BA in Sociology, Economics or Statistics

[JPN]

I'm at a point in my career where I need a RA degree or a post-baccalaureate diploma that would explicitly state a major in Sociology, Economics or Statistics (or a Statistics adjacent field).

I already have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from a Canadian university, but due to the archaic nature of where I work, it's not as ideal for career progression. I took a look at the various programs, and ruled out UMPI and COSC because of this. TESu seems like the most relevant option because it has an explicit Sociology major, but I haven't mapped out the possible credits one could use for TESU. I'm also not sure that TESU would accept my existing RA credits completed in excess of my degree (I took some courses as anon-degree student at my Alma Mater that aren't applied as credits for my original degree).

Does anyone have any advice on this front?

Your Location: Canada
Your Age: 25
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor in Sociology, Economics or Statistics, ideally the latter 2
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 

School Name Total Credits: #
Class Name, Credits, Grade

University of British Columbia

Course        Course Name
ADHE 330    The Community Practice of Adult Education
AFST 250    Introduction to African Studies - INTRO AFRI STUDY
ASIA 313    Tibetan and Himalayan Culture and Society
CENS 202    Great Works of Literature from Central, Eastern and Northern Europe (in English).
CONS 101    Introduction to Conservation
CPSC 110    Computation, Programs, and Programming
CRWR 200    Introduction to Creative Writing
EPSE 406    Typical and Atypical Development in Infants and Children
FNH 200        Exploring Our Food
FREN 101    Beginners' French I
FREN 102    Beginners' French II
FREN 111    Intermediate French I
FREN 112    Intermediate French II
GEOB 270    Geographic Information Science
GEOG 121    Geography, Environment and Globalization
GEOG 122    Geography, Modernity and Globalization
GERM 303    German Literature Before 1900 (in English)
LLED 441    Introduction to Teaching Children's Literature
LLED 459    Trends and Issues in Literacy Instruction
LLED 462    School Library Resource Centre Programs
LLED 469    Inquiry-Based Pedagogy in School Library Programs
PHIL 101    Introduction to Philosophy
POLI 100    Introduction to Politics
POLI 101    The Government of Canada
POLI 110    Investigating Politics: An Introduction to Scientific Political Analysis
POLI 240    Currents of Political Thought
POLI 260    Introduction to Global Politics
POLI 303    Federalism in Canada
POLI 308D    Topics in Canadian Politics
POLI 321A    Chinese Politics and Development - CHIN POLIT DEVEL
POLI 324A    Southeast Asian Government and Politics - S E ASIA GOVT
POLI 350    Public Policy
POLI 375A    Global Environmental Politics - GLOB ENV POLI
POLI 380    Quantitative Methods in Political Science
POLI 405C    Municipal Governance and Policy
POLI 405F    Politics Seminar
POLI 464E    US Intelligence Studies
SOCI 101    Social Interaction and Culture
SOCI 387    Drugs and Society
WRDS 150    Research and Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences


All are 3 credit courses. 1-2 courses are LL, 3-4 courses are UL. Every course is percentage graded, equivalent to A or B. Passing mark is 50% at my institution.

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

Provider Total Credits: # 9-12
AP US Government and Politics
AP Comparative Politics
AP Psychology

Any certifications or military experience? No

[FastTrackDegree]

You are probably better of looking at a masters degree imo.

[Vle045]

As someone with a degree in Sociology…. Don’t get a degree in Sociology.

Economics is a social science. If you like learning about human behavior as it relates to money and the history of how money came to be, then that is a good choice.

If you prefer working with numbers and doing all things math… then go for Statistics.

[freeloader]

Fort Hays state has a 100% online bachelor’s degree in sociology and will accept up to 90 (of 120) credits in transfer. Tuition is $227/credit. If you were able to transfer in 90 credits, would cost $6,800.

https://www.fhsu.edu/sociology/academic-programs/
https://www.fhsu.edu/sfs/students_parent...d-fees.pdf

[JPN]

As someone with a degree in Sociology…. Don’t get a degree in Sociology.

Economics is a social science. If you like learning about human behavior as it relates to money and the history of how money came to be, then that is a good choice.

If you prefer working with numbers and doing all things math… then go for Statistics.

It's a bit more nuanced for me. I already work for a government, one where I'll likely work until I retire. One of the requirements for higher level promotion in my field is a degree in one of those three areas. It's purely a box-ticking exercise, as not having one of one of those three majors makes it much more logistically complex to land a promotion. I don't think it would open up more career options outside of my field as I already have a RA degree in a generic social science. In Canada, Sociology is probably a bit more useful since it's actually a legal requirement for many public sector jobs (e.g. many police services and civil service careers have an explicit preference or requirement for sociology or economics credits, and justification on how someone meets the sociology, economics requirement if they don't have this pre-req).

You are probably better of looking at a masters degree imo.

If I get laid off, I'd have a pretty generous educational allowance to re-do a degree in Computer Science or take a Master's, but if I take time off for a Master's degree or a in-person program on my own accord using unpaid educational leave, I'd be losing a pretty considerable amount of earning potential that would almost certainly outweigh the earnings premium for having any of those degrees. The only path forward I see to redressing that is something like an online degree program that is low-cost, would waive all GenEd requirements, and could be done in a reasonable span of time, which is why Sociology seems attractive (because I have existing credits, its offered by TESU and Fort Hays, and there's already quite a few ACE options for Sociology credits).

Fort Hays state has a 100% online bachelor’s degree in sociology and will accept up to 90 (of 120) credits in transfer. Tuition is $227/credit. If you were able to transfer in 90 credits, would cost $6,800.

https://www.fhsu.edu/sociology/academic-programs/
https://www.fhsu.edu/sfs/students_parent...d-fees.pdf

Thank you!

[Jonathan Whatley]

You might have been looking at outdated material about COSC, who used to have only General Studies major with Sociology concentration, but more recently added a full major in Sociology.

And there are decidedly more in-major electives and ULs available by alt-credit in sociology than in economics, even when limited to alt-credit providers COSC accepts.

I think TECEP Marriage and Family, UExcel Cultural Diversity, Foundations of Gerontology, Juvenile Delinquency, Research Methods in Psychology, Social Psychology, and World Population, DSST Substance Abuse, and Intro Sociology, Intro Psychology, and Statistics from any several providers on Charter Oak's whitelist would all be accepted toward the major. Expect to take an RA course in Social Theory. (Once enrolled I'd ask an advisor if they'd accept Study.com Sociology of Work or any SDCs in overlapping fields toward my major at that time. DSST Criminal Justice, General Anthropology, and Introduction to Geography, and TECEP Psychology of Gender could also be worth inquiring about for a sociology major looking for additional alt-credit.)

[rachel83az]

What credits do you already have? Please follow the format in this thread to list what you've got: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

[JPN]

What credits do you already have? Please follow the format in this thread to list what you've got: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Thanks! I've listed them in the main post, but I'm not too sure how they will carry over for a second degree program. From what I read on TESU, it seems like they only really accept RA transfer credit from US institutions, but the discussion around XAMK seems to contradict that so...

[Jonathan Whatley]

JPN, were your non-degree credits from your alma mater post-degree, were they graded or were they audit, and are they listed above?

[carrythenothing]

https://tesu.smartcatalogiq.com/current/...of-Degrees

If a student presents a foreign credential evaluation stating their foreign degree is equivalent to a U.S. baccalaureate degree, then the University will consider it an earned degree and apply all applicable Award of Degree policies. It also may be used for admissions to a master's degree program.

That means you'll only need at least 24 area of study credits (including the capstone), completed after your degree was conferred.

The area of study for a BA in Sociology at TESU is 45 credits (including 15 upper-level credits and the capstone). 12 of those 45 credits are any social science electives, so you'll have 12 upper-level credits from your first degree.

Study.com has four sociology classes accepted by TESU: one of the courses is required (Introduction to Sociology) and the other three would be electives (including one upper-level equivalency).