BA/BS in psychology and grad school

[l8989v]

Hi everyone,

After much thought and pro&con list, I have finally decided that I'm going to go for a degree in psychology. I'm still deciding between TESU (BA) or maybe COSC (BS).

At the moment, I've collected 81 credits and I'm thinking about how to collect those last 39 credits. I want to go to grad school for a master's degree in psychology.

It's been mentioned many times on this forum that GPA is one (of the) important factor to get accepted into grad school. Son I thought that instead of of those 39 credits, I would take 16 credits at TESU, thus not having to pay the residency waiver of 2000$ and the remaining 13 credits in alternative ways. However, in this case it's about 4000$ more for all those 39 credits in alternative credits. I'm paying everything out of my own pocket, because I don't qualify for any financial aid and I don't want to get a student loan, because I already have a mortgage. 4000$ is a lot of money.

I haven't really done the math for COSC, but I'm guessing it will be similar.

I really want to get into a grad school and I don't want to diminish my chances, because my degree will mostly be alternative credits.

What do you think? Should I take the courses at the school and pay more and get GPA for grad school? Or should I pay less, but have less of a chance at getting into grad school?

I would love to hear your opinions!

Thanks, Linda

[cookderosa]

Congratulations Linda! Deciding is half the battle.

Before you invest in the degree, you'll want to be sure that it matches the career you're shooting for. Most (all?) states have licensing requirements for psychology and counseling. First find out exactly what those are from a .gov website and then find the graduate schools that will meet your requirements. It is from THAT list that you'll need to be sure your TESU or COSC degree fit the bill. In other words, we can all tell you that you'll have no problem getting into grad school (which is true btw) but that's the wrong question. The right question is if you can get into the SPECIFIC grad schools you're applying to- so you need a list. Yours is a perfect example of starting with the goal and working backwards down into the undergraduate degree.

Great question!

[mednat]

I would also add that your GPA does not have to necessarily come from the school awarding your degree. Double check the grad program you're interested in, but they usually calculate your GPA based on all of your graded work (can be multiple schools). If this is the case, I would recommend taking your classes at a cheaper college/community college. For lower level, it's hard to beat community college rates (either online or local), and for upper level there are alot of good distance learning options.

I would encourage you to think outside of the 1 school mentality. It is definitely the natural way to think of things, but this forum has taught me to find the best fit sources (based on price, or material), and use that for my degree. That is the freedom of choosing one of the big 3; you have a variety of sources to choose, graded or otherwise.

[lovewins]

Hi everyone,

After much thought and pro&con list, I have finally decided that I'm going to go for a degree in psychology. I'm still deciding between TESU (BA) or maybe COSC (BS).

At the moment, I've collected 81 credits and I'm thinking about how to collect those last 39 credits. I want to go to grad school for a master's degree in psychology.

It's been mentioned many times on this forum that GPA is one (of the) important factor to get accepted into grad school. Son I thought that instead of of those 39 credits, I would take 16 credits at TESU, thus not having to pay the residency waiver of 2000$ and the remaining 13 credits in alternative ways. However, in this case it's about 4000$ more for all those 39 credits in alternative credits. I'm paying everything out of my own pocket, because I don't qualify for any financial aid and I don't want to get a student loan, because I already have a mortgage. 4000$ is a lot of money.

I haven't really done the math for COSC, but I'm guessing it will be similar.

I really want to get into a grad school and I don't want to diminish my chances, because my degree will mostly be alternative credits.

What do you think? Should I take the courses at the school and pay more and get GPA for grad school? Or should I pay less, but have less of a chance at getting into grad school?

I would love to hear your opinions!

Thanks, Linda

Wow, I could have written this post..these were my very thoughts/questions last night...I too want to go on to pursue a Masters and am concerned about the 'test for credit' classes not being received well. Im interested to hear the feedback on this....

[bjcheung77]

Wow, I could have written this post..these were my very thoughts/questions last night...I too want to go on to pursue a Masters and am concerned about the 'test for credit' classes not being received well. Im interested to hear the feedback on this....

My recommendation is to "find" the Masters degree you would want to complete and review their admission requirements. If there are any prerequisites required, finish them beforehand with your Bachelors degree instead of having to take extra time to complete them (bridging into a degree). So, plan that BA/BS!

In regards to a Masters program, the majority of the time, it'll indicate what is required and what courses are acceptable. I don't recall reading anything in regards to not accepting "non traditional" credits, unless it's in regards to a science course or (STEM in particular). Otherwise, I would make sure with the receiving institution that "abc" from X college/university is acceptable for their "xyz" masters degree.

[sanantone]

In this case, it will be cheaper to complete a competency-based program. Patten and Capella offer competency-based degrees in psychology. I know that Patten awards grades; I'm not sure about Capella. Patten (and maybe Capella) will award credits for CLEP, DSST, ACE-evaluated courses, etc.

[l8989v]

Before you invest in the degree, you'll want to be sure that it matches the career you're shooting for. Most (all?) states have licensing requirements for psychology and counseling. First find out exactly what those are from a .gov website and then find the graduate schools that will meet your requirements. It is from THAT list that you'll need to be sure your TESU or COSC degree fit the bill. In other words, we can all tell you that you'll have no problem getting into grad school (which is true btw) but that's the wrong question. The right question is if you can get into the SPECIFIC grad schools you're applying to- so you need a list. Yours is a perfect example of starting with the goal and working backwards down into the undergraduate degree.

Thank you for this awesome advice! I hadn't looked at it that way and you are totally right. I want to get into school psychology! Working back is indeed what I need to do. Make a list and then go back to the bachelor's degree! Thank you!

I would also add that your GPA does not have to necessarily come from the school awarding your degree. Double check the grad program you're interested in, but they usually calculate your GPA based on all of your graded work (can be multiple schools). If this is the case, I would recommend taking your classes at a cheaper college/community college. For lower level, it's hard to beat community college rates (either online or local), and for upper level there are alot of good distance learning options.

I would encourage you to think outside of the 1 school mentality. It is definitely the natural way to think of things, but this forum has taught me to find the best fit sources (based on price, or material), and use that for my degree. That is the freedom of choosing one of the big 3; you have a variety of sources to choose, graded or otherwise.

This is a great idea. So I'll basically find equivalences of the core courses in the Psychology degree at TESU/COSC and transfer everything in. There must be indeed cheaper courses than the 499$/credit at TESU.

In this case, it will be cheaper to complete a competency-based program. Patten and Capella offer competency-based degrees in psychology. I know that Patten awards grades; I'm not sure about Capella. Patten (and maybe Capella) will award credits for CLEP, DSST, ACE-evaluated courses, etc.

Thank you, I will look into them.

[davewill]

... Thank you, I will look into them.

The trick with the competency based programs is that most charge you by the term (or the month) not by the credit. So if you move quickly through the courses you save lots, but if you work slowly it can get expensive again.

[dfrecore]

If you want to take actual courses at COSC or TESU, then I recommend taking a few UL Psych courses at COSC. They are much cheaper than TESU ($377/cr out of state, so $1,131/course). I would stress that it should be UL only - don't waste your money on LL courses that you can find cheaply elsewhere (CC, Saylor, SL, etc.).

I would also look at taking some at a school like APU, which is only $270/cr ($810/course). Or ENMU, which is $240/cr if you take 6cr/semester or fewer.

If it were me, my goal would be to just take a couple, all in the major, so that you have a good high GPA in your major. For instance, when I looked at the MBA at ENMU, they looked at your overall GPA, as well as the GPA in the core courses required for the program separately (econ, accounting, management, etc.).

[KayV]

If you are interested in school psychology, be sure to check if your state requires you to have a certain number of years of classroom teaching experience before becoming a school counselor. Texas requires two years, for example.
https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-c...quirements

If you need classroom experience, a straightforward way to get it would be to finish your BA, do alternate certification, teach for the required minimum of years, then do grad school and practicum.