Biology Degree from TESU - Is Lumerit helpful?

[cookderosa]

If you plan on any and I mean ANY graduate or professional science degree DO NOT TAKE ANY IN TRACK SCIENCE COURSES ONLINE.

Sorry, but that's untrue. While the MD common application will ask, regular graduate schools don't and neither do DO schools. I have a collection of emails from a handful of DO colleges stating that it didn't matter if the sciences were distance or not. I stopped because it got boring hear the same thing over and over. Something like, "while it is not a preferred way to learn science, we do not have a specific requirement that prohibits...."
I don't want to turn this into a med school thread- but if you're going to split hairs, you'll hear arguments that you shouldn't EVER take your sciences at a community college (gasp) and ONLY at a 4-year college.



With a bio degree from TESU, she could enroll at Harvard Extension for their (nearly online) biology masters- that's on my "to do" list. It's pretty cheap too....just sayin.

In my opinion, which has nothing to do with med school applications, you can get a Biology degree from TESU - but it will be very expensive and will require very expensive options for upper-level biology courses BECAUSE you won't be able to use financial aid easily. Building a Biology degree at TESU will require external bio classes that you transfer back- and you probably will have to pay cash for those. I spent about $10,000 to complete the pre-med sequence and the pre-nursing sequences, and NONE OF THOSE credits are upper level, so be aware of that. I used Harvard Extension to take upper level (graduate level to be exact) biology that I would have transferred back to TESU for upper level credit. That system works perfectly, but it is expensive. Graduate level courses at Harvard are currently $2500 each ($625/credit) which is not too bad for grad school, but if you consider that they are filling an undergraduate (Bachelor's) degree, then they become very very expensive. But, it can be done.

The reason Lumerit can not help you with this degree, is because they are only selling advice. They do not offer biology courses themselves, as Sanantone told you - TESU's discount doesn't matter since TESU doesn't offer the courses you need.

Advice here is free, BUT if you enroll in a college, they have advisors that work for the college that will help you too. You will have to do careful planning, but you're not alone.

[Silly_Me]

Jennifer,

If some of my science courses are ACE accredited (microbiology through straighterline, for instance), will that be "acceptable" once I've gotten my BA in Biology from TESU for masters level biology degree programs? I know you can't launder credits from one place to the next, but are those credits considered "golden eggs" once the degree is awarded?

Thanks for all the great input, guys!!!

[Ancapman]

I'd love to see recent matriculants to an US Allopathic or Osteopathic school whom got their Science classes via distance learning and whose MCAT was not in the 95th percentile or higher.

They all say they will accept online. But they will not accept Straighterline or Study.com or any other non accredited system for the prerequisites.

Again just because something is acceptable doesn't mean you have any chance of acceptance.

Let's take 2 students. Both have the same cGPA and sGPA. Both have the same MCAT score. One has their Science courses from online or community college and the other has theirs from attending a brick and mortar university.

If you believe they are both looked at the same you are wrong. I have talked to adcoms from lots of schools. DO doesn't have as much of a problem of CC classes as MD because the competition for DO school is lower. If you hope to get into MD school with CC classes for more requisites. You better get a 520+ on your MCAT. It's not fair but it's based on the large amount of competition to simply gain entrance. 19000 accepted students a year. 200k applicants.

[Ancapman]

Jennifer,

If some of my science courses are ACE accredited (microbiology through straighterline, for instance), will that be "acceptable" once I've gotten my BA in Biology from TESU for masters level biology degree programs? I know you can't launder credits from one place to the next, but are those credits considered "golden eggs" once the degree is awarded?

Thanks for all the great input, guys!!!

Depends on the school. But it is not likely. I contacted all the Universities within driving distance of me:
IUP, Slippery Rock, Penn State(has campus nearby), Pitt, CMU, Duquesne, Chatham, Waynesburg, Robert Morris, La Roche, and even the junior college CCAC. All of them stated that SL, Study, etc would not count as the actual class must be delivered via a regionally accredited school. You may find a school that accepts it, but it will likely be one of the ones that accept SL for undergrad credit.

[Silly_Me]

Don't forget that 3 of those credits will come from the mandatory Liberal Arts Capstone course.

Is that a for-sure thing? I hope so! I've put together my degree plan & I'm exactly 3 credits short of having my 18 upper level biology credits. That capstone would be an answered prayer if it counts for an upper level biology course.

[Silly_Me]

Depends on the school. But it is not likely. I contacted all the Universities within driving distance of me:
IUP, Slippery Rock, Penn State(has campus nearby), Pitt, CMU, Duquesne, Chatham, Waynesburg, Robert Morris, La Roche, and even the junior college CCAC. All of them stated that SL, Study, etc would not count as the actual class must be delivered via a regionally accredited school. You may find a school that accepts it, but it will likely be one of the ones that accept SL for undergrad credit.

I'm actually looking at the masters program at one state school that I could potentially go to.... All that they require for the biology masters degree program is that you have 19 hours in biology & 12 in chemistry. They don't say anything about "online" classes being unacceptable. I actually plan to take most of my core biology classes through a local community college - for dirt cheap - and 100% online (Gen Bio I & II w/ labs, Gen Chem I & II w/ labs, A&P I & II w/ labs).

The community college even offers a Pathophysiology course, but I'm considering the straighterline course for that one, as it needs to transfer as UL credit. Now, I don't know what I'm going to do about Organic Chem I & II and Physics I & II. But, I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get there.


QUICK QUESTION: Do you guys know if the UC Berkeley extension courses are counted as legitimate, accredited college classes (not ACE credits like straighterline courses)? I just realized that a lot of my course work will be done through UC Berkeley extension, so I'm crossing my fingers that my future grad school won't have a problem with those courses. Argh....

[Ancapman]

Easiest way to find out if they will take SL credit... call to speak with an advisor. Ask the advisor if they will accept ACE and or Straighterline. Maybe you will get lucky and they will provide you in writing a guarantee of accepting those credits. I did not find any in the dozen or so in my area nor the 2 medical Schools (1 MD, 1 DO).

[bjcheung77]

Silly_Me, which college are you going to do the Science Lab's from? I'm looking for "dirt cheap"!
As SL/Ed4credit are the cheapest ones I've seen so far, their lab kits range in $98-$250+.
I want to see how much your college will cost for out of state residents. Please and Thanks.

[cookderosa]

Jennifer,

If some of my science courses are ACE accredited (microbiology through straighterline, for instance), will that be "acceptable" once I've gotten my BA in Biology from TESU for masters level biology degree programs? I know you can't launder credits from one place to the next, but are those credits considered "golden eggs" once the degree is awarded?

Thanks for all the great input, guys!!!

TESU awards credit for ACE courses, I'm not sure what you're asking.

[cookderosa]

Depends on the school. But it is not likely. I contacted all the Universities within driving distance of me:
IUP, Slippery Rock, Penn State(has campus nearby), Pitt, CMU, Duquesne, Chatham, Waynesburg, Robert Morris, La Roche, and even the junior college CCAC. All of them stated that SL, Study, etc would not count as the actual class must be delivered via a regionally accredited school. You may find a school that accepts it, but it will likely be one of the ones that accept SL for undergrad credit.

The issue is when a college asks for graded (not pass/fail) credit from a regionally accredited source. ACE credit is neither. For what it's worth, AP exam scores that result in college credit usually don't work to meet the same prereqs that require graded credit, so the short answer is if you're headed into one of the health occupations that requires credit from an RA college with grades and with labs, you simply have to make sure your prereqs meet those criteria.