Degree planning advice

[johnlesters]

@johnlesters, great job in completing that Pierpont BOG AAS, laddering up to the UMPI BLS is a good option, having said that...you're still in the military and getting deployed.  Your time is not really set, and you don't have a schedule to stick to for studies... It really depends on your current commitments, study habits, I would go the TESU for both cost, ease, speed to finish.  You can apply to both and create a spreadsheet for them by following the BOG-UMPI template... Degree

TESU, you can complete TECEPs to hit the RA and residency requirements, you just need to get 6 exams completed and do the cornerstone/capstone at $750 a piece.  You should be able to complete the degree for under the 3K max you've placed in your budget.  I would recommend you to create a spreadsheet and link us to your onedrive or googledrive, so we can see your progress.  Link: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap

So right off the bat, I can tell you a couple of things:

1) a lot of your credit (esp from your JST) is going to be considered free electives at almost any school you choose
2) you'll need an ethics course almost anywhere you choose, so take one of those for sure

Excelsior BSL (Liberal Studies)
You need English Comp 2, Ethics, Capstone, 6 courses (18cr) of UL Arts & Sciences (GE), Cornerstone, and Info Lit courses; cost would be about $4300
You don't have much in the way of Business, so that would be a much longer road that didn't take advantage of your current credits

TESU BALS
You need English Comp 2, Oral Comm (unless your intro to Comm course on the JST shows that there's an oral component), Ethics, 5 UL AoS courses, 5 LL AoS courses that are 200-level or higher, Cornerstone & Capstone.  If you take 6 TECEP exams for residency purposes, then the total cost would be about $2600.
You'd have a lot to take for a BSBA, but you could get the BALS w/a Certificate in Organizational Leadership easily (via alt-credit).

UMPI BLS w/minor in Management
You need Ethics (take at Sophia if you still have membership), and then you're done with the GEC that you'd take outside; after that, you'd need  English Comp 2 (take at UMPI), Creative Decision Making (take at UMPI), and then the minor.  If you finish in 1 term, it would be $1400, 2 terms would be $1800 - most people finish in 2 terms.

Honestly, if I were you, I would do the UMPI BLS and get'er done.  They are so flexible in what you can bring in for Free Electives, that you're SO close to finishing there for the least cost.  I'm guessing you'd be done in 2 terms at most, but possibly even 1 term.  Apply now, get that Ethics course done, and start on May 8.

I'll work on the Ethics course on Sophia once I'm done with the Psychology and Biology Lab. I am hoping UMPI accepts the Intro to Communication on my JST as Pierpont did. Solid advice thank you!

You don't have an Oral Comm requirement at UMPI, so they'll just take the course as a Free Elective, but you have plenty of credit so no need to worry about it.

I highly recommend UMPI if you're leaning towards it - I think it will be the fastest/easiest/cheapest, and you'll be home from deployment and in a slower mode, so it will be perfect timing to start your first term there.

I applied yesterday. I'm about to send my transcripts. Just finishing up on more Sophia classes. Thank you!