New Degree Plan BSBA General Management- Trying to get started

[seaweedhead]

Hello,

I have been scouring the forums to make sure I have the most current information. But I still have some confusion.

I am a Canadian living in Australia at the moment. There is a CLEP and DSST center close enough to where I live(about a 3 hour drive, but work is flexible)

I am formulating my first degree plan. I am considering BSBA in General Management. As it seems simplest. If I am not mistaken it can be tested out completely? My degree would be for Visa purposes, so the only considerations for me are maximizing simplicity and cost. Field of interest is not a major consideration for this degree if at all. I am also starting from zero in higher education.

Is my understanding correct that I am to first confirm my plan, and begin testing prior to enrollment or even necessarily contact with TESC?

I have looked over the course plans in the wiki, but I find it difficult to distinguish one from another.

It seems logical to me to start with the simplest tests, courses, cheaper options and such to get my feet wet.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed?
I'm a little lost. Thanks in advance!

[walternc3]

I'm including my degree plan for the BSBA in General Management. I started working on this degree plan with only 3 Semester hours completed from a University I attended many years ago so basically from nothing just like you. I tried to do this the easiest, fastest and cheapest way possible. You're lucky that you have a CLEP/DSST testing center nearby. I had to do my testing while on vacation back in the United States and had the additional handicap of having to take them all at the same time. I took and passed all my CLEP and DSST's over the course of 4 days so don't be intimidated by them. This whole degree plan can easily be done within one year. It took me longer because I had to wait for my vacation to start taking my CLEP/DSST/TECEPs and I was ignorant of the fact that TESC courses can't be done in less than 3 months. I only used instantcert to study for the CLEP/DSST and you can see by my scores below that was enough. To answer your other question. At this time yes you can test out of or transfer in credit for 100% of the BSBA-GM but that will probably change this July. There are other threads that address that issue. I'm sure someone will jump in here and explain it too you. Others may argue that this is not the easiest degree plan for the bsba but it's solid and does work as is. You can get help swapping out certain courses if needed.

If I were you I would do the following:
1) Get a subscription to Instantcert for $20USD a month and start studying for some easy tests like Marketing or busines. You can determine which tests are easiest by looking at the pass rate on Instantcert's website.
2) Send in $75 to apply to TESC by mid June of this year so you can lock in the current more liberal policies and requirements.
3) Go to ACE at https://www2.acenet.edu/credit/?fuseacti...ripts.main and sign up for an account as this is where you will park your credits for the ALEKS and Penn Foster classes before they get sent onto the college. It's free until you need them to send out your transcript at which time it'll cost you $40USD.
4) Go to ALEKS.com and start doing the math courses. Note that it can take up to 40 hours or more to finish a math course this way (if your'e retarded at math like me) and I only did it because it was cheaper. If I had to do it again I'd probably do them through Straighterline because it involves less hours. The intermediate and college algebra courses could also be swapped out for something easy like American history 1 and II though Straighterline if you're math phobic.
5) Once you get finished with your testing do your straighterline courses all at the same time. This is because you'll pay $99 each month plus $49 for each course so if you have the time you can do three of them for about $250. Make sure you plan to get your textbooks for them shipped to you in Australia in time although it will probably be cheaper and easier for you to use the kindle versions of them so you don't have to hassle with international shipping.
6) Then do your Penn Foster Courses (they will send your free books to Australia for an additional fee) each course costs about $218USD.
7) Do one course at TESC. Don't forget that the TESC course is 3 MONTHS LONG and you can't cut that time down so start it soon enough so that you'll graduate at the right time. Business mathematics is a super easy course to do through TESC and you can read my thread on it for details. You need at least one course through TESC to get a GPA. It will cost you about $700USD which is why I only did one course though them.
8) Unless you're a US citizen I'm not sure the FEMA credits are an option for you because I think you need a Social Security number to take them. Here's to your health is an easy DSST to put in there and I'm sure someone else can give you advice about what do do there for the other 3 Semester Hours.
8) Transfer all of your course credits to TESC.
9) I think the initial 75 dollar application fee only works for 6 months and then you will have to pay the full tuition in order to lock in the current requirements. So if you do it right you'll have around a year and a half to get this done. If you dilly dally you'll get stuck doing your capstone course though TESC and a bunch of other courses that can't be tested out of with CLEP/DSST.

Final thought - check the exam specific feedback on this forum for details on the harder tests like Money and Banking. I posted flashcards on M&B there that will get you to pass.

I. General Education Requirements - 60 credits

A. English Composition - 6 credits
College Composition 6 CLEP

B. Humanities - 12 credits
Managerial Business Communications 3 Straighterline
Analyzing & Interpreting Literature 6 CLEP
Introduction to World's Religions 3 DSST

C. Social Sciences - 12 credits
Macroeconomics 3 CLEP
Microeconomics 3 CLEP
Introdution to Law Enforcement 3 DSST
Substance Abuse 3 DSST

D. Natural Sciences & Mathematics - 9 credits
Introductory Statistics 3 Straighterline
Precalculus (Take as trigonometry) 3 ALEKS
Natural Sciences (Split credit) 3 CLEP

E. General Education Electives - 21 credits
Introductory Sociology 3 CLEP
College Algebra (or American History I Straighterline) 3 ALEKS
Social Sciences and History 6 CLEP
Natural Sciences (Split credit) 3 CLEP
Introductory Psychology 3 CLEP
Intermediate Algebra (or American History II Straighterline) 3 ALEKS

II. Professional Business Requirements Core - 54 credits

A. Business Core - 27 credits
Strategic Business Management 3 Penn Foster
Business Ethics in Society 3 DSST
Introduction to Computing 3 DSST
Introductory Business Law 3 CLEP
Principles of Marketing 3 CLEP
Principles of Management 3 CLEP
Principles of Finance 3 Penn Foster
Financial Accounting 3 Straighterline
Managerial Accounting 3 Straighterline

B. Area of Study: General Management - 18 credits
Consumer Behavior 3 Penn Foster
Advertising 3 TECEP
Money & Banking 3 DSST
Management Information Systems 3 DSST
Organizational Behavior 3 DSST
Human Resources Management 3 DSST

C. Business Electives - 9 credits
Principles of Supervision 3 DSST
Introduction to Business 3 DSST
Business Mathematics 3 Thomas Edison

III. Free Electives - 6 credits
Federal Emergency Management Association Courses 6 FEMA


Good luck

[rebel100]

FEMA are really tough for non US residents....nearly impossible. Fortunately, that degree doesn't have much room for free elective anyway.

Why not make the capstone the one course taken for GPA? Your way is fine too...but the capstone makes sense to me.

[seaweedhead]

Thank you so much I really appreciate the detailed response! Really.

I will start with this as my general road map right away.
This really helps!

[sanantone]

I don't have all of the general education requirements on here because there are too many options, but I do have listed almost all of the test and self-paced options for the core, area of study, business electives, and general education requirements specific to the BSBA.

Sanantone's BSBA General Management - Degree Forum Wiki

[AlbaTiVo]

If you don't care what the degree is in then the BA in Liberal Studies will be much more flexible in what you can study - not just limited to business classes.

[seaweedhead]

Right,
So.. for me, I suppose, the advantage of the BSBA was that I could test out completely. But it sounds like taking one course to receive a GPA is recommended (necessary?)

[AlbaTiVo]

One class will not make a GPA that anyone will care about anyway, so if you do want to take no classes at TESC then I believe the BSBA in General Management that you have picked is the last degree left that fits that criteria.

[seaweedhead]

One class will not make a GPA that anyone will care about anyway, so if you do want to take no classes at TESC then I believe the BSBA in General Management that you have picked is the last degree left that fits that criteria.

Well, you have got me thinking

Apologies for my naivety.
Simplicity and Cost are key factors, but I suppose ease and speed follow. My ears perked when you mentioned the possibility of avoiding business courses.
It seems the BA in Liberal Arts is not the most popular option on this forums (perhaps with it's arguably limited uses for some people, which for my purposes is fine)
All though I could be wrong about that, I haven't found as many recent course plans.
So while I initially intended to avoid the Capstone 3 month course, I feel that might be a mistake if on a whole BA in LA would be a lot easier.

Any opinions on this?

I was able to suss a BA in LA History on the wiki that provided me with some idea.
I would like to draft up a theoretical custom plan for this alternative, am still really figuring out how to determine which courses fulfill TESCs requirements.
But tonight it's late here. I appreciate the help!

[AlbaTiVo]

The general education requirements can be the same for any degree, so you are really just concerned about the major. For the Liberal Studies degree your major has to be 3 credits for the capstone, then 30 credits which have to be 6 credits 100 level, 6 credits 200+ level and 18 credits 300+ level from Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences or Mathematics. I just posted this today and it is a bit out of date, but will still work well for you to start planning which 200+ and 300+ level tests/courses you might be interested in or might play to your strengths to fulfill the Liberal Studies major. That may help you decide if you think this is worth pursuing versus the BSBA. Once you start planning more, post your ideas here and we will help you.

You need to find out more about how you can get the FEMA credits as a Canadian citizen. I believe it can be done and if so you can pick up the 27 credits of free electives you need for free.