Education is the Movement from Darkness to Light.-Allan Bloom

[Saharapost]

Hi Guys:

Finally I am finished with my BSBA in General Management at Thomas Edison State College of New Jersey! I am thrilled to be done, even more thrilled that I completed this degree in less than 2 years. And yes, I could not have achieved this great feat without you wonderful guys here (degreeinfo and degreeforum). Your stories, posts, degree plans, and suggestions helped motivate me. I knew that at 36 I should be sharing news about earning a Ph.D, but in my case, I have taken wise counsel from William Durant who admonishes us to: "Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it."

I was waiting until this moment to share my news with everyone here. I completed last set of TECEP exams few weeks ago, however, I could not tell the world I am done since I have not yet received a letter to that effect from TESC. Today, I called the Registrar’s office, spoke to someone who confirmed that my degree audit was completed yesterday and certified OK as having met all graduation requirements. She told me to look out for my letter in the mail any moment from now. I couldn’t be more happier.

Before delving into how I made it, I’ll like to give special thanks to everyone in general and specifically (in no particular order) to Zenurez (my study buddy- thank you for kicking me to study well), Sanatone (on whose degree plan I plotted my graph - thank you also for your road-map and numerous advice), Bricabrac (whose excellent advice and study guide helped me a lot towards the end of my TECEP exams), EI2HCB (thank you for helping me understand the foreign transcript evaluation process), Soliloquy (I tapped from your excellent posts and advice), Cookderosa (whose excellent advice and forum posts I benefited from), Rebel100 (always offering excellent advice on both degreeinfo and degreeforum- from which I gained),SteveFoerster (thank you for your excellent posts, advice, and most importantly, the humility and tolerance which are often displayed in your responses and threads. I admire and respect you so much). I can't continue to mention all names on my mind due to time and space issues. Everyone here has really helped me succeed. Thank you all.

Though I had started my journey long before I met you wonderful guys, without degreeforum and its sister site, I would not have been able to acquire a US degree- not with my current financial situation. Aside my foreign university (65 SH) credits, most of my credits came in from Straighterline (45 SH), Penn Foster College (13 SH), TEEX (4 SH), ALEKS (over 12 SH), and TECEPs (24 SH).

I completed my secondary school education in 2000-- four years after dropping out of the final year in 1996. I started Penn Foster College 29 April, 2012. This forum helped me in understanding the difference between a NA and RA degree- so I stopped attending PF (after second semester exams) in July 2013, and started testing out (with ALEKS) in September 2013. Since then, I did not look back until I finished. Okay, it was not as if I never looked back. There were days I felt like giving up. But, when I came across a wise saying by Thomas A. Edison who stated that “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.” and that “The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time,” I felt like he was referring to me.

There had been some obstacles along the way. I failed SL Managerial Accounting once and I had to retake it. I also had to live on an extremely tight budget especially between 2012 and 2013 when I was jobless- no thanks to the EU crises. I had to decide on how to ration my stipend between studying and taking care of my child and myself. You can see why I could not afford to complete my University of London International Programs Law degree and also, why I could not go to "Harvard." Because of the fire-brigade approach I gave to studying towards my TECEP exams, I had sleepless nights--- not sure about my performances- and waiting on my scores. Negotiation and Conflict Management and Marketing Communication were two TECEPs that gave me tough time. Thanks to bricabrac for her study notes, I am not sure I would’ve made Strategic Management. Aside that the textbook was bulky, the course contained so many concepts which were just too many to be mastered within the time frame I gave myself.

In all, I have learned that: “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them” - (Walt Disney). I have so many things to say but I am sure I am already getting you all bored. Thank you for accepting me when I ran to you, thank you all for showing me the way, thank you all for helping me succeed, thank you as I know you won’t back out now that I have planned to continue on my journey towards further studies.

My immediate goal is to pursue a MBA or Ms degree in HRM. I have applied to ENMU Graduate School and waiting on the evaluation of my application. I am gathering resources, free of course, to help me prepare towards the GRE. I am also planning to earn a second degree.

Finally, I'll like to thank Ms Cora Sandy of the TESC TECEP testing office for her kind assistance towards helping to send my exams (in time) for grading so I can make the September graduation.