Some guideance and questions

[ilovecredits]

Hello everyone,

I am new to forums, and recent post BA in 16-18 weeks picked my interest .

I have read through the thread and Synicaal post about cheapest BSBA GM seemed very nice.

For starters I opened ace account and signed up on aleks and started working towards all those math credits before end of month.
I submitted application for scholarship at study as well.
I submitted application to TESU tonight and will call tomorrow, try and get approved so i can register for that TECEP in strategic management.

At the present time I have some potential credits from prior military service as per joint service transcript

Code:

ACE Identifier                            ACE credit recommendation                      Level


NV-2202-0165 V03
Recruit Training
Personal Community Health                            1SH                                    L
Personal Community Health                            1SH                                    L

NER-AN-003
Airman
Fundamentals Of Aircraft Service/Maintenance                                2SH                                          V    

NER-AS-004
Aviation Support Equipment Technician
Basic Hydraulics                                    2SH                                    L
Basic Shop Practices                                3SH                                    L
Computer Applications                                1SH                                    L                            
DC/AC Circuit Analysis                                2SH                                    L                                                    
Electrical Control Generators                                1SH                                    L                                        
Electrical Control Systems                            1SH                                    L                                        
Industrial Safety                                1SH                                    L                                
Power Plant Maintenance And Repair                            2SH                                    L                            
Power Plant Operations                                1SH                                    L                    

NER-AS-005
Aviation Support Equipment Technician (AS)                            3SH                                    L                    
Communications                                    3SH                                     L                                                                
Computer Applications                                3SH                                         L                                                                            
Electromechanical Systems Maintenance                                            3SH                                                                   L
Hydraulic Systems                                3SH                                                                   L    
Industrial Safety                                2SH                                                                   L
Mechanical Systems Troubleshooting                            3SH                                    L                                
Supervision                                    3SH                                    L        

Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT)              READING 4L&9U                                    LISTENING4L&9U

Question I have is: is BSBA GM best route for me to take or is it just cheapest.
I see that TESU will only allow two bachelor degrees.
I will be paying for education out of pocket as I want to save gi bill for masters program if i can get accepted.

Now I know this is long shot but would like to pursue Master in mechanical engineering and TESU offers both BSAST degree in Nuclear Energy Engineering Technology
and BSAST degree in Nuclear Engineering Technology as starters. Would those get me a chance to get accepted into Masters program at one of schools in new york city.
Columbia has a masters program online but not sure engineering technology degree would qualify me.

Or would a better path be to finish as much as possible at TESU and transfer to one of schools in new york that offer bachelors in mechanical engineering


Anyone have any experience with those programs and potential cost of doing it through study sl aleks and clep testing.

As far as joint services transcript should i send it directly to tesu or import into ace first?

I know it is lot to ask but do not want to waste time pursuing wrong path.
Any and all help is welcome.

I finished active duty two months ago and have a part time job so classroom time is hard to come by, i think testing out and doing online based courses as much as possible is great .

[dfrecore]

I think that a MA degree in Mechanical Engineering is going to require a BA in ME as well, but I could be wrong. You should start researching that.

One thing you might want to consider is an AA from COSC, via testing, to get your GE's out of the way for a true ME program.

Another thing you MIGHT want to consider (I'm not sure here) is a BA in something else from TESU/COSC/EC, and then transferring it to a school who will accept your BA, and let you get a second degree taking just the major courses.

Whichever of these 2 options gets you into the best possible situation in terms of which ME degree you choose to get.

One thing we like to discuss here is to work backwards from your goal. If your goal is to have a piece of paper to be able to put that check in the checkbox for a job, then you should seriously consider testing out. BUT, if your goal is something else entirely, then you need to look at what that goal is, and work backwards to how to get there, and a degree via testing out MAY be a good option - but it may not be.

[SolarKat]

Thank you for your service!

It's possible to do a ME without a BE (or BS-Eng) first. For example Boston University offers such a program, the "Late Entry Accelerated Program" (LEAP) Masters in Engineering, with 7 possible flavors of engineering. I know there are others, just not sure who has MechE. In any case, I would suggest a heavy focus on math/sci in your undergrad - as much calculus as you can stand, all the way through multivar and differential equations, statistics (as opposed to statics, but that would be good to have, too) plus physics 1 & 2. If you have a community college nearby, you may be able to get that statics class, plus maybe dynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer...some of the other undergrad stuff that a MechE would study...even if your actual bachelors is not engineering. That will demonstrate that you're a) interested, and b) capable. Use your electives (both gen eds and free electives) to further your goal...it'll make the transition to ME that much easier. (A friend of mine did an undergrad in Industrial Hygiene, then a law degree, and *then* a MS in Computer Engineering. So, it *can* be done.)

Start working on your gen-eds as you research the ME options that interest you. Contact program directors and/or admissions counselors to discuss your specific goals and interests. You may find that you want a hands-on mechanical engineering program, or that you enjoy engineering management, or any other options. Get specifics - "If I have degree A, what is my path to a spot in your ME?"

The TESU Nuke program is an interesting option, but you'll spend a lot of time on things not relevant to general MechE. Also, it's too light on math, and doesn't get into design at all. The BSAST in Technical Studies will give you room to take the heat transfer, etc, without wasting so much time on the reactor-heavy side-track. Plus, you can get plenty more math, and even squeeze in a design course at a local college, within the Technical Studies framework. I think that the more of a foundation you can build in your undergrad, the better your chance of success in the ME. You're going to have to do the math, etc, anyway, in order to understand the masters level MechE work, so might as well get it out of the way as part of a degree than as extra stuff *after* your bachelors, delaying your start in "the good stuff."

ETA - I notice that you mentioned the BSBA. In your specific case, I think that degree might also side-track you a little. Yes, it's super fast and super cheap, but I don't know if it allows you enough wiggle room to get all of the math/phys you should have, plus you'll be spending precious time on business studies and not engineering/math/sci. If you can slam through it, then the BSBA may work. But I would hesitate to spend so much time/energy on so many credits worth of stuff that kinda won't matter in pure engineering. (Now, engineering management, that's another story. The BSBA could help there.) I do think the BSAST shows more deliberate preparation for the ME, vs the BSBA, at first glance. Those ME admissions counselors can offer insight there.

[ilovecredits]

I have called TESU and they expedited my application and registered me for Strategic Management tecep. I am awaiting for registration to send me a link to make a payment for it.

Working backwards from what I want is great suggestion and will have to start contacting program directors and admission counselors to see what I need to do to get into those programs and see if I can test out all the requirements or come close at least.

BSAST in Technical Studies seems like a good candidate.

I just read that BSAST Degree in Electronics Systems Engineering Technology accredited by ABET, but enrollments to graduate ratio is not encouraging. 1/117

I think as far as ME i need to do lot more research and pick right BS to go for to get me best odds of getting in.

As far as BSBA If i am reading it right I will be able to get BSBA and then another BS at TESU as long as second degree has 24 new credits in area of study from first.

I am not in hurry to get into ME program right away, and BSBA seems like it could benefit me down the road if I move into management role.

Sorry for asking so many questions. Just want to make sure I am on a somewhat right track.

I appreciate all the help and suggestions.

Thank you

[Ideas]

I just read that BSAST Degree in Electronics Systems Engineering Technology accredited by ABET, but enrollments to graduate ratio is not encouraging. 1/117

Wow!

I also think BSBA-GM takes you too far off your track.

Also keep in mind that most people have no GPA at TESU, because they don't count grades from transferred courses. I believe grad schools in that field will care about that.

[SolarKat]

Also take a look at job postings in your area (or where you want to be), and note what they require. That will give you some direction. Getting a bachelors quickly could help you be more competitive in the job market in general. If you ultimately want to end up in tech/engineering, start working on the math. The TESU EET requires up to Calc 2, I believe, but Excelsior requires up to differential equations. Since that's the longest dependency tree in a general tech degree, it'll give you a sense early on if that's what you want to be learning.

[SolarKat]

Also keep in mind that most people have no GPA at TESU, because they don't count grades from transferred courses. I believe grad schools in that field will care about that.

It's likely that he'd have a TESU GPA, since his JST is mostly mechanical stuff - he'd need a lot of electronics classes, either from TESU or Excelsior, or a community college (for some, not all).

Another caveat on the technologist degrees, though, like EET. I'm in Boston, and the 4-yr colleges are backing away from these programs as the market becomes increasingly saturated with pure-engineering graduates. (Even the undergrad engineers face a super competitive job market, as there are so many masters candidates/degree holders in the area.) I'd recommend doing a lot of research on your location and the opportunities there: what jobs are hot (and what degrees are required), what colleges offer (what degrees, with what paths - that will help you understand what you'll be competing against, for jobs), and what professional organizations are active there - an engineering association like ASME (for MechEs) or IEEE (for EEs, ComputerEs, CS, Math, etc) or ACM (EEs, ComputerEs, CS, Math, etc.) may offer some student benefits including networking opportunities.

[ilovecredits]

With deadline for ALEKS approaching i need little help to make sure i took right assessments.
As per Synicaal cheapest BSBA GM spreadsheet i need following:

MAT121 College Algebra
STA-201 Principles of statistics
MAT-115 Intermediate Algebra
MAT-129 PreCalculus


On my ACE transcript I have following completed




College Algebra ALEK-0003
Intermediate Algebra ALEK-0002
Introduction to Statistics ALEK-0007
PreCalculus ALEK-0005

Am I all set on ALEKS for now as far as those four needed courses?


On other fronts I got study.com scholarship two days ago and can not find on their site do I have till end of April to finish two exams for this month or 30 days from when scholarship started . I do not want exams to go to waste ,is 30th is deadline to use two of them for this month? I am almost done with required finance 102 and then will move to principles of finance

I have also registered and studying for Strategic management TECEP

I have made account on modernstates and hope to finish some of required clep prep courses and score some vouchers for clep exams.

I know it is a lot of questions and I do appreciate all the help and suggestions.
I just want to make sure I am not missing anything important.

[ndelco]

On my ACE transcript I have following completed
College Algebra ALEK-0003
Intermediate Algebra ALEK-0002
Introduction to Statistics ALEK-0007
PreCalculus ALEK-0005

Am I all set on ALEKS for now as far as those four needed courses? Assuming you are going to TESU, you are done. It wouldn't hurt to get Beginning Algebra on your transcript just to have it. Some schools accept it as a free elective, but TESU won't. I did it just to have it incase I change my mind on schools.


On other fronts I got study.com scholarship two days ago and can not find on their site do I have till end of April to finish two exams for this month or 30 days from when scholarship started . I do not want exams to go to waste ,is 30th is deadline to use two of them for this month? I am almost done with required finance 102 and then will move to principles of finance You have 30 days from the day you got the acceptance email. That will be your date so I guess it was the 23rd. You have until midnight on the 22nd of each month to finish your courses. Study.com is based out of California so if you are in a different time zone, you get until midnight pacific. I've done exams at 2:00am eastern and had them accepted.

Make sure you map out your scholarship courses ahead of time. You want to focus on getting UL courses that will be difficult to find from other sources. https://study.com/directory/school/Thoma...ransferTab
^^ Here is the TESU transfer guide from Study.com. If I remember correctly, there was recently a thread showing some new courses they have recently received approval for. That transfer list currently doesn't show any newer courses that I know of.

[ilovecredits]

I actually have basic algebra on ACE transcript as well from ALEKS, i took it to warm up this old brain, been a while since I did some math. Did not want to jump into pre calculus right away. I have to admit intro to statistics took me several tries and barely passed. Will continue chipping away during remainder of ALEKS membership to finish that pie and feel more comfortable with it.

Good to hear I have more time to finish two courses from study.com for 1st month of scholarship. Will give me little time to study for math clep from modernstates and continue studying for strategic management tecep