Considering the transfer change at TESU..I need help

[edwardtheprogseoul]

Heres the deal,

I'm planning on moving to Korea to teach English at the end of this year or the beginning of 2022. The requirement is a bachelors degree from any four-year institution. I know many people who have done this from Thomas Edison, however I'm not so sure about the others. I settled on getting a business degree because it also applies to my other endeavors outside of teaching. 

I was supposed to begin this plan a few months back but life got the best of me. Considering the new transfer requirements at Thomas Edison State University, I really need some help figuring out how to put this plan together in the most cost effective and time efficient manner.

My original plan was to take the 70+ credits from Sophia along with what i could at study.com and take the capstone at TESU. That is obviously however not the case any longer. The following questions answered would be extremely helpful to me:

- I keep seeing mentions of TEL learning… How exactly does this work? I did a little homework but it's still a little unclear to me.

- I've also seen a lot of comments about University of Maine Presque Isle. Is this an accredited four year institution? It seems different but I could be wrong. There are limited on degrees but mine is available. Is this a slower process? Is it more expensive?

- what is now the most cost effective and time effective way of achieving this at Thomas Edison State University or equivalent? Assuming I have the majority of the knowledge required already and I'm a quick learner obviously.

Thanks so much!
Ed

[rachel83az]

For TESU, you can see how to get a degree here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap This should cover most of your questions regarding TESU.

UMPI is an accredited 4-year institution. They simply have a competency-based program that allows you to take as many classes as you are able to for one flat fee (roughly $700 per month). They can be much faster and cheaper than TESU. They do require 30 credits to be taken from them but this is something that can probably be done by most people in 6-8 months.

Approximate costs:
UMPI: 
$0395 - 5 months @ Sophia.org
$5600 - 8 months at UMPI 
-------
$5995

TESU:
$0395 - 5 months @ Sophia.org
$1600 - 24 credits @ TEL Learning 
$1000 - 5 months @ SDC
$3114 - capstone/cornerstone @ TESU
$3192 - residency waiver
--------
$9301

Your cost for Sophia will likely be lower; it all depends on how quickly you are able to complete English Comp I & II. These can have long grading times. Either way, in general, UMPI should be both faster and cheaper than TESU. 

What I would do would be to sign up for Sophia and go through the lessons as quickly as possible. If you are able to complete everything in 3-4 months, you should be good to go for UMPI. If you decide that this pace doesn't work for you and that you'd rather go with TESU, you may have to duplicate some of your credits by taking the RA versions but it won't really cost you any extra time/money (beyond what TESU already costs) for doing so.

[edwardtheprogseoul]

rachel83az

^^
Thank you so much for this!!

I have a few questions for you if you don't mind!

- Lets say, Im able to commit an average of 5-8 hours a day to this and my knowledge, overall, is there in regards to the material. Would you say its feasible for me to complete the Sophia part in a lesser period of time? How about the same in regards to the 30 Credits from UMPI?

- With TESU, what does SDC refer to?

- Is UMPI's regional accreditation the same as the overall school system they are within?

Thank you so much!
Ed

[rachel83az]

The main sticking point for Sophia is how long it takes to grade the Touchstones (the assignments that need to be created & turned in).

Approximate grading time for the courses that have Touchstones:

Foundations of English Composition (not required, but may be a good starting point if you haven't been to school in a while): 1-2 weeks
English Composition I: 3-5 weeks
English Composition II: 7-10 weeks
Business Law: 5-7 days
Communication at Work: 1 week
Public Speaking: 5-8 weeks
College Readiness: (also not required, but can be a good starter course) 3-7 days

With Sophia, you're allowed to have 2 courses active at once. This means that you'll want to have 1 course with Touchstones + 1 course without touchstones active at once. So you should start (for instance) College Readiness and then go through other courses while waiting for the College Readiness Touchstone to be graded. Then you'd switch to Foundations of English Composition until it's time to wait for those Touchstones to be graded. And so on. You'll probably finish the courses that only have quizzes/Milestones before you finish the ones that also have Touchstones.

SDC = Study.com

IIRC, ss20s has completed the required courses at UMPI in just 2 or 3 terms (4 or 6 months). So, it is possible to go faster if you have more time to devote to everything. I would check out the main UMPI thread here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-UMPI It's 24 pages but well worth the read.

UMPI is regionally accredited by The New England Commission of Higher Education: https://www.umpi.edu/about-umpi/accreditation/

[edwardtheprogseoul]

rachel83az

Thanks once a again! 

Are you able to begin have 2 courses going at once while also waiting for others to be graded or does the grading need to be complete before beginning another? Also, am I able to begin UMPI courses while I wait for the previous to be graded? 

Ed

---

rachel83az

Thanks once a again! 

Are you able to begin have 2 courses going at once while also waiting for others to be graded or does the grading need to be complete before beginning another? Also, am I able to begin UMPI courses while I wait for the previous to be graded? 

Ed

I almost forgot! Are there specific classes that must be taken at each or is there some overlap? Jumping into that thread now!!

[rachel83az]

You can have two classes TOTAL at Sophia active at once. This includes both classes that you're waiting for a grade on and classes that you're actively completing right now.

As for what classes to take, TESU accepts almost everything (except the foundations classes and college readiness). UMPI accepts most/all of Sophia (including the Foundations of Statistics that TESU doesn't accept), see here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/So...lency_List Blank boxes mean that those courses haven't been transferred yet. They may or may not transfer but we don't know (yet).

[edwardtheprogseoul]

You can have two classes TOTAL at Sophia active at once. This includes both classes that you're waiting for a grade on and classes that you're actively completing right now.

As for what classes to take, TESU accepts almost everything (except the foundations classes and college readiness). UMPI accepts most/all of Sophia (including the Foundations of Statistics that TESU doesn't accept), see here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/So...lency_List Blank boxes mean that those courses haven't been transferred yet. They may or may not transfer but we don't know (yet).

So in essence, I only have to complete ANY 30 courses through UMPI, not a set 30?

[rachel83az]

Oh, I misunderstood your question. You need 30 CREDITS from UMPI itself. 10 classes. Plus the 80-90 Sophia credits. It might take you an extra class or so at UMPI, depending on your degree and how they apply the Sophia credits, to reach the degree requirements.

It takes 120 total credits to get a bachelor's degree.

[ss20ts]

Here is the BLS with a minor in education from UMPI:

https://online.umpi.edu/programs/bls-educational-studies-minor.aspx

You will need to complete a MINIMUM of 30 credits at UMPI. No you do not get to choose which classes. You must follow the degree plan. You must complete all of the minor requirements. You must complete all of the GEC (gen ed) requirements. Additionally, you must complete a specific number of upper level courses - most of which will need to be completed at UMPI. 

If you complete all of the courses offered by Sophia, you'll be in great shape to complete your degree at UMPI. Ashkir has a thread on here showing how all of Sophia's courses transferred to UMPI. UMPI offers every course needed to complete all of their degrees. Feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions about UMPI.

Edited to add: Actually, if you don't already have English courses completed, I wouldn't complete them on Sophia if you're planning on attending UMPI. UMPI's English courses are far less work and take much less time. They'll also set you up for how they want you to write at UMPI.