Mature student seeks help with college credit/bypassing courses. Psychology oriented.

[Cyath]

I originally made this post on reddit and was directed here.


I am a non-traditional student (I'm 41) who entered the working world at 19. I quickly discovered that work experience trumps all, and I've only recently returned to school because of various factors that would take too long to relate here. I am also not a USA citizen.

I find that a lot of what I have learned in university so far (I'm 70 credits into my BA, I have an Associate's) is stuff I've already either learned on the job or through my own experiences.

How do I finish the degree with a minimum of fuss, bother, and money? Since I'm already 70 credits in, I want to just finish it up at this point. I have some money, but not a lot. Scholarships would be good (I have gotten them at every school I've attended, 3.8 GPA)

I'm potentially interested in an MA/PhD, but only if it can be obtained efficiently and affordably. 

I'm interested in that and similar methods of gaining credit or bypassing courses based on demonstrated knowledge. For instance, I have been self-studying psychology for about 2 decades now, so I am beyond the MA level (my therapist agrees) I have a diverse skill set in many areas (acting, writing, business) which I can provide references for.

I have Googled this, but as it is not a common query there is not a lot of information on it. A lot of universities also have their own stipulations - some accept work experience, some don't, some grant partial credit, some...it's too individual for me to ask EVERY college I want to enroll in.

Most people advised talking to advisors. For a lot of universities, that is gated behind an official enrollment, which means I need to pay money. I'm not willing to do so unless I know I will be attending the school. The few universities I contacted were not helpful, and I've experienced huge delays (sometimes half a year) in trying to get my queries answered.

I figured I'd ask here again because I am only one person and it's a big world.

tldr; I want to obtain a BA with minimal fuss, I have the skills and not the papers

[bjcheung77]

@cyath, Welcome to the board! That's an interesting first post as it contains some information requested on the addendum and template here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works I suggest filling us in with a bit more detail, especially what is asked of in the addendum. With more info, we can help you much more... And yes, it's a big big world and that just reminded me of this song: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/2353011/Big+Big+World

[rachel83az]

If you want a Psychology degree, UMPI or TESU are probably going to be the best options to "just finish quickly". But it really depends on your exact goals and whether you are hoping for licensing or what. Please fill out the addendum, including listing exactly what classes you've already finished and what grades you've achieved.

[studyingfortests]

Hi, and welcome.

It sounds like your ultimate goal is to be a therapist. For that, you'll need a masters in either psychology, counseling, or social work. (More about that in a minute).

The folks here will give you more specific advice on your undergrad. One of my friends is on the exact same route you are on, and is almost finished with his MSW. He had 40ish college credits, left school, and worked for a number of years. Once he decided to re-enter school, about 2 years ago, he was able to complete the remaining 80 credits in about 9 months. A combination of Sophia.org, Coopersmith, and Study.com credits was the route he used; these days, you may be able to do most everything with Sophia. Then you complete the remaining credits at one of the degree completion schools (UMPI, Excelsior, or TESU), and get your undergrad.

The undergrad in psychology won't really do you any good as far as being able to do any counseling, at least, not at any state in the US. So really, the undergrad is a piece of paper that gets you admission to a master's program.

My friend and I both went a similar route: TESU's BA in Liberal Arts, with a Social Sciences concentration. And we both ultimately chose the MSW as the degree of choice to become a therapist. I believe the MSW is a better choice than either the MFT or LPC, because (a) social workers have a wider scope of practice than the other two, providing greater options both career wise and how you can work with clients. (b) Social workers generally have a greater income earning potential. © I just recently heard from one of the leadership at my graduate school that they have had an influx of LPCs and MFTs enter their program to get an MSW, because they were having problems finding work. (This isn't true in CA, but is in a lot of other states.) Finally (d) There isn't anything an MFT or LPC can do that an MSW cannot, but there are a bunch of things MSWs can do that the other two cannot.

Your existing knowledge will help you complete the Sophia (or whatever ACE provider you use) courses more quickly. My friend earned about 24 credits in 30 days. (I didn't need as many, but earned the ones I needed with similar speed.) But it is generally not worth the time and hassle to do portfolio-based credits (the way you convert knowledge to college credits). Too much time, hassle, and expense.

Your existing knowledge also won't exempt you from any masters-level coursework. In general, most masters programs don't have "life experience credit", and psychology/social work programs generally don't take ACE or other non-traditional credits at the masters level. But the masters is only a 2 year degree, and there are excellent programs that are around 35K all in for the two years.

So anyway, that's a basic lay of the land, and a pretty quick route to get you where you want to be.

[dfrecore]

TESU is ok, since you already have a good GPA. UMPI is also good and will give you additional graded credits. Either one is a good option, just depends on whether you want a CBE program or not.

[LevelUP]

Here are the colleges we recommend that we have degree plans for.

TESU Psychology Degree Plan (3 months at TESU. 5k cost)
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

UMPI Psychology Degree Plan (2 or 4 months UMPI. 1.5k or 3k cost)
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

SNHU Psychology Degree Plan (10 months at SNHU. 10k cost)
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/SN...egree_Plan

Your steps:
1. Pick a college.
2. Figure out how your existing credits will transfer in.
3. Plan a spreadsheet of all courses you need to take and where you plan to take them.
4. Complete remaining alternative credits to max transfer credits.
5. Take the remaining college courses and finish your degree.

[Cyath]

Thank you for your replies. I'm going to post my unofficial transcripts here, as well as what CLEPs I have studied for. 

I have considerable life experience (I've written 22 books and been published before, ran a company, and won singing competitions, among other things) but I'm not sure what colleges accept. 

Therapist is a possible career path as I have counseled in a non-official capacity before. 

---

TRANSFER INSTITUTION: SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE SRJC:
TRENGL 02 English Communicat TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSCI 01 Natural Sciences TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSOC 01 Social and Behavio TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSOC 01 Social and Behavio TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRELE 01 General Electives TR 1.00 1.00 0.00 0.00
TRELE 01 General Electives TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSCI 01 Natural Sciences TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRANSFER INSTITUTION: Broward College:
TRELE 01 General Electives TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSCI 01 Natural Sciences TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSOC 01 Social and Behavio TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSCI 01 Natural Sciences TR 1.00 1.00 0.00 0.00
TRHUM 01 Humanities TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRELE 01 General Electives TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRHUM 01 Humanities TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRCOM 01 Oral Communication TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRHUM 01 Humanities TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSOC 01 Social and Behavio TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSCI 01 Natural Sciences TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRMAT 01 Math Concepts/Quan TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRENGL 01 English Communicat TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRELE 01 General Electives TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00
TRSCI 01 Natural Sciences TR 2.00 2.00 0.00 0.00
Transfer Totals: 61.00 61.00 0.00 0.00 GPA = 0.0000
Academic Level Totals: 61.00 61.00 0.00 0.00 GPA = 0.0000
Cumulative Totals: 61.00 61.00 0.00 0.00 GPA = 0.0000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fall 2022
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BSPSY 1110 Theories of Person A 4.00 4.00 4.00 16.00
BSPSY 1111 Neurobiology A 4.00 4.00 4.00 16.00
BSPSY 1112 Learning and Cogni A 4.00 4.00 4.00 16.00
GEN 1502 Language of Psych A 1.00 1.00 1.00 4.00
Term Totals: 13.00 13.00 13.00 52.00 GPA = 4.0000
Academic Level Totals: 74.00 74.00 13.00 52.00 GPA = 4.0000
Cumulative Totals: 74.00 74.00 13.00 52.00 GPA = 4.0000


---

Information Systems
3
Principles of Management
3
Principles of Marketing
3
Analyze Lit
3
Ed Psych
3
western world history
3
Sociology
3

[bjcheung77]

That's an interesting update, you should review what institutions you would want to get your bachelor's from and see which appeals to you most. Here's a thread post that may help you to decide, you can add Excelsior to the list of institutions as well: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid401672

[dfrecore]

You actually have to put your original transcript info in here - transfer credits aren't helpful since they show what the transfer school accepts the credits as.

So, put the ORIGINAL credit in:

School
Course #, full course name, number of credits

repeat for each school

It's much easier if you leave off all other info since then I can cut/paste your info into a spreadsheet: so
TRHUM 01 Humanities TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00 becomes HUM 101: Intro to Humanities 3.00 (or whatever it is). Much simpler to work with.

If we can't see the original credits, then we can't know what fits where. TRSOC 01 Social and Behavio TR 3.00 3.00 0.00 0.00 doesn't tell me if this is Intro to Sociology which would fit as the diversity requirement at TESU for instance.

[Duneranger]

No licensure granting programs (like therapy or other medical adjacent fields) are going to grant you constructive credit based on life experience. Accreditation standards are pretty rigid.

It might help you in your role but it is T going to help you bypass core classes.