UMPI

[ss20ts]

Just finished my second week. Things are going much smoother now that I have the hang of the system! I'm finalizing my first paper for my first class. I have completed the course content on one class. I'm 25% through a second course. My advisor has added a third class to my schedule. I still have 6 weeks left in the term and should be able to add a few more classes. I'm also working on a few Sophia courses to transfer over. Yes, you can transfer courses to UMPI even AFTER you're enrolled and actively taking classes.

Learned some things this week.....

The discussions and learning journal (an area in the course for note taking) are NOT required. The discussions aren't responded to and it doesn't look like anyone reads them anyway. The learning journal is basically your course notepad. I started keeping my notes in Word so I could organize and format them how I wanted.

You cannot finish a BLS or a BAS degree at UMPI and a second degree. Not even if you graduate and reapply. They are considered terminal degrees. I am in the BLS program which is a Bachelor of Liberal Studies. I'm not uber thrilled with this because I'm thinking IT jobs in the future. How many people outside of us and academia knows what a BLS is? You have a minor in the BLS degree. You can actually have multiple minors.

There is also a BA in Business Administration program which has concentrations. You can have multiple concentrations as well. With multiple minors and concentrations you do NOT need to complete 30 additional credits. If you do complete 2 degrees such as a BA in English and a BA in Business Administration, you will need to complete an additional 30 credits for the second degree.

I reached out to my academic coach, advisor, and one of my professors this week. All responded in a timely manner. My advisor even emailed me over the weekend and set up a phone meeting because emailing back and forth my questions wasn't working well. Some topics just work better over the phone. My professor responded within a day to my email. She answered all of my questions and checked back to make sure I understand what she was trying to communicate.

Overall, I am really enjoying UMPI. I like it far better than. CSU Global. One 8 week term at UMPI costs $1400. One 3 credit course at CSU was $1050 and it lasted 8 weeks. Every week we had to write a paper and cited discussions with responses. I soooooo do not miss that! I am enjoying working on my own pace.