Former Commitmentphobe Seeks Roadmap to Degree

[MSK9]

Hi, all.

I'm established in my current career and have been lucky enough to have many opportunities for some kind of advancement. Sadly, my heart isn't in it as it once was (for a few good reasons) and I'm on the fence about pursuing a career in Medicine. As I'm easing into my mid-thirties, my time for education (for the purposes of practicality) is running out quickly. I have a few basic, lower-level courses under my belt, a couple useless, for-profit- college proprietary-filler course credits floating around and am trying to get this "test your way to a college degree" stuff going. Thanks to my own immaturity and lack of commitment in my late teens and into my mid-twenties, I'm now having to try and cobble together my patchwork of credits and get this done at a breakneck pace.

In the meantime, I've enrolled at and am beginning courses through University of the People, which unfortunately for me, is not self-paced, nor are the credits likely to be transferrable.

Here are the credits I've got so far from other places:


Regionally Accredited Junior College:

BIO1134 - General Biology I - 4 Credits - A Grade
ENG1113 - English Composition I - 3 Credits - A Grade
MAT1213 - College Math (Beginning Algebra) - 3 Credits - B Grade
SOC2113 - Introduction to Sociology - 3 Credits - A Grade
MUO1241 - Small Singing Groups - 1 Credit - A Grade

Ashford University:

EXP105 - Personal Dimensions of Education - 3 Credits - A Grade
PSY202 - Adult Development and Life Assessment (Psychology) - 3 Credits - B Grade

Another Regionally Accredited Junior College:

AJ 100 - Intro to Criminal Justice- 3 Credits - A Grade
AJ 104 - Criminal Law - 3 Credits - A Grade

Yet Another Regionally Accredited Junior College & Police Academy:

POLI102 - The American Political System (PoliSci) - 3 Credits - B Grade
ADJU 381-384 - Police Academy - 25.5 Credits - A Grade (probably useless )

Using Modern States' system, I've completed all modules and practice questions for the Humanities CLEP in about a week's time. I'm waiting to receive my testing voucher. I would greatly appreciate some help in coming up with a road map toward some kind of science-ish bachelor's degree (Psychology or Biology, though I don't know if the latter is doable without labs) from one of the "Big 3" schools.

Sincerely / respectfully / desperately / ever-hopefully,

C

[videogamesrock]

How many NA credits do you have?

[MSK9]

How many NA credits do you have?

All of the credits listed were earned at regionally accredited institutions, even Ashford. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question?

[videogamesrock]

Sorry I misread, you are starting at UoP.

How many NA credits do you have?

All of the credits listed were earned at regionally accredited institutions, even Ashford. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question?

[dfrecore]

Dumb question, but why are you enrolling at UofP if you don't think it's going to be of much use to you (I ask because this is the impression I got from your first post).

If you want to get a degree that is entirely able to be tested out of, then Biology is out.  Psychology is good, but I would suggest that you immediately start on the Psych courses at Study.com (especially the UL ones) and get those on your ACE transcript ASAP.  There is some indication that many will no longer be UL by 1/1/18, so you need to get them done before then.

Here is a TESU psych degree plan.

[MSK9]

Dumb question, but why are you enrolling at UofP if you don't think it's going to be of much use to you (I ask because this is the impression I got from your first post).

If you want to get a degree that is entirely able to be tested out of, then Biology is out.  Psychology is good, but I would suggest that you immediately start on the Psych courses at Study.com (especially the UL ones) and get those on your ACE transcript ASAP.  There is some indication that many will no longer be UL by 1/1/18, so you need to get them done before then.

Here is a TESU psych degree plan.

..not a dumb question at all. I enrolled at UoP ignorant to the "test out" strategy. In the mean time, I'm going to continue it as best I can while putting priority on testing out.

[videogamesrock]

Usually most degrees in medicine require graded regionally accredited science courses, what field are you thinking of pursuing? Nursing, PA, MD etc.?

[MSK9]

Usually most degrees in medicine require graded regionally accredited science courses, what field are you thinking of pursuing?  Nursing, PA, MD etc.?

It's still too early to tell.. however, if I pursue Medicine, the goal is for Medical Doctor or Doctor of Osteopathy. Several quality medical schools within the continental United States no longer require science and math prerequisites, schools such as Tulane and The University of Virginia School of Medicine. I would still have to sit for the MCAT and score well to be competitive.

[dfrecore]

My husband's cousins both graduated with degrees in Computer Science, served in the marines, and then came out and decided to go to med school. Neither had the prereq's, and just ended up going to a community college/4yr school to get them. One even did the CLEP for Bio and Chem, then was allowed to take the labs at school. Both got into med school, and one is now a Psychiatrist, while the other is in his residency.

Point is, you can get into med school without a Bio/Pre-Med degree (most people think you need that in particular), and you can always go back later to get any prereq's. Yes, it's smart to plan those into your degree if you can, but who knows, you might decide to take a different path. At least you'll have your 4-yr degree to fall back on while you're figuring out your next step!

[Ideas]

Normally I would say work on GenEds for 2-3 months while you think about the degree you want. However, like dfrecore said, Psych courses are going to be downgraded. I would probably knock those out. Worse case, they end up being electives in your non-Psych degree.

Actually, I would also hurry and do the Study.com biology courses which are going to be downgraded soon. Then at least if you change your mind later, you have those. I don't know if you have prior knowledge in pathophysiology, for example, but either way, I'd get that done since it's really cheap and relatively quick. Although the Study.com ones do not have labs, it is better than lacking the science course completely.

Do you think you can do really well on the MCAT without taking college courses in Chemistry, Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biology? Are you good at math?