Hello!Starting at ZERO credits and beginning my journey to a TESU Bachelors Degree.

[Primus]

Hello everyone and thank you for letting me become a part of your community! I just discovered this forum yesterday and I have been reading many many threads the last couple of days that have been vastly helpful and informative. This is my story: I have decided to get my bachelors degree and I have chosen Thomas Edison State University. I am starting at Zero. No credits. Little knowledge on this process, yet a fierce determination to get this accomplished. I am looking at either a degree in History, International Studies, or Liberal Studies. I recently came across the CLEP concept of achieving a degree but after discovering this forum, I see that there are many other ways to achieve this (while still including CLEP tests). I was one of those people who just knew about the traditional 4 years of school route in achieving a degree. What a surprise and shock it was to find that there is another path in achieving a degree, with the responsibilities of an adult that make going to school extremely difficult. I am excited about this and wish to get started immediately
Basically, I am going to need help and guidance with this. From my readings I have seen how this community is helpful in helping your members achieve their goals. Very cool. Just like member 'Notgodot', I would like to use this thread to be our area of conversation to the finish line.
As I said, I decided on TESU. I do not plan to enroll with them though until I achieve about 80 credits. In the meantime I will be using this as a source of information and taking my tests accordingly to our conversations. I have read that I should begin with the general ed classes. I am unsure on who to use to do this. Besides CLEP and DSST, I see that there is also Study.com, Straighterline, etc. It's a lot of information I have read in the last two days and I am organizing and filtering all of that. I am not really a math and science guy but am more of a history and English person. Just putting that out there. I am about to print out the History, International Studies, and Liberal Studies requirements from the TESU website. From what I have read, it appears that Liberal Studies will be the easiest degree to accomplish. My heart is more set on one of the other two though. I'm just still not sure on how to approach that but I want to at least get the ball rolling here.
So lets get this started. The coffee is brewing and the game face is on. I appreciate all of you and our future commitment here. If you have questions that will help you in your advise to me, feel free to ask away as I am sure there will be questions. And now to post this thread......haha. Take care!

[Zachcleigh]

Welcome to the forum!!
If English/history are your strong suit, schmoop might work well for you. If math is not one of your strong suits maybe try ALEKS, it's cheap and has a interesting way of granting credit, which I feel suits some better. ALEKS may be expiring soon though... not sure if they have been re approved by ACE. I'm sure someone else will chime in.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

[RANSOMSOUL]

Welcome to the forum Primus. You have tapped into a special resource that all on here are incredibly grateful for its value. Based on your share it seems that you have a solid interest base and now it's just a matter of getting some direction on the best first steps from here.

A few questions that would be of help:

What's the interest in getting a degree - what's the plan post-degree?
Why have you chosen the 3 degree's listed as your focus?
What is your background/experience - aids with direction for easier low hanging credits to knock out with the knowledge you already have.

[Ars457123]

If you're an English person you should take the Analyzing and Interpreting CLEP. It is said to be so easy that some people take it cold, I did and I passed! But just so you don't start off on the wrong foot, you should study using Instantcert (The specific feedback forum is so, so helpful), and quizlet.com(just type in CLEP and then the name of the test.)

Regarding alternatives like straighterline: they allow you sample some courses before you decide with a free trial. DO THIS BEFORE YOU SIGN UP.

[rlw74]

Welcome Primus! It is a lot of information to take in. I started this in December and remember just feeling overwhelmed. I think I asked a lot of dumb questions at first. But it doesn't take long to catch on. You'll be there is no time if you just keep reading the forum. I check in every day just to see whats new.

The nice thing with starting from scratch is you can try out a lot of the different providers and really figure out what works for you. If you don't like one, or get bored with one, you can always switch.

First, apply for the study.com scholarship. That will give you six free classes. While you are waiting to get approved, take the free classes. You really can knock those out in a few days to a week. They will fill your free elective areas which you'll need regardless of degree.
I found too that just getting a few credits under my belt so quickly really provided motivation.

If you get the study scholarship they offer some history classes that are UL. It doesn't hurt to take them right away. They can always be used in the AOS if you switch to liberal studies or some other concentration. Then focus on those Gen Eds. Tesu is pretty nice in that they have categories where several classes can fit in those categories and you can pick what interests you.

Aleks is good for math. Thankfully, some of those degrees you mentioned only require one math class. So most anyone can struggle through at least one class.
Worse case scenario, go take the math class at a community college at a slower pace.

I finished 42 credits in 12 weeks and I think if I had used straighterline instead of study.com I could probably have done that in half the time. I did get a little burnt out and spent all my free time sitting in front of the computer. But my point is, even at a slower pace you can probably be done in much, much less time than any other format I've seen. The last college I applied to would have taken me until summer of next year! I'll be finished with the capstone by end of June and graduate in September.

Good luck and just ask questions if you need anything.

[Notgodot]

Hello!

Yes, Liberal Studies is the easiest degree to complete in that all the courses you'll need are available as alternative credits (except for the capstone). That's a massive cost and time saving. History has one required course that is not easily available, others can tell you what that is

Really the path you take depends on what you need the degree for, how soon you need it, and how much you can afford. For myself, I need a bachelors in literally anything, as soon as may be, for as little as possible . If I had more time and money, for example, I'd take a nonwestern lit course from BYU and get an English degree, but I don't have an additional 12 weeks or$500, so a BALS: Humanities will do.

Everybody here is super helpful, so don't be shy about asking questions. Welcome!

[ekbenzo]

If he did go for his liberal arts,what would be the cheapest and/or easiest way to get the 15 upper level credit

[dfrecore]

Welcome! Here is what I usually advise newbies: 1) continue coming here and reading, reading, reading the posts (start to finish) every day. It will take a while (a couple of months seems about right); and 2) read the Beginner's Guide (which is now outdated, but still contains tons of valuable info): http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...llege.html

Here is a degree plan for the BALS, it's the cheapest and fastest of the 3. If you are still interested in the other 2 after more reading, come back and request it.

[Primus]

Hello all and thanks for the replies! I had been on this computer all day doing research and I needed a few hour to step away. When I came back, it was awesome to already see some responses. To answer some quetions and to ask some:

1) RANSOMSOUL - I wish to get a degree because I am very much thinking about going overseas to teach English. In order to do that properly and get the better jobs, one needs a college bachelors degree. You just need a degree in anything for this and nothing specific.
2) RAMSOMSOUL - I have chosen those degrees because that is my general interest in life. I have an international history from living overseas and I love love history. Those are the general reasons why those fields interest me, besides getting any deeper and philosophical about it. As I write this, I do think that I am leaning towards the Liberal Studies degree.
3) Notgodot - I am looking to get this degree as soon as possible but I don't have an end date in mind. I do work from home, so that's good. The opportunity is right to tackle this now. So besides doing the 40-50 hours a week of work that I usually do, I can focus on this. Money wise, of course I would like to spend the least as possible but I don't mind doing what I have to do for this. I see it as the investment for the future anyway.
4) Rlw74 - I looked up the scholarship and if I read it correctly, I think you have to be enrolled somewhere for that. I don't plan to enroll into TESU until later down the road. Am I wrong about this? Also, why do you say that Straightliner would have been faster then Study.com in achieving those credits. 42 credits in 12 weeks is pretty good though...haha.
5) Zachcleigh - I hear you on the math. I read threads where they talked about the ALEKS. If I have to do some Math then I believe that will be the route I take. I don't want to take math right off the bat though so lets talk about that down the road. Thanks.
6) Ars457123 - I looked up Instantcert and Quizlet and they look promising. Looks like I may use those. Thanks for the advise! I'll also look up the CLEP exam you mentioned (Analyzing and Interpreting)

I'm begining to look into study.com and Straightliner for comparisons. I see promise in both but of course I'll be looking into the advise and opinions of you guys on those two programs. I'm not sure where CLEP or DSST tests will fit in here either. I feel a little bit like a deer lost in the woods...haha. Anyway, I need to get up tomorrow morning for work but I'll be checking in tomorrow morning here. Once again, thanks for all the responses and advise today. Nice to meet you all!

[Primus]

dfrecore - I just saw your response. I do plan to check in daily daily daily on this..haha. I saw the Beginnners Guide and will dive into that more also. Thanks for the BALS degree plan also. I downloaded it and will look at it tomorrow morning. Take Care!