Looking for advice on choosing a degree for a career change

[frankc]

Hello guys. My wife is a dancer, but she has been unhappy in her current career and has been considering a career change for several years now. She's now seriously considering getting a degree, even if it takes a few years.


Here’s what she’s looking for:

1. A degree from a reputable traditional school: She’s not interested in "check-the-box" degrees from schools like TESU, EU, or WGU. She wants a recognizable degree from a traditional school that she can do online, such as programs like Georgetown on Coursera or Penn State World.
   
2. Good job prospects: She wants a degree that will "guarantee" a job, though I’ve told her that’s nearly impossible unless she pursues something in the medical field like Rad Tech or Nursing.
   
3. No interest in CS or SWE degrees: Although a CS or SWE degree would be great (and something I could definitely help her with), she’s just not interested. I've tried teaching her programming over the past few years, but it's not her thing. And also, she hates Math lol.
   

So at first, she considered a two-year full-time Rad Tech program because it seems to offer good job prospects and job security. However, she’s concerned about the risk of failing a course and then get kick out and the financial and time investment required.
After some research, we’re now considering Penn State World Campus’s Bachelor of Design in Digital Multimedia Design degree for several reasons:

1. Reputation: Penn State World Campus is part of Penn State’s multi-campus system, so her degree would be the same as one from an on-campus program, unlike degrees from rebranded places like Purdue Global or University of Arizona Global (for-profit).
   
2. Transfer credit: Penn state world seems to accept up to 90 transfer credits, including ACE credits, which can make the degree more affordable and quicker to complete. However, we’re still unsure how many credits from places like Study.com or Sophia they accept in practice.
   

We're also not entirely sure what this degree will lead to, but I think it might be related to UX design. She's not particularly interested in anything specific yet, but the name of this degree sounded interesting enough to her.

We’d appreciate any suggestions for other universities or programs. Thank you!

Location: USA
Age: 30
What kind of degree do you want?: A degree from a reputable traditional school, with good job prospects. (need to be an online program)
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 0
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:  0
Any certifications or military experience? None
Budget: It doesn't have to be the cheapest option
Commitments: While there may be some months where she needs to work 5 days a week, most of the time she works just 2 to 3 days a week.
Dedicated time to study: Not sure
Timeline: It doesn't need to be too fast. A timeline of 2 to 4 years seems reasonable. Since she wants to switch careers, not just get a degree. She plans to work on projects and might do an internship while studying.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None

[jg_nuy]

Here is a report from someone on the forum who attended Penn State World - https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...tate-World

They accept up to 84 ACE credits in the degree.

---

You can find the transfer credit tool at this link:
https://public.lionpath.psu.edu/psc/CSPR...tion=U&

You want to look for "American Council on Education" to see ACE equivalencies and it's best to send the Sophia transcript via Parchment.

[frankc]

Here is a report from someone on the forum who attended Penn State World - https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...tate-World

They accept up to 84 ACE credits in the degree.

---

You can find the transfer credit tool at this link:
https://public.lionpath.psu.edu/psc/CSPR...tion=U&

You want to look for "American Council on Education" to see ACE equivalencies and it's best to send the Sophia transcript via Parchment.

Thank you so much! This is really helpful!

[allvia]

I wouldn't recommend a degree because the name of it sounded interesting, that alone is not a reason - nor is it an indicator that there is a job market for it. I'm not saying it isn't a good match, I'm saying the reasons given here aren't solid enough. Now, if UX design sounds interesting to her I'd recommend she complete the Google UX certificate before committing to a degree program that you feel is aimed at that type of work. At the very least it could be worth some elective ACE credits should she decides that is not of long term career interest. There are a number of low cost 'test the waters' certificates/MOOCs to test the lonf term interest. You mentioned her goal isn't just to 'check the box', but if the degree doesn't end up being in a field where there is professional interest, necessary income, or worse - no jobs to be filled, then the degree will end up just to be used to 'check the box' (and, as you know, there are many low cost/quick ways of doing that)

[bjcheung77]

@frankc, My wife wanted to do something very similar to this as well, after our talk, she decided to get the bulk of the ACE credits to reach a max of 80-90 credits that can transfer to the usual recommended institutions, such as UMPI and TESU. What I told her to do was also look at the Cousera/EdX Bachelors to see which ones interest her as these are partners of some better known or recognized institutions, we wanted to see which ones may accept up to 75% transfer.

Basically, she's doing the recommended balanced mix/match trifecta of certs, degree, experience, as she's going for the Pierpont BOG AAS to house all the ACE technical credit, Coursera Certs, and has years experience in several fields (hospitality & tourism, pharmacy, sales, etc). She's going to see which of the subjects in the Coursera certs interest her most as it ranges from Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, IT, PM, UX Design. We may decide on UMPI BAS and then another BA.

[mohelena02]

what state are you in? the UC system or UT systems have great schools. Without details in what she is interested in it's hard to tell... My husband is doing Georgetown BLS for the reputation of the school.

[OtterDen]

> No interest in CS or SWE degrees: Although a CS or SWE degree would be great (and something I could definitely help her with), she’s just not interested. I've tried teaching her programming over the past few years, but it's not her thing. And also, she hates Math lol.

What about IT related? It does not require a lot of programming, if at all. And math is usually not required as well.

Previously, I have done a Level 5 Diploma in IT related stuff, and use that to top-up to an UK university IT related Bachelor (honours) program. The time commitment and difficulty of subject required is low, compared to computer science field. The time and money required is also quite minimal, if you take that into account as well.

[ItsNeverTheLionsYear]

Seconding the opinion of many people in this thread to say that she needs to decide what she wants to do before pursuing the degree. If the goal is a job, any job, with minimal effort and no programming, I would absolutely NOT do the digital multimedia degree. You gotta hustle to get those UI/UX jobs and it helps to be able to program at least enough to whip up a web app.

She doesn't want to go to WGU, but strictly for the purposes of picking a career path, I would strongly recommend that she browse WGU's degree selection as a sort of "menu" for careers that can reasonably be switched into later in life. WGU only offers career oriented degrees, so basically any subject they offer except for Finance is a subject that will set her up in a new career regardless of what school she goes to.

Excluding math heavy subjects (notably accounting, any degree in "operations" which would require technical analysis, all IT subfields), this leaves her with:

• Education. Boy, if she wants a job in education, they're there for the taking. Especially Math and Science teachers, but we're ruling math out. Has all the problems you'd expect. If you're in a major city with a strong teacher's union, Special Ed can be shockingly lucrative, but the job is tough. If she goes this route she should consider getting a master's as well, lots of "University of [State] in [City]" schools offer programs for working professionals.
  
• Nursing. You've already talked over this with her. I will say, fear of failure is real, but if she works hard she can absolutely make it, and if she's a dancer she already knows what hard work is like.
  
• Psychology. The career this leads to is being a therapist or social worker. She would have to get a MSW for either career, at a minimum, and meet state licensing standards.
  
• Community Health and related fields. Mostly government jobs or for nonprofits. Not a lot of money in this one.
  
• Healthcare Administration. Would lead to a hospital back office career. Decent way to live.
  
• Marketing. It's what it sounds like. Realistically, from a part time online school, this would lead to work for a local or regional business. 
  
• Human Resources. Nobody wants to do HR so the job market is decent. Not the most fun job from my perspective, but some like it.
  

[Duneranger]

UI/UX is a tough field and NOT a guaranteed job. She will be competing against the thousands of new college grads who all want to gobble up those sexy UX roles at "lazy girl" companies lol. Trying to get a lucrative degree in Digital Multimedia Design is not going from a frying pan (dance) and into the fire.

---

Seconding the opinion of many people in this thread to say that she needs to decide what she wants to do before pursuing the degree. If the goal is a job, any job, with minimal effort and no programming, I would absolutely NOT do the digital multimedia degree. You gotta hustle to get those UI/UX jobs and it helps to be able to program at least enough to whip up a web app.

She doesn't want to go to WGU, but strictly for the purposes of picking a career path, I would strongly recommend that she browse WGU's degree selection as a sort of "menu" for careers that can reasonably be switched into later in life. WGU only offers career oriented degrees, so basically any subject they offer except for Finance is a subject that will set her up in a new career regardless of what school she goes to.

Excluding math heavy subjects (notably accounting, any degree in "operations" which would require technical analysis, all IT subfields), this leaves her with:

• Education. Boy, if she wants a job in education, they're there for the taking. Especially Math and Science teachers, but we're ruling math out. Has all the problems you'd expect. If you're in a major city with a strong teacher's union, Special Ed can be shockingly lucrative, but the job is tough. If she goes this route she should consider getting a master's as well, lots of "University of [State] in [City]" schools offer programs for working professionals.
  
• Nursing. You've already talked over this with her. I will say, fear of failure is real, but if she works hard she can absolutely make it, and if she's a dancer she already knows what hard work is like.
  
• Psychology. The career this leads to is being a therapist or social worker. She would have to get a MSW for either career, at a minimum, and meet state licensing standards.
  
• Community Health and related fields. Mostly government jobs or for nonprofits. Not a lot of money in this one.
  
• Healthcare Administration. Would lead to a hospital back office career. Decent way to live.
  
• Marketing. It's what it sounds like. Realistically, from a part time online school, this would lead to work for a local or regional business. 
  
• Human Resources. Nobody wants to do HR so the job market is decent. Not the most fun job from my perspective, but some like it.
  

Nursing-I have taught nursing over the years, it's not a degree you just decide to do. You have to WANT to do it or you will burn out fast. The job already has a massive attrition rate after a few years because you get treated like trash. Absolutely a guaranteed job though, hospitals are desperate because NO one stays.

Healthcare Administration- 1. The LAST thing we need is a non healthcare person getting into healthcare admin. 2. The other LAST thing we need in healthcare is MORE administrators. There is a reason why there is such a rift between the clinical grunts on the ground and admin in their towers. They are in general awful and have no idea how "healthcare" actually works.

[frankc]

I wouldn't recommend a degree because the name of it sounded interesting, that alone is not a reason - nor is it an indicator that there is a job market for it. I'm not saying it isn't a good match, I'm saying the reasons given here aren't solid enough. Now, if UX design sounds interesting to her I'd recommend she complete the Google UX certificate before committing to a degree program that you feel is aimed at that type of work. At the very least it could be worth some elective ACE credits should she decides that is not of long term career interest. There are a number of low cost 'test the waters' certificates/MOOCs to test the lonf term interest. You mentioned her goal isn't just to 'check the box', but if the degree doesn't end up being in a field where there is professional interest, necessary income, or worse - no jobs to be filled, then the degree will end up just to be used to 'check the box' (and, as you know, there are many low cost/quick ways of doing that)

Thanks! Yeah I'll definitely make sure she does a few free courses and get some ACE credits before committing to any school/program.

---

@frankc, My wife wanted to do something very similar to this as well, after our talk, she decided to get the bulk of the ACE credits to reach a max of 80-90 credits that can transfer to the usual recommended institutions, such as UMPI and TESU.  What I told her to do was also look at the Cousera/EdX Bachelors to see which ones interest her as these are partners of some better known or recognized institutions, we wanted to see which ones may accept up to 75% transfer.  

Basically, she's doing the recommended balanced mix/match trifecta of certs, degree, experience, as she's going for the Pierpont BOG AAS to house all the ACE technical credit, Coursera Certs, and has years experience in several fields (hospitality & tourism, pharmacy, sales, etc).  She's going to see which of the subjects in the Coursera certs interest her most as it ranges from Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, IT, PM, UX Design.  We may decide on UMPI BAS and then another BA.

Thanks, yeah, I'll definitely make sure she get a bunch of ACE credits before committing to any schools or programs.