BA History (Experienced student)

[Duneranger]

Hi all,

STEM background with BS/MS/doctorate and almost a complete MA in Classics/Ancient history. I want a BA in history to round things out.

Couple questions:

1. I am considering other online history programs like SNHU, IU, OSU,  ASU, LSU ect. Is there anything that stands out about UMPI? I get its competency-based, but I don't want to just blow through it to get a degree. I want to learn. I have my career, this is just for personal growth.

2. I reviewed the gen eds and it seems like I am just missing a couple including a language. I have read on here that Sophis is ideal. Is that still the case? I also need a hands-on art class haha. I avoided that one years ago with Art history. Is UMPI better for this?

3. I am assuming all of my credits will transfer. Given that, I have 30 credits I need to take. I prefer HIST over Poly sci. Any classes that people enjoyed? Or is the selection pretty meager? I saw the list and it doesn't seem to change? I am an ancient history guy and I saw there weren't a ton of different offerings.

4. Anything else for me???

Thanks

HI Duneranger,

I have a pretty similar background and demands. I obtained two bachelor's and two master's degrees in Economics and Computer Sciences, and am intrigued with history recently so I am trying to pursue a BA in History online. I did some research on online history programs and I would like to share some of my findings here since most of the threads here are talking about TESU and UMPI. Basically, I am not very sensitive to the tuition and more care about the academic reputation and student support.

Other than SNHU, IU, OSU,  ASU, and LSU, there are U of Arizona, PSU, Liberty U, and Open U of UK, which also provide a BA in History program.

I. Regional colleges: 

1. UMPI Your-pace:
Definitely the one if you have much time devoted and can finish the courses within one or two sessions. No match for it. I enrolled in BA in History and Pol Sci in summer session 2 and finished 4 courses. But honestly just as @grogers14 mentioned earlier, HTY courses are nothing more than super-long readings and essays, which personally thought may not be solid enough for laying a strong foundation if you are serious about an academic career in the field of History. And this is the reason I look for others.

2. SNHU:
If you can have 90 credits transferred in (which is not difficult if you have several degrees), SNHU charges $320/credit, which makes a total tuition of $9600 for a degree. 
Pros: generous credit transfer policy, extremely student-friendly assessment rubric, 30 credits residency requirement, brick-mortar college.
Cons: Not self-paced, small-size regional college with only thousands of enrollments.  


II. Large public universities:

1. IU online:
IU online operates as an integrated implement. Tuitions for out-of-state students are $350 per credit. The application system of IU online is simple and user-friendly. You will be reached very soon by an advisor who is kind, helpful, and professional. 
Cons: IU system's flagship Bloomington campus does not participate in BA in History program. Although your diploma may read only Indiana University as its title, it mentions "awarded at the city of XXX". XXX refers to your home campus - in this case, you only have the options of IUPUI, IU East, IU Kokomo, IU Northwest, IU South Bend, and IU Southeast. I am afraid neither of these campuses matches the reputation of Bloomington and thus see no significant differences with SNHU or UMPI (Do correct me if I am wrong). Should the flagship in, it would definitely be the best choice of all, in terms of a balance of price, transfer policy, and academic reputation. Also, it is not self-paced.

2. Oregon SU:
It runs a quarter-term thing so you need 180 credits toward a bachelor's degree. However, the registrar will automatically translate your credits by multiplying them by 1.667. Although the tuition($350 per credit) looks the same as IU, if you take that quarter system into account, the total cost will also be 1.667 times higher than IU. Nevertheless, it is worth considering since OSU has a good academic reputation and provides a wide range of history courses. 

3. ASU and U of Arizona Online: 
They are top public universities in Arizona (ASU is twice bigger as UA ) with the same tuition (circa $550). They both run online degree programs that are perfectly integrated with their on-campus counterparts. I cannot tell which one is better but I enrolled with U of Arizona. Till now the experience is quite positive - I have full access to library services and IT support immediately when I took the offer and an academic advisor was there to aid (each college hires its own advisor for online students). I am waiting for the results of the transfer evaluation and will be taking classes this fall. If anyone is interested in what it will be like, I can keep you updated later.
Cons: they are good at concentrations of Latin American History but in terms of history overall, they rank much lower than other STEM programs such as physics, engineering or geography.    

4. Penn State World Campus: 
It charges much higher than others - $671 per credit if you have over 60 or more credits. At the same time, it has the most strict transfer policy of all: does not accept credits earned 5 years ago, and requires at least 36 credits out of the recent 60 done in PSU. So if a few credits of your prior degree could not be transferred in, you need to take more courses at PSU, which significantly balloons your total cost for a degree. 
I am not sure about this (I hope I am wrong) but I was told that you have to follow a time schedule for classes, that is, you are expected to attend classes on time as full-time students do, an arrangement so that on-site students may also take online courses of World Campus to accelerate. While this may be an assurance of academic quality and a positive signal of online-onsite integration, it causes conflicts for adult learners who have other promises during the daytime.
In addition, PSU offers more courses in European history such as Middle Ages, British/French/Germanic, Ancient Greece and Roman Empire, and ranks higher in history overall than other universities with online degrees. 
Last but not least, the admission officials are not helpful at all. Although I applied as a TRANSFER STUDENT WITH 4 DEGREES, they insisted on an official transcript sent by my high school, which I graduated from a dozen years ago and do not provide such services anymore, and refused my request for waiver again and again.


III. Other online choices
1. TESU
2. Liberty
3. Open UK

Wow! Are you me? I applied to OSU, IU and SNHU as well. I left off ASU and UA as my interests are more ancient.

You are correct that IU satellite schools are not held to the same reputation standard. I did check on the profs teaching the class though and they call come from decent bakcgrounds. The schools essentially share eachothers classes except for Bloomington.

OSU and IU are neck and neck to me but I rather go with IU based on class choice. Cost is similar.

UI springfield is an option too. There are actually quite a few other online program but their costs are higher 400-600 a credit.

LSU is the Alexandria campus. It will not say LSU on the degree, unfortunately. They also wanted my HS transcripts...

UMPI is tempting obviously but I dont have time to gut out all those courses in a term. They also want 48 credits in history. Not sure if my grad classes count? I did 0 history in undergrad. 

Open UK has an excellent rep by the way. I did my masters in the UK. It was excellent.

What UMPI history courses did you take? Did you need to do all 48 credits or just 30?

[Duneranger]

Also, can anyone recommend the quickest/easiest History courses? I am fairly adaptable topic-wise, my knowledge is pretty broad. Weakest in Asian history probably. I am juggling trying to finish a 15000 word dissertation for my MA...

[rachel83az]

Also, can anyone recommend the quickest/easiest History courses? I am fairly adaptable topic-wise, my knowledge is pretty broad. Weakest in Asian history probably. I am juggling trying to finish a 15000 word dissertation for my MA...

Have you already checked this thread? https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ter-Thread

[xianbd]

Wow! Are you me? I applied to OSU, IU and SNHU as well. I left off ASU and UA as my interests are more ancient.

You are correct that IU satellite schools are not held to the same reputation standard. I did check on the profs teaching the class though and they call come from decent bakcgrounds. The schools essentially share eachothers classes except for Bloomington.

OSU and IU are neck and neck to me but I rather go with IU based on class choice. Cost is similar.

UI springfield is an option too. There are actually quite a few other online program but their costs are higher 400-600 a credit.

LSU is the Alexandria campus. It will not say LSU on the degree, unfortunately. They also wanted my HS transcripts...

UMPI is tempting obviously but I dont have time to gut out all those courses in a term. They also want 48 credits in history. Not sure if my grad classes count? I did 0 history in undergrad. 

Open UK has an excellent rep by the way. I did my masters in the UK. It was excellent.

What UMPI history courses did you take? Did you need to do all 48 credits or just 30?

Some colleges of the IU system operate across campuses but unfortunately again the department of history does not. Among all other campuses, IUPUI provides an online history program and declared that it will split into two separate universities, IUI and PUI. I am not sure but the new IU Indianapolis may be a good choice.

As of UMPI, GEC can be waived for a second degree so I need only to do 48 credits of history courses. Although I took courses in Ancient Greek and Roman History and the Foundation of Latin, they did not recognize any because all my undergraduate courses were translated as General Electives and the credits were grouped together by semester, which is pretty weird.... much less to say graduate level credits....

Anyway, it is still cost-efficient for a bachelor's degree even if you finish all courses in 3-4 sessions. So I transferred 6 courses from Sophia, US History I&II, Spanish I&II, US Government and Topics in US History, and planned to take the rest 10 at UMPI to fulfill the residence requirement. In summer term 2, I enrolled 4 courses World Civ I&II, Medieval & Early Modern Europe.

[Duneranger]

Also, can anyone recommend the quickest/easiest History courses? I am fairly adaptable topic-wise, my knowledge is pretty broad. Weakest in Asian history probably. I am juggling trying to finish a 15000 word dissertation for my MA...

Have you already checked this thread? https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ter-Thread

I did, just wanted to see if there was any other insight

---

Wow! Are you me? I applied to OSU, IU and SNHU as well. I left off ASU and UA as my interests are more ancient.

You are correct that IU satellite schools are not held to the same reputation standard. I did check on the profs teaching the class though and they call come from decent bakcgrounds. The schools essentially share eachothers classes except for Bloomington.

OSU and IU are neck and neck to me but I rather go with IU based on class choice. Cost is similar.

UI springfield is an option too. There are actually quite a few other online program but their costs are higher 400-600 a credit.

LSU is the Alexandria campus. It will not say LSU on the degree, unfortunately. They also wanted my HS transcripts...

UMPI is tempting obviously but I dont have time to gut out all those courses in a term. They also want 48 credits in history. Not sure if my grad classes count? I did 0 history in undergrad. 

Open UK has an excellent rep by the way. I did my masters in the UK. It was excellent.

What UMPI history courses did you take? Did you need to do all 48 credits or just 30?

Some colleges of the IU system operate across campuses but unfortunately again the department of history does not. Among all other campuses, IUPUI provides an online history program and declared that it will split into two separate universities, IUI and PUI. I am not sure but the new IU Indianapolis may be a good choice.

As of UMPI, GEC can be waived for a second degree so I need only to do 48 credits of history courses. Although I took courses in Ancient Greek and Roman History and the Foundation of Latin, they did not recognize any because all my undergraduate courses were translated as General Electives and the credits were grouped together by semester, which is pretty weird.... much less to say graduate level credits....

Anyway, it is still cost-efficient for a bachelor's degree even if you finish all courses in 3-4 sessions. So I transferred 6 courses from Sophia, US History I&II, Spanish I&II, US Government and Topics in US History, and planned to take the rest 10 at UMPI to fulfill the residence requirement. In summer term 2, I enrolled 4 courses World Civ I&II, Medieval & Early Modern Europe.

Did you end up finishing any of those courses? You are at UA now right? I am still debating with IU. It will be much slower but they offer way more courses that are interesting to me. I found out today that the Greek course isn't offered on YourPace anymore...

[xianbd]

Did you end up finishing any of those courses? You are at UA now right? I am still debating with IU. It will be much slower but they offer way more courses that are interesting to me. I found out today that the Greek course isn't offered on YourPace anymore...

I finished 3 already. doing Early Modern Europe now. 

Yes, I am at UA now and waiting for the results of the credits transfer. After that, I will decide which courses I shall take. and they do offer many Greek and Roman courses from the Dept. of Religious & Classics. You may choose some of them as Gen or Major Electives.
But I am not very much picky about the courses offered in the program, since I am also enrolling in an on-campus undergraduate diploma in English history at Oxford. and I need an undergraduate degree in history for a master's.

[Duneranger]

Did you end up finishing any of those courses? You are at UA now right? I am still debating with IU. It will be much slower but they offer way more courses that are interesting to me. I found out today that the Greek course isn't offered on YourPace anymore...

I finished 3 already. doing Early Modern Europe now. 

Yes, I am at UA now and waiting for the results of the credits transfer. After that, I will decide which courses I shall take. and they do offer many Greek and Roman courses from the Dept. of Religious & Classics. You may choose some of them as Gen or Major Electives.
But I am not very much picky about the courses offered in the program, since I am also enrolling in an on-campus undergraduate diploma in English history at Oxford. and I need an undergraduate degree in history for a master's.

How quickly have you gotten them done? What has been the shortest/easiest? Is there a way to see their course list?

[xianbd]

Did you end up finishing any of those courses? You are at UA now right? I am still debating with IU. It will be much slower but they offer way more courses that are interesting to me. I found out today that the Greek course isn't offered on YourPace anymore...

I finished 3 already. doing Early Modern Europe now. 

Yes, I am at UA now and waiting for the results of the credits transfer. After that, I will decide which courses I shall take. and they do offer many Greek and Roman courses from the Dept. of Religious & Classics. You may choose some of them as Gen or Major Electives.
But I am not very much picky about the courses offered in the program, since I am also enrolling in an on-campus undergraduate diploma in English history at Oxford. and I need an undergraduate degree in history for a master's.

How quickly have you gotten them done? What has been the shortest/easiest? Is there a way to see their course list?

They are all super-long readings with 30-50k words per outcome I guess. The course World Civ I&II, specifically, is a copy of the 1034-page textbook Boundless World History, SUNY Press, combined with a couple of Youtube history classes. To plow through I spent 2-3 weeks working on each. 

What do the courses like with IU? Have u started learning?

[Duneranger]

Did you end up finishing any of those courses? You are at UA now right? I am still debating with IU. It will be much slower but they offer way more courses that are interesting to me. I found out today that the Greek course isn't offered on YourPace anymore...

I finished 3 already. doing Early Modern Europe now. 

Yes, I am at UA now and waiting for the results of the credits transfer. After that, I will decide which courses I shall take. and they do offer many Greek and Roman courses from the Dept. of Religious & Classics. You may choose some of them as Gen or Major Electives.
But I am not very much picky about the courses offered in the program, since I am also enrolling in an on-campus undergraduate diploma in English history at Oxford. and I need an undergraduate degree in history for a master's.

How quickly have you gotten them done? What has been the shortest/easiest? Is there a way to see their course list?

They are all super-long readings with 30-50k words per outcome I guess. The course World Civ I&II, specifically, is a copy of the 1034-page textbook Boundless World History, SUNY Press, combined with a couple of Youtube history classes. To plow through I spent 2-3 weeks working on each. 

What do the courses like with IU? Have u started learning?

Haven’t decided where I am going yet. Did Arizona take any of your Sophia? Did you have to do any gen eds or did you have a previous degree?

[grogers14]

Also, can anyone recommend the quickest/easiest History courses? I am fairly adaptable topic-wise, my knowledge is pretty broad. Weakest in Asian history probably. I am juggling trying to finish a 15000 word dissertation for my MA...

I took 

HTY489 History of Infectious Disease (Favorite course I've taken in all my college coursework because I love medical history)
POS343 Marxism 
POS335 Modern Political Thought
HTY439 The Vietnam Wars 
HTY/POS370 The Arab-Israeli conflict 

And they were all short and all with Dr Zaborney. 2-3 "Units" each and only 2 "Milestones" and then the finals were a mere 1500 word essay in APA format.  His style is more so let the student enjoy the class and just demonstrate they at least learned something. For POS335 Modern Political Thought, the prompt in the final assessment is so, so , so vague and I think it was on purpose so students could just write about close to anything they want as long as it relates to the course.  He also checks the online courses EVERY day which makes them go faster. In YourPace, one of the major factors in your speed is the waiting on professors to grade. Zaborney is fast, but , some of the Humanities  & Bus. professors take a little longer.