Need a Bachelors ... any Bachelors....

[MidLifeCrisis]

Hi all,

Have spent a couple of weeks poking around the forum. 

Basically, I want to change careers and convert what I do on occasion in a temporary capacity into a permanent role. In doing so I would like to get a Masters that's offered internationally. I'm in a slightly weird situation in that I meet all the professional requirements for admission, but don't have the bachelors. The admission team tried to get me in on the basis that the professional experience would, usually, follow the bachelors but the universities policy is what it is. 

Hence, I need a Bachelors Degree. Field doesn't especially matter with the slight exception if there is a politics, public policy or similar option that is worth slightly more to me. Ideally completely done and dusted by March 2023. If I can get it done by August this year there is some merit in that for me.

When I started looking through this I thought I would end up with  SNHU. However since discovering this forum I now am leaning towards UMPI. 

Ive been knocking off the Sophia courses, having done the ones listed below in two and a half weeks. I'm now at the point of doing the courses with touchstones so really need to nail down which degree to eventually pursue in order to not waste time or $$ type thing. 

So Im leaning towards either the BLS or the BA (History and Political Science) at UMPI but wondering if anyone else has suggestions of degrees to look at?



Your Location: Australia
Your Age: Mid 30's
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelors
Budget: Its a piece of paper to me in some ways. The timeframe is worth more to me than the cost, but I'm not going to spend extra to go to a more prestigious institution...
Time: I work full time, but have converted to do my 38 hours a week over 4 days. No substantial commitments on the 3 days off and have evenings etc. 

Other info:
I have a Grad Cert from Australia (Mgt Accounting, Marketing Management, Advanced Industrial Relations) but I don't think its worth the expense and hassle to get them converted.

Otherwise I'm Aussie. One parent born in the US but not considered American myself unfortunately.

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

Provider Total Credits: 40 @ Sophia, to date:
I know not all will credit, included for completeness
Intro to Business
Intro to IT
College Readiness 
Intro to Ethics
Conflict Resolution
US History I
US History II
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
Art History I
Art History II
Environmental Science
Accounting
Developing Effective Teams 

And pumping through them, have Greek philosophers in the marking queue and writing the touchstone for Business Law in the next 24 hours. Billing month ends 5th June, can do another month if needed. 

[rachel83az]

Are you okay with writing papers? If so, UMPI sounds like a great fit for you. If you keep going at a similar pace, you could have a degree in 2-4 months after enrolling at UMPI!

You'll need Spanish I from somewhere. You can try doing it on Sophia, but InstantCert may be faster and easier. If you happen to know a different language, you may be able to take an ACTFL exam instead, depending on the language.

You'll also need a science with a lab. Biology 101L at Study.com is usually recommended, but you could also do Chemistry 111L there and get Human Biology from Sophia.

[nomaduser]

Get UMPI bachelor and Heriot-Watt MBA!

[bjcheung77]

@MidLifeCrisis, you're younger than me, how can you be in a Mid Life crisis already?! Anyways, you want to review this post and the post #29 after it... the main thing is to review the spreadsheet as it will show you how to get the triple minor and maximize your minor/upper level requirements and where to get the courses from. You have all the required "starting" courses at Sophia.org, continue with the recommended courses in the spreadsheet and you're good to go! Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid365771

[dfrecore]

My vote is UMPI, although I'm not sure I'm going to do the History/Politics route since it's from here, and will have a US slant to it (even if it's not pro-US, it will still be from the US perspective on everything).

I would just get a BLS w/concentration in Management (or whatever concentration you want).

[bjcheung77]

Yeah, basically, I don't think SNHU is the one you want to go with, it's best to stick with UMPI... You need at least 13 Gen Eds, 6 minor, 8 UL and several free electives to get you all 40 courses... As per your courses above, you can slot it into the spreadsheet/template I have and complete the remaining recommended courses to finish out your degree plan.

[LevelUP]

Check out the Wiki for UMPI degree plans
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI

There are BLS, and History plans you can follow. 

If you are into IT stuff, the BSBA project management is a popular degree plan.

You making good progress so you should be ready to start UMPI on 08/29/22. Then you would graduate by the end of October or 2 months after that if it takes you 2 sessions.

[MidLifeCrisis]

Thanks all. UMPI decision validated, I appreciate that.

I only looked at SNHU as when I first realised you could smash out degrees they were all over the place and had a large cohort of people doing fast tracked work on Reddit. Only really stumbled across UMPI once I found this forum and seems like a solid fit.

Without breaking confidences etc, does anyone have a course outline etc for one subject at UMPI, just to get a feel of assessment processes, expectations, readings etc? Don't mind what subject, I'm not looking to game the system, but just to get a feel for whats ahead?

@bjcheung77 - Haha, the master's I want to do is specialised and not exactly cheap. My wife was kind enough to suggest that this counts as my mid life crisis so I'm running with it 

[ss20ts]

Thanks all. UMPI decision validated, I appreciate that.

I only looked at SNHU as when I first realised you could smash out degrees they were all over the place and had a large cohort of people doing fast tracked work on Reddit. Only really stumbled across UMPI once I found this forum and seems like a solid fit.

Without breaking confidences etc, does anyone have a course outline etc for one subject at UMPI, just to get a feel of assessment processes, expectations, readings etc? Don't mind what subject, I'm not looking to game the system, but just to get a feel for whats ahead?

@bjcheung77 - Haha, the master's I want to do is specialised and not exactly cheap. My wife was kind enough to suggest that this counts as my mid life crisis so I'm running with it 

There aren't any outlines for UMPI courses. All of the course content is self contained on their learning platform. No books required. Everything is in the learning platform. The Final Assessments have instructions and rubrics you need to follow.

[SweetSecret]

I am going to echo the Heriot-Watt MBA... no bachelors degree needed, and the program has a great reputation.

You may also want to check this thread:
https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?thr...ors.25234/