BALS or BSBA at TESU?

[Learnfordegree]

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Applied at TESU and received their academic evaluation for BSBA and BALS and attaching the BALS for your review. I am in the late 5X and probably have 7 more working years ahead. Promotion at this point is unlikely and I am happy with my employer (long time ee of a corporation). Although I would like to earn the Business degree, BALS appears easier especially with less Math requirements. Even BALS could be done with a Management concentration right? Another option is probably BA Sociology or Social Sciences. Would you please review and suggest which degree I should go for and what other courses I should use to fulfill the rest of the degree? My employer does offer tuition reimbursement but I would need to pay first then request reimbursement after the grade is available. Reimbursement will vary based on the grade received (70 to 100%). So, I was thinking about taking one or two courses each semester to earn the additional 10 credits to avoid the residency waiver. If you took some classes through TESU, please also suggest the easier ones (reimbursement will be better if I could get an A). I am very close to a CLEP/DSST test center (actually took some DSST at the center Quigongene mentioned in the list of test centers. It is a small world!). I am also interested in doing some classes through SDC, SL, Coopersmith, Sophia, Davar etc., I started on an SL course but it takes forever to finish it. As BJ always ask, my preference is Easy, fast, cheap. Thank you all for the contributions you are making everyday by helping others.

[cecilgambe7]

May you please also upload BSBA file

If you will do two courses per term i think BSBA is more meaninful and you will no need extra time, because even for the more difficult courses in BSBA (compared with BALS) you can do it by two per term in an easy way.

[Learnfordegree]

May you please also upload BSBA file

If you will do two courses per term i think BSBA is more meaninful and you will no need extra time, because even for the more difficult courses in BSBA (compared with BALS) you can do it by two per term in an easy way.

It is not letting me "add attachment". May be with the BALS attached (220.16KB), it is too much in size. I really wanted to attach the BSBA Eval too. The main difference is they put 4 credits in "Other courses" section. Those are the SLS-1103 and HRM-215.
So, I have 52 credits in BSBA compared to 56 in BALS.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated as I am trying to make a decision between the BALS - General Management or HR-Mgmt Vs BSBA- GM.

[davewill]

I would choose based on what the degree will mean to you going forward (which you don't actually say much about). I think it's safe to say that future employers are going to be more impressed by a BSBA over a BALS, but... since you have a long work history and are not looking to a particular promotion, just being able to check the bachelor's degree box in the future may be enough.

Filling in the 4 credits that weren't applied to the BSBA using alternative credit is pretty straightforward, and should not be the deciding factor. Only you can decide whether needing to take College Algebra and Stats is a big burden.

It's really hard to tell someone else what courses are harder or easier. The BALS has a lot more flexibility in the choice of courses, so may allow you to pick "easier" courses, however, some people who have been working a long time understand business well enough that they find the business courses more straightforward than random academic subjects might be.

To summarize:

BSBA Pros:
Potentially better optics with employers

BALS Pros:
Less Math required
Wider choice of courses
Uses 4 more of your existing credits

I also note, that you have a lot of GenEds that need to be done. There's no reason that you shouldn't go ahead and start filling those in while you decide. They will be the same except for which math courses you need, and even then you can go ahead and take something like Liberal Arts Math and use it in your GenEd electives if you decide to go forward with a BSBA.

[Learnfordegree]

Thank you very much Dave. The ultimate goal is just a sense of accomplishment and the possibility to complete a degree after trying for many years by the B&M route. Another advantage about BALS for me is that I don't have to take any Math since I have Intermediate Algebra. I plan to do DSST Principles of Adv English Comp for the Eng II and Into to Oral Comm from SL for the Speech to keep going (maybe the Workplace Comm from SDC might be better). Also thinking about Intro to Computers or CIS107 Intro to Comp applications TECEP to get the enrollment started. If I decide to go for BALS, would you all recommend General Mgmt or HR Mgmt for the concentration? I am willing to take 1 Cr Jane Austen class and 3 additional courses from TESU to avoid residency waiver.

[davewill]

... Also thinking about Intro to Computers or CIS107 Intro to Comp applications TECEP to get the enrollment started. If I decide to go for BALS, would you all recommend General Mgmt or HR Mgmt for the concentration? I am willing to take 1 Cr Jane Austen class and 3 additional courses from TESU to avoid residency waiver.

Well, you have to take the cornerstone to get started these days, so no need for a TECEP to start your enrollment. I can't advise you on the two concentrations because business courses would bore me to tears, so I would never pick either of them.

[bjcheung77]

I would recommend finishing off all the general education courses that you still need as it will be required for both degrees. Once that is done, you can then decide on the BALS or BSBA. I would recommend the BALS as well since it's going to be cheaper/easier/faster for you especially when there are courses such as the $75 TEEX Death Investigation course that comes up as an UL AOJ course or the cheaper $45 LL TEEX AOJ courses, you can also do the FREE Sophia/TEEX and Ethics course for credit... but the BSBA will have more utility for it.

You might want to take a few of these TEEX courses as it's open book and non proctored. There are some cheap courses at Coopersmith/Davar and Onlinedegree.com or Saylor.org if you are looking for a cheap test out instead of doing a course. Previous Link to TEEX equivalents: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid294109

[Learnfordegree]

Thank you Dave and Bj. I plan to work on the missing Gen Ed. It will take me a little while to take care of that. Then I can decide BALS or BSBA as you suggested. I also looked further into COSC. It is interesting to note that their BSBA only requires one Math which can be satisfied by taking possibly SL Business stats or something similar. It would have been great if they would accept the new CSM Learn Math!