirements change each year it is good to get the up to date "scoop".

I will keep looking at 200 level and above options and while I am awaiting TESU to reply to my admission I will takewhatever SL and Shmoop courses I can and then see where those fit in (and what I still require if they don't count anything at 100 level).

[adavis84]

TrailRunr touched on most of the challenges you'll face. There is no shortage of LL cheap/quick rudimentary math credits. However, they'll do nothing for you as far as AOS goes. Beyond Calc 1 & 2 at SL (or Calc 1 at Study.com), and stats (lots of options for stats) there really aren't any useful ACE courses for your needs (unless the edX courses come back...but best not to count on them).

Your primary challenge will be securing those 15 AOS UL credits. They will likely be full-term courses and they will be more expensive than most of the credit options typically discussed here.

I used AMU/APU (tremendous resource!), U of North Dakota Independent Study, the edX courses, and local B&M courses to fulfill the AOS UL along with TESU courses.

Before you get too far along the path, where are you in terms of math ability right now? I see you have MAT129 Precalc credits listed. How did you take those? Have you done any calculus yet?

[mog538]

Adavis84 thank you for sharing your experiences. My math classes wereat school and university when I was back in the UK. My plan was to work through the SL courses from intermediate/college algebra through the calculus courses as it has been some time since I studied any math and I am not sure where I am.

I had expected sources of credit would be almost non existant so it is great to hear that APU and North Dakota may be options as well as TESU itself.

[dfrecore]

I'm actually in a similar boat. I have BSc business from excelsior, just finished a BSc in computer science from Oregon State University (post bacc cs program). Between the two I have a ton of credits that i think will cover most of a math degree. Since I'm a software engineer, a math degree is looked at highly so I'm looking into a 3rd degree in math(BA math form tesu). I applied, sent transcripts and am just waiting for evaluation. I've also applied to Georgia Tech's MS in Computer Science program so this would most likely be if I was denied from there or the credit for the math degree would be low enough to justify doing it before masters.

I'll let you know what they count towards what after my evaluation is done. I have a little bit more math than you but I don't know if they'll count it because its all weird computer science math. My hope is that I'll only have to do cal 1, 2, and 3 and maybe a few other random things here and there.

You mentioned ALEKS, I did statistics through there when I did my business degree from excelsior and it wasn't too bad.

TESU won't give a 3rd bachelor's degree.

[adavis84]

...it has been some time since I studied any math and I am not sure where I am...

I strongly suggest a trip over to Khan Academy for a DIY assessment of sorts. It's free and an invaluable learning tool. I went from zero college level math to finishing up a BA Math from TESU in two years with Khan Academy as one of my primary resources. I still do KA just for "fun" and refreshers when I need it.

[amalgamate]

TESU won't give a 3rd bachelor's degree.

Really, that's a bummer. I guess I'll see if there are any other online math degrees where I'm close. Thanks for the info

[mog538]

Thanks adavis84, I will do that.