How do you decide ?

[tdown4]

I ended up at Charter Oak primarily because they were the most helpful -- they were the only ones willing to advise me before I formally applied, and the path was so clear I decided to just jump in, especially since it was so much faster than any conventional degree completion program would have been. (I'm aware, though, that this doesn't mean they're the best choice for everyone.)

That's awesome, I think I will be giving them a call later today to see if they can help me "eyeball" a degree with my current credits earned. COSC is still pretty open with degree plans that can be tested out of I think? I have seen a few General Managment plans on here.

[cookderosa]

you don't have to apply to all 3, your classes are black and white. You just have to decide between business or not-business. HR, International Relations, and Marketing would fall accordingly. The others are all gen eds.

[tdown4]

Thats what I was thinking. I will make a few calls to the schools to look and see who will take the most credits.... it seems the business path is going to give me the most usable credits.

you don't have to apply to all 3, your classes are black and white. You just have to decide between business or not-business. HR, International Relations, and Marketing would fall accordingly. The others are all gen eds.

[mednat]

you don't have to apply to all 3, your classes are black and white. You just have to decide between business or not-business. HR, International Relations, and Marketing would fall accordingly. The others are all gen eds.

The classes listed are pretty clear, the reason for my suggestion was the military credits. I'd imagine others here are much more familiar with how those may be used than I.

[KittenMittens]

Thats what I was thinking. I will make a few calls to the schools to look and see who will take the most credits.... it seems the business path is going to give me the most usable credits.

Generally speaking the B.S. in Business Administration is going to be the most popular degree for most students trying to test out of a degree. It's a nice degree to have since it's kind of a "one size fits all." There are a lot of exam options for them which is a plus and allows for flexibility if a particular exam doesn't work. Then you typically have degrees in social sciences or "generalized" or "liberal arts" which you can do as well. You can also do a double major too if you want, though imo, most people are looking to minimize expenses and get a degree as quickly and easily as possible.


The important question you're likely asking yourself is how employable/how much of a difference what degree "major" will make on your overall career. Maybe a little, probably not much unless you have a particular career you have in mind. Anecdotally, I would say not too much as typically STEM degrees are the highest yield, but the B.S. in B.A. definitely opens doors for government work which is not picky on where you went; in the private sector it can also depend on networking/work experience/luck/so many other factors. If you're looking specifically for a business degree, it won't matter too much where you went (some exceptions being the ivies but most of us don't go there to begin with. Just keep your GPA high enough (> 3.7 would be ideal) in case you want to later on go to graduate school.

Just read up a lot, do a lot of google searches, search the forums, check out instantcert.com, 123collegedegree.com, bain4weeks.com, and http://degreeforum.wikia.com/ . Although 123collegedegree and bain4weeks are no longer kept up to date, the advice and recommendations given overall haven't changed much over the last several years and I found them very valuable.

[defscarlett]

I wouldn't even say you would have to go for a business degree at any school even with your business credits. If you were to decide to go for a different degree entirely, those credits would be put in free electives which you have to fill up anyway...

[EI2HCB]

Wow! What a wealth of information on this site. How did everyone decide on a school and what degree plan to pursue ? I look at my transcript and am lost on what direction to go to figure out the fastest route. With my classes im thinking its something with business or marketing, any help would be great. Thank you!

Transcript.
Course
OL125 Human Relations In
Administration

INT113 Intro To International
Business

ENG120 College Composition I

MKT113 Introduction To Marketing

ENG200 Sophomore Seminar

HIS114 U.S. History Ii: 1865-Present

IT100 Introduction To Info Tech

LIT201 World Literature I:
Fundamentals Of Culture

MAT130 Applied Finite Mathematics

Introductory Sociology (CLEP)


-Ty

Seems to me that you could do anything you want, what is your dream or passion. When you get out of the Military what do you want to do on "civee street" your courses will transfer into almost any college but particularly the big three. If you are still in the Military remember that CLEP tests are free so worth considering. If you aren't going to use your GI Bill now then you'll want to plan a degree that you can use that education benefit in the future.

[KittenMittens]

Seems to me that you could do anything you want, what is your dream or passion. When you get out of the Military what do you want to do on "civee street" your courses will transfer into almost any college but particularly the big three. If you are still in the Military remember that CLEP tests are free so worth considering. If you aren't going to use your GI Bill now then you'll want to plan a degree that you can use that education benefit in the future.

Save the GI Bill money for an expensive program typically a master's level program. That GI Bill can pay for quite a bit in costs including room and board
The New GI Bill - Calculator , but if you use it for a degree that's worth only a few grand, you're really losing out on tens of thousands of dollars of GI Bill benefits. That could mean living in an expensive city, living rent free, getting paid for food, books, etc. so you might as well make the most out of it by going to the best/most expensive (expense informally being correlated to quality).

As long as you keep your grades overall high in undergrad, it won't matter too much where you went for undergraduate for graduate admissions (i.e. an MBA program, MPH, any health degree). Where you do want to focus your time and energy on (if interested) is getting into the best named graduate level program you can get yourself into. There is more reward on investment not so much on where you went on the undergraduate level, but where you went for the graduate level. Again, just keep your GPAs high for undergrad, and you'll be fine.

Also if you're looking to go into the health field, you don't need a degree in science either, just need to typically fulfill a few pre-reqs so you can generally have a degree in anything as long as you take specific coursework (i.e. bio, chemistry, anatomy, microbiology, etc) so don't think that you must major in something science-related in order to make a career out of it.

[defscarlett]

What service are/were you in and what is your MOS, AFSC or Rate? If you're currently active duty (incl reserves/guard) you can go to TESC under the MDCP which is essentially the per credit tuition plan with a cheaper cost per credit hour at $250/cr. You would still have to complete 24 credit hours in residence (incl online courses or TECEPS) with TESC.

[tdown4]

Alot of great responses here, Thanks for the overwhelming responses. Im certainly not using the G.I Bill at this time, I am going to save that for a possible Masters degree. I will be using free CLEPS and DANTES. I think with all the responses I am going to push towards the business side, it leaves me with the most options and I have a 3.6 GPA with my current recorded classes. Maybe I should take a few classes just to boost up the GPA. Thanks again for the help so far.