Army MLT - ASAST or BSAST at TESU?

[MLTtoMLS]

Hello everybody,

I am new to the forum.

A very heartfelt thank you the the creators and contributors of the forum...It's a wonderful resource. I spent the last week reading old posts and the Wiki.

My situation:
- I completed the U.S. Army Medical Laboratory Specialist program in 2011. This is a collaboration between the Army and George Washington University. I earned 60 college credits at GWU and I was granted a Certificate of Completion.
-The program is considered the equivalent of an Associate in Laboratory Science by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), the certifying board for laboratory professionals. I was able to sit for my national certification exam and become a certified Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT). I am currently employed in a civilian hospital.

My problem: the most common route to become a Medical Laboratory Technician is an Associate in Laboratory Science. The Army MLT is a different, lesser known route. Unfortunately, most employers are unaware of that. I believe my lack of an associate degree (despite being nationally certified) costed me a great job I recently interviewed for

My goal: get a Bachelor's (or at least an Associate) in Laboratory Science.
I recently applied to the University of Cincinnati and was told that, while all my science classes are good to go, I don't have a single Gen Ed credit.
I looked into the Community College route...It would definitely be cheap to complete my Gen Ed classes there, but I don't believe it would be a quick route. Classes are semester-based and the college does not accepts CLEPs. I am a busy adult and the thought of having to sit in class for English Composition is just as appealing as having all my teeth pulled

I am looking for a quicker way to complete my Associate (or Bachelor if feasible). TESU seems like a interesting option.
Anyone has experience with that?

Thank you

Allie

[Life Long Learning]

Does ACE give credits for the .S. Army Medical Laboratory Specialist program in 2011?

[KayV]

For TESU, the MVP would give you the most detailed credit information.
https://mvp.tesu.edu/

It does look like the ASAST in Clinical Lab Science would fit your specialty most closely.
ASAST Degree in Clinical Laboratory Science | Thomas Edison State University

[dfrecore]

For TESU, the MVP would give you the most detailed credit information.
https://mvp.tesu.edu/

It does look like the ASAST in Clinical Lab Science would fit your specialty most closely.
ASAST Degree in Clinical Laboratory Science | Thomas Edison State University

KayV - you are GOOD!

The good news here is that the MLT is one of the required certifications for the degree. I'm going to assume that it will fulfill the entire AOS, and that you only need the Gen Eds to quickly finish the degree. I'm not even sure if the capstone would be required, but you can test out of the Gen Ed's pretty quickly and cheaply.

By the way - science credits ARE Gen Ed's! At most schools anyway.

You should post your credits here, so we can tell you what you have left to take at TESU. With the 60cr, and only 21cr needed in the AOS, you may be really close to that ASAST.

[MLTtoMLS]

Does ACE give credits for the .S. Army Medical Laboratory Specialist program in 2011?

Yes, it does.

[MLTtoMLS]

For TESU, the MVP would give you the most detailed credit information.
https://mvp.tesu.edu/

It does look like the ASAST in Clinical Lab Science would fit your specialty most closely.
ASAST Degree in Clinical Laboratory Science | Thomas Edison State University

Thank you. I think the ASAST or BSAST in laboratory science would be perfect for me. I didn't know TESU had a page for Veterans. I'll take a look.

[MLTtoMLS]

KayV - you are GOOD!

The good news here is that the MLT is one of the required certifications for the degree. I'm going to assume that it will fulfill the entire AOS, and that you only need the Gen Eds to quickly finish the degree. I'm not even sure if the capstone would be required, but you can test out of the Gen Ed's pretty quickly and cheaply.

By the way - science credits ARE Gen Ed's! At most schools anyway.

You should post your credits here, so we can tell you what you have left to take at TESU. With the 60cr, and only 21cr needed in the AOS, you may be really close to that ASAST.

These are my credits from George Washington University:

CLS 1080 - Introduction to Lab Med - 0 credits
CLS 1081 - Clinical Chemistry I - 6 credits
CLS 1082 - Clinical Chemistry II - 6 credits
CLS 1083 - Hematology I - 4 credits
CLS 1084 - Hematology II - 3 credits
CLS 1085 - Urinalysis and Body Fluids - 2 credits
CLS 1086 - Clinical Immunology - 2 credits
CLS 1087 - Blood Banking I - 4 credits
CLS 1088 - Blood Banking II - 3 credits
CLS 1089 - Clinical Microbiology I - 5 credits
CLS 1090 - Clinical microbiology II - 5 credits
CLS 1070 - Clinical laboratory rotation I - 10 credits
CLS 1071 - Clinical laboratory rotation II - 10 credits

I also passed my CLEP for College Algebra in 2009 before joining the military, but I am not sure how to retrieve that result.

Thank you so much for your help

[OakLakeNC]

MLT is actually my job. But I didn't do it through the military. I have an associate degree in degree in general studies that includes 8 hours of chemistry and 7 hours of biology. Then 3 years as an uncertified tech. I went through the ASCP. (route 4 I believe) Employers here (NC) just care that you have the certification OR that you went through any accreditated program. I hang out on the Reddit lab professionals board sometimes. It seems some individual states have adapted extremely strict rules. There are folks in NY saying you can't be an MLT without a bachelor degree.

But, that being said, definitely go for your bachelor degree so you can your MLS one day. I think it is 16 hours of Biology and 16 hours of Chemistry. You aren't going to want to stay a tech. Getting chemistry hours online is rough but will be worth it.

Oh, also, there are people here that have done the English Composition Straighterline class in a few days. And there two test out options.

[KayV]

I just noticed that for the BSAST, you would need College Algebra, Precalculus or above, and Statistics. You can still take all of these through ALEKS, but the certification for ALEKS appears to be ending on January 31. Ergo I would STRONGLY encourage you to do those three courses now. If you take the placement exam (~30 questions, unproctored) and get 70% or more, you get the credit for the course. Request the credit through ACE, it gets approved usually in a few hours, and then assign yourself the next course through your master account.

https://www.aleks.com/about_aleks/ace_credit

[davewill]

... I also passed my CLEP for College Algebra in 2009 before joining the military, but I am not sure how to retrieve that result. ...

You can to go the CLEP site and order a transcript of your test score sent to TESU (and yourself if you wish).