BSLS, History/Psych Degree Plan and Transferring to B&M Grad School

[yum2177]

Hey everyone, I've been a lurker for about two years now and just decided to spend the last couple days putting together a degree plan. I have been following this forum since I started my college career at a Cal State two years ago. I ended up failing a 5 unit Bio class and it sunk me to a 1.41 GPA. I decided to take a break and work a bit and I did, now I am enrolled at the local CC taking 8 units. This GPA is why I chose Excelsior College and their policy on grading DSST. I'm totally open to other suggestions.

My original plan was to spend 2 years here at the CC and transfer back to my original Cal State but after obsessively going through these forums for the past two weeks it turns out I could be done with my undergrad and go for a masters there within the same time. That is extremely appealing but I was also a bit skeptical. I decided to email the chair of the Masters in Public Policy and Administration program I am interested in and told him I may attend Excelsior College in Albany, NY and they assign letter grades to CLEP/DSST exams and if their was an issue with that. He stated that as long as there is a letter grade on the pre-reqs and you do well on the GRE it doesn't matter where they are from. He also said he has had students from universities like Baylor University and University of Seattle attend. It was incredibly reassuring.

Here is the degree plan: BSLS, History/Psych Degree Plan

I will be honest I had a bit of trouble putting together the degree plan and understanding all of the information, there is definitely a lot to soak in. My ultimate goal is to attend law school at McGeorge, UC Hastings, Georgetown, or another top law school on the east coast. I saw the post of the one person going from COSC to Boston U Law and it was extremely inspiring.

Thanks everyone!

[yum2177]

I meant applying not transferring in the title.

[dfrecore]

I would change your spreadsheet a little, to make it more clear what you've taken and what you still need to take (I have separate columns for that on my own spreadsheets). It's impossible to tell what you've already taken with this layout. I also only see 1 course from CSUS, you should include all of the courses you took there (except the course you failed of course).

I think your plan is a good one. I might even take a few additional CC courses and a couple of actual courses at Excelsior as well, to get those GPA's up as high as possible at those schools.

I took classes at SJSU in 88/89 and have a 1.98 GPA, then took classes at a CC from 92-97 and have a 3.36 GPA there, then classes at a 4-year private college from 98-00 and have a 3.5 GPA there, then another class at a CC this year and have a 4.0 GPA there. The last time I got below a B (not even a B-) was in 1992! I think anyone who looks at my GPA will see the trend, rather than looking at the overall GPA. And many colleges only look at the last 60 credits attempted, which means that as I take classes and get good grades, it pushes those first 21 units further and further behind me, and ultimately they will disappear...or at least become insignificant.

Actually, you've inspired me! If I take 2 additional classes at my local CC and get A's, I will then have the last 60 credits with a 3.5 GPA. Not bad considering every credit I earned after those fateful 21 units when I was 18/19 and a full-time student, are all from when I was working full-time OR when I was a mom homeschooling my kids. I actually did better as I got older, and as I got busier and had more demands on my life!

Good luck!

[yum2177]

Hey thank you so much for the feedback. That's awesome you were at a CSU, I didn't think I was going to come across anyone who came from CSUs here.

I took your advice and added some notes on what I have and haven't taken. I also added what classes I am currently enrolled in. I was in ROTC and I wasn't sure where to put it so I just added it to free electives. Do you see anything else I should add to it?

Thanks again!

[dfrecore]

I am actually from Sac, had lots of friends that went to Sac State, ARC, SCC, etc. And I'm sure I'm not the only person from California on here, we are an eighth of the entire US population! Keep taking those CC classes, I think we have almost the cheapest in the nation at $46/unit. It's more expensive to buy the book than take the class!

Your plan has a lot of problems that I can see, first is that you don't have the major broken down into the correct courses you need to take. You have to take 1 US History, 1 World History (Western Civ), 2 US History courses at the 200-level or above (Civil War & Reconstruction DSST will count as UL AND give a grade), 2 European History courses at 200-level or above, 2 Non-Western History courses at 200-level or above (History of Vietnam War DSST will give you a grade, not sure what level it transfers in as though), 2 history electives, and the History Capstone.

The Rise & Fall of the Soviet Union and General Anthropology are not available since 1/1/15, they're being revised. You would have to wait until they were put back before you could put them into your plan (plus probably see if EC was revising them in their catalog as well). Western Europe since 1945 is no longer available at all.

You need to figure out how to get those 200-level and UL history courses. CSU-Pueblo has a few ($495 each), U of Idaho IS has some ($325 each), BYU IS has some ($619 each).

If you want to get your degree in Psych, then you have to do a completely different plan. That will include very specific courses that you don't have on your plan. Uexcel has a few of the exams you need, but you will have to do some research to find other options if you want to find cheaper courses than online ones at EC for the rest. Torah College Credits has some ($175+), CSU Pueblo IS has some ($495), U of Idaho IS has some ($325 each), BYU IS has some ($619 each).

You probably need to decide exactly which degree you want to get, and then start on that specifically. Also, I don't think you need a BS, you don't have any Applied Professional courses that don't fit into the BA (like business courses), so you should switch to that instead. I wasn't sure if you were trying for both the History and Psych degrees at the same time, but I don't know EC's policy on that, nor is there a good way to do that - there would be a lot of extra courses required to get the 2nd degree. But if you are looking to do that, you'll need to get the info from someone on here who is knowledgable on that subject.

If you want an easier spreadsheet to look at, I have one I am happy to share. PM me and I'll send it to you.

[yum2177]

I am actually trying to go for a BS Liberal Arts with Depths in History and Psych. I tried following another degree plan I found plus the one provided by Excelsior in their Credit-by-Exam catalog. As you can see I don't have much of an idea of what I'm doing in terms of degree planning haha.

With the BS Liberal Arts in mind, do I still need to change a lot? I was also unclear on what the curricular difference is between the BS and BA in the catalog.

Thanks!

[yum2177]

PS: If there is a quicker way to test out of the degree, I am all ears. I'm trying to get it done as quick as possible so I can make it back to CSUS for a masters.

[dfrecore]

The BS includes room for "Applied Professional" credits like business courses and other things that don't fit into "Arts & Sciences" (i.e. SocSci, Humanities, Math, NatSci, etc.). You don't have any courses like that, you would need to replace a lot of the courses you chose with different courses. Not sure why you want a BA vs. a BS, but if it makes a difference, you just need to make the adjustment. Going for a MPA, I can't imagine why they would prefer one over the other? I would contact the school to make sure that this is actually what they prefer before switching. I would also see if they have any prereq's for the MPA that you can fit into this degree plan so you're not caught off-guard at the last minute trying to take a couple of courses to get into the program.