Transfer Credits to Excelsior BALS

[rrenzo8519]

Hello everyone,

I have been doing some reading on the option that many have mentioned about taking LL credits at Sophia and UL credits at Study.com to then transfer all of them to Excelsior. Currently, I would be starting this credit-taking process from scratch and later try to transfer all the credits to a BALS at Excelsior, since I only require a degree to "check a box". The question is, seeing as how the others of the Big 3 have revised their transfer credit policies, now at almost 2022 is it still worth it to consider going this route for a BALS at Excelsior, or have any of you seen other more cost-effective options out there?

Thanks!

[rachel83az]

For a BALS, UMPI can be even more cost effective. One of their degrees can be $3000 or less! The only catch is that you need a foreign language (InstantCert is fastest & cheapest) and a science-with-a-lab (Study.com's BIO 101L). If you're not up for that or if you'd rather avoid papers and take exams instead, then EC is probably the easiest and most affordable way to get a BALS degree. TESU is expensive and both it and COSC require RA credits now.

If you're technically-minded, another possible option is the Bachelor of Professional Studies at PUG. The price seems to work out somewhere between UMPI and Excelsior. It's another "check the box" degree, but you can bring in various comp sci/IT certificates or PLA courses for massive amounts of transfer credits. It seems like it might require a bit more effort to put together, but some people might prefer "Professional Studies" instead of "Liberal Studies". There are also apparently some concentrations that you can't really find anywhere else easily (like Supply Chain Logistics). See this thread for a bit more info: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ity-Global

[dfrecore]

If you just want to "check the box" then you should look at the BLS at UMPI. That's going to be the easiest/fastest/cheapest option.

EC is your next best bet, and they've lowered their tuition recently.

[rrenzo8519]

Thank you very much for the responses. Looking at the BALS EC program requirements, it states that it "requires 90 credits in the arts and sciences. The remaining credits may be a combination of applied professional and additional arts and sciences. At least 30 degree credits must be at the upper level in the arts and sciences". Would the suggestion be to pretty much take the majority of courses that Sophia has minus the Computer Science & IT courses, and then take the remainder credit course balance through Study.com along with the 30 upper levels?

Also, would Study.com Business and Psychology upper level courses qualify for the 30 UL requirement?

[rachel83az]

IIRC, the BSLS is actually easier than the BALS because you can use (more) business courses with the BS as opposed to the BA. Also, Excelsior should take both Coopersmith and Davar courses. These can be faster and easier than SDC courses.

[bjcheung77]

Yes, the BLS at UMPI and the BSLA at Excelsior are great choices. Before you being - You first need to somewhat decide on your degree/school of choice. If you can't decide yet - Since you have a blank page right now as you're starting from scratch, your best option for lower level is the Sophia.org courses, take all the courses that can transfer to both schools. You should decide by 30, 45, 60 credits in if you haven't made that choice yet...

The final 30 credits are mainly Upper Level will come from UMPI, if you're going Excelsior, the cheap/easy/fast method is from Coopersmith / Davar as EC takes NCCRS credits too, or you can take exams TECEPS/UEXCELS... You need to start creating yourself a spreadsheet for both, side by side and compare the requirements, this will be your degree plan, you can compare costs as well if you have a "costs" column. Here's the Sophia.org link: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/So...lency_List

[ss20ts]

Sophia courses are not UL. Before taking classes, you need to select a degree and stick with it so you can design your degree plan. Picking the degree can be the hardest part because there's so many options. It's all about researching which one will fit best with what you want the degree for - new job, promotion, career change, personal achievement, etc.

[rrenzo8519]

So is the general consensus that if going the EC route a BSLA can be actually easier and faster to obtain than a BALS because there are more sources of science credit/courses that can be obtained from SDC/Davar/Coopersmith than there are of "arts"?  I am looking for the most straightforward EC option that could be completed almost in its entirety by using Sophia for LL and the other usual mentioned course providers for the UL credit requirements. I also recently completed the Google Project Management certification so there are some good ace credits there, but not sure if they would count for the BALS. Surely they do for the BSLA.

[bjcheung77]

Hey, I got your private message. I am not sure what you're asking within the message, it's just a copy/paste of your post #1 and #8 combined... you may want to review all the posts within this thread as I have a reply post #6 with some info. To answer your last question, yes a BSLA at Excelsior is what I recommend because of the easier/lesser requirements in the Arts & Sciences, further to that, the BSLA sounds better! And yes, Sophia.org for lower level, Study.com for upper level - you can take some Coopersmith/Davar if you're into exams, short answers. BTW, the Google cert, may/should provide some credit, it depends on how EC transfers them in...

[dfrecore]

So is the general consensus that if going the EC route  a BSLA can be actually easier and faster to obtain than a BALS because there are more sources of science credit/courses that can be obtained from SDC/Davar/Coopersmith than there are of "arts"?  I am looking for the most straightforward EC option that could be completed almost in its entirety by using Sophia for LL  and the other usual mentioned course providers for the UL credit requirements. I also recently completed the Google Project Management certification so there are some good ace credits there, but not sure if they would count for the BALS. Surely they do for the BSLA.

Yes - correct.  The BSLA offers more space for electives (non arts and sciences) and more leeway for some UL courses in the non-arts & sciences as well.  Things like Google (ACE credit) in IT will fit in Electives.