Hello, brand new and need direction

[navydave70]

Hello everyone. Well I've been lurking and I need some advice. I need and want to get my degree badly. I'm 37 and have a shot at a State Dept. job but I need a degree that is from an accredited school.

I just found American Military University but I stumbled on this site and started reading. I need the degree by 6/09 (there abouts) and I know I need to test out as much as possible to make it happen.

So a little about me: 7 years in the Navy, this is my last year to use the GI Bill (man 10 yrs went by quick), I have about 40 ish B&M credits and 15-ish military experience credits.

I'd like to CLEP & FEMA Test for as much credit as possible with a college that will accept them for a BA/BS. I want to then move on to a Masters after that.

Thank you in advance for the advice and assistance. It's also really good to read the success stories of everyone working so hard while doing life full time as well.

Thanks,
David

[alissaroot]

Hmmm, do you have your heart set on a particular major? What kind of credits do you already have? Here's the Big Three websites in case you haven't checked out these schools yet:

Thomas Edison State College
https://www.excelsior.edu/
Charter Oak State College - distance learning college, online degrees, courses

The first two are the most popular by far. If you want to use a lot of fema, TESC is the way to go, they accept 25-30 of them. Either one of the first two would probably work well for you to complete your degree in time. You should think about taking somewhere around 20 exams to finish, unless you do the 25 or so fema credits, in that case plan out around 10 or 15 to meet the degree requirements. Anyways, if you decide on Excelsior I could give some more specific advice. There are tons of people on here who know more about TESC though. Lots of military people and vets, too, they could give you a better idea of which one is cheaper or better with the GI Bill. Regardless, you can go ahead and start taking CLEPs & DSSTs, as long as they don't duplicate what you already have, until you decide on a school. Hope that helps narrow it down a little!

[gcalvin]

You can definitely do it if you are motivated enough. I would recommend Excelsior College, partly because that's where I earned my degree, but mostly because they do the most frequent graduation schedule, which can be a real advantage if you are in a time crunch. Download their catalogs, pick a degree and a major, look at the Lawrie Miller's BA in 4 Weeks. Online degrees by distance learning. BA degree and graduate degees - Accelerated Master Degrees by Distance Learning. site, and start to sketch out your plan of attack. Figure out where your existing credits will fit, then make a list of the exams that will cover the rest. Psychology may be the easiest major for degree-by-exam (you can use the GRE Subject exam in Psychology to cover your major requirements) but History might be a better fit for your State Department career, and is entirely feasible. If you choose Excelsior, you will probably need to take a one-credit Research and Writing course, so make sure you fit that into your schedule.

Once you've chosen a school and drafted your plan, put it up here on the forum and let us take a look. You'll likely get some good advice for tweaking it here and there. You can get an unofficial evaluation of your existing credits by applying to Excelsior - $75 fee. The other "Big Three" schools offer similar unofficial evals. Some people have applied to two or three different schools to see where they get more "bang for the buck" from their existing credits.

Good luck!

-Gary-

[alissaroot]

I agree with Gary, if you decide on Excelsior I'd be happy to take a look at your plan. I am partial to Excelsior, too and here's another site with a road map, including every exam taken, time frame, and cost for a business degree from Excelsior. Excelsior College, Value Of A College Education, Distance Learning Degree Program - 123collegedegree.com There's lots of good advice there, even if you aren't interested in a business major. It gives a pretty good perspective of the whole process.
And if you want to check out a GRE subject exam for credit, here's the homepage to learn about that: ETS: Educational Testing Service – Home Hope we get to see your plan soon!

[lmech]

I also am planning on American Military University. I'm testing out of everything except my senior year, then taking care of the distance learning business. Will say this though, I'm a big fan of the "big 3" schools. They are much faster and cheaper. As far as I can tell; they offer some great programs.

Unfortunatly, I cannot use the other schools for the specific major that AMU is offering me. It is very specialized and I need it for the type of government work that I do. If you can except one of the degrees from the "Big 3" I would do it. Good luck

[navydave70]

Thanks everyone. I'll try to get everything, that I have in my possession, lined up and post it for review.

I'm not particular about the degree (Bus., Psy, His.) I just need to get in knocked out to present and qualify.

I'm looking towards the Masters Degree as a security specialization but 1st things 1st.

[cookderosa]

Just one tiny thing-

I think taking the psychology GRE is a mistake. It isn't easy and you can't take it whenever you want. I think to get graduation request filed for summer 09 you won't have enough time. Your putting all of your eggs in one basket with this exam, when you could be knocking out smaller easier exams.

If you went for Liberal Arts as your major you could use 100% of your major to be completed through CLEP and DSST exams.

The enrollment fee is more at TESC, but you have GI bill.

If you don't care about your degree major, I'd suggest Liberal Arts at TESC in a heartbeat.

Thomas Edison State College

[navydave70]

Great, thanks. I'll start researching it.

[DetroitSki]

I almost always recommend TESC bcuz of the EXTREMELY LIBERAL fema policy. Also, the ability to use 200 level credits for upper level allows for EXTREME variances in exam selection (more options).

Finally, I am enrolled for the Emergency Management BS. That would fit well with your Masters. However, the graduation schedule is an issue. It's holding me up right now and I may not be able to graduate n time to get in Law school this Jan.

Just my two cents

[thatbrian]

I think that TESC would be best for you and with your existing credits you should be able to make that deadline (but it will require hard work).

Good luck!

Brian