Master's Degree Options

[dm.hans32]

Hello again all, and thanks to everyone who gave me advice earlier this year! I'm on track to complete my BLS-CJ, History, Poli Sci degree from UMPI this session. So here I am, back for round two- looking for a master's degree.

I've completed 55 Sophia/Coursera credits since January and 21 UMPI credits (3 classes left to complete this term). I figured I should keep the momentum going and keep using my GI Bill.

Your Location: North Dakota, USA
Your Age: 33
What kind of degree do you want?: Master's Degree OR an accelerated dual Bachelor/Master. I'd like to avoid hardcore business topics (I haven't found them particularly interesting). I was thinking Criminal Justice (not the most transferable degree outside my current career) or a STEM field (beneficial inside/outside my current career)

I have considered Walden's CBE Tempo Master's in Criminal Justice (not the biggest fan of for-profit schools). I have also considered WGU, possibly the BSIT-MSIT accelerated degree to gain some knowledge and skill that is outside my wheelhouse. 

Current Regional Accredited Credits:

A mess of Gen Eds and CJ courses from several schools, equal to 60 or so credits (none that would be transferable to a Masters)

However, from UMPI I have:
Vietnam Wars
Arab-Israel Conflicts
History of Infectious Disease
Intl Relations & Modern Conflicts (in progress)
CJ Ethics
Research Methods
Criminology
Police & Policing
Modern Political Thought (in progress)
Constitutional Law (will be starting that this week hopefully)

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

Sophia: 
Intro to Ethics
Art History 1
Project Manage
College Algebra
Intro to IT
Visual Comms
Business Comms
Environ Sci
Microbiology
Workplace Writing 2
U.S. History I
U.S. History II
Intro to Soc
Spanish 1
Human Biology
Human Biology Lab

Coursera
Google PM Professional Cert


Any certifications or military experience?
Army 68W Healthcare Specialist 
ND Peace Officer License
ND POST Board Instructor
NREMT EMT-Basic

Budget: Flexible. I have approximately 15 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill (60%) left.

Commitments: I work full-time in Law Enforcement, subject to call-outs and long days. However, I've been very successful in managing my time.

Dedicated time to study: I can study a few hours per day when I work. I can do several hours on days off.

Timeline: Finishing the courses required for the degree as quickly as possible. Ideally within the next year or so, however I can slow it up to about 15 months.

Tuition assistance/reimbursement: GI Bill

Thanks again!

[TINASAM]

Georgia Southern University has a Master in Criminal Justice online, it's an RA program, and I pay under $1000 a course without any help with tuition so the GI Bill and others will bring that down. One of the cheapest around for an RA school. https://www.georgiasouthern.edu/cogs/adm...iminology/

[bjcheung77]

Here's one sticky thread that may provide you a shortlist to select from, then you can drop it down to your choices... https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...der-1-Year

[spohara]

This forum is very geared toward inexpensive schools, which you don't need. Post-9/11 GI Bill gives you a full ride for your entire masters program. What you should be looking for is the best school you can find that is either public or yellow ribbon, that offers a masters program in the timeline you're looking for. It seems your time management is pretty good, but a masters program is not going to be like undergrad, so I recommend checking what the pace is like in a program before overstretching yourself. If you have over a 3.0, just write a really good statement of purpose and make sure you have a good writing sample and you can get into whatever school you want (not 100% true, but almost, they'll like your background).