Looking for advice on Special Ed / Social Science

[tls7291]

Hi Everyone,

Looking for advice / suggestions....I'm looking to test out and get done with degree as quickly as possible in order to manage my fathers rising medical costs. I would like to do Special Ed and/or Social Science to teach history or gov/econ. Below is what I have done already, all Gen Ed classes. I guess my questions to start would be , are the big 3 an option or other online school? I'm thinking that once I find a couple of good options for school I can create a plan for a degree and get some help with it on this forum. I'm guessing Social Science would be easier to test out at Big 3?

Currently standing at 89 credits, will be at 92 after current semester.

School #1, juco on semester schedule

Psych 130 ,    Personal Adjustment,                        3 credits, Gen Ed
Philo 115,      Religious Comparisons & Inquiry,        3 credits, Gen Ed
Psych 101,    General Psychology,                           3 credits, Gen Ed
Socio 150,     Ethnicity & Culture in America,            3 credits,Gen, Ed
SpCom 102,  Intro to  Human Comm.,                     3 credits, Gen Ed
PE 109,        Performance Through Mental Training,  3 credits, Gen Ed
Anthro 101,  Physical Anthropology,                         3 credits, Gen Ed
Polsc 110,    International Relations,                        3 credits, Gen Ed
Music 110,   Music Appreciation,                              3 credits, Gen Ed
Hea 110,      Healthful Living,                                  3 credits, Gen Ed
Pe 108,        Care & Prev of Athletic Inj. ,                 3 credits, Gen Ed
Human 101, Intro to Humanities,                             3 credits, Gen Ed
Hist 101,      History of US to 1877,                          3 credits, Gen Ed
Engl. 101,    Comp. & Reading,                                3 credits, Gen Ed
Hea 101,      Emerg. Response / CPR,                      3 credits, Gen Ed
Csci 201,     General Computer literacy,                    3 credits, Gen Ed
Busad 230,  Personal Finance,                                 3 credits, Gen Ed
PE 121 ,      Coaching Effectiveness,                        3 credits, Gen Ed
PE 100,       Into to Physical Ed.                              3 credits, Gen Ed
Hist 106,     World Civ to 16th Cent.,                        3 credits, Gen Ed
Engl. 169,   Children's Literature,                             3 credits, Gen Ed
Philo 105,   Crit. Reason & Analytic Writing,              3 credits, Gen Ed
Art 160,      Appreciation of Art,                               3 credits, Gen Ed
Psych 110,  Human Sexualities,                               3 credits, Gen Ed
Hist. 129,    History of California,                             3 credits, Gen Ed
MPE 101     Basketball Theory                                 3 credits /Gen Ed


School #2 juco on semester schedule

Lbst 10,    Intro to Education,                                3 credits, Gen Ed
Math 62,   Algebra for Liberal Arts,                         5 Credits, Gen Ed

currently enrolled in Math 105, Basic Structures of Math, 3 credits, Gen Ed

[cookderosa]

I want to ask this in a delicate way, but why are you still taking lower level gen ed classes without a plan? You have enough credit to have earned an associate degree 30 credits ago. You could be in your last year of college with that many credits, but you're still taking more classes for your freshman/sophomore level, even this semester, so I'm just curious about that. Again, not trying to be insensitive, but there must be something more to the story?

[tls7291]

No problem whatsoever..so many of those classes were taken in the late 90's early 2000's, I became very ill and finally received a liver and kidney transplant in 2014. So mid 2015, I decided i'd like to go back to school and get into some sort of teaching profession, as I enjoy kids and love to teach. I went to my local junior college and was working and taking classes as much as I could manage, about 6 or 9 every semester . I got a job at an elementary school and work as a Para, just to see what I might like or not like. I've also worked a lot with high school kids. While all this was going on, my friends urged me to go to the local CSU and make sure that the Junior college counselors had me on the right path. Well when I went there I was told that many of my Gen Ed classes would not work towards their pathway as car as their liberal arts or social science was concerned. My CSU counselor which I met with just about a month ago told me that I need 30 more units of Gen Ed and about 50 units of Upper Level course work to complete either of those degrees, that of course does not take into consideration the 36 units that I would need for credential...add that all up and you're looking at another 116 units! I was a little frustrated and was actually going to try and o it but my dad's health has gotten really bad and I need to try and get a degree really fast. Also yes I have an AA in Physical Ed. I'm not going to lie this forum is a little overwhelming as I just learned about testing out and the Big 3. I'm trying to do research about them but it can be a little overwhelming. Someone suggested Special Ed to me but only WGU has this , so I'm leaning towards one of the big 3 which has degree in Social Science or History, simply because WGU only accepts 90 units and It oesn't look like I'd be able to test out of many classes at that college or at least that is my understanding. I would greatly appreciate any insight or help that you might have to offer!!!

---

I want to ask this in a delicate way, but why are you still taking lower level gen ed classes without a plan?  You have enough credit to have earned an associate degree 30 credits ago.  You could be in your last year of college with that many credits, but you're still taking more classes for your freshman/sophomore level, even this semester, so I'm just curious about that.  Again, not trying to be insensitive, but there must be something more to the story?

No problem whatsoever..so many of those classes were taken in the late 90's early 2000's, I became very ill and finally received a liver and kidney transplant in 2014. So mid 2015, I decided i'd like to go back to school and get into some sort of teaching profession, as I enjoy kids and love to teach. I went to my local junior college and was working and taking classes as much as I could manage, about 6 or 9 every semester . I got a job at an elementary school and work as a Para, just to see what I might like or not like. I've also worked a lot with high school kids. While all this was going on, my friends urged me to go to the local CSU and make sure that the Junior college counselors had me on the right path. Well when I went there I was told that many of my Gen Ed classes would not work towards their pathway as car as their liberal arts or social science was concerned. My CSU counselor which I met with just about a month ago told me that I need 30 more units of Gen Ed and about 50 units of Upper Level course work to complete either of those degrees, that of course does not take into consideration the 36 units that I would need for credential...add that all up and you're looking at another 116 units! I was a little frustrated and was actually going to try and o it but my dad's health has gotten really bad and I need to try and get a degree really fast. Also yes I have an AA in Physical Ed. I'm not going to lie this forum is a little overwhelming as I just learned about testing out and the Big 3. I'm trying to do research about them but it can be a little overwhelming. Someone suggested Special Ed to me but only WGU has this , so I'm leaning towards one of the big 3 which has degree in Social Science or History, simply because WGU only accepts 90 units and It oesn't look like I'd be able to test out of many classes at that college or at least that is my understanding. I would greatly appreciate any insight or help that you might have to offer!!!

[Merlin]

...
Someone suggested Special Ed to me but only WGU has this , so I'm leaning towards one of the big 3 which has degree in Social Science or History, simply because WGU only accepts 90 units and It oesn't look like I'd be able to test out of many classes at that college or at least that is my understanding. I would greatly appreciate any insight or help that you might have to offer!!!

You can transfer in up to 90 credits, and all of those can be alt. education, or test out or what have you. WGU has a very liberal transfer policy and accepts nearly all the same types of credits as the big 3. Like TESU, they don't accept Shmoop, but they do accept CLEP, ACE, and even NA credits from non-RA schools, which the big 3 doesn't (or only accepts a small amount of, in the case of Excelsior).

The challenge is matching your credits to the curriculum of your degree plan and figuring out which ones you can take via alternative credit, leaving the rest to be taken directly from the school. Either way, you have 6 months to complete the balance of credits, so if you're diligent you can get through a lot of coursework in that time. Finishing in 6 months is generally not that hard, even if you end up needing more than 30 credits to complete the degree.

[cookderosa]

[quote="tls7291" pid='284623' dateline='1553191557']
No problem whatsoever..so many of those classes were taken in the late 90's early 2000's, I became very ill and finally received a liver and kidney transplant in 2014. So mid 2015, I decided i'd like to go back to school and get into some sort of teaching profession, as I enjoy kids and love to teach. I went to my local junior college and was working and taking classes as much as I could manage, about 6 or 9 every semester . I got a job at an elementary school and work as a Para, just to see what I might like or not like. I've also worked a lot with high school kids. While all this was going on, my friends urged me to go to the local CSU and make sure that the Junior college counselors had me on the right path. Well when I went there I was told that many of my Gen Ed classes would not work towards their pathway as car as their liberal arts or social science was concerned. My CSU counselor which I met with just about a month ago told me that I need 30 more units of Gen Ed and about 50 units of Upper Level course work to complete either of those degrees, that of course does not take into consideration the 36 units that I would need for credential...add that all up and you're looking at another 116 units! I was a little frustrated and was actually going to try and o it but my dad's health has gotten really bad and I need to try and get a degree really fast. Also yes I have an AA in Physical Ed. I'm not going to lie this forum is a little overwhelming as I just learned about testing out and the Big 3. I'm trying to do research about them but it can be a little overwhelming. Someone suggested Special Ed to me but only WGU has this , so I'm leaning towards one of the big 3 which has degree in Social Science or History, simply because WGU only accepts 90 units and It oesn't look like I'd be able to test out of many classes at that college or at least that is my understanding. I would greatly appreciate any insight or help that you might have to offer!!!

---

Oh wow! That makes so much more sense now. Hope you're doing well post-transplant, that's a scary and difficult thing you've had to face.

So, big picture- everything on your list will transfer (assuming passing grades) into any of the big 3 or WGU.

The "trick" to any of it is plugging the holes. So, even though it's overwhelming, I would say that you have a situation that requires patience while you sort through all of this. If you had zero credits, you could literally just jump in- but in your case, being careful to meet each requirement (and not building up excess that you can't use) means being a little slower at making sure this will all come together like you need it to. As an extreme example, if you had 120 English credits, those credits would all transfer, but because no degree is comprised only of English, the excess would be wasted.

My advice is to first see if you'll be able to get the teaching license you need for your state using a degree from the big 3 or WGU.
Through WGU it would be direct
(your credit + alternative credit + 30 WGU credits includes licensure = degree --> work)
whereas through one of the big 3 it would be a little different, I don't know your state's license rules, so this is hypothetical but you should look that up asap to know how it would actually happen
(your credit + alternative credit = degree + licensure requirement --> work)

I forgot to say that you can do upper level requirements alternatively too, but since you'll have to use some WGU classes, you'd want to plan it so that you're not wasting WGU classes on something cheap/easy to get alternatively. Save your WGU slots for the ones that are hard to get otherwise.

[tls7291]

No problem whatsoever..so many of those classes were taken in the late 90's early 2000's,  I became very ill and finally received a liver and kidney transplant in 2014. So mid 2015, I decided i'd like to go back to school and get into some sort of teaching profession, as I enjoy kids and love to teach. I went to my local junior college and was working and taking classes as much as I could manage, about 6 or 9 every semester . I got a job at an elementary school and work as a Para, just to see what I might like or not like. I've also worked a lot with high school kids. While all this was going on, my friends urged me to go to the local CSU and make sure that the Junior college counselors had me on the right path. Well when I went there I was told that many of my Gen Ed classes would not work towards their pathway as car as their liberal arts or social science was concerned. My CSU counselor which I met with just about a month ago told me that I need 30 more units of Gen Ed and about 50 units of Upper Level course work to complete either of those degrees, that of course does not take into consideration the 36 units that I would need for credential...add that all up and you're looking at another 116 units! I was a little frustrated and was actually going to try and o it but my dad's health has gotten really bad and I need to try and get a degree really fast. Also yes I have an AA in Physical Ed. I'm not going to lie this forum is a little overwhelming as I just learned about testing out and the Big 3. I'm trying to do research about them but it can be a little overwhelming. Someone suggested Special Ed to me but only WGU has this , so I'm leaning towards one of the big 3 which has degree in Social Science or History, simply because WGU only accepts 90 units and It oesn't look like I'd be able to test out of many classes at that college or at least that is my understanding. I would greatly appreciate any insight or help that you might have to offer!!!

---

Oh wow! That makes so much more sense now.    Hope you're doing well post-transplant, that's a scary and difficult thing you've had to face.  

So, big picture- everything on your list will transfer (assuming passing grades) into any of the big 3 or WGU.  

The "trick" to any of it is plugging the holes.  So, even though it's overwhelming, I would say that you have a situation that requires patience while you sort through all of this. If you had zero credits, you could literally just jump in- but in your case, being careful to meet each requirement (and not building up excess that you can't use) means being a little slower at making sure this will all come together like you need it to.   As an extreme example, if you had 120 English credits, those credits would all transfer, but because no degree is comprised only of English, the excess would be wasted.  

My advice is to first see if you'll be able to get the teaching license you need for your state using a degree from the big 3 or WGU.  
Through WGU it would be direct
(your credit + alternative credit + 30 WGU credits includes licensure = degree --> work)
whereas through one of the big 3 it would be a little different, I don't know your state's license rules, so this is hypothetical but you should look that up asap to know how it would actually happen  
(your credit + alternative credit = degree + licensure requirement --> work)

I forgot to say that you can do upper level requirements alternatively too, but since you'll have to use some WGU classes, you'd want to plan it so that you're not wasting WGU classes on something cheap/easy to get alternatively.  Save your WGU slots for the ones that are hard to get otherwise.

Thank You much appreciated, yes 15 years on wait list at Stanford and then had a chance to get my transplant in Louisiana in 2014! You seem to be very knowledgeable, so I hope you don't mid me asking you for some info. I've been going back and forth between teaching elementary and jr hi thru high school. After working with both age groups for extended periods of time i've come to the conclusion that I enjoy teaching older kids. I have a significant amount of  experience with kids ages 8-18 because I have been a coach for almost 25 years, coaching volleyball and basketball, which is how I supplemented my income while I was sick. To me coaching is another form of teaching, I have been very blessed to get many life lessons through sports and been able to pa ss them onto my student/athletes. Sorry, I'm rambling....Let me get to the point. I've researched both WGU and TESU and WGU has a Degree which is Mild to Moderate Special Ed and TESU has a degree in History, I really like these two but I feel the History degree would be quicker to attain since I'm on a bit of a time crunch. In your opinion how do you think I should approach this? Like you said I know I will have to be patient, I'm not trying to take more classes than I have to. Should I call the schools and have them evaluate my classes? Should I instead make a thread for help with the 2 plans for History and Special Ed ? I don't really know what the etiquette for this forum is and I don't want to upset people. Thank You So Much!