Can someone help me begin planning?

[guessill_doit]

I'm 17 and just graduated high school early. I plan to work full time and begin college when I am about to turn 19 (Spring 2023), as that is when I should have my life together and be ready. I don't think I can do more than 9 credits at once, but I don't want to take longer than 4 years to finish my degree. My goal is to be a secondary history teacher. I want to earn a Bachelors's in History and then go through a one-year teacher preparation program at a state college near where I'll live (they offer teacher prep and teaching degrees in elementary and STEM, sadly no social studies teaching). My "extra goal" afterward is to earn Ashland University's Masters of Arts in Teaching American History and Government to hopefully improve my teaching, but only if I have the time. I don't know if it matters, but I live in Maine and will move to Florida in March 2022.

I was wondering if someone could help me decide on which college to plan for and give some tips on which exams and courses to take? Any advice is welcome, I just need a general direction so that I can begin planning correctly.

I currently have ENG 100 College Writing from the University of Southern Maine and I'm currently studying for CLEP US History 1, US History 2, and American Government. I plan to eventually take CLEP Western Civs 1, Western Civs 2, Spanish Language (Unsure if I'll pass), and DSST Human Geography. I'm currently restudying for College Algebra on Khan Academy to take an exam or maybe Sophia. I might take CLEP College Composition, but I'm definitely okay with taking the English Composition 2 course on Sophia. I think my second math course will be statistics since it seems useful for studying history. I don't really know where to go from here other than taking humanities, social studies, and science courses on Sophia.

I'm okay with using really any resource, though I don't feel very confident with DSST's history exams. I think I'll be able to get financial aid, so I am okay with taking some Upper Levels and other required courses with the college. I'm very sorry that I couldn't figure things out before asking, I tried figuring it out a couple of months ago, and when I asked people it confused me more.

Thank you for any and all help. Please have a good day and stay safe!

[rachel83az]

If you want to get a degree before you turn 20 then UMPI is right out. It sounds like a self-paced degree might not be right for you anyway.

That leaves COSC, TESU, and EC to turn to.

COSC does NOT have a History degree but they have a lib studies (General Studies) degree and you can get a concentration in History. You would have to do some research to find out whether your area would find this appropriate or not for a History teacher. It might be okay but it might not. They're the lowest cost but they have a number of hurdles to overcome. You need 24 credits of RA + the capstone & cornerstone courses. Due to costs, it's generally best to get these as LL courses and not UL ones. They accept only a small handful of alternate providers, which can make getting the correct number of credits difficult. Especially if you want to avoid the DSST exams. They require a science-with-a-lab from somewhere; any science, but it needs an associated lab. You need 30 UL credits in total, though not all of these would need to be history. You can get an idea of how it works here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap They are technically the cheapest of the Big 3, if that works for you.

EC does have an actual History degree but it currently cannot be obtained entirely through alternate credits. There are a number of courses that simply don't have equivalents at places like Study.com. Instead of the required minimum of 7 credits taken at EC itself (capstone, cornerstone, info lit) I think you'd need to take 13-19 credits total because you need 3 or 4 History classes that only EC has. Like COSC, they also require 30 UL credits but they do NOT require the lab science (just a regular science class is fine) nor do they require a minimum number of RA credits at this time. Their degree costs more than COSC but would possibly be slightly less than TESU - I haven't added up costs to confirm this, however.

TESU is usually the most expensive of the Big 3 but I think that their costs would be right around EC for a History degree, especially if you play your cards right. TESU does not require a science with a lab (just the correct number of science credits) but they do require 24 RA credits + their capstone & cornerstone. Their history degree also only requires 15 UL credits + the capstone for a total of 18 UL credits. The do have a $3000+ residency waiver that must be paid if you don't take at least 16 of your credits with them. Fortunately, there are ways to do that relatively easily; especially if you do get financial aid.

Let us know which school seems like the best fit for your needs and we can move on from there. Each one has very different requirements and recommendations for the "best" way to obtain a degree.

[FastTrackDegree]

Stick to Sophia and InstantCert for most of your general education courses, it's faster and costs less. I would avoid anything with touchstones at Sophia, unless you really need the specific course. Some of the courses you are looking at are also available at Straighterline and Study.com.
For your major, I would recommend you to take normal classes and focus on getting a high GPA rather than speed. There might be more schools to choose from if you look around some, but get most of your general education courses done first at Sophia. Maybe you could start with the Pierpont associates degree first (depends when you turn 18).

US History 1, US History 2 - Sophia
American Government - InstantCert
Spanish Language - InstantCert
English Comp 2 - TECEP

[Alpha]

You can begin to accumulate credits in lots of ways and there's a lot written on the site about how to do that.  You'll need lots of general education credits and so you can start by taking almost anything and it will transfer into another program.  If you're going to matriculate in 2 years you won't have to worry about maxxing out your transfer credits because you won't accumulate that many if you can only do 9 at a time.  Once you're ready to enroll you'll find you have more than a few choices.  Here are some others that you can look at.
Cheapest Online History Degrees 2021 | Affordable Colleges Online

[guessill_doit]

If you want to get a degree before you turn 20 then UMPI is right out. It sounds like a self-paced degree might not be right for you anyway.

That leaves COSC, TESU, and EC to turn to.

COSC does NOT have a History degree but they have a lib studies (General Studies) degree and you can get a concentration in History. You would have to do some research to find out whether your area would find this appropriate or not for a History teacher. It might be okay but it might not. They're the lowest cost but they have a number of hurdles to overcome. You need 24 credits of RA + the capstone & cornerstone courses. Due to costs, it's generally best to get these as LL courses and not UL ones. They accept only a small handful of alternate providers, which can make getting the correct number of credits difficult. Especially if you want to avoid the DSST exams. They require a science-with-a-lab from somewhere; any science, but it needs an associated lab. You need 30 UL credits in total, though not all of these would need to be history. You can get an idea of how it works here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap They are technically the cheapest of the Big 3, if that works for you.

EC does have an actual History degree but it currently cannot be obtained entirely through alternate credits. There are a number of courses that simply don't have equivalents at places like Study.com. Instead of the required minimum of 7 credits taken at EC itself (capstone, cornerstone, info lit) I think you'd need to take 13-19 credits total because you need 3 or 4 History classes that only EC has. Like COSC, they also require 30 UL credits but they do NOT require the lab science (just a regular science class is fine) nor do they require a minimum number of RA credits at this time. Their degree costs more than COSC but would possibly be slightly less than TESU - I haven't added up costs to confirm this, however.

TESU is usually the most expensive of the Big 3 but I think that their costs would be right around EC for a History degree, especially if you play your cards right. TESU does not require a science with a lab (just the correct number of science credits) but they do require 24 RA credits + their capstone & cornerstone. Their history degree also only requires 15 UL credits + the capstone for a total of 18 UL credits. The do have a $3000+ residency waiver that must be paid if you don't take at least 16 of your credits with them. Fortunately, there are ways to do that relatively easily; especially if you do get financial aid.

Let us know which school seems like the best fit for your needs and we can move on from there. Each one has very different requirements and recommendations for the "best" way to obtain a degree.

Hi! Thank you for responding. I've looked through Excelsior a bit and created what would be a possible plan for the BS in History. I've tried choosing what I would be interested in studying. I chose to take a couple of courses at Excelsior which might make me spend 3-4 semesters at the college, but it helps with history requirements and upper-level courses. I think I'd be able to complete everything by the time I turn 22.

If this does work, I'd do most of the exams first, finish the Sophia courses, finish Study.com, finish the Spanish Language CLEP, and then apply for Excelsior.

Here is the plan that I've created, please tell me if there are any mistakes. Thank you for any and all help
Excelsior College BS in History (121 -127 Credits)

(7) Excelsior Required
Excelsior Cornerstone B: Pathways (UL)
Excelsior History Capstone (UL)
Excelsior Information Literacy

(9) Humanities
Sophia Introduction to Ethics
Sophia Art History 1
Sophia Art History 2

(9) Social Sciences / History
CLEP American Government
DSST Human Geography
Sophia Microeconomics

(9) Natural Sciences & Math 
Sophia Environmental Science
Sophia Human Biology
Sophia College Algebra

(6) Written English
ENG 100 College Writing
Sophia English Composition 2

(45) History Credits
CLEP US History 1
CLEP US History 2
CLEP Western Civilizations 1 (Their catalog says Western Civs can cover World History, sorry if this is wrong)
CLEP Western Civilizations 2
Excelsior Transatlantic Slave Trade (UL)
Excelsior The Global Cold War (UL)
Excelsior African American History (UL)
Excelsior A History of Women in America (UL)
Excelsior World War 1 (UL)
Excelsior Holocaust (UL)
Study.com The Civil War and Reconstruction
Study.com History of the Vietnam War or Causes and Effects of the Vietnam War
Study.com American Civil Rights Movement
Study.com Causes and Effects of the Vietnam War
Study.com War and American Society

(36 - 42) General Electives
CLEP Spanish Language (Possible Fail. I’m studying the language for fun and want to try to take the exam at some point. Maybe I'll take the Study.com Spanish courses if I don't feel too good about the exam)
Study.com Foundations of Education
Study.com Classroom Management
Study.com Differentiated Instruction
Study.com Teaching Elementary Math
Study.com Sociology of Work (UL)
Study.com International Finance (UL)
Sophia Macroeconomics
Sophia Studying Religions
Sophia Ancient Greek Philosophers
Sophia Intro to Psychology
Sophia Intro to Sociology
Sophia Statistics

[rachel83az]

IIRC, the cornerstone is only UL if you transfer in 90 or more credits before you even begin at EC. Otherwise, it's LL. I could be mistaken on that point, however. I would also recommend swapping out one of those Excelsior history courses for ONU: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Ol...University The ONU classes are only $50/credit ($150 per course) and that's pretty good for UL credit! Unless you're set on Sociology of Work and/or International Finance for some reason, I think you'd also enjoy Thematic Studies in Literature more than either of those options.

You could also take the UExcel exam "World Conflicts since 1900" for UL history credit. They're similar to, but not the same as, CLEP exams. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UExcel_Exams They're graded credit, unlike CLEPs which are pass/fail.

You mentioned that you're currently studying for the CLEP US History exams. If you haven't already taken them, I'd drop those and just sign up for Sophia. Sophia will be much better and less stressful than the CLEP exams.

I would also pencil in Sophia's "U.S. History: Learn from the Past, Prepare for the Future" as a possible history course. It appears to be one of the more difficult Sophia courses (in terms of expected work) but would be possibly be easier than some of the so-called LL History courses that you've chosen from SDC. While EC doesn't consider those history courses to be UL, they are generally considered to be UL and have at least one paper due in addition to the final exam & the quizzes. While we don't know for certain that EC will take it, nor how, chances are good that they'll accept this newest History course at Sophia.

Along the same lines, Coopersmith has a couple of History exams that EC brings in as LL. They also have a couple of Education courses that you might want to take. Unlike SDC, where you have to keep paying a monthly fee whether or not you take an exam, you take the Coopersmith exam when you are ready to do so. Whether you take the exam this month, next month, or in 5 months from now, the Coopersmith fees are the same. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Co...Consulting

Do NOT take Sophia's English composition. The grading is inconsistent and it's just not a good experience. Take the English Comp TECEP from TESU. One exam and done. If you actually want a COURSE to be able to brush up on your English Comp skills (because History is a lot of writing), I don't blame you. Take the ASU's English Comp II course for FREE (no credit) and then take the TECEP. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Ar...al_Learner You'll be much happier.

As for the breakdown of the course list, it looks okay to me but EC plans are not my strength. Hopefully, dfrecore can chime in later to let you know whether you outright missed anything that I've overlooked.

[TwinMom]

Just one note:  The Cornerstone is UL at Excelsior if you transfer in at least 60 cr.

[rachel83az]

Just one note:  The Cornerstone is UL at Excelsior if you transfer in at least 60 cr.

Thanks! I'm not sure why I was thinking it was 90 credits.

[dfrecore]

Taking that many history courses at EC will be quite expensive, and take a while. I'd stick to just 2 of them, which will get your the partnership pricing. You need 18cr of UL in the major, and none of the Study.com history courses will be considered UL at EC, so I would make sure to plan in your UL first.

Intermediate/UL US History:
HIS 306: The American Civil War Era (Study.com)
HIS322: Revolutionary America (EC) - UL

Intermediate/UL European History:
HIS 311: The Holocaust and WWII (Study.com)
HIS350: WWI or HIS353: Holocaust (EC - ask if either of these won't duplicate the Study.com course) - UL

Intermediate/UL Non-Western/Global History:
HIS 379: Latin American History and Politics (ONU $150 self-paced) - UL
World Conflicts Since 1900 (UExcel exam) - UL

History Elective (choose 2):
HIS-301: Eastern European Jewish Immigration and Settlement in the US (Coopersmith) - UL (check first)
HIS-302: Jewish Participation in the Garment Industry - UL (check first)
HIS-304: History of Food Trucks (Coopersmith) - UL (check first)

Capstone - EC, UL

That should get all of your UL major requirements done. Then plan in everything else. Your first part of the GE is good; I'd probably skip Sophia's Ethics course and just take Study.com's BUS 318: Management Ethics, which will kill 2 birds with 1 stone (ethics and UL). I'd also try to get those Coopersmith UL (hopefully) history courses as well - then you'd have all of your UL completed, and would just need to fill in everything else. There's just no need to take courses you don't need to if you can plan properly.

Your best bet is to apply to EC and ask about the Coopersmith courses; and then get that plan set in stone. It's going to save you time and money in the long run if you can do that.

EC has 15-week courses as well as 8-week ones; I'd probably do a 15-week one after you have some others under your belt, and have your writing down. That way, you're more likely to get a good grade. Then you can switch to 8-week ones if you'd like.

I'd also mix in Sophia, Study.com, and Coopersmith alongside 1 course per term at EC. That way, you can really balance everything out. With Study.com and Sophia, it's not practical to discuss "semesters" - so I'd probably schedule 2 Sophia courses in a month (or more if you can fit) and then 2 Study.com courses in a month; then study for a Coopersmith exam; then cycle back through. Your goal should be to plan out the EC courses you want to take next year, and the alt-credit courses to get mostly completed before you start at EC. You could easily finish this degree well before 4 years (probably 2, and more likely even less).

[rachel83az]

Coopersmith has a course on the history of food trucks? That really makes me want to add a History degree to my plan so that I have an excuse to take that course.