Help me find my fastest/cheapest Bachelors PLEASE

[plainsneech]

Will try to be as brief and relevant as possible. I am an RN (ASN) looking to enter a Masters in nursing program sooner than later. The problem is poor college GPA. Graduated from nursing school in 2010 with a 3.1. I need a higher GPA to guarantee getting into a good MSN program. If I complete a BSN I will lose an entire year in applying to MSN programs due to semester timing/MSN app deadlines. My thought is to get a bachelors in something ANYTHING with a good GPA and that will make me eligible to apply to MSN directly. I have plenty of financial aid dollars, have good reading comprehension and I test very well. My weakest subjects are chemistry and calculus. Here are my credits. I apologize if I am posting in the wrong place/fashion. Any help and advice appreciated.

UNIVERSITY:

3 English 101 A
3 English 102 A
3 Biology 1 A
1 Biology 1L C
2 Biology 2 A
2 Biology 2L C
3 Public Spk A
3 Intro Theat A
3 Hist Survey A
3 Health A
2 Racquetball B
3 Psych 101 A

Excelsior:
3 Micro ECE B
6 A&P ECE A
3 Intro Soc CLEP 58
3 Life Span ECE A
3 Org Beh ECE B
3 Psy Ad & Age ECE B
3 Occ Strats ECE B
1 Info Lit ECE P
4 Nursing Concepts 1 B
4 Nursing Concepts 2 C
4 Nursing Concepts 3 C
4 Nursing Concepts 4 C
4 Nursing Concepts 5 C
4 Nursing Concepts 6 C

Thanks guys

[sanantone]

Your RN GPA is going to be factored into your cumulative GPA no matter what you major in. You're going to have to take several courses in order to boost your GPA. I know that COSC and ECE give grades for some CBEs (credit by exam), but one normally has less control over how high he or she can score on a test than a class. You would have to figure out how many more As you'll need in order to boost your GPA high enough. That could take a year's worth of classes.

[plainsneech]

Actually several of my MSN target programs only count the GPA from your last degree or last 60 credits. My goal is a bachelors before June 2014 and that is the situation I need advice about. Thanks anyway.

[sanantone]

For the ones that count the last 60 credits, you'll still need to determine how many credits you'll need to take to boost that GPA. If you're starting from scratch on the last two years, then it's going to be difficult to get 60 graded credits in substantially less than 1 year. Pass/fail credits will most likely not count in the last 60 credit hours. Do you mind telling me which MSN programs only look at the GPA from the last degree? I have never heard of that, so I'm curious.

Anyway, there are probably BSN programs you can complete in that amount of time. TESC and WGU are options, but WGU does not have graded courses.

[rebel100]

Take a look at the Social Science or Sociology degree at Colorado State University Pueblo...Undergraduate Degree Program > Division of Continuing Education > Colorado State University-Pueblo It would be a very flexible option from a respectable State University, the courses are self paced and all carry a grade. I took 6 classes there, straight A's without too much difficulty.

You should also consider Charter Oak State, they do give a letter grade for older DSST Exams, they accept the DSST Substance abuse as Upper Level (should be an easy one for you)...and they will show a cumulative GPA. I took courses at CSU-Pueblo and transferred them back to my Charter Oak BSLS with concentrations in Organizational Leadership and Health Care...you could do something similar.

Have you looked at Excelsior options?

Your GPA at 3.1 isn't bad, there are MSN programs that you can get into with that GPA (Western Governors certainly). What programs are you considering?

[plainsneech]

Thanx rebel !! OK. I got this unofficial eval for a BS in psychology from excelsior I need to sort this out as in how does it translate to tests. I had not taken Org Behavior and Psych of Ad & Aging when this was done. These are both upper level but not sure what category they fall in. To answer a question my goal is a Family Nurse Practitioner program which tends to be more selective than educator or administrator tracks.


Below is an Unofficial Evaluation for the BS in Psychology degree:

Need 21.00 semester hours of upper level Arts & Science credit
Need 11.00 semester hours of lower level credit in any area
Need 9.00 semester hours of upper level credit in any area

Quantitative Requirement

Capstone Course Requirement

Depth Requirement
Need a single depth in the A&S
Need a single depth in any academic area

Psychology Major

IB. Statistics
IC. Research Methods
ID. History and Systems
IE. Research and Writing

One Course in each of the following areas:

IIA. Biopsychology
IIC. Social Influences
IID. Abnormal Psychology
IIE. Cognitive Bases

[NAP]

Thanx rebel !! OK. I got this unofficial eval for a BS in psychology from excelsior I need to sort this out as in how does it translate to tests. I had not taken Org Behavior and Psych of Ad & Aging when this was done. These are both upper level but not sure what category they fall in. To answer a question my goal is a Family Nurse Practitioner program which tends to be more selective than educator or administrator tracks.


Below is an Unofficial Evaluation for the BS in Psychology degree:

Need 21.00 semester hours of upper level Arts & Science credit
Need 11.00 semester hours of lower level credit in any area
Need 9.00 semester hours of upper level credit in any area

Quantitative Requirement

Capstone Course Requirement

Depth Requirement
Need a single depth in the A&S
Need a single depth in any academic area

Psychology Major

IB. Statistics
IC. Research Methods
ID. History and Systems
IE. Research and Writing

One Course in each of the following areas:

IIA. Biopsychology
IIC. Social Influences
IID. Abnormal Psychology
IIE. Cognitive Bases

You may know this already. In the Liberal Arts catalog, EC gives suggestions for the EC courses and ECE exams that fit each requirement for the majors. If there is an "x" in the course number, it is referring to an ECE exam that is offered for it. The catalog is downloadable here:

School Catalogs - excelsior.edu

[Jonathan Whatley]

Psychology Major

IB. Statistics
IC. Research Methods
ID. History and Systems
IE. Research and Writing

One Course in each of the following areas:

IIA. Biopsychology
IIC. Social Influences
IID. Abnormal Psychology
IIE. Cognitive Bases

The psychology major at Excelsior currently seems a less than optimal fit for an exam-based approach. I don't think there are exams in our standard toolbox for the requirements in History and Systems, Research and Writing, possibly Biopsychology, and possibly Cognitive Bases. I'm guessing they wouldn't accept DSST Substance Abuse toward Biopsychology. Ohio University's list of exams currently under development includes Psychology of Health and Illness, and Behavioral Genetics and Individual Differences, which might work there. Would they accept CLEP Introduction to Educational Psychology toward Cognitive Bases?

TESC's major in psychology is more fully friendly to credit by exam. Your TESC transcript will only record grades from graded courses from TESC. That means that will omit all your prior grades… even the As, and won't reflect new grades for anything but standard online or Guided Study courses from TESC. TESC's ePack courses, Prior Learning Assessments, and TECEP exams are graded CR, for a pass, with no effect on GPA.

Would you be open to Charter Oak? Would you be open to a broader-based major or equivalent, like Liberal Arts or Social Sciences?

[plainsneech]

I am open to ANY Bachelors as I will need the same 3-4 upper level nursing courses to bridge into my MSN regardless. I don't care which school or major. I explored the EC degree because of rebels suggestion and i had the old eval laying around. I am willng to research just feel a little lost direction wise. Thanks again

[Jonathan Whatley]

II will need the same 3-4 upper level nursing courses to bridge into my MSN regardless.

You're going to take these nursing courses as part of or concurrent to this bachelor's degree? Do you have a school set to do them from?