GED to Executive

[RealHuman]

Your Location: Missouri, United States. 
Your Age: 32
What kind of degree do you want?: I just want to "tick a box" for future promotions with a quick and easy bachelor (or even associate to start). If I had to choose something geared towards my career goals, then Executive Management, Computer Science, or Business Administration would be it, but open to "targeted" or general degree suggestions. I'd like to progress my career into an executive management role, maybe C-Suites. I suck at typing papers though.

Current Regional Accredited Credits: 0
DegreeForum University Total Credits:  0
Google University Total Credits: 0
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0
Sophia Credits: 0
Study.com Credits: 0

Any certifications or military experience? 
• Google IT Support Certificate
• Microsoft Office Specialist: Word Expert (Office 2016)
• CompTIA IT Fundamentals (ITF+) Certification
• CompTIA Security+ ce Certification
• Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
• Certified SAFe 5 Scrum Master
• Not sure if expired certs count, but previously had ACE personal training cert and was a licensed/certified Realtor.

ADDENDUM:  I'm a high-school drop out in a Senior (and technical) role at a Fortune 500, with nothing but a GED and Certificates. Looking to go into an executive role.

Im best at testing with multiple choices, maybe look into converting previous work experience (started many companies, been a director, sat on a government board, did several other things). Dropped out of high-school senior year to open a company. I was a bad/unmotivated student. Worst subjects were math and english (writing papers).

Budget: I'm temporarily in a negative net income situation due to "worst case scenario" occuring (outside of me losing my job) so I have nothing immediately available until my situation is fully mitigated (work in progress).
  
Commitments: dogs/animals/plants, sleep, partner, rental home fix/flip, volunteering, sitting on a board of a university to develop their CX program (while taking their course), gym/workout, work, family assitance, home maintenance, cooking, cleaning, organizing (in the middle of moving). Those are all time constraints. I can still manage to spare an hour week nights to study and a few hours during week days to take tests.

Timeline: ASAP, but managing expectations dependant on my path (easy and quick degree vs. a degree that's targeted towards my career aspirations).

Tuition assistance/reimbursement: I think work may cover up to 10k yearly, but with the current financial climate, I would like to only use what I truly need... it's complicated but the company has a cost reduction 2024 priority, so albeit I can't fathom retaliation, it's part of my "keep my own job" strategy. 

[jg_nuy]

The Google IT certification is worth up to 15 credits and accepted widely, so good news is that you are not starting from scratch. 

You can use Sophia, study dot com, some additional Coursera certifications and other options to build out additional credits, depending on the degree plan that you select. Here is a link for a number of sources of free and cheap credits: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Se...eap_Credit

For any of the options that you select that are ACE credits, you would need to submit your Credly transcript for the ACE credits. At either school, you have room for more Sophia and Study credits.

Pierpont AAS BOG
Since you are starting nearly from scratch, the Pierpoint AAS BOG might be a good starting point - $130 fee and the cost of getting up to 60 credits is your only cost on the road to the bachelors: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pierpont_C%26TC

UMPI
For speed, UMPI is hard to beat. For example, you could do a BABA with a concentration in project management. You can likely be done in 2-3 sessions of 8 weeks each ($3k to $4.5k). With credits from Sophia/Study dot com, you could even add a minor if you wish. UMPI has a 90-credit limit into the degree plan, but no overall max of transfer credits. If you take more credits if you want a minor, for example. You need to take a minimum of 10 classes at UMPI and you want to maximize your transfer credits.

All links for UMPI: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI
General Education Requirements: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...quirements
BABA PM: hhttps://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UMPI_BABA_Project_Management_Degree_Plan
BABA Management and Leadership: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

UMPI MAOL
You could consider doing 3 classes in Business Administration towards the MAOL at UMPI. Undegrad classes that can be taken to speed the UMPI MAOL from 12 classes to 9 classes:

• OLS 550 Team Leadership and Collaboration is subbed by BUS 335 Organizational Behavior
  
• OLS 610 Leadership and Business Operations is subbed by BUS 440 Business Analytics
  
• OLS 620 Strategic Communications is subbed by BUS 469 Strategic Professional Communication
  

TESU
TESU is another option. You could do a business degree (several BSBA options) or you could do a dual degree BACS and BS CIS for example.

TESU has a 90-credit limit for alternative credit into the degree, but you can also do credits at other college, for a combined total max of 114 credits into a degree. You would need to do at least the cornerstone and capstone at TESU and you could consolidate them into a flat-rate tuition semester to avoid the residency waiver fee. You will need at least 30 RA credits for TESU, but not all of them need to be taken at TESU. 

The TESU links are available below:

All links for TESU: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:TESU
General Education Requirements: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap
Dual BACS / BS CIS: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sample_TESU_BACS_and_BSBA_CIS_Double_Degree_Plan_(rachel83az_version)

They also offer some transfer credits for CompTIA: https://www2.tesu.edu/oplr/company.php?client=CompTIA
TESU also has easy paths to add-on associates and certs:
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...gree_Plans
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...cate_Plans

I am sure others will offer additional options and input.

Best of luck!

[Duneranger]

UMPI is 99% paper writing soooooo...

[bjcheung77]

@RealHuman, Welcome to the board, that's a very good addendum, template, plus additional info... Basically, you're in a very similar situation as fromgedtoPhD, here's a thread to review in regards to my recommendations for their journey from Associates to Doctorate: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-Doctorate

Essentially, I would recommend the same thing as the linked post above, jg_nuy has provided you links to several options, decide on the degree and institution of choice and go with it.  Most of the credits you take at Coursera/TEEX/Sophia.org will transfer into several of the institutions anyways, you can change direction anytime if needed.

[rachel83az]

I'm also going to recommend going for the Pierpont BOG AAS while pursuing your Bachelor's degree, especially if it'll help boost your income at all while you finish up your Bachelor's degree. The Google cert should be 12 or 15 credits (depending on when you completed it). Because you currently have a budget of negative dollars, I would see if you can get any more ACE-recommended Coursera certificates. This is one of the cheapest ways to rack up a lot of credits.

TEEX has some free credits; go for them.

$25 for one credit from ASU. There is a link here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pierpont_C%26TC

One month of Sophia for the required gen ed credits. That's about $100.

Then Pierpont charges a fee of $130.

For $250-$300, you can have an Associate degree.

Then you have a choice: UMPI for Business. This would be cheap and fast, if you can write. That's the biggest catch: you need to write papers and complete projects. Some students who didn't think they could write papers had good experiences at UMPI and were able to speed through, in spite of their previous doubts. Other students have struggled more and took longer time than expected.

TESU for Comp Sci or Business. This will cost more than UMPI. You can test out of most classes in one way or another. But there will still be papers. TESU's required capstone & cornerstone classes require about as much writing as 10 UMPI classes.

WGU - probably for Comp Sci-related. WGU is almost entirely tests of some sort, though some classes do have writing. I think their business degrees have more writing than their technology degrees. If you can gather up as close to 90 relevant credits as possible (which is difficult/impossible for some WGU degrees), you may be able to get a WGU degree in a single 6-month term.

But no matter what school you choose, you're going to have to write at least a few papers to get your degree. For what it's worth, UMPI is usually considered to be the "easiest" papers to write by students who have attended multiple schools.

I would also try to decide what affordable means to you right now. For someone in your situation, even $300 might feel excessive to some. For others, they'd be willing to take out loans for thousands of dollars if it meant achieving their scholastic goals.

[RealHuman]

Thank you all, I will take time to look through all suggestions here.

Note that my Google certificate has been over 2 years, so I'm unable to use those credits, but I will certainly explore all other options presented. The Google IT cert only took a week to complete, so I'll just retake it to get the 15 credits back.

As for costs, this numbers thrown are doable so I appreciate the time, effort, and kindness you've shown here.

[rachel83az]

The Google certificate doesn't expire. So long as you took it when it was ACE-recommended for credit, it's worth credits now. Two years ago, it was worth credits.

[Hotdogman1]

I agree with everyone else, so I’ll bring up another option. Since you’re sitting on the board of a university, wouldn’t the cheapest option be completing a degree at that university via tuition remission?

If your university has a Bachelor of Applied Science program, you should be able to apply with the BOG Pierpont A.A.S. and knock out at least 60 credits. I had a co-worker that graduated with a B.A.S. from the University of Missouri and it seems like a bunch of other universities in Missouri offer a B.A.S. degree. While UMPI, WGU, TESU, and other schools would be much faster, graduating in 2 years is still fast and you would be graduating from a local (?) university.

[Charles Fout]

Your Location: Missouri, United States. 
Your Age: 32
What kind of degree do you want?: I just want to "tick a box" for future promotions with a quick and easy bachelor (or even associate to start). If I had to choose something geared towards my career goals, then Executive Management, Computer Science, or Business Administration would be it, but open to "targeted" or general degree suggestions. I'd like to progress my career into an executive management role, maybe C-Suites. I suck at typing papers though.

Current Regional Accredited Credits: 0
DegreeForum University Total Credits:  0
Google University Total Credits: 0
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0
Sophia Credits: 0
Study.com Credits: 0

Any certifications or military experience? 
• Google IT Support Certificate
• Microsoft Office Specialist: Word Expert (Office 2016)
• CompTIA IT Fundamentals (ITF+) Certification
• CompTIA Security+ ce Certification
• Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
• Certified SAFe 5 Scrum Master
• Not sure if expired certs count, but previously had ACE personal training cert and was a licensed/certified Realtor.

ADDENDUM:  I'm a high-school drop out in a Senior (and technical) role at a Fortune 500, with nothing but a GED and Certificates. Looking to go into an executive role.

Im best at testing with multiple choices, maybe look into converting previous work experience (started many companies, been a director, sat on a government board, did several other things). Dropped out of high-school senior year to open a company. I was a bad/unmotivated student. Worst subjects were math and english (writing papers).

Budget: I'm temporarily in a negative net income situation due to "worst case scenario" occuring (outside of me losing my job) so I have nothing immediately available until my situation is fully mitigated (work in progress).
  
Commitments: dogs/animals/plants, sleep, partner, rental home fix/flip, volunteering, sitting on a board of a university to develop their CX program (while taking their course), gym/workout, work, family assitance, home maintenance, cooking, cleaning, organizing (in the middle of moving). Those are all time constraints. I can still manage to spare an hour week nights to study and a few hours during week days to take tests.

Timeline: ASAP, but managing expectations dependant on my path (easy and quick degree vs. a degree that's targeted towards my career aspirations).

Tuition assistance/reimbursement: I think work may cover up to 10k yearly, but with the current financial climate, I would like to only use what I truly need... it's complicated but the company has a cost reduction 2024 priority, so albeit I can't fathom retaliation, it's part of my "keep my own job" strategy. 

Do you have a mentor? Are you involved with a professional organization, such as the Society for Human Resource Management?

No apologies. It's my belief that your network will outweigh any credential as you progress in your career. I am not arguing that networking will allow you to exclude credentials on your CV/resume, However, communication with people who have been there and done that - whatever your career aspirations may be - will help anyone progress in achieving career goals.

[RealHuman]

I agree with everyone else, so I’ll bring up another option. Since you’re sitting on the board of a university, wouldn’t the cheapest option be completing a degree at that university via tuition remission?

If your university has a Bachelor of Applied Science program, you should be able to apply with the BOG Pierpont A.A.S. and knock out at least 60 credits. I had a co-worker that graduated with a B.A.S. from the University of Missouri and it seems like a bunch of other universities in Missouri offer a B.A.S. degree. While UMPI, WGU, TESU, and other schools would be much faster, graduating in 2 years is still fast and you would be graduating from a local (?) university.

The board seat is limited to a specific program within the university. So I'm thinking BOG is likely the best route for me, before deciding on bachelor direction.

I'm likely to get promoted within a year, and with that comes with added time commitments, I will definitely be more stretched. I've been promoted every year so far, and after I become a director, promotions will surely slow. I also just took on a volunteer role within my org as a financial manager on top of my real job.

I think getting a bachelor's in anything, very quickly, would be impressive, required based on future time commitments, and it would further show leadership what they already know - which is how resourceful and proactive I am. Second, we have some older policies within HR to get into EVP and above, which means a bachelors is still needed/desired - even if leadership puts their stamp of approval on my promotion. Third, this will help with justifying a higher salary for now. Lastly, I'll be making my family proud as the first one with any sort of higher up degree.

I have put time aside this weekend to look through all suggestions and other posts within this forum to get a better grasp on my path. At least my partner has a bachelor's, so she's been helping to explain alot of the degree specific terms as I'm totally out of my area of expertise here.

---

Your Location: Missouri, United States. 
Your Age: 32
What kind of degree do you want?: I just want to "tick a box" for future promotions with a quick and easy bachelor (or even associate to start). If I had to choose something geared towards my career goals, then Executive Management, Computer Science, or Business Administration would be it, but open to "targeted" or general degree suggestions. I'd like to progress my career into an executive management role, maybe C-Suites. I suck at typing papers though.

Current Regional Accredited Credits: 0
DegreeForum University Total Credits:  0
Google University Total Credits: 0
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0
Sophia Credits: 0
Study.com Credits: 0

Any certifications or military experience? 
• Google IT Support Certificate
• Microsoft Office Specialist: Word Expert (Office 2016)
• CompTIA IT Fundamentals (ITF+) Certification
• CompTIA Security+ ce Certification
• Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
• Certified SAFe 5 Scrum Master
• Not sure if expired certs count, but previously had ACE personal training cert and was a licensed/certified Realtor.

ADDENDUM:  I'm a high-school drop out in a Senior (and technical) role at a Fortune 500, with nothing but a GED and Certificates. Looking to go into an executive role.

Im best at testing with multiple choices, maybe look into converting previous work experience (started many companies, been a director, sat on a government board, did several other things). Dropped out of high-school senior year to open a company. I was a bad/unmotivated student. Worst subjects were math and english (writing papers).

Budget: I'm temporarily in a negative net income situation due to "worst case scenario" occuring (outside of me losing my job) so I have nothing immediately available until my situation is fully mitigated (work in progress).
  
Commitments: dogs/animals/plants, sleep, partner, rental home fix/flip, volunteering, sitting on a board of a university to develop their CX program (while taking their course), gym/workout, work, family assitance, home maintenance, cooking, cleaning, organizing (in the middle of moving). Those are all time constraints. I can still manage to spare an hour week nights to study and a few hours during week days to take tests.

Timeline: ASAP, but managing expectations dependant on my path (easy and quick degree vs. a degree that's targeted towards my career aspirations).

Tuition assistance/reimbursement: I think work may cover up to 10k yearly, but with the current financial climate, I would like to only use what I truly need... it's complicated but the company has a cost reduction 2024 priority, so albeit I can't fathom retaliation, it's part of my "keep my own job" strategy. 

Do you have a mentor? Are you involved with a professional organization, such as the Society for Human Resource Management?

No apologies. It's my belief that your network will outweigh any credential as you progress in your career. I am not arguing that networking will allow you to exclude credentials on your CV/resume, However, communication with people who have been there and done that - whatever your career aspirations may be - will help anyone progress in achieving career goals.

I just submitted a four page paper to one of the executives requesting their membership (with approval from my direct management). I also mentor others so I know what to specifically request. My previous mentors had not been focused on leadership, mostly how to get to the next step. Super helpful, but I'm looking towards long term goals now. I am not involved with any organization, right now, the only organizations I've involved myself with in the last were non-profits for fundraising, BMIs, and others that I did not really find value in terms of professional growth in. So I'll check out the one you recommended!

Totally agree on the network piece, but with "the new norm" being a thing - running into work place opportunities based on my network has become more rare. So I'm primarily relying on volunteering "accross the isle" internally to help others and to growth my circle.