Help me achieve sixty college credits

[xdecx]

Hello all. I need Sixty (60) college credits with a 2.0 G.P.A. from an accredited college or university for NYPD. I currently do computer repair so I am starting with CLEP Computer Information System test. I also am very interested in law enforcement so I picked up a book to study the DSST Criminal Justice which is quite interesting. What can or should I do to get the ball rolling faster. I signed up to IC to take a look at that too.

Found this forum today, a lot of interesting material here.

[mrs.b]

Hello all. I need Sixty (60) college credits with a 2.0 G.P.A. from an accredited college or university for NYPD. I currently do computer repair so I am starting with CLEP Computer Information System test. I also am very interested in law enforcement so I picked up a book to study the DSST Criminal Justice which is quite interesting. What can or should I do to get the ball rolling faster. I signed up to IC to take a look at that too.


Found this forum today, a lot of interesting material here.

Do all 60-credits need to be graded and contribute to the 2.0 GPA, or do you just need "some" credits to be graded?

Excelsior College (right in NY for in-state, regionally-accredited which is gold-standard for accreditation) offers a Bachelor program in Criminal Justice and a couple specialization. You could start it and either JUST collect 60-credits, or continue on once you've crossed the finish line you're currently looking at to finish it up. It does not look like many/any of the core courses for that degree are available through CBE (credit-by-exam), but you could fill in your general education requirements using UExcel tests (Excelsior's CBE option), and Excelsior transcribes their own exams as graded credits so that should contribute to your GPA.

[cookderosa]

Hello all. I need Sixty (60) college credits with a 2.0 G.P.A. from an accredited college or university for NYPD. I currently do computer repair so I am starting with CLEP Computer Information System test. I also am very interested in law enforcement so I picked up a book to study the DSST Criminal Justice which is quite interesting. What can or should I do to get the ball rolling faster. I signed up to IC to take a look at that too.

Found this forum today, a lot of interesting material here.

60 of anything is different than 60 specifically aligned towards a degree..... but all things being equal, if you're up for a challenge, you could direct all 60 of your credits into an associate's degree. I agree with Mrs. B's suggestion about looking at Excelsior College. Besides them being in your home state, they are SUPER testing friendly and offer both associate/bachelor degrees should you later decide to pursue a higher degree.

I suggest studying for, and taking, both the CIS and CJ exams first. That will give you good experience with two brands (CLEP and DSST) which will help you get comfortable with finding your testing centers, the cost, the format for testing, the way the testing centers run things, etc. Plus, you'll be knocking out 6 credits right away. Those will also count toward a degree. I think you could probably get going on those two tests right away- maybe take computers on October 1st (since that probably requires the least amount of study for you) and the second about 2-3 weeks later.

This whole process is very exciting; I think most people have a bad taste in their mouths from what college is, till they find this place, and learn that you can complete regionally accredited 100% legitimate degrees for a fraction of the time and cost. WELCOME!!

P.S. I wanted to add that you could -if you're a fast learner and good at time management- complete an entire associate's degree by about February. If you're going to pace yourself, I'd say 6-9 months would be the longest it would take. If you're a rock-star, you could finish by New Year's Eve. There are a few exams that are worth double (6 credits instead of 3, and if you speak Spanish, you can knock out 12 in one exam) so adding in a few of those makes things go MUCH faster.

[sanantone]

Definitely only study criminal justice if you have an interest in it, not because you think it will help you with employment. 99% of law enforcement jobs don't care about your major.

[rebel100]

Great advice so far. A question has come up recently in another thread regarding the use of FEMA to meet the entrance standard of the NYPD. I recall that a few years ago these were allowable direct from FEMA which would make them free, cheap , and relatively easy. I can tell you that Charter Oak State College will accept them free of cost into a degree program and you could them test out of the remainder plus take the cornerstone and hold an AS degree.