100+ credits, need to pick a degree, school HELP!

[Jonathan Whatley]

I'm one of the two Jonathan is referring to. If it wasn't 1:30am I might be a little less groggy, so I'll try and keep it clear. I'll check back tomorrow to see if you have questions. There are a few things to point out. 1. Scuba is going to count as a free elective in the liberal arts majors you are considering, so while I'm happy to explain the credit for prior teaching process, it won't matter, your free electives are already full.

For as many credits as you have, it makes an unusual problem. Typically, you think you're closer than someone with maybe 50 credits, but the issue is in distribution of credit. For instance, if you were in a degree program that accepted only 3 credits in underwater basket weaving, you having 100 credits in underwater basket weaving would not be any more advantageous than someone next to you wtih just 3. That's not a discouragement, but it's meant to get you focused quickly. You don't have much wiggle room, so I wouldn't register for Spring unless you're sure everything counts OR if it's a nursing prereq. Obviously you need nursing prereqs (whatever they are) so you'll have to get those completed. Beyond that, classes like ceramics, are probably not helpful.

And these are great points. To tie these together with one of sanantone's great points above,

As far as designing your own degree, TESC and COSC do have programs where you can do this. TESC offers the LDAS (learner designed area of study) as a BS, BA, BSBA (bachelor of science in business administration), and BSAST (bachelor of science in applied science and technology). COSC offers individualized studies and liberal studies.

you might consider using diving credit in a self-designed major or concentration. For instance, I could see a self-designed program in Environmental Education built on credit in
• dive training and dive professional training (the PADI IDC may be upper-level credit)
• education (e.g. Foundations of Education; Introduction to Educational Psychology; UL course credit)
• environmental studies (e.g. Environment and Humanity; Global Environmental Change which is a six semester hour UL course from TESC that's well-liked around here)
• possibly general outdoor education, and possibly recreation (by PLA or by coursework; I believe several schools offer courses in these online)

Another reasonable degree title would be Maritime Studies (this could be modelled on, and it could draw on courses from, the online B.A. in Maritime Studies from the University of West Florida.) Maritime/marine/nautical archaeology is also its own academic field. I believe Texas A&M is the name brand in the field in the U.S. Flinders University in Australia, together the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, have a strong graduate program online.

This said, if you're going for nursing, (a) I salute you!, and (b) I would recommend planning out and following approximately the most direct path possible. This might involve applying diving credit toward a major/concentration; conversely, it might involve leaving some of what you could possibly claim in credit in diving to the side if you chose a major/concentration in which it wouldn't fit.

I managed a dive center and I've considered pursuing the sort of major/concentration I outlined above myself. But I'm also a pre-health student. Direct prerequisites are my Job One.