New Here

[HonuDiver]

Hello there! 

I am new here and have been taking Sophia classes for fun until a friend recently told me that I can take courses to gain college credit. I just was taking them haphazardly on whatever subjects interested me but now I would love to use them to put towards a degree.

A little about me. I am enlisted in the US Navy with over ten years of service and am wanting to put in my officer packet ASAP. I am nearing the age cut off and want to get a degree knocked out as quickly as possible. 
I have been reading prior forums on here and am looking at the following:

AAS Military Technology Leadership (I figured it may look good and may just be a few extra classes along the way)
Bach- C.S./ Cyber/ LA (if its quickest)
Masters - Cyber and Theology from Liberty (only adding this as information in case a certain course may help in the future towards this goal)

I have completed the following from Sophia just for fun. I am not sure if any even convert over to credit but I would be over the moon if they did! 
College algebra, personal finance, workplace communication, approaches to studying religion, Spanish 1, Spanish 2, human bio, us govt, us history 1 

I am very confused on which courses apply towards which degrees from Sophia. This whole new world feels overwhelming and confusing but I am excited to hopefully (maybe) be able to get my degree a bit quicker this way!


ETA: Formatted to answer the specific layout 

Your Location: Currently bouncing between Hawaii, Georgia and California - spending quite a bit of time traveling currently due to military commitments 
Your Age: 32
What kind of degree do you want?: The most important is the bachelors to be able to submit the officer packet


Current Regional Accredited Credits: College algebra, personal finance, workplace communication, approaches to studying religion, Spanish 1, Spanish 2, human bio, us govt, us history 1 


Any certifications or military experience? Navy - 12 years

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board, you may want to revisit the template/addendum as you're missing the last post addendum that may provide extra details that can help you further. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Further to that, if you still have military tuition, you may want to review this thread and the recommendations I mentioned as well, it really depends on your variables. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...uble-Major

[Insert Name]

Have you looked at your SMART transcript? Depending on your rate/rank you could have a good number of ACE credits (like Sophia) there too.

How high of a degree do you need for your application? Bachelors? Or is an associates high enough?

[HonuDiver]

Have you looked at your SMART transcript? Depending on your rate/rank you could have a good number of ACE credits (like Sophia) there too.

How high of a degree do you need for your application? Bachelors? Or is an associates high enough?

Hello there. I do have my military transcript that I can submit. I need a Bachelors degree to be considered.

[rachel83az]

All of the Sophia courses you have taken will count for college credit - depending on the school you choose. You need to get them added to your Credly transcript if you haven't already done so. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/So...ly_Process

[Jonathan Whatley]

HonuDiver, if you have PADI diving certifications, several carry a little ACE credit.

[HonuDiver]

HonuDiver, if you have PADI diving certifications, several carry a little ACE credit.

Oooohh! I’m just advanced BUT I would be more than willing to gain more certs to gain more credits. I mean what a fun way to do it! I live in Hawaii currently and what an amazing place to do it.

[allvia]

Your Location: Currently bouncing between Hawaii, Georgia and California - spending quite a bit of time traveling currently due to military commitments

During this traveling, which you state is all domestic (at this time), is you have regular access to internet?  

I ask because for speed (and best to maximize Sophia) a BLS-Management (or even MIS) will likely be best to 'check that box', but it is competency based (so once you start a term, which is 8 weeks, you want to have regular access to get through courses quick). Many people here once they max out their Sophia transfer into the UMPI YourPace program complete their degree in 2 to 3 terms. This option will also max out any existing credits, because it offers the most electives.

However, if you have a little bit of time then you may want to look at the TESU BACS. Especially being active military; TESU offers great terms/rates for you to meet residency and low costs for the two courses required through them. This is more at your pace in the sense, you can push through as quickly or as slowly as your schedule allows. Depending on how many existing credits you have your probably looking at 6 months minimum (based on your post).

UPDATE: I will add that if you are in the need that bachelor degree 'now'! Then the UMPI BLS could be the ticket to get it done and 'check that box' ASAP; that would not stop you from then going over to TESU to complete the BACS (just avoid taking the CS AOS courses as you would need 24 new credits for the 2nd degree, this would be easy enough since those are not through Sophia - but generally SDC). Something to consider...

[Insert Name]

Have you looked at your SMART transcript? Depending on your rate/rank you could have a good number of ACE credits (like Sophia) there too.

How high of a degree do you need for your application? Bachelors? Or is an associates high enough?

Hello there. I do have my military transcript that I can submit. I need a Bachelors degree to be considered.

Then I would update your post. I would add the ACE credit recommendations from your military transcript, and I would move your Sophia classes under ACE credits. If you have any other ACE, RA (regionally accredited), or any other credits, I would add them. Depending on what credits they are it may help figure out the fastest/easiest route. For example, Thomas Edison and Excelsior have specific degrees designed for specific military rates. On the other hand, UMPI may be faster because of their class structure. Either way, unless you wanted a generic “fastest degree for someone who has zero credits” recommendations, the more info the better. There are people here who are a lot better at it than I am, and the more info given the more helpful they can be. For instance, my initial instinct is to recommend getting your English, and a couple of other classes out of the way, BUUUT I’m use to EU and TESU, and I see a lot of people recommending not doing English through Sophia if someone is going to UMPI. So, depending on what’s on those transcripts, it may help hone in on a school and degree. In the mean time, maybe look at the degrees available at Thomas Edison and Excelsior to see if there’s an obvious one that’s geared towards your rate? Being a navy Nuke, my BS in Nuclear Engineering Technology was pretty cut and dry. I just needed to figure out where/how I wanted to take care of my general ed courses. There may be an obvious one for you too.

[dfrecore]

Yep, you're going to need to create a post with all of your credits on here - I will do an eval for you and tell you the best degree options based on your credits.

For your JST (SMART now?) list everything that's considered ACE recommended by course name, # of credits, and UL if it's that (otherwise we'll assume it's LL).

I don't think you have RA credits - those would be from an actual college, and you listed your Sophia credits there, so that's not the same thing (Sophia is ACE, same as the military credits). But if you have any actual college credits, list them as well (course #, full course name, # of credits, and grade).

I'm going to guess that your military credits won't work for most degrees, so I wouldn't get hung up on that - those degrees can add a bunch of extra time to get, considering that there's not a great way to get UL credits for most.

For the fastest/easiest/cheapest degrees, you'll want to look at:
Competency-based if your schedule allows: UMPI BLS in Management
Non-competency based: TESU's BALS or Excelsior's BLS