Please critique this TESU BA History Degree Plan

[redsfaithful]

I am a business owner wanting to get a bachelor's as a bucket list item. I will be semi-retired soon also, and would like to do some substitute teaching (possible in my state with just a bachelor's) and possibly coaching at the high school level for fun and to bring in some income.

To do this, I am looking at TESU's BA in history. I attended college 20 years ago for a year, but it was not for me at the time (which is why I ended up starting a business.)

Here is what I have on a college transcript from Ohio State:

English 110: First Year Written Comp
History 111: W. Civ Antiquity to 17th Cen
History 112: W. Civ 17th Cen to Modern TImes
History 151: Am Civ to 1877
History 152: Am Civ since 1877
Political Science 100: Intro to Comp Politics
English 275: Thematic approach to literature
Psych 100: General Psychology
EDUPAES 147: Conditioning (this was a phys ed elective)

All of these were 5 credit hours, save for the random conditioning course which was 2.

This is my plan right now after spending much time reading this forum. I would like to use CLEP and DSST where possible - I am a decent test taker.

I Gen Ed Requirements
A: Intellectual and Practical Skills 15

Written Communication: 6
OSU English 110: First Year Written Comp 3
Study.com English Comp 2 3

Oral Communication 3
Study.com Public Presentation In The Workplace 3 (per this thread that claims it satisfies TESU requirement: http://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/showthre...?tid=28107 If this is incorrect, just the standard public speaking course at Study.com)

Quant Literacy 3
CLEP College Mathematics 6 (is this the easiest math available to satisfy this requirement? I have not had math since precalc in high school in about 1997, so I would like to do this as simply as possible. This test description says college math for non-math majors, which sounds appealing.)

Info Literacy 3
CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature 6

B: Civic and Global Learning 9
CLEP Sociology3
The Institute: Insurance ethics 2 (I assume this is a good idea since it's free?)
CLEP Am Gov 3

The free Institute course being worth 2 credits seems to leave me one credit short in this section. How have people handled this?

C: Knowledge of Human Cultures 12
OSU Psych 100: General Psychology 3
OSU Political Science 100: Intro to Comp Politics 3
CLEP Social Sciences & History 6

D: Understanding the physical and natural world 4-7
CLEP Natural sciences 6
or
CLEP Biology 6 (maybe ... I could see myself chickening out on this and doing study.com courses instead -  I'm not as strong here)
If I went study.com route:
Earth Science 101, Biology 101, Geology 101, Science 102 (would any of these options NOT work?)

Gen Ed Electives: 17-20
OSU English 275: Thematic approach to literature 3
CLEP Humanities 6
CLEP Information Systems 3
CLEP Intro to educational psych 3

Area of study

Required Courses: 18
OSU History 111: W. Civ Antiquity to 17th Cen 3
OSU History 112: W. Civ 17th Cen to Modern TImes 3
OSU History 151: Am Civ to 1877 3
OSU History 152: Am Civ since 1877 3
Historical Methods/Historiography 3 (UL) (I am not sure where to do this - would like to do it the cheapest and easiest. I have seen people on the forum recommend APU/AMU and FHSU, are there more up to date recommendations on this?)

Non-Western History:
I am at a loss on the best option here. (Or any option.)

Capstone: 3
TESU Liberal Arts Capstone 3 (UL)

History Electives: 12
DSST The Civil War and Reconstruction 3 (UL)
DSST A History of the Vietnam War 3
UExcel World Conflicts Since 1900 (UL) 3
Study.com History 108: History of the Vietnam War 3 (I'm open for suggestion on other history electives)

Free Electives: 27
CLEP Princ. of Marketing 3
CLEP Princ. of Management 3
EDUPAES 147: Conditioning 2 (? Not sure if this will be 1 or 2)
Three TEEX Cybersecurity Courses 6 (total)
NFA Q118 1
Sophia Developing Effective Teams 1
DSST Intro To Business 3
DSST Fundamentals of Counseling 3
DSST Foundations of Education 3
DSST Personal Finance 3

Last question, what should I be thinking if I changed my mind about retirement and decided to go for a master's of any sort? If I did this, it would probably be an MSW. Would that change the plan as far as needing to take certain courses in a brick and mortar way, not using certain courses, etc.?

Thank you for any advice that can be offered.

[davewill]

The free ethics course will be granted a waiver, then you will have to complete an extra GenEd elective credit. As far as the MSW, you might need to get some lab science courses or some psych courses in. Exactly which and whether they have to be graded is up to the particular program.

[quigongene]

There's a DSST that counts for English II. It's fully multiple guess (no papers).

[dfrecore]

Your plan is fine, but there may be some better options for you.

1) For English Comp II, the Advanced English Comp DSST exam is multiple choice only.  I took the TECEP for this and thought it was very easy.

2) For Oral Comm, the course you chose is fine, but there's also a DSST exam.

3) For Quant Lit - I took the TECEP for Applied LIberal Arts Math and thought it was crazy easy.  The DSST also has that exam.  I think (but am not certain) that it's easier than the CLEP.

4) Your Comparative Politics course will fit into the Civic Engagement requirement.

5) Your Lit and Psych courses will fit into Knowledge of Human Cultures.

6) Non-Western History can be satisfied through Vietnam War (Study.com or DSST) or Soviet Union (DSST).

Also, if it's been a while since you've taken a science course, you could switch to a CompSci course instead (DSST, CLEP, Study.com all have them).

Here's a degree plan for History.  The only thing I'm not 100% sure of right now is the 2 different courses at Study.com for Vietnam.  One is supposed to be UL and one LL, but I think it kicks in after 12/31.  I'm thinking you should take HIS308: Causes & Effects of the Vietnam War now (before 12/31), and then take HIS108: A History of the Vietnam War after 12/31, so you can get both with the different equivalencies.

Good luck!

[redsfaithful]

Ok, new plan based on the above advice (thank you!)

I Gen Ed Requirements
A: Intellectual and Practical Skills 15

Written Communication: 6
OSU English 110: First Year Written Comp 3
Advanced English Comp DSST 3

Oral Communication 3
Study.com Public Presentation In The Workplace 3

Quant Literacy 3
CLEP College Mathematics 6 (I took a quick practice test cold and got 58% correct - not great, but with some studying I think this would hopefully be doable)

Info Literacy 3
CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature 6

B: Civic and Global Learning 9
CLEP Sociology 3
The Institute: Insurance ethics 2 (I assume this is a good idea since it's free?)
OSU Political Science 100: Intro to Comp Politics 3

C: Knowledge of Human Cultures 12
OSU Psych 100: General Psychology 3
OSU English 275: Thematic approach to literature 3
CLEP Social Sciences & History 6

D: Understanding the physical and natural world 4-7
CLEP Natural sciences 6
or
CLEP Biology 6 (maybe ... I could see myself chickening out on this and doing study.com courses instead -  I'm not as strong here)
If I went study.com route:
Earth Science 101, Biology 101, Geology 101, Science 102 (would any of these options NOT work?)

Gen Ed Electives: 17-20
CLEP Humanities 6
CLEP Information Systems 3
CLEP Intro to educational psych 3
CLEP American Literature 6

II Area of study

Required Courses: 18
OSU History 111: W. Civ Antiquity to 17th Cen 3
OSU History 112: W. Civ 17th Cen to Modern TImes 3
OSU History 151: Am Civ to 1877 3
OSU History 152: Am Civ since 1877 3
Historical Methods/Historiography 3 (UL) (where ever I end up taking this - strange that this will be one of the biggest pains it looks like)

Non-Western History:
Study.com HIS308: Causes & Effects of the Vietnam War (UL if I do this month, possibly?)

Capstone: 3
TESU Liberal Arts Capstone 3 (UL)

History Electives: 12
DSST The Civil War and Reconstruction 3 (UL)
DSST A History of the Vietnam War 3
UExcel World Conflicts Since 1900 (UL) 30
Study.com History 306 The American Civil War Era (UL?)

III Free Electives: 27
CLEP Princ. of Marketing 3
CLEP Princ. of Management 3
EDUPAES 147: Conditioning 2 (? Not sure if this will be 1 or 2)
Three TEEX Cybersecurity Courses 6 (total)
NFA Q118 1
Sophia Developing Effective Teams 1
DSST Intro To Business 3
DSST Fundamentals of Counseling 3
DSST Foundations of Education 3
DSST Personal Finance 3

I worry this leaves me short of upper level credit. TESU says 18, I am counting 15, but unsure on if I am counting correctly (18 if Vietnam course works and I can get to it by end of month.) Thoughts on how to strategize for this?

Ohio State's MSW requires the following:
Have a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university. Your degree does not have to be in social work;
Have a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher (based on a 4.0 system) for all previous undergraduate academic work. Those with an undergraduate GPA of less than 3.0 will be considered on an individual basis and must submit GRE results;
Have completed at least 15 quarter or 10 semester credit hours of course work in the social sciences (i.e., psychology, sociology, political science, anthropology, economics). If you believe you have taken a social science course, but it is not directly from one of the departments listed above, a course syllabus would be needed for review.

Again, I am not sure I am ever really going to do it, but I want to be on the safe side and not hurt myself if I do. I believe this would mean I have 10 of 15 (psych and poli sci) and would need 5 more. I suppose once I get deeper into this I'll have to ask them if a CLEP would count towards that requirement, since I would have plenty to choose from, if so. My other question here is how to navigate the GPA. Would my GPA just be from the capstone? Or the capstone + Historical Methods/Historiography if I did that through TESU? Is there wide spread knowledge of whether or not grad schools are comfortable with that? I have seen some posts here and there with anecdotal evidence that it should be ok, but I am wondering if there is any kind of consensus.

I believe this is a workable plan now? I appreciate the input I have received very much. I am going to help with a plan for my wife also (she has been a stay at home mother and would like to go into social work - she has been a behavior intervention specialist previously, but without a degree. I am thinking a TESU Psych bachelor's degree and then trying for OSU's MSW program, or maybe USC's online program), and this process has helped me tremendously.

[dfrecore]

I would replace some of the Free Electives with courses that you need in SocSci.  Easy enough to do, Study.com has a bunch of Psych courses.

For whatever reason, Study.com's The American Civil War Era is an UL course (both through ACE and NCCRS) but TESU brings it in as HIS-235 (LL).  I'm thinking that after they do a review on 12/31, that this course will come in as UL as it should.

----------------------------------

For your wife, there are also a competency-based Psych degree she might want to look at: Patten will be the cheapest, and she can bring in a ton of ACE credits, so just leave herself a small number of courses to finish in a single term (I'm thinking anything hard to find or expensive that can't be tested out of easily).

If she enjoys the competency-based model, Capella has one as well, although it will be more expensive.  BUT, they also have a Psych MA degree available that way (FlexPath).

[npk32]

FYI - TESU accepts the History of the Soviet Union DSST for the UL Non-Western requirement but not the Vietnam courses.

[dfrecore]

FYI - TESU accepts the History of the Soviet Union DSST for the UL Non-Western requirement but not the Vietnam courses.

Ok, that's just crazy!  Because Vietnam is certainly not considered "Western."

And, it's also strange that for the English Degree, the non-western Lit requirement can be met by BYU's "Chinese Literature in Translation - Poetry".

So China is non-western, but Vietnam isn't?

Again, TESU has a consistency problem.

[npk32]

I think it's because the Vietnam War courses focus more on foreign policy as it relates to Vietnam from the western perspective rather than the actual history of Vietnam itself.

[davewill]

It makes perfect sense to me. The Vietnam WAR was definitely an American war and the courses are all about US policy and politics. If they were truly Vietnam history then I would be non-western.