New math with an old math mind

[The_Professor]

Keep in mind that many people change companies and careers quite a few times in their lifetime. You never know when that opportunity might present itself where "YOUR" job is right in front of you AND the only thing separating you from it is that accreditation. Maybe far-fetched but still a possibility. Plus, you never know, after the battle is over and you have that paper, you may regret that you didn't get the RA over the NA.

There are trade-offs, compromises and judgment calls with every important decision we make in life. With regard to a college education and career opportunities, if one wanted to mitigate for any potentiality that may come his or her way throughout their career, then the best education choice would be with one of the big three, and I am referring to Harvard, Yale or Princeton - not EC, TESC or COSC. But there’s perfect world, and then there’s real world, and we all need to make our choices predicated on our personal analyses, realities, aspirations and constraints.

[Gary]

I suppose this is referring to the federal government, considering that the CSU website lists dozens, if not hundreds, of state, county and local government agencies as direct CSU partners. Does anyone besides me see the irony in the feds not recognizing the primary national accreditation body, DETC, which is sanctioned by the DOE and CHEA?

You bring up an excellent point. I started to submit a thread concerning a conversation I had with them about a year and a half ago, then decided against it. But you served so I'll volley........... I just decided not to volley. I just got off the phone with a quasi hiring authority for the federal gov't, a DEU. The woman I talked to said a nationally accredited degree is "HIGHER" than a regionally accredited degree. She said the universities are nationally accredited (U of Oklahoma, etc). I tried to explain that that info is incorrect, it's the other way around. Then I thought, you know what, let the Professor be right, it just ain't worth it. I also talked to a woman at OPM and she agreed w/the point I made and said she is going to look into it. I told her there are some jobs on USAJOBS that require "x amount" of credits from a "regionally accredited institution". Schools such as CSU are accredited under DOE, but, they are not regionally accredited. They are nationally accredited. I asked her if the hiring agency would look at that and she said it is a good point and she is going to research that. Now to you that might be a moot point but to others, it might not. My feeling is I want a degree that is not (at least in my way of thinking) in a gray area. So, you can wear the yellow shirt for this stage and get your CSU degree and we'll both be happy. And I am well aware there will be people coming forward saying they have a nationally accredited degree and that is what got them in. Heck, there's people I talked to that got in w/an Associates Degree. But them thar days are gone.

[Gary]

Someone used the word useless concerning a CSU degree (Oh, I did). I would like to say that that is not really an appropriate word. I stand by my conviction towards regional accreditation over national accreditation but useless is not accurate. While many I've talked w/agree w/my take, calls to OPM prove that CSU should carry weight in most cases. So, useless was a poor choice of words. CSU has good degree programs, is affordable and definitely is accepted at many places. They are very friendly on the phone and I don't want to appear to be attacking them. Many military are using them right now. Me personally, I'm not a gambler, my money goes with the safer bet BUT I do think they have good customer service and very good degree programs. G'Day mates!

[frankiebleyes]

Have you thought about the Straighterline route. I hadn't touched a math course since 1970 when I decided that I wanted to get my decree. I took an online math developmental course through my local cc and then practiced on line for about six months and then used my grandson's algebra I book and reviewed it until I was comfortable doing basic algebra, finally, I used the math tutorial everyone recommends for ACE (A___), can't remember how to spell it (old gray matter giving me trouble again), and then I took precal through SL, five tests later, I have my three hours math credit. Took a little effort, but I made a High B, almost an A (and believe me I am not math oriented). Point is, you can do this, just put forth the effort and it will give you that decree you want from Excelsior instead of the one you think you might get from Columbia.

[The_Professor]

Have you thought about the Straighterline route...

Excellent advice… I was previously unfamiliar with StraighterLine and checked out their website. Turns out that some of their coursework maps directly to course credit with COSC, which, BTW, does NOT require Precalculaus or anything higher than college level math. We may be onto something here. COSC is definitely worth investigating further as this may resolve the various issues at hand rather nicely. Relatively affordable and good student reviews to boot. We shall see. Thanks again…

[Kaz]

Thanks, Alison... I applied at TESC as well, however, they only ended up offering a total of 4 transfer credits for all of my IT and Professional certifications, whereas I am getting 18 and 21 credits from CSU and Excelsior respectively.

I would urge you to not let the ghosts-of-math-classes-gone-bye dictate something as huge as what school you enroll at. I think you may be selling yourself short as to your abillities. I am a math major at a B&M and have my A+, Network+ and i-Net+. If you can handle counting in hexadecimal or keeping track of your bits in a subnet mask I think you can handle freshman college algebra, at least enough to pass. I think it would be a travesty to walk away from the 21 credits you already have from your certs with respect to Excelsior. I'd bet that it would take you longer to make up those lost credits than it would take you to do ALEKS or CLEP !

[okiemom]

Charter Oak requires College Algebra or above.

Excellent advice… I was previously unfamiliar with StraighterLine and checked out their website. Turns out that some of their coursework maps directly to course credit with COSC, which, BTW, does NOT require Precalculaus or anything higher than college level math. We may be onto something here. COSC is definitely worth investigating further as this may resolve the various issues at hand rather nicely. Relatively affordable and good student reviews to boot. We shall see. Thanks again…