Accountability thread: there are many like it, but this one is mine :)

[davewill]

I did reply and explain that, and got a response. It was... unsatisfactory :/ Basically they just dumped most of the courses I asked about into "LIT 299 Special Topics." I've just replied, appealing four of their determinations.

Sigh. Did they make them all LL? Did they at least count them in your AOS? Just as well you found out now. They likely would have done the same thing when they finally got around to evaluating the transcript, anyway.

[Notgodot]

Women's Lit came in as UL, the only one. All count as lit, and are AOS. I'm hoping I can still get one more UL on appeal, so I can still get the Humanities concentration. Otherwise, I'll just settle for the vanilla BALS.

[Notgodot]

I submitted my army transcripts to TESU, and they received them on December 8th. Since then I've submitted 2 tickets. Today I finally called them. I was told there had been a "workflow problem" and that I could expect my evaluation by the end of the week.

I'm gonna have a beer now.

[Notgodot]

Okay, so all my transcripts are finally evaluated! And I got just about everything I was hoping for. Five of the Shmoop literature courses came in as upper level, which is fantastic, and better than I expected. So now, except for the capstone, I'm done with all my area of study stuff, leaving only a few general Ed credits to mop up. Interesting side note: being a grease monkey in the army was worth quite a few free elective credits, so I guess I should stop complaining about how it was useless to me in the real world

As for my army transcripts, everything was on them that I expected, except for the college comp CLEP, so I'll have to take the two freshman English courses again. Ugh. I'll also need to take an information literacy course. Assuming I pass my public speaking, American Government and World History exams next week, that's all I need.

Just got a new job with slightly better pay; so my goal is to save up for the capstone and residency waiver. I hope to have enough to graduate in September. If not, December is completely doable.

If an extra $500 or so somehow comes my way, I'll take a nonwestern lit course and get an English degree. If not, A BALS Humanities will do.

That's all for this instalment.

[Mamasaphire]

Okay, so all my transcripts are finally evaluated! And I got just about everything I was hoping for. Five of the Shmoop literature courses came in as upper level, which is fantastic, and better than I expected. So now, except for the capstone, I'm done with all my area of study stuff, leaving only a few general Ed credits to mop up. Interesting side note: being a grease monkey in the army was worth quite a few free elective credits, so I guess I should stop complaining about how it was useless to me in the real world

As for my army transcripts, everything was on them that I expected, except for the college comp CLEP, so I'll have to take the two freshman English courses again. Ugh. I'll also need to take an information literacy course. Assuming I pass my public speaking, American Government and World History exams next week, that's all I need.

Just got a new job with slightly better pay; so my goal is to save up for the capstone and residency waiver. I hope to have enough to graduate in September. If not, December is completely doable.

If an extra $500 or so somehow comes my way, I'll take a nonwestern lit course and get an English degree. If not, A BALS Humanities will do.

That's all for this instalment.

Awesome! Sounds like things are coming along nicely!

[Notgodot]

Right, so let's take a look at the accounts

I currently stand at 98 credits. It should be 107, but a couple of things happened, one my fault and one not. Neither is a major blow to my quest, though, so it's all right.

First, I screwed up and didn't take 2 exams before my study.com scholarship ran out. With the move and the new job, I honestly got mixed up and thought I had until the 9th to finish. I actually only had until the 7th. All the quizzes are complete for American Government and Public Speaking, I just need to take the exams and record the speeches. When I get paid I'll do that. Second, when I went to take my world history tecep, proctorU's website was down. It has been rescheduled.

Once those are complete, All I have left are the two freshman English courses and an info literacy course, then the capstone. I'll use study.com for the comp courses and try Davar out for info lit. That'll be my March ad April. Not too strenuous after my Shmoop Speedrun
My math might be off somewhere, because every other time I count I keep coming up 1 credit short. I'll likely just take one of the Saylor courses I've studied for just to make sure, as long as it goes into the Gen Ed electives I'll be covered.

After that, it's just about saving money for the capstone and residency waiver. I'm considering starting a GoFundMe just to speed things up a little It would really be nice to graduate in September rather than December.

That's all for this episode.

[Notgodot]

Maybe this should go in the Wiki, but I've got no idea how to post over there Anyway, someone asked to see my degree plan, so I thought I'd post it here. This what TESU has done with the transcripts submited, and what's left to do.

1: BA General Education (60 SH)

A: IntellecSkills 15 SH (In progress)

ENC-101 3 SH: English Composition I *Not started: Complete in April (Study.com)
ENC-102 3 SH: English Composition II *Not started: Complete in April (Study.com)
Oral Communication 3 SH: *Course completed. Exam in April (Public Speaking Study.com)
Quantitative Literacy 3 SH: (Complete) MAT-115 Intermediate Algebra (ALEKS)
Information Literacy 3 SH: *Not started: Complete in April (World Religion Study.com)

B: Civic Learning 9 SH (In progress)

Diversity 3 SH: HIS-126 World Hist From 1600-PRESENT (Tecep)
Ethics 3 SH: PHI-384 Ethics & Business Professional (The Institutes) *1 credit needed, no automatic waiver. Will add Saylor's Env. Ethics
Civic Engagement 3 SH: American Government *Course completed. Exam in March (Study.com)

C: Human Cultures 12 SH (Complete)

HUM-102: Intro Hum II: Poet Drama Nar (CLEP)
HUM-101: Intro Hum I: Philos. Thought (CLEP)
HIS-114: American History II (Shmoop)
HIS-221: European History II (Shmoop)

D: Natural World 4 SH (Complete)


Geology 101: Physical Geology (Study.com) 3SH *On ACE transcript, not sent to TESU yet
Earth Science 101: Earth Science (Study.com) 3SH *On ACE transcript, not sent to TESU yet

E: GE Electives 20 SH (In progress)

TES-100 1 SH (Not started) Cornerstone: Lifelong Learning Strategies *Need to ask for waiver

General Education Electives 19 SH (In progress)

LIT-299 Special Topics in Literature (Drugs in Lit) (Shmoop)
LIT-242 Biblical Literature I (Shmoop)
LIT-202 Literary Roots of West. Cult. (Western Lit) (Shmoop)
LIT-208 English Literature I (Brit Lit) (Shmoop)
ENG-246 Poetry I (Intro to Poetry) (Shmoop)
HIS-113 American History I (Shmoop) *On ACE transcript, not sent to TESU yet

*2 excess science credits go here, plus ethics course


2: Liberal Studies-Humanities (18SH) (Complete)

*must earn grades of C or better
The Area of Study for this degree program consists of the 18 semester hour Concentration, the 1 2 semester hour Liberal Studies General Courses and the 3 semester hour Liberal Arts Capstone, for a total of 33 semester hours.
**At least 18 credits within the entire Area of Study (including the Capstone) must b e at the upper (300/400) level and a maximum of 6 semester hours can be at the 100 level.**

Group 1 (Complete)
SH Earned: 15

LIT-430 Literature and the Media (Shmoop)
LIT-399 Special Topics in Literature (Modernist Lit)(Shmoop)
ENG-301 The Holocaust (Shmoop)
LIT-320 Shakespeare I (Shmoop)
LIT-323 Women in Literature (Shmoop)

Group 2 (Complete)

LIT-206 American Literature II (CLEP)


3: Liberal Studies General Coursework (12SH) (Complete)
SH Earned: 12


HIS-351 A History of Vietnam War (Study.com)
LIT-205 American Literature I (CLEP)
LIT-292 Analysis and Inter of Lit II (CLEP)
LIT-291 Analysis & Inter Literature (CLEP)

4: Liberal Arts Capstone (3 SH) (Not started)

This Capstone course must be taken at Thomas Edison State University or via an approved Thomas Edison State University Academic Program Review.
3 credits needed

5: Electives (27SH) (Complete)

LAW-201 Business Law (Saylor) 3cr
MAN-301 Principles of Management (Saylor) 3cr
MAR-301 Introduction to Marketing (Saylor) 3cr
BUE-101 Personal Finance (Study.com) 3cr
BUS-101 Introduction to Business (Saylor) 3cr
MAI-202 Mechanical Maintenance (Army) 5cr
PEA-199 Special Topics in Phys Ed (Army) 1cr
MSC-161 Outdoor/Survival Skills (Army) 1cr
MSC-131 Marksmanship (Army) 1cr
HEA-195 First Aid (Army) 1cr
AUM-111 Basic Auto Mechanics (Army) 1cr
MAI-101 Machinery Maint. & Repair (Army) 2cr

Other Courses:

CAP-295 Intro to Security Basics (Cybersecurity for Everyone (TEEX)(2cr)
FIS-391 Intro Fire Safety Education (Self Study Course for Community Safety Educators (NFA) (1 cr)
HRM-331 Human Resources Mgmt (NFA Fire Service Supervision) 1cr
ELT-241 Electronic Measurements (Army) 1cr
TEC-104 Tool Use (Army) 1cr

[Notgodot]

Time to give an accounting once again!

Today I finished my second TEEX computer course. I don't need it for the BALS, but I need more than two hours in computer applications for the Pierpont BOG A.A.S. which I decided to go for. I know an associate's degree isn't really necessary, but it can't hurt. And since the one course I needed to get it was free, and the degree itself is free, I saw no reason not to try. Also, since I'm paying $25 for the College Board to send my AP English scores to up to two colleges, I figured why not?

And about those AP scores. If they are more than four years old, you have to fax a request to the College Board. This is not so easily done in Southeast Asia. I ended up going to the main Post Office here in Phnom Penh to get it done. It was an experience. (Yes, I know there are apps that will fax scanned documents, but I wanted that piece of paper that says the fax was sent.)

As for the BALS, the AP scores should knock out my freshman English requirements, so that's six credits. When I get paid at the end of the month, I will sign up with Study.com and finish Public Speaking and American Government, and then pay the extra $70 to get World Religions knocked out. I've already started studying for Saylor's Environmental Ethics, so that'll be done in May as well. Which will just leave the capstone. I've secured a loan for the capstone and the residency waiver fee, so basically everything is in place for my end run.

It'll be weird to be finished. I started this impossible thing 16 months ago not *really* believing it was possible, and now I can actually see the finish line just a little ways in the distance. Haven't really wrapped my head around that yet.