Business Degree planning - UMPI

[jacky1703]

Hello
I just found this forum yesterday and tried to read as much as possible, but I'm still a little overwhelmed with all the acronyms and the US college system in general. I'm a Green Card holder and moved to the US in 2021. In preparation for maybe pursuing some college education here, I took the GED in 2020 on a US Military base. I do not have any other credits, and I'm a little overwhelmed by where I should start.

My partner is transferring the GI benefits to me, but we can also afford to pay for school out of pocket since I would rather use those for a top MBA program.

Should I just start getting credits from study.com/Sophia?

Thank you!

Your Location: currently WA, but next year August TX for 1 year - possibly 2. I will keep my WA residency (military spouse)
Your Age: 32
What kind of degree do you want?: Business - I would like to get a Bachelor's Degree to get into a top MBA program
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None (I'm originally from Austria)
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: I took the GED and received 178 points on my Social Studies and Math. On their website, they state I could get up to 3 credits for each depending on the school
Any certifications or military experience? None
Budget: 10-20k. My partner will also transfer his GI-Bill benefits to me, but I would rather use them for the MBA.
Commitments: full-time work-from-home job with flexible hours
Dedicated time to study: 3-4h a day + 5-6h on weekends 25-32h/week
Timeline: Finishing as fast as possible, but also learning something. 6-18 months would be great
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: As stated, I would be eligible for the GI bill. 

[rachel83az]

How do you feel about writing academic papers? What is your native language? Do you know what school(s) you would like to apply to for the MBA?

For a "top rated" MBA, you're probably going to want as many graded credits as possible. For that, UMPI is probably the best fit. It does require an academic paper or project for each class, but you'll probably be required to do a LOT more writing for your MBA.

[jacky1703]

How do you feel about writing academic papers? What is your native language? Do you know what school(s) you would like to apply to for the MBA?

For a "top rated" MBA, you're probably going to want as many graded credits as possible. For that, UMPI is probably the best fit. It does require an academic paper or project for each class, but you'll probably be required to do a LOT more writing for your MBA.

Thank you @rachel 


I'm okay with writing papers. And my native language is German, but I've also had French(2.5y) and Latin(4.5y) in school. I could probably pass some exams with a little bit of a refresher. 

I will look further into the UMPI program and search the forum. 

As for MBA options I'm looking across the country. 
Dartmouth, University of Michigan, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Washington University in St. Louis, MIT, Harvard, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Brown, University of Chicago

[LevelUP]

UMPI would be a good choice
https://online.umpi.edu/degrees/undergraduate/

Degree Plans
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI

[rachel83az]

For UMPI, you need (at least) 3 credits of a foreign language. Since your native language is German, you could do an ACTFL exam for German and not have to (re)take Spanish or French.

You're probably not going to be able to get into Yale, Harvard or MIT with any of the degrees we recommend here. But at least some of the others could theoretically be possible, especially with a UMPI degree. For best chances, I would probably transfer in 90 credits and then do 2 minors. This would ensure that you have at least 60 graded credits for the graduate schools to base their calculations on. People have gotten into some top-tier schools with fewer graded credits, with a really good application package, but more graded credits is probably better.

[jacky1703]

Sounds good. From the other post I've read, it's enough to just take the ACTFL OPIc. Or do I need the writing one too?

I looked into the BABA Marketing degree plan, but I'm still a little confused.

The list for Gen Ed has a couple or courses listed with duplicate (Example: 4B English Composition II). Does that mean I do not need to take this course? 

Also, understand correctly that for the courses that do not have a Course Provider listed, I do need to take them at UMPI? (Example BUS 200: Intermediate Business Computing)

With 2 minors - do you mean doing a second concentration, like accounting? 

I'm sorry if some questions sound stupid, this is just so different than the Austrian university system 

[rachel83az]

You only need 3 foreign language credits. As a German native, this means taking literally any ACTFL and getting a decent score. IIRC, the listening and reading tests are the cheapest. No need to pay extra for the OPIc.

For the duplicate courses in the GEC, it means the course counts for multiple requirements. English Comp II shows up multiple times and counts for multiple requirements. But each requirement can be filled by only one course. You need at least 40 credits in the GEC to graduate.

Courses that do not have a provider listed need to be taken at UMPI, yes.

Yes; 2 minors/concentrations like Accounting & Project Management.

And don't worry about sounding stupid. No two colleges/universities in the US are identical, so UMPI is weird compared to most other universities. And most other universities have their own quirks as well.

[jacky1703]

Oh, that's even easier. I might even take that today.

Gotcha! That all helps a lot. I guess I will sign up for Sophia and start with my courses

[ss20ts]

UMPI has minors and concentrations. They are not interchangeable. The BA in Business Administration and the BA in English have concentrations. The BLS has minors. Minors can be added to a BA degree as well. You can't take a concentration and add it to a BLS.

[jacky1703]

UMPI has minors and concentrations. They are not interchangeable. The BA in Business Administration and the BA in English have concentrations. The BLS has minors. Minors can be added to a BA degree as well. You can't take a concentration and add it to a BLS.

Where do I find the minors that are available for YourPace? This is not the same if I understood that correctly from other threads.