Fastest Way to Bachelor (it's really just a bucket list item)

[chris.erhardt14]

Hi all, I am a 37 year old Business & Management Consultant. Canadian citizen but living full time in Texas. I never finished college. I started a business, dropped out, the business became successful, I exited and then started consulting entrepreneurs and businesses on becoming more efficient via automation and AI. I don't need a degree. None of my clients care about a degree, but for some reason, it always somewhat bothered me not having finished my bachelor's. I even tried going back to school while I was building my startup but that didn't work at all lol. So, now that I no longer have my startup, I think I have the capacity to tackle this once more. I absolutely do not care about the degree. What I want is the FASTEST way to accomplish this with the least amount of time commitment on my end (I do still work full time in consulting). Below are the credits I already have. Not sure if any of these would transfer since some of them are very old and my overall GPA is terrible lol. If one of you could take a look and let me know which path to take, that would be great. Also, if one of you could build a degree plan with Sophia, Study.com courses or tests I can take to earn credit, so I can knock out those before enrolling anywhere. Happy to pay you if you can do this for me (DM me to discuss payment, etc.). 

Fall 2006 via a community college in Texas: 

Fine Arts Interaction: B (3 credits)
Introduction to Business: B (3 credits)
Rhetoric & Compositions: D (3 credits)
First Year Institute Seminar: A (1 credit)
Academic Lab Reading: A (1 credit)
College Algebra: C (3 credits)
Freshman Varsity Athletics: A (1 credit)
Intro to Psychology: B (3 credits)

Term GPA: 2.667
Cum GPA: 2.667
Term Credits: 18
Cum Credits: 18

Spring 2007 via a community college in Texas: 

Rhetoric & Compositions: C (3 credits)
American Government 1: C (3 credits)
Plane Trigonometry: C (3 credits)
Introduction to Speech Communications: C (3 credits)

Term GPA: 2
Cum GPA: 2.4
Term Credits: 12
Cum Credits: 30

Fall 2007 via a community college in Texas: 

General Biology 1: F (0 credits)
Microcomputer Applications: A (4 credits)
United States History 2: D (3 credits)
Sophomore Body Conditioning: A (1 credit)

Term GPA: 1.917
Cum GPA: 2.262
Term Credits: 8
Cum Credits: 38

Spring 2008 via a community college in Texas: 

Principles of Accounting: F (0 credits)
United States History 1: C (3 credits)
Mathematics of Modern Business 2: F (0 credits)
Solar System: F (0 credits)

Term GPA: 0.462
Cum GPA: 1.836
Term Credits: 3
Cum Credits: 41

Then I was working on my business and I returned to college 10 years later. 

Fall 2018 via a community college in Texas: 

Principles of Financial Accounting: C (3 credits)
Introduction to Biology: F (0 credits) - I really don't get biology lol
Composition 1: B (3 credits)
Texas Government: B (3 credits)

Term GPA: 1.846
Cum GPA: 1.846
Term Credits: 9
Cum Credits: 50

Spring 2018 via a community college in Texas: 

Learning Frameworks: F (0 credits)
American Literature 1: D (3 credits)

Term GPA: 0.5
Cum GPA: 1.421
Term Credits: 3
Cum Credits: 53

Other things that may result in credit? 

I speak German fluently. I hold a private pilot's license. I have a Business Management Certificate. I have two AI Certificates.

[jg_nuy]

Check out East Texas A&M’s CBE program:
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Te...y-Commerce

Sample degree plan:
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

You can use Sophia for any gaps.

---

Website ETAMU
https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/organizat...baas-orgl/

They also have a general studies option. Several folks have completed these degrees on the forum in 2-3 sessions and it’s $1,000 per session for Texas residents.

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board, where in Canada were you originally from? You're about a decade younger than me, it's great thinking about your educational goal and getting that finally completed. Take your time creating a degree plan spreadsheet by following the links provided to you earlier. ETAMU and UMPI can take up to 84/90 transfer credits respectively, see which degree is for you.

+1, I agree with ETAMU (previously known as TAMUC), taking in all the transferable classes from Sophia.org first (use a coupon in the sticky links), and then move to Study.com after (also using a coupon link, in my bio/signature). Having said that, you want to have a backup option, I would also suggest looking at UMPI as well, they're affordable and you may be able to complete faster.

[chris.erhardt14]

Check out East Texas A&M’s CBE program:
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Te...y-Commerce

Sample degree plan:
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

You can use Sophia for any gaps.

---

Website ETAMU
https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/organizat...baas-orgl/

They also have a general studies option. Several folks have completed these degrees on the forum in 2-3 sessions and it’s $1,000 per session for Texas residents.

This is great. I had no idea about this school. I'm building my plan right now. It says I need English Comp I & II. I took and passed Comp I at a community college in Texas in 2018 - that should transfer just fine. For Comp II, I took and passed Rhetoric & Compositions in Spring 2007. Would that transfer as Comp II or is this different? 

[mohelena02]

East Texas A&M is the answer

[txc1500]

I'm an East Texas A&M Alum in a similar position where I didn't need a degree. Still, I also didn't like that I had left my degree incomplete, especially since I already had 100+ credits earned while attending full-time after high school. I now have an associate's and bachelor's degree, and I will graduate with my master's in May.

[Avidreader]

I add that you should take advantage of your German fluency and nab easy UL credit by taking the ACTFL speaking exam. They will certainly have an opic exam for this language and you can get up to 12 ace credit if you score high enough, 6 of them UL credit. Likewise, I think you could CLEP German and do it for free with Modernstates.

[bjcheung77]

Yes, the CLEP or ACTFL would give you some credits! I would highly suggest to complete the most of the transfer credits before enrolling with them, just in case you're still deciding on the degree program or institution, as UMPI also is a very good choice, neither school will take D grades though (I believe), thus, you need to make up those classes with Sophia.org ones, and take the 30+ credits for residency to bump up that GPA. Skip COSC, Excelsior or TESU, etc, stick with these two choices...

[chris.erhardt14]

I started with Sophia. Already went through Environmental Science (that was super easy), started Chemistry (hate it) and submitted my first papers for English Comp II (time consuming but easy since I write a lot of reports, etc for my consulting work). In regards to transferring a D into East Texas A&M, their website states: "A grade of “D” is transferable, but a minimum grade of “C” is required in all undergraduate courses in the academic major." Not sure if that means I can transfer my United States History 2 and American Literature 1.

I don't seem to understand what exactly transfers over and actually puts me towards my degree. I believe with Environmental Science, Chemistry and English Comp II I + my credit from from college I already have, I completed the 42 core credits. Then I also need 48 Professional Development Electives. Do any of the Sophia courses available count towards that? Is there anything in my past college experience that I can transfer towards the 48 Professional Development Electives? What about testing out of German? Would that go towards the 48 Professional Development Electives? And then lastly, I need 30 credits of Applied Major Courses - I assume those are the ones I can only take at East Texas A&M.

So, in summary:

- 42 core credits I think I'm good once I finish Chemistry and English Comp II.
- 48 professional dev electives, I have no idea how many I may have and how many I can get on Sophia.
- 30 applied major courses will be taken at East Texas A&M.

Lastly, it says that one has to pass courses with a B. Is that hard? How are you graded there? Proctored exams? Papers? Open book test? And how does East Texas A&M compared to University of Maine PI when it comes to exams/grading and when it comes to accepting transfer credit from previous education and Sophia/Study.com? Keep in mind, my goal isn't cheapest, best, most recognized, etc. My goal is fastest with least amount of effort and time commitment. Any Bachelor's degree will do in order to just check that bucket list item as long as it's from an accredited school and not a degree mill that will write you a degree based on your "life experience".

[ltw900rr]

I would apply to ETAMU and send your transcripts in for evaluation. Once those are evaluated and available to view in degree works then we could help you understand what Sophia classes others have taken to fill in the missing classes.

Any of your previous courses that don't apply towards a core class would be placed in the electives requirement for the degree.

The goal is to start at ETAMU and only take the 30 classes for the major and the 2 upper level electives.