Jumping in, HELP!!

[susitna1]

At 36 years old, I have decided to pursue a degree.

I have been researching the best way to do so and I believe that "Testing Out" is the quickest and most affordable option. I signed up with Instacert to help me study so I can obtain credits quickly thru CLEP and DAANTES.

I would like to get opinions on the best school to do this through, right now I am considering Exelsior or Charter Oak, should I look at any others?

I am having a hard time deciding on what type of degree I want, I currently work in Law Enforcement, my coworkers and others tell me that a degree in criminal justice is useless. Is this true?

I am thinking about a business degree, but my math skills are 6th grade at best.

I would eventually like to attend law school, right now it is only a thought, I don't know if obtaining a degree mostly thru testing will be acceptable for admission.

Any advice, tips or techniques would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[snazzlefrag]

At 36 years old, I have decided to pursue a degree.

I have been researching the best way to do so and I believe that "Testing Out" is the quickest and most affordable option. I signed up with Instacert to help me study so I can obtain credits quickly thru CLEP and DAANTES.

I would like to get opinions on the best school to do this through, right now I am considering Exelsior or Charter Oak, should I look at any others?

I am having a hard time deciding on what type of degree I want, I currently work in Law Enforcement, my coworkers and others tell me that a degree in criminal justice is useless. Is this true?

I am thinking about a business degree, but my math skills are 6th grade at best.

I would eventually like to attend law school, right now it is only a thought, I don't know if obtaining a degree mostly thru testing will be acceptable for admission.

Any advice, tips or techniques would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hi Susitna1,

There is nothing wrong with being 36 and going back to school to get your degree. Heck! Some of US might even be that old!
hilarious

Other than Excelsior and COSC (Charter Oak), the other "Big 3" school that would allow you to test out of your entire degree is Thomas Edison State College (TESC).

http://www.excelsior.edu

http://www.charteroak.edu

http://www.tesc.edu

They are all excellent choices and we have students from each school right here on this board.

I have personal experience with Excelsior's degree requirements and can therefore recommend this school to you. However, all three schools would meet your needs.

Many Law Schools actually prefer their students to have a General Studies/Liberal Arts background because it shows them that you are well rounded. So I think a Liberal Arts degree from any of the Big 3 would serve your goals well.

You will need to earn at least SOME math credits to get a degree. But the Big 3 are very flexible in allowing you to fulfill their math requirements for a Liberal Arts degree. A Business degree, on the other hand, would require a minimum of "College Algebra". So that's something to consider.

There are numerous ways to fulfill the various credit requirements for the Liberal Arts degree. We will certainly be able to help you choose the best exams to take. Most people don't actually enroll in a particular school until they have already earned a bunch of their general education credits. This will save you having to pay the yearly enrollment maintenance fees while you build up your credits. Then, when you get closer to fulfilling all the requirements, you can enroll in the school that best suits your needs, and simply 'plug in' all the credits you have already earned.

Anyway, I wish you well in your journey. Don't hesitate to ask a ton of questions and pick everyone's brains. We're all here to help each other along.

My own recommendation, based on your stated goals, would be to go for a BS Liberal Arts from Excelsior. But I'm sure others will chime in with their own ideas and suggestions. At the end of the day, you will be the one to make the final decision based on what is best for YOU.

Good luck, and welcome to the board,
Snazzlefrag

[siersema]

At 36 years old, I have decided to pursue a degree.

I have been researching the best way to do so and I believe that "Testing Out" is the quickest and most affordable option. I signed up with Instacert to help me study so I can obtain credits quickly thru CLEP and DAANTES.

I would like to get opinions on the best school to do this through, right now I am considering Exelsior or Charter Oak, should I look at any others?

I am having a hard time deciding on what type of degree I want, I currently work in Law Enforcement, my coworkers and others tell me that a degree in criminal justice is useless. Is this true?

I am thinking about a business degree, but my math skills are 6th grade at best.

I would eventually like to attend law school, right now it is only a thought, I don't know if obtaining a degree mostly thru testing will be acceptable for admission.

Any advice, tips or techniques would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

First off Welcome!


Also.. Did you post this? http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread....adid=24891

If so, I'd suggest you also ask the CJ question there. A few of the members, including the admin, have CJ degrees, and I believe the admin is also in Law enforcement.

I'm a fan of Excelsior, but I've read good things about COSC as well. The only other similar college that I'm aware of is Thomas Edison State College http://www.tesc.edu

At Excelsior a Business degree is going to require Math at pre-calc or above and statistics. A Liberal Arts degree, including Criminal Justice, is going to require a very basic level of math "Any college-level mathematics or statistics course". If you're looking at any specific Law degree's I would check the admissions requirements of the program. It's doubtful that they're going to specifically deny a degree obtained mostly via exams. They'd probably have a requirement of specific courses, GPA, LSAT, as well as Accrediation.

As for 'what' degree to go for that depends on why you want it. If it's just to get into a specific graduate program then find out what the requirements are of that program, if it's for future employment look into what those employers are looking for. If it's personal satisfaction what do you like to do? If it's simply to have it, and to have it quickly, what do you already know?

Testing out is probably the most afordable option, and certainly the quickest. There are many state, and some online, schools that are also very cheap for traditional learning as well. The "Big 3" as Excelsior, COSC, and TESC are often called when talking about schools that accept unlimited transfer credit, all accept normal coursework in addition to credit by exam, so don't think you're limited to just testing out of the entire degree. In fact that may not even be possible depending on which degree you go for.

[susitna1]

I am wanting the degree mainly for advancement, but I also have always wanted to be a lawyer (not a defense lawyer..ick!). I would love to work as a mental health advocate once I retire from my current profession. Its very sad to see habitual criminals recieve so much help and watch as the mentally ill are left to fend for themselves.

From what I have learned about law school admissions, I think they really want to see a good LSAT score, the rest is how you present yourself.

My oldest son is about to graduate high school and it's becoming harder for me to argue for him to continue his education when I haven't finished mine, so there is also the hypocrite factor thats driving me.

I wouldn't mind getting a CJ degree, its an area that I have knowledge of and interests me, I just want to make sure I can use it once I have it.

And yes, that was my post at degreeinfo, I have been all over the internet researching and asking questions, I'll post the CJ question over there too.

Thanks for the advice!

[spazz]

At 36 years old, I have decided to pursue a degree.

I have been researching the best way to do so and I believe that "Testing Out" is the quickest and most affordable option. I signed up with Instacert to help me study so I can obtain credits quickly thru CLEP and DAANTES.

I would like to get opinions on the best school to do this through, right now I am considering Exelsior or Charter Oak, should I look at any others?

I am having a hard time deciding on what type of degree I want, I currently work in Law Enforcement, my coworkers and others tell me that a degree in criminal justice is useless. Is this true?

I am thinking about a business degree, but my math skills are 6th grade at best.

I would eventually like to attend law school, right now it is only a thought, I don't know if obtaining a degree mostly thru testing will be acceptable for admission.

Any advice, tips or techniques would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

A criminal justice degree is by far useless, it really depends on what you want to do with the degree though. Whatever you do, pick something, I would not declare liberal arts, as that is a useless major. If you want to attempt to get into law school, then criminal justice or political science would be the way to go.

If law school is really what you want to do, I would be scared going to one of these online schools or even testing out of your core classes. As you probally will not get accepted into law school, and even if you do, you will have a hell of a time getting a good score on the LSAT and eventually the BAR.

If business is what you want to do go for it. There is not a lot math in business, I believe just business calculus and maybe algebra? If you spend time studying and getting help at the math lab or any other resource available you should do fine.

Hope this helps!

[siersema]

A criminal justice degree is by far useless, it really depends on what you want to do with the degree though. Whatever you do, pick something, I would not declare liberal arts, as that is a useless major. If you want to attempt to get into law school, then criminal justice or political science would be the way to go.
!

Susitna1

Liberal Arts does have less utility on it's own, however if your goal is to quickly get an undergraduate degree knowing full well you plan to move on to a graduate degree than it can work out well for you. Don't be afraid to call an admissions rep (or other faculty) at the schools you'd consider for your law degree and ask them these questions. You may find they're open to any under grad degree with a good GPA, or you may even find that they put the distance ed degrees at the bottom of the pile. The most telling thing would be to simply take a look at the faculty portion of their website and see what degrees/schools the faculty themselves went to.

I would love to work as a mental health advocate once I retire from my current profession. Its very sad to see habitual criminals recieve so much help and watch as the mentally ill are left to fend for themselves.

If you also have a desire to go into the mental health field at some point, maybe you should look into that as your under grad, assuming an under grad in that field (health, psychology, ect) would still qualify for admission into a law program.

[pavlc]

Susitna1,
Just so you can put this into prospective, I'm 36 as well and started out this year (Jan 1 2006) with zero credits under my belt.
Six months later via clep, dantes, community college classses and the fema credits (DO NOT forget to load up on the FEMA credits!!! Especially if you are already in law enforcement. All the information for that is over at degreeinfo forums) I now have 55 credits while working full time (50 hours a week)

What I did was focus on getting credits in what I know. I would suggest that you do the same. You are in Law Enforcement, go with the CJ degree because half of the stuff that you are studying will either be second nature or you will already be familiar with it and you'll breeze right through.
Same with the general ed stuff.You like history? There are tons of history cleps and dantes. Psychology is your bag? Same deal.

The thing that you want to do is get a degree. As CJ degree is a great base degree for a number of grad programs.
Good luck.
pavlc

[ShotoJuku]

Forget about you age - I'm 46 and just finishing my degree. I chose Excelsior for cost reasons alone as the "big three" all take clep/dsst credit but Excelsior took ALL of my previously earned credit from 27 years ago. Incidentally, my degree is a BS with a major in CJ and minor in history. My degree is of great use to me as I've been a LEO now for 25+ years now.

[yutzyj]

If law school is really what you want to do, I would be scared going to one of these online schools or even testing out of your core classes. As you probally will not get accepted into law school, and even if you do, you will have a hell of a time getting a good score on the LSAT and eventually the BAR.

i know for a fact that a recent excesior grad was just admitted into ohio state's law school and has completed his first year. their law school is the number one law school in ohio. so it is possible.

[SimonTam]

I agree with Brian. Forget about your age. I'm 40 and restarting my degree. I guess it runs in my family. My grandmother got her BA degree at 50 and her FIRST masters at 62. She is 85 now and I think she has finally stopped going to school.