Could use some help

[longtermstudent]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum so I will provide a little background about myself. I served in the Army from 2003 - 2007. I deployed once during this time. I took a few classes with UMUC while in and even took a DANTES test for intro to business. I had full intent of having my degree finished quickly after the Army.

Well, I allowed everything to get in the way of that. I went to the nearest community college and began taking courses. A combination of many events and a bad relationship led me to go off and on to that school for nearly a decade. I recently found and married the woman of my dreams who was in a similar boat, but had went back and is almost finished with a more traditional approach to distance learning with her BS in business. This motivated me to go back yet again to the community college and actually wrap up this degree goal of mine. I am doing well this semester. However, reading about the Big 3 schools has led me to believe transitioning to an aggressive plan to finish my BS in business is the best path for me.

I am currently also doing the ALEKS college algebra course (for ACE credit) on top of my 9 semester hours that are almost finished in this summer term. I test very well in all non algebra and above math related tests. I see CLEPS and DSST tests as a solid path for me. Also, I am not adverse to doing some straighterline courses (I was considering this for Macro, Accountings, etc as I want to actually take courses in this to prepare for my MBA better).

I want a business degree. I would like to keep costs down and only test, straighterline, ALEKs, etc. Except for of course any required capstone course. I know obtaining the upper level credits will be the biggest challenge. Which of the big 3 should I do in my circumstance? I know I can obtain some business UL from DSST. How can I fill in the rest? Which school would be the fastest to degree completion as I need this to transition into new employment? Speed of pulling this off is very important to me.

My community college transitioned from quarter hours to semester hours. My unofficial transcript shows what I earned for each respective course in either quarter hours or semester hours. I did my best to guess how they converted it, however, my official will be slightly different. I have only included courses that I have passed with a C or above. I have not included any D courses. Let me know if I should. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Community college:

CMGT-1153 Residential Construction C 3.00
POLS-250 International relations A 3.33
SSCI-100 Globalization B 3.33
ENGL 235 Intro to Poetry B 3.33
REAL 101 RE Principals and practice A 2.67
REAL 102 Real estate law A 2.67
REAL 111 Real estate finance B 1.33
REAL 112 Real estate appraisal B 1.33
BIO 112 Intro to Bio II / Human biology B 3.33
Math 102 Beginning Algebra I C 2.67
GEOG-200 World regional geography C 3.33
SOC 101 Intro to Sociology B 3.33
ANTH 200 Intro to physical anthropology C 3.33
PSY 100 Intro to psychology B 3.33
COMM 105 Speech B 2.00
ENGL 251 American Identity C 3.33
Geol-101 Earth systems I – C 3.33
ENGL 102 Essay and research – B 2.00
REAL 275 Repair, restore, remodel B 2.00
ECON 2220 Microeconomics (in progress will pass above C) 3.00
HIST 1152 US history (in progress will pass above C) 3.00
COMM 2200 – Business communication (in progress will pass above C) 3.00

Courses with grade of D from community college:
Math 103 Beginning Algebra II D 3.00
HUM 151 American Civ to 1877 D 3.00
Bio 111 Intro to biology I D 3.00

Other community college:
Western Civ (level 100 class) A 2.00

UMUC:

GERM 111 Elementary German I A 3.00
GVPT 100 Principles Government Politics B 3.00
ENGL 101 Introduction to writing C 3.00
GERM 112 Elementary German II C 3.00
MGST 162 Personal Counseling A 3.00
MGST 398 Comm skills for supervisors A 1.00

Joint Services Transcript:

First Aid 1.00 (LL)
Marksmanship 2.00 (LL)
Physical Conditioning 2.00 (LL)
Electronics Maintenance and Troubleshooting 4.00 (LL)

DSST:
Introduction to Business 3.00 Required by ACE: 46 Score: 61

[longtermstudent]

I would like to add that I prefer to do the rest of the degree in a non traditional manner. If I can avoid taking any actual courses other than the capstone that would be great.

[davewill]

Include the Ds, but indicate which they are. TESU takes them, but not for certain requirements, like English. The general consensus around here is that TESU is the cheapest and easiest path to a BSBA.

[clep3705]

Why not just apply to all three and eliminate all uncertainty? You'll get great responses from here, but you'll get even better responses from here after being able to post what you were told. Instead of thinking of it as applying to all three, think of it as soliciting bids from all three where the bidder with the fastest way to a degree wins.

[longtermstudent]

Why not just apply to all three and eliminate all uncertainty? You'll get great responses from here, but you'll get even better responses from here after being able to post what you were told. Instead of thinking of it as applying to all three, think of it is soliciting bids from all three where the bidder with the fastest way to a degree wins.

Can I apply to all 3 without paying enrollment fees and what not? Just the application fees to get evaluated?

Also editing all the D's into the original post:

Courses with grade of D from community college:
Math 103 Beginning Algebra II D 3.00
HUM 151 American Civ to 1877 D 3.00
Bio 111 Intro to biology I D 3.00

[KayV]

Yes, you could apply to all three to see who would give you the most credits applied to your degree, without having to pay enrollment fees.

Just checking- did any of your science classes include a one-hour lab?

[dfrecore]

To convert quarters to semesters, multiply quarter units by .667. So a 4qu course = 2.67su. You will want to keep a couple of decimal points as it will matter when adding them all up later (but not by a lot). Also, the schools may still require you to get another credit in a certain area if they determine that it's not enough units (they may waive the requirement, but it's good to know anyway).

So revise your post to show the new units.

Regarding applying to all 3, here's what that will cost:

TESU - $75 application fee, they will evaluate your credits within about 25 business days. You have quite a lot of the requirements to take.

COSC - $75 application fee plus $150 non-refundable deposit to evaluate your courses - you will only get this money back if you end up getting your degree here (they will apply it to your cornerstone course)

EC - $50 application fee.


Total cost (to the school) for the BSBA (includes any app fees, enrollment fees, student semester fees, cornerstone, capstone, graduation or residency waiver fees as they apply to each school):

TESU $2,812 ($2,000 residency fee is main cost - this also assumes that you will take the Strategic Management capstone course as a TECEP exam
COSC $2,869 ($1,131 cornerstone and $1,131 capstone is main cost) - will take 2 semesters to take these 2 courses
EC $5,105 ($3,060 6cr capstone is main cost)

[KayV]

Quarter Hours to Semester Hours
1 qh= 0.67 sh
2 qh= 1.33 sh
3 qh= 2 sh
4 qh= 2.67 sh
5 qh= 3.33 sh
6 qh= 4 sh

[clep3705]

The other cost to factor in is the cost of submitting transcripts to each school. A DSST/DANTES transcript is $30, so $90 total for all three schools. CLEP is $20, so $60 for three. Costs of applying may differ for current or former military people - something I'm not qualified to comment on.

[sanantone]

The easiest way to remember how to convert quarter hours to semester hours and vice versa is to remember the number 1.5. Quarter hours should be divided by 1.5 when converting to semester hours. Semester hours should be multiplied by 1.5 when converting to quarter hours.