Custom degree plan

[evanmonast]

There's a good chance you're going to read this and think I'm dumb but I'm going to ask anyway..
Can you combine YourPace degrees to any extent or do you have to follow the exact laid out plan? I'll explain..

Dr. Leduc just got back to me on the Criminal Justice capstone and it seems dreadful and not at all worth it. There is no shot I'm continuing down that road so now I'm looking for other options. A BAS/BLS with Educational Studies minor spikes my interest but I haven't (Or anyone that I've asked) ever heard of getting a bachelors degree with no major. I don't understand it at all.

If I were to go down that route but also elect to take every course mentioned in the English core requirement would it be possible to get a degree in English with an educational studies minor? Or can you not have a major when going for one of the BLS degrees? Do you absolutely need to have the professional communication and journalism concentration? for the English degree?

For example UMPI (Not YourPace) has just a BA in English degree where any minor/concentration is optional, you pick whatever you want, if you want. They even have an online English degree without the communication/journalism concentration. Just wondering if YourPace had the same flexibility.

[dfrecore]

There's a good chance you're going to read this and think I'm dumb but I'm going to ask anyway..
Can you combine YourPace degrees to any extent or do you have to follow the exact laid out plan? I'll explain..

Dr. Leduc just got back to me on the Criminal Justice capstone and it seems dreadful and not at all worth it. There is no shot I'm continuing down that road so now I'm looking for other options. A BAS/BLS with Educational Studies minor spikes my interest but I haven't (Or anyone that I've asked) ever heard of getting a bachelors degree with no major. I don't understand it at all.

If I were to go down that route but also elect to take every course mentioned in the English core requirement would it be possible to get a degree in English with an educational studies minor? Or can you not have a major when going for one of the BLS degrees? Do you absolutely need to have the professional communication and journalism concentration? for the English degree?

For example UMPI (Not YourPace) has just a BA in English degree where any minor/concentration is optional, you pick whatever you want, if you want. They even have an online English degree without the communication/journalism concentration. Just wondering if YourPace had the same flexibility.

I agree that the English degree with the journalism concentration is crappy - if you have zero interest in journalism or Professional Communication (say you want to be an English teacher or something like that), this is not a great degree.

But, English is a minor allowed in the regular school, and a major in YourPace, so I would think that you should be able to make it a BLS minor - it makes complete sense to allow this.  Having said that, I have no clue if they'll let you do so.

Have you thought of just calling to ask?

[evanmonast]

There's a good chance you're going to read this and think I'm dumb but I'm going to ask anyway..
Can you combine YourPace degrees to any extent or do you have to follow the exact laid out plan? I'll explain..

Dr. Leduc just got back to me on the Criminal Justice capstone and it seems dreadful and not at all worth it. There is no shot I'm continuing down that road so now I'm looking for other options. A BAS/BLS with Educational Studies minor spikes my interest but I haven't (Or anyone that I've asked) ever heard of getting a bachelors degree with no major. I don't understand it at all.

If I were to go down that route but also elect to take every course mentioned in the English core requirement would it be possible to get a degree in English with an educational studies minor? Or can you not have a major when going for one of the BLS degrees? Do you absolutely need to have the professional communication and journalism concentration? for the English degree?

For example UMPI (Not YourPace) has just a BA in English degree where any minor/concentration is optional, you pick whatever you want, if you want. They even have an online English degree without the communication/journalism concentration. Just wondering if YourPace had the same flexibility.

I agree that the English degree with the journalism concentration is crappy - if you have zero interest in journalism or Professional Communication (say you want to be an English teacher or something like that), this is not a great degree.

But, English is a minor allowed in the regular school, and a major in YourPace, so I would think that you should be able to make it a BLS minor - it makes complete sense to allow this.  Having said that, I have no clue if they'll let you do so.

Have you thought of just calling to ask?

Yes, but unfortunately I thought of the idea at like 10:30 PM EST and couldn’t wait to put it out there. Being able to do one of the BLS paths and adding your own major would be a game changer. I just don’t think having a degree without a major will do anything for my career at this point so I might just have to suffer through the journalism stuff. It is what it is I guess, can’t have it all!

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

Dr. Leduc just got back to me on the Criminal Justice capstone and it seems dreadful and not at all worth it. There is no shot I'm continuing down that road so now I'm looking for other options. A BAS/BLS with Educational Studies minor spikes my interest but I haven't (Or anyone that I've asked) ever heard of getting a bachelors degree with no major. 

Got two questions for you.

I also posted my reply from Dr. Leduc when I reached out; what do you think makes it dreadful? Just curious, since based on the courses you took at CCRI, you seemed to have an interest in the criminal justice field already. One thing to keep in mind is that if you were to go down the CJ path at UMPI, the coursework might feel more engaging to you, assuming that you actually want to work in the field.

That leads to my second question: What do you think you'd actually like to do with whatever degree you end up with? That could influence the path you choose.

I can't speak to the custom degree plan at UMPI, but since they already have a YourPace English major program, I'd be pretty surprised if they don't just tell you that you'd need to complete it to major in English. I assume they'd allow you to tack on an Educational Studies minor to it if you wanted.

[rachel83az]

AFAIK, Liberal Studies is the major for the BLS. The same as it is at TESU. And pretty much every other school.

[jadkins77]

Just my experiences, as I know there aren't a ton of English majors here that I'm aware of. I started as an English major. It's the degree I really wanted, but after a week with a professor who was going to be my professor for five more classes, I knew I could never move at a pace that made sense for me. She would not move through milestones, and they were very simple milestones. She even offered to zoom during her office hours, which was great, but it didn't work with my schedule and I felt like I was just missing her mark. She gave very vague advice, such as "write for Jo and Joe Schmoe." I really just wanted to start feeling like I was making a little progress, but after a week of basically working full time on that one course, I did not get passed through even the first milestone. I regrouped, talked to Jessica and switched to the BLS with management and edu studies minors. It's not what I would have EVER chosen to go back to school for in my 40s, but it's a degree that I worked hard for and I'm proud of it. When I let this professor know I was dropping the class, she said she designed the YourPace class to feel as if you were in her classroom getting the same instruction, and I applaud that. If I didn't see that she was teaching five more classes, I may have hung in there, but I just wanted to move a bit more quickly. I don't regret switching, but I do wish I had that English degree. Good luck to you.

[evanmonast]

Dr. Leduc just got back to me on the Criminal Justice capstone and it seems dreadful and not at all worth it. There is no shot I'm continuing down that road so now I'm looking for other options. A BAS/BLS with Educational Studies minor spikes my interest but I haven't (Or anyone that I've asked) ever heard of getting a bachelors degree with no major. 

Got two questions for you.

I also posted my reply from Dr. Leduc when I reached out; what do you think makes it dreadful? Just curious, since based on the courses you took at CCRI, you seemed to have an interest in the criminal justice field already. One thing to keep in mind is that if you were to go down the CJ path at UMPI, the coursework might feel more engaging to you, assuming that you actually want to work in the field.

That leads to my second question: What do you think you'd actually like to do with whatever degree you end up with? That could influence the path you choose.

I can't speak to the custom degree plan at UMPI, but since they already have a YourPace English major program, I'd be pretty surprised if they don't just tell you that you'd need to complete it to major in English. I assume they'd allow you to tack on an Educational Studies minor to it if you wanted.

Between the logging 100 hours, creating a slideshow with a 15-20 minute voiceover writing the research paper, watching that movie and then writing another paper and taking quizzes/a final assessment throughout the whole thing seemed like a bit too much. I feel like during the time it takes for just that capstone I could complete two or three other classes in their entirety.

Law enforcement was certainly my goal but I've been told countless times that a CJ degree wasn't needed and during the oral board interviews they actually prefer some diversity. Even without the degree my military experience has me getting phone calls to go to academies all the time anyway so it's not something I need to get my foot in the door.

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AFAIK, Liberal Studies is the major for the BLS. The same as it is at TESU. And pretty much every other school.

That's what I was thinking. What's the major if you bring in your Pierpont degree and request to have it bumped to a BAS? Or am I interpreting this all wrong?

---

Just my experiences, as I know there aren't a ton of English majors here that I'm aware of. I started as an English major. It's the degree I really wanted, but after a week with a professor who was going to be my professor for five more classes, I knew I could never move at a pace that made sense for me. She would not move through milestones, and they were very simple milestones. She even offered to zoom during her office hours, which was great, but it didn't work with my schedule and I felt like I was just missing her mark. She gave very vague advice, such as "write for Jo and Joe Schmoe." I really just wanted to start feeling like I was making a little progress, but after a week of basically working full time on that one course, I did not get passed through even the first milestone. I regrouped, talked to Jessica and switched to the BLS with management and edu studies minors. It's not what I would have EVER chosen to go back to school for in my 40s, but it's a degree that I worked hard for and I'm proud of it. When I let this professor know I was dropping the class, she said she designed the YourPace class to feel as if you were in her classroom getting the same instruction, and I applaud that. If I didn't see that she was teaching five more classes, I may have hung in there, but I just wanted to move a bit more quickly. I don't regret switching, but I do wish I had that English degree. Good luck to you.

You should be proud! And I can understand your frustration too. While it's honorable she wants us to get the same instruction as her on-campus students that sort of defeats the entire purpose of YourPace. Something to think about for sure.

[rachel83az]

I think you're slightly overthinking the "major". For a BAS, the major could be considered to be "Applied Sciences".

[evanmonast]

I think you're slightly overthinking the "major". For a BAS, the major could be considered to be "Applied Sciences".

I'm just worried about how I would be advertising myself to employers. A bachelors degree is something I've never even considered until about two months ago so I'm still learning what's what. English isn't my first language either so it took a little bit to learn the difference between a major and a type of degree and this just made it so blurred lol. I'll come along.

[rachel83az]

If you're going to be using the degree in the US, I wouldn't worry about it too much. IMO, Applied Science sounds a bit better on a resume than "Liberal Studies" or "Liberal Arts" so, if you're worried, I would get the BAS. If you want to use your degree in another country, standards might be different. A degree without a specific major might not be looked on very favorably in some countries, but would be fine in others.