Sophia.org Credits

[Jubilant]

Hi All!


I was recommended by a friends to get some college credits through Sophia.org. 

I reviewed their website and it seems the best thing for me, however I am concerned about it affecting my chances of getting into a good masters program. 

My plan is to get a BS in Mental Health and then get into a good masters program for Psychology.  

The reason why it seems like a great thing for me is because it is affordable, not very hard and also time friendly.  I'm thinking of getting the most credits possible through Sophia.org and then transfer it to a college and complete the rest of my BS through them, and then go onto a masters program.

My question is: Will it affect my ability of getting into a good masters program? 

Thank You!

[carrythenothing]

You'll need to define "good." Have you looked at any master's degree programs and their requirements yet?

Do you already work in the field and is it possible you'll change your mind?

[rachel83az]

Do you know what school you intend to go to? Not all of them will accept Sophia credits towards a Bachelor's degree.

[BSLIONS]

"Good masters program" is kind of relative because 90% of the time when people say good they just mean the reputation that a certain school has. But the first thing here is did you go to the degree forum page because those Sophia credits aren't accepted at all schools because they're ACE credit.

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Degree_Forum_Wiki

[studyingfortests]

A couple of thoughts from someone who had the same concerns:

First, I haven't run across a bachelors in "mental health." Generally you'd be talking about a psychology degree, or perhaps human services.

But you're really talking about separate issues here. The first is how Sophia relates to your undergrad degree. Grad schools are more likely going to be concerned about where you got your degree, and less so about the specific courses or credits you used to get in. Thus, the concern is probably more about choosing an undergrad that accepts most Sophia courses toward the undegrad degree.

Graduate schools, especially in the psychology field, are going to look at a pretty big picture. Your GPA is one of the most important factors. Where you went to school probably plays into it if you are seeking to get into a highly competitive program. But in many such programs, your personal statement and your experience (work, background, volunteering, etc) is likely to play a larger role than where you actually did your undergraduate degree or how you earned your credits.

Now another question: What do you mean by a "good" masters program? There are lots of excellent programs from schools that aren't super well known, but nonetheless provide an excellent education. And where you got your masters degree, especially in the mental health field, doesn't seem to make much of an impact. It probably does if you attended a program that's absolutely known for just pushing students through, like one of the larger and less savory for-profit schools, but outside of that, especially if you go with a state school, most likely it isn't going to make a huge difference in the long run.

Of course, if you are aiming for an Ivy League masters program, then it's going to be more competitive, and there, you might be at a disadvantage. But I would think carefully: the cost of a highly regarded school, if you are financing it, may not be worth the return compared to a far less expensive state school.

And then you need to look at what degree you are after. If you are thinking masters level, and you want to be a therapist or work in the direct-services mental health field, I would seriously consider the Masters of Social Work over a masters in psychology. MSWs have a wider scope of practice than, say, MFTs (Marriage and Family Therapists) or LPCC (Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor) which are the two most common licensures for those with an MA in psychology or counseling. So the MSW can work in every environment the MFT/LPCC can work, but in many states has a wider scope to diagnose and treat, and can work in many settings where MFTs or LPCCs cannot. In private practice, MSWs can bill Medicare, which MFT/LPCCs cannot. They also get more direct clinical experience with clients during schooling than the MA Psychology gets. And finally, there are MA Psychology programs that are not even license-eligible, so if you intend on being licensed, you'll need to look carefully into that, while virtually every MSW program in the US is accredited by the social work accreditor (CSWE) because every state requires CSWE accreditation. This means a consistently high quality of education regardless of where you go... and employers generally know that.

Additionally, the MSW does not require a psychology or mental health undergraduate degree and, in fact, encourages a liberal arts education that is broad.

So for me, I went with a BA in Liberal Studies/Social Sciences at TESU. I already had a bunch of psych and human services courses I'd previously done. TESU also offers a psychology degree that isn't a whole lot different, just a few more psych courses. For me, it would have been more work with no meaningful benefit in getting into graduate school.

I'm now enrolled at a wonderful online MSW at Western New Mexico University. I applied to two state schools and got into both with my TESU degree. I'm sure the same would be true with any of the Big Three and probably also with the other schools that take lots of transfer and alt credits.

[bjcheung77]

@Jubilant, without knowing which school you're taking the BS Mental Health program at and which school you intend to go for the Masters in Psychology, it's hard to "answer" your question. But in addition and in brief to what studyingfortests typed... Many TESU and other Big 3 or CBE program graduates get to go into "better" known colleges/universities because they've hit most of the requirements for entrance into those respective programs. You need to know the degree/school admission requirements and try to hit all of those...

[dfrecore]

First, you'd have to figure out where you can get a degree in "mental health" (haven't heard of that one), and then figure out if they accept ACE/Sophia credit.

If you want a degree that uses a lot of Sophia or other inexpensive ACE credits, but still want to have 30+ graded credits, then UMPI might be a good option - they don't have a Psych degree, but they do have a CJ degree, or an English degree; or you can get a BLS with whatever minor sounds good, and then take a bunch of Psych courses from Study.com to learn the material and get it on your transcript. This would be a "workaround" to a mental health degree, but since that doesn't exist, and since you do not need a bachelor's in Psych to get into a Psych master's program, you should be fine. If you want graded Psych credits, you could take UExcel exams: there are 2 LL ones and 4 UL ones; there are also 1 LL and 4 UL Sociology exams.

A few other schools to look at, all will allow up to 90cr for transfer including ACE credit:
Franklin University - Psych or Social Science
- 10% discount with SL (4 courses) scholarships
SNHU - Psych or Human Services
UMGC - Psych, Social Science, or General Studies
- Study.com partner, will take 90cr from them; 25% discount with OnlineDegree.com
UIU - Psych, Social Science, or Liberal Arts
Wilmington University - Psych or Behavioral Science
CSU-Global - Human Services or Interdisciplinary Professional Studies (specialization in Applied Social Sciences)
- 10% discount with OnlineDegree.com (1 course) or SL (4 courses) scholarships
GGU's Aspire program - Psych
Liberty University - Human Services, Social Science, or Psych (with different specializations)
- 15% discount with SL or Sophia scholarships