I'm trying to create degree plan

[browniebo]

I am 17 years old and graduated last year.

I recently enrolled in Excelsior and have been trying to find the courses needed to graduate. I'm going  
for a B.A. in Liberal Arts.

Credits needed to graduate

Arts and Sciences Lower Level: 30.0
Arts and Sciences Upper Level: 21.0

Any Academic Area Lower Level: 47.0
Any Academic Area Upper Level: 9.0

Areas Above Must Include the Following Requirements

Cornerstone Requirement: 0.0
Written English: 6.0
Humanities Distribution: 1.0
         Humanities Requirement: 0.0
         Ethics: 2.0
Social Sciences/History Distribution: 12.0
Natural Sciences/Math Distribution: 5.0
         Math Requirement: 2.0
         Natural Science Requirement: 2.0
Information Literacy 2.0
Capstone Course 3.0


I've knocked 13 credits off the list but I've got 107 left and need help working out what to use.
My advisor told me I can use something like StraighterLines for the written English requirement.


If anyone could point me in the right direction for online courses to use I'd much appreciate it.

[rachel83az]

For English Comp, you've got 3 main choices aside from SL: Sophia (which isn't great), Study.com (which may or may not be much better), and Olivet Nazarene (self-paced university classes for $150 each). https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Ol...University

For Ethics, Social Sciences/History, Natural Science/Math, Humanities: Sophia. 100% Sophia. Right now, there is a sale for 25% off the first month. You can probably knock out most of what you need in that month. Excelsior also brings in 3 Sophia courses as UL: https://excelsior.sophia.org/#courses Relational Databases is kind of tedious, but it's not terrible for an UL course. Those 3 classes will probably take a 2nd month, but it'd still be the cheapest way to get UL credit for the "any" academic area UL credits. I'd definitely fill up your LL credits with as much Sophia as possible!

For the remaining UL courses, the main choices are between Study.com and Coopersmith. Olivet Nazarene also has 2-4 UL classes, depending on how you feel about taking a class on Christian theology. Coopersmith courses are mostly a single exam and you're done. This is good if you're okay with using ProctorU (not everyone is). SDC is good if you're more comfortable with writing than with exams. They do have proctored exams, but these are proctored by RPNow and are a nicer experience for most people.

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Co...Consulting
https://study.com/college/school/excelsior-college.html

[browniebo]

For English Comp, you've got 3 main choices aside from SL: Sophia (which isn't great), Study.com (which may or may not be much better), and Olivet Nazarene (self-paced university classes for $150 each). https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Ol...University

For Ethics, Social Sciences/History, Natural Science/Math, Humanities: Sophia. 100% Sophia. Right now, there is a sale for 25% off the first month. You can probably knock out most of what you need in that month. Excelsior also brings in 3 Sophia courses as UL: https://excelsior.sophia.org/#courses Relational Databases is kind of tedious, but it's not terrible for an UL course. Those 3 classes will probably take a 2nd month, but it'd still be the cheapest way to get UL credit for the "any" academic area UL credits. I'd definitely fill up your LL credits with as much Sophia as possible!

For the remaining UL courses, the main choices are between Study.com and Coopersmith. Olivet Nazarene also has 2-4 UL classes, depending on how you feel about taking a class on Christian theology. Coopersmith courses are mostly a single exam and you're done. This is good if you're okay with using ProctorU (not everyone is). SDC is good if you're more comfortable with writing than with exams. They do have proctored exams, but these are proctored by RPNow and are a nicer experience for most people.

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Co...Consulting
https://study.com/college/school/excelsior-college.html

I was hoping I could use Sophia for most of the LL credits, I'm glad there is a sale right now! I've been using Proctortrack for all of my online tests so far. I'll have to check out Olivet Nazarene, I've grown up in church so hopefully, I've retained enough theology lol.


After finishing as many LL and UL courses as I can with Sophia, I'll move on to one of the sources you suggested. Thank you for taking the time to write out a responses, I appreciate it so much!!

[bjcheung77]

Hey, just wondering, OP - Are you going for the BALA or the BSLA?  
I just looked on their website: https://www.excelsior.edu/about/fast-facts/
BALA has 231 enrollment, BSLA has the most at 3731.
I suggest Sophia.org for lower level and Study.com for upper level credits.

[browniebo]

Hey, just wondering, OP - Are you going for the BALA or the BSLA?  
I just looked on their website: https://www.excelsior.edu/about/fast-facts/
BALA has 231 enrollment, BSLA has the most at 3731.
I suggest Sophia.org for lower level and Study.com for upper level credits.

I'm going for the BSLA, I mistyped in my first comment.

[Insert Name]

Excelsior didn’t except ethics from Sophia for me, but I THINK they said it was because of my program. If you’re planning excelsior, definitely do as much through Sophia as possible. 20% discount on EU courses is nice, and maximizing a Sophia subscription can save a lot. As far as ethics, either get it approved, or just do it and if they don’t take it it’s a warm up for a course they will take.

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If you are planning to use Olivet, I would hurry. I just saw a post about ONU doing away with the yourway program.

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https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ch-27-2023

[rachel83az]

Ethics from Sophia doesn't count if you're getting a business degree. It would count for Liberal Arts.

[Insert Name]

Ethics from Sophia doesn't count if you're getting a business degree. It would count for Liberal Arts.

It didn’t count for NET either. So, yeah. With EU you need to verify Sophia ethics to the degree. Can’t just bank it, like some of their other courses.

[dfrecore]

Ethics from Sophia doesn't count if you're getting a business degree. It would count for Liberal Arts.

It didn’t count for NET either. So, yeah. With EU you need to verify Sophia ethics to the degree. Can’t just bank it, like some of their other courses.

So you're saying they wouldn't take it at all? Or they wouldn't take it as meeting your ethics requirement?

[browniebo]

Excelsior didn’t except ethics from Sophia for me, but I THINK they said it was because of my program. If you’re planning excelsior, definitely do as much through Sophia as possible. 20% discount on EU courses is nice, and maximizing a Sophia subscription can save a lot. As far as ethics, either get it approved, or just do it and if they don’t take it it’s a warm up for a course they will take.

---

If you are planning to use Olivet, I would hurry. I just saw a post about ONU doing away with the yourway program.

---

https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ch-27-2023

I reached out to my advisor and he said that Ethics would count but that I have to send in English Composition 1 first.