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+--- Thread: Bachelors Degree Help.. (/Thread-Bachelors-Degree-Help)
Bachelors Degree Help.. - PMartinez - 02-23-2025
Hello everyone and thank you in advance for any help. Many years ago, with the help of this forum, I was able to get an Associates in Business from Excelsiors, which I needed in order to join the Police Department. In order to achieve the next promotion on my job I need a Bachelors Degree. I don't need this done until 2026 but I am more of the cram and do it all at once kind of person. For the most part, I don't have much preference to what degree or with who, with easiest and cheapest being the preferrable options. based on what Ive read so far, I see many point towards UMPI BABA M&L, I was also looking at a possible Criminal Justice degree with UMPI. Ive looked at degree plans but its a little overwhelming at first.
Your Location: New York, United States.
Your Age: 43
What kind of degree do you want?: Not much preference
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:
CLEP Spanish (72)
CLEP Introductory Sociology (69)
CLEP History of the US I (57)
CLEP Principles of Management (66)
CLEP Principles of Marketing (72)
CLEP Financial Accounting (53)
CLEP Principles of Macroeconomics (63)
CLEP Principles of Macroeconomics (64)
CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (65)
CLEP Introductory Business Law (59)
DSST Introduction to Computing (420)
DSST Introduction to Business (434)
ALEKS College Algebra
ALEKS Introduction to Statistics
Straighterline English Composition 1
FHSU Principles of Accounting II
Penn Foster Information to Literacy
Additional 38 Credits in various trainings received from Police Academy, not sure if useful but can list if needed.
Any certifications or military experience? Only Law Enforcement
Budget: None.
Commitments: None. Just Full Time Job.
Dedicated time to study: 2-3 hours a day plus days off from work.
Timeline: I have 2 years to get it done but would like to be done sooner than later.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: No
RE: Bachelors Degree Help.. - jg_nuy - 02-23-2025
The BABA M&L sounds like a great option and you could add a Criminal Justice minor if your Police Academy credits fill it in - I'd recommend posting your Police Academy credits for a fuller picture. I would guess 2-3 sessions at $3,400 to $5,100 would get you there. A good idea is also to do the 3-4 classes that go towards the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership (MAOL), as that may provide you a nice raise and career boost as well.
Here are the links for the BABA:
Gen Ed: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UMPI_!General_Education_Requirements_Roadmap
Degree Plan: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UMPI_BABA_Management_%26_Leadership_Degree_Plan
Criminal Justice minor: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UMPI_!Minors#Criminal_Justice_24cr
MAOL classes: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/University_of_Maine_at_Presque_Isle#Master_of_Arts_in_Organizational_Leadership_(MAOL)_at_UMPI
RE: Bachelors Degree Help.. - bjcheung77 - 02-23-2025
@PMartinez, Did you transfer the Info Lit class into the Excelsior Associates? My suggestion is to look at both Excelsior and UMPI, the main reason is because of the time. Going the UMPI route with just 2-3 hours may not be enough to complete the degree in 2-3 sessions. If that is the case, Excelsior with their Cornerstone and Capstone would be cheaper and faster if you can put 2 terms in that. I suggest also adding TESU into the mix, for most transfer. Having said that, you only have 3 credits RA from FHSU, you'll need more RA for TESU if you go that route, either through TECEP exams or taking the cheap/free Pima community college classes...
RE: Bachelors Degree Help.. - jg_nuy - 02-23-2025
For UMPI - you would need to make use of the weekends and days off to have sufficient time.
You need English II, which can be done via Workplace Writing II on Sophia, as well as Business Communication for both the general education and the BABA. You also need a science class and a lab - Human Biology and Human Biology Lab on Sophia are recommended. Here are a few others:
GEC Requirement and Covered By
1A, 1D covered by Straighterline English Composition 1
1B, 2C, 4B Take Sophia Workplace Writing II
1C Take Business Communication on Sophia
2A, 2B, 4C, 5D Take Intro to Ethics on Sophia
2D Take Visual Communications on Sophia
2E Take Art History on Sophia
3A, 3B covered by College Algebra (you will need business math for the BABA which is very easy at UMPI)
3C Take Human Biology on Sophia
3D Take Environmental Science or Chemistry on Sophia
3E Take Human Biology Lab on Sophia
4A Orientation at UMPI
5A covered by CLEP Introductory Sociology
5B covered by History of the US I
5C covered by CLEP Spanish
5E Take US Government on Sophia
RE: Bachelors Degree Help.. - Avidreader - 02-23-2025
I wonder if Lawshelf courses are another option for Criminal Justice courses. The bad news is UMPI doesn't accept NCCRS credit as far as I know.
Would the ASU for 400 USD per course be an option for RA credit?
RE: Bachelors Degree Help.. - jg_nuy - 02-23-2025
Speaking of NCCRS - if OP is NYPD, there are a number of course equivalencies for NYPD that TESU takes for Criminal Justice:
https://www.nationalccrs.org/organizations/new-york-city-police
TESU degree plan for Criminal Justice: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sample_TESU_BA_Criminal_Justice_Plan
RE: Bachelors Degree Help.. - PMartinez - 02-24-2025
Thank you all for the replies. Once I map out a degree plan and start working on Sophia classes, at what point should I be sending transcript for evaluation, or should I get all my Sophia and Study.com classes out the way first?
RE: Bachelors Degree Help.. - bjcheung77 - 02-24-2025
Simple, you complete them provider by provider, and send them from provider to Credly for storage of your credits. So, for example, you complete all you need at Sophia.org, request those credits from Sophia.org sent to your Credly account. When you're done with Study.com, do the same thing, you then need to send them from Credly to the institution you want to finish with, be it TESU, UMPI or something else.