Please Help Me with Degree/School Planning!

[gerbet]

Hello,

I have been poring over these forums for a few days now and have been extremely impressed with how helpful people are with assisting others plan their degree completions. Therefore, I am humbly requesting your feedback.

I last attended college in 2005, and have 76 credits (79, if you include a "D" grade). I work full time and just recently learned about schools like the "Big Three." It's such a relief to know that it may actually be possible for me to complete my bachelor's without taking several more years to do it.

Based on my credits, I am thinking it would be quickest and cheapest to get a BA or BS in liberal studies. I was a sociology/journalism dual major at my previous college, so I think I have already fulfilled my two "depth" requirements. I am open to attending all 3 schools, though it seems like Thomas Edison and Excelsior are mentioned much more than Charter Oaks. I completed a preliminary breakdown of my credits based on Excelsior's Liberal Studies BA requirements, and was hoping you could see if my breakdown is correct, provide any comments, etc.

WRITTEN ENGLISH - Are 3 credits required or 6?
ENG 102 - College Writing II - 3 Credits - Satisfactory (This was a pass/fail class)
COM 400W - Law of Mass Communication - 3 Credits (the W indicates this was a Writing Intensive Course-will that fulfill the Written English requirement?)

GEN ED

HUMANITIES - 12/12 CREDITS COMPLETED
HON 100 - Honors Seminar - 3 Credits (This was a literature course given as part of the college's Honors Program, of which I was a member. All other courses with the HON prefix were required for members of the Honors Program.)
FAR 251 - Art History 2 - 3 Credits (or would this fall under Social Sciences/History?)
HON 103 - Arts Seminar - 3 Credits (a jewelry-making course)
HON 101 - Humanities Seminar - 3 Credits

SOCIAL SCIENCES/HISTORY - 12/12 CREDITS COMPLETED
ANT 101 - Understanding Culture - 3 Credits
ANT 144 - Folklore & Life - 3 Credits
PSY 101 - Intro to Psychology - 3 Credits
ECO 103 - Economic History of the US - 3 Credits

SCIENCE/MATH - 9/9 CREDITS COMPLETED
MAT 103 - Intro to Contemporary Math - 3 Credits
HON 102 - Natural Science Seminar - 3 Credits (this was a chemistry course)
GES 131 - Intro to Astronomy - 3 Credits

DEPTH #1 - SOCIOLOGY - 13/12 CREDITS COMPLETED, 3 UL
SOC 100 - Intro to Sociology - 3 Credits
SOC 301 - Social Statistics - 4 Credits
SOC 390 - Juvenile Delinquency - 3 Credits
SOC 392 - Sexual Behavior - 3 Credits

DEPTH #2 - COMMUNICATIONS - 18/12 CREDITS COMPLETED, 2 UL
COM 100 - Intro to Mass Communication - 3 Credits
COM 205 - Intro to Oral Communication - 3 Credits
COM 210 - Intro to Media Writing - 3 Credits
COM 215 - Intro to Visual Communication - 3 Credits
COM 400W - Law of Mass Communication - 3 Credits
COM 405 - News Reporting - 3 Credits

ELECTIVES
NFS 334 - Contemporary Nutrition - 3 Credits
HON 301 - Values and Ethics in the Professions - 3 Credits
HON 400 - Honors Colloquium - 3 Credits
Do I apply the 7 extra credits earned in my 2 Depths over here?

So, according to my math, I have 76 credits to transfer, and 25 UL credits. I have 44 credits I still need to earn, 5 of which must be UL. My Gen Ed and 2 Depth Requirements appear to be satisfied, so that the only courses I need to take are Arts and Sciences Electives. Is this accurate or is my degree plotting mistaken? Are Arts and Science Electives basically courses in ANYTHING? What would you say the simplest, most cost-effective, fastest and most enjoyable (read: least stressful) method for completing these outstanding credits would be? I would like to test out completely, if possible (notwithstanding any capstone requirements, etc.). Are the tests you take, like, just a bunch of multiple choice questions?

Considering my credits, would one school be more beneficial/cost-effective to attend over another? (Note: I live in Florida). I was thinking about applying to both TESC and EC and seeing which gave me a better evaluation.

During my last semester attending college, I messed up pretty bad and got 4 F's and a D, which completely screwed up my GPA. I had read that you can choose not to include those when you transfer credits to the new school. Is that true? I wish I could just wipe out that entire semester!

I currently work as a paralegal, but do not possess the official certificate. I was thinking about going to get my paralegal certificate through Washington Online Learning Institute, Excelsior or Penn Foster. Do you think that I would be able to apply the paralegal classes I take to my needed Arts and Science electives?

Lastly, I was thinking about pursuing an MBA after getting my bachelor's. Any reason why a degree in liberal studies would make this difficult? To that end, would a BS in liberal studies be more useful than a BA?

Sorry for the novel I just wrote--I just have so many questions! Any feedback, advice, comments, suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

Liz

[Yenisei]

Vocational paralegal classes won't be considered Arts & Sciences.

If you plan to pursue an MBA, the issue you want to deal with now is the admissions requirements such as foundation business courses or exams, including calculus and statistics, so you don't have to worry about them later on.

[NAP]

Welcome to the forum!

It does look like you are starting to understand how to create a plan for the Big 3. I don't know when/if I'll get a chance to look at this more closely for you. I wanted to answer a few of your questions quickly.

At EC, General Ed and Arts & Sciences are the same categories – Humanities, Social Science, History, Natural Science, and Math. Applied Professional is like free electives.

Here is another good list with examples:

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...#post78211

Also at EC, there are new Gen Ed policies starting in October:
http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...lling.html

(We don't know how the 3 new English credits can be earned, yet.)

If you want a BA at EC, all of your upper-level credits will need to be in Arts & Sciences. The capstone course will count toward this also.

It looks like only grades of C and higher will transfer to EC, according to Student Policy Handbook.

I agree with Yenisei; find out what the prereqs are for your MBA program(s) and work those into the rest of this degree. Then you can fill-in the plan with other suggestions like the A&I Lit CLEP and DSSTs for any UL still needed.

Edit to add: It looks like you have enough credits for an Area of Focus in Communications (15 L and 6 UL - kind of like a minor). Be sure to ask about this, too.

[gerbet]

Thanks so much to both of you for your feedback! I just applied to TESC today to see what kind of evaluation they can give me, as I think TESC will be the cheapest if I can test out of everything I need to finish. We'll see what they say!

I am still undecided about the MBA. I would really love to go to law school, but I have so many friends who are unemployed lawyers that it frightens me. I feel like an MBA is less of a financial risk, since it's cheaper than law school, although I fear that MBA-ers are, like lawyers, also a dime a dozen these days. Being a grownup is no fun!

[Yenisei]

If you can get into a Top 14 law school, sure, otherwise no.