Crippling self doubt! (aka starting college at 40!)

[Mil0]

I finished Bus 109 and comp 102 in a couple hours (including the finals for both). I’ve got about 60 of the quizzes completed on comp 105 but it’s super repetitive. It’s been super boring because I’m like “these are questions about computers that people don’t know?” But I also grew up when you built your computer yourself from parts scavengers from work/friends etc.

I’m at 54 credits now and kind of feeling like I’m getting ahead of myself. SDC did a degree plan for me but the first evaluation that TESU had the credits aligning differently. So far TESU has only entered 22 credits into my evaluation. I don’t want to stop but I also want to make sure I’m on the right track.

Oh, I forgot to mention I took the College Success course at Sophia for 1 credit. I emailed them to tell them my $50 off coupon had expired and asked if they could send me another one. They did, so it was a free 1 credit, which I needed.

I also need a 2 credit science class. Any suggestions? I don’t get why they ask for things like 8 credits or 10 credits when there isn’t an easy way to get that amount. Does the extra credit get applied somewhere else or do you just end up at like 121/120 when you graduate?

[Mil0]

One other question. As I mentioned, TESU has only added 22 credits to my degree plan. They haven’t aligned to the plan SDC made for me as far as where TESU is placing the credits. I have 5 proctored exams pending review as well as two courses ready for me to take the finals. Once I take those, I’ll have 60 credits. I feel like I should take some time off to let everything catch up.

I’m just worried I’m going to waste time and money on the wrong courses but I think that’s the self doubt creeping back in. I’m halfway to my degree and it’s been 2.5 months. Ah this pace, I could complete my BA in homeleand security and emergency management in less than 6 months depending on how long the 30 AOS credits that I have to take with TESU take me. Advice is appreciated!

[TexasTink]

I had overages on my degree and they will adjust your GE Electives acocordingly. So, I think I had to take 5-7 science credits and I did 6, and then I had the 2 credit ethics course where it was supposed to be 3. In both cases, the amount of electives I needed just fluctuated.

You may very likely end up with extra credits. I technically have 126, though TESU only acknowledges 122 of them since they didn’t take my first math class. It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

As for the evaluation, are they coming in as different courses/numbers than you were expecting or is TESU just not putting them where you want? If it’s the latter, you can just email them or talk to an academic advisor and get them moved around. I had to do that because they weren’t putting my AOS classes where they belonged. The more classes you have sent in though, the better the automatic evaluation becomes. They just really have no idea what all classes you plan to take and where you want them to go so sometimes they end up in random places until they get more classes sent to them or you let them know where you want them.

[Mil0]

I think I just need to take some time off to let my credit evaluation catch up. I've got 57 credits total, with only 22 having been applied to my evaluation so far. I have 5 exams still pending that need to be reviewed by SDC's proctors, which will be 6 shortly because I plan to finish one more final so I'll have an even 60 before I take a break.

[davewill]

Only take time off if you WANT to take time off. Otherwise, just stick to the plan. The eval will catch up in due time and the courses will get plugged into the right slots eventually. I know that sometimes TESU can be so slow that it can shake your confidence in the process, but we're pretty good at this around here and you can trust we're not leading you astray.

[Mil0]

Only take time off if you WANT to take time off. Otherwise, just stick to the plan. The eval will catch up in due time and the courses will get plugged into the right slots eventually. I know that sometimes TESU can be so slow that it can shake your confidence in the process, but we're pretty good at this around here and you can trust we're not leading you astray.

Wow. This is definitely what I needed this morning.   Thank you!

[Mil0]

I decided to take April off as I'll be traveling for work and most likely unable to regularly have internet access. Assuming the TEEX Basic Property Technician course really counts for 3 credits, I'll be at 60 credits even. I feel like that's a good time to take a break considering I went from 0 to 60 in 3 months. Thanks to help from all of you!

I literally had no idea where to start or how to get started and that's seriously the hardest part. I've hit a couple of bumps along the way, mostly again due to self-doubt but this forum has really been so amazing and I know I wouldn't be this far along without the influence and help I've found here. 


This is what I have remaining and then I'll have a BA in HSEM. 

1. Gen Ed
A. Intellectual & Practical Skills: 6 cr
ENC-102 Written Communication: College Comp II 3 cr
SOS-110 Info Literacy: Living in the Information Age 3 cr

B. Civic & Global Learning: 3cr
SOC-322 Diversity: Cultural Diversity in the US

C. Knowledge of Human Cultures: 3cr
HLS-355 Critical Thinking for Homeland Security

D. Understanding The Physical & Natural World: 2 cr
Any Science/Comp Sci Course 2 cr

E. Mathematics: 3 cr
Any College Level Math Course - (really need to figure this one out) 3 cr

F. Gen Ed Electives: 7 cr (Shortage from the Ethics class needs to be made up here)
Any GE Elective 4cr
Any GE Elective 3cr

2. Area of Study
Required Courses: 18cr
SOS-440 TERRORISM 3cr
HLS-410 COUNTERTERRORISM: CONSTITUTIONAL & LEGISLATIVE ISSUES 3cr
HLS-420 HOMELAND SECURITY: PREPAREDNESS, PREVENTION & DETERRENCE 3cr
HLS-429 PROTECTING THE HOMELAND, RESPONSE & RECOVERY 3cr
AOJ-204 RESEARCH METHODS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 3cr
HLS-498 CAPSTONE IN HOMELAND SECURITY & EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 3cr

Area of Study Electives: 3cr (I just need to pick one of the 3 below)
AOJ-110: White Collar Crime 3cr
SOC-239: Victimology 3cr
BUS 303: Management Info Systems 3cr

Free Electives: 15 cr
Any college-level course, including business x 5


I think my signature lists everything I've taken so far, aside from the new Forensic TEEX courses. Hopefully, when I get back to working on my education, my TESU evaluation will finally reflect what I've completed so far and I'll be a little less insecure. 

Thanks again, everyone!

[Mil0]

Since I can't seem to stop taking classes, I gave ALEKS another try since it's inexpensive. I powered through College Algebra over the last two days and managed to get an 89%. It was pretty brutal. I really feel like it went well beyond algebra, aside from the last two questions. I'll take that pass though and move on!

I've got to plan 27 credits (the free and gen ed electives) and the remaining 30 credits are specific courses required by the degree. Not sure how long those will take since I'll have to take them via TESU but I still can't believe I did this in 3 months!

All of my SDC finals have finally been proctored and approved and everything is caught up on my ACE account as well. Still haven't seen the credits applied to my TESU transcript yet so hopefully those will catch up soon.

[Mil0]

I received an updated Academic Evaluation on April 9th. It's currently showing 53/120. Figured I'd share it so people could see how the courses I've taken have been applied/evaluated by TESU as the Homeland Security and Emergency Management degree is pretty hard to find information on. 


  TESU eval 04132019 redacted.pdf (Size: 294.45 KB / Downloads: 8)

According to my spreadsheet, I'm at 63/120. When I contacted TESU about the TEEX credit change, they requested that I send in a new ACE transcript reflecting the new credit evaluation. I did that but they did not adjust the credits. I'm guessing they just skipped over that, not realizing that's what I had sent in the new evaluation for so I need to make an appointment with an advisor to fix that. 

That puts me at 57. This eval is also missing my ALEKS course, which I ended up completing right after sending in the new ACE transcript. That would put me at 60cr. The remaining missing 3 credits are from the new TEEX course that I took which was the Basic Property Technician course. 

I had taken Business 109: Intro to Computing and Computer Science 102: Fundamentals of Information Technology in order to fulfill part of my D. Natural Sciences requirements. In the degree plan that SDC had helped me create, those courses were listed as being options for that. Business 109 transferred in as COS-101 and Computer Science 102 transferred in as CMP-202. COS-101 went into my Natural Science reqs but CMP-202 just went into my GE electives. That's not really a big deal since I was taking Comp Science 103: Computer Concepts & Applications along side the other two courses and just need to take the final for that. That leaves me with 2 credits that I need for Natural Sciences so I'm trying to find something that would cover that. I'm hoping that one of the new TEEX courses may cover that. 

Of the remaining credits that I need, 24 are from 8 specific AOS required courses. Another 6 are specific GE reqs or TESU specific courses so those are pre-planned and I've already completed my last AOS elective (aside from the final), which isn't reflected in the evaluation so that's another 3 credits that are accounted for. 

All I've got left is to plan the following: 
2 cr - Natural Sciences
1 cr - GE elective 
21 cr - Free Electives 

Any suggestions for a 2 credit Natural Sciences course, something that's worth 1 credit for a GE elective, as well as any Free Elective suggestions that are inexpensive would be greatly appreciated! 

Again, I can't thank you all enough!

[mysonx3]

No reason to do a two credit science course and then a one credit GE course - just do a three credit science course (which will be MUCH easier to find) and knock out both in one fell swoop. I personally enjoyed the OnlineDegree.com Astronomy course.

For free electives, I would just do some of the "basically free" courses, like OnlineDegree.com or Saylor, or better yet, CLEP if that is an option for you.