Sophia to Pierpont

[The need 2 learn]

Hi yall, my name is Jacob. I’m currently exploring Sophia courses to transfer to Pierpont for the BOG degree. I’m seeking advice and opinions in planning my path to a BOG degree as quickly as I can. I listed my degree plan below based on courses that don't require touchstones but I came up short needing US History 1 & 2 both with touchstones. My goal is to achieve an associate degree by May of 2024. The associate degree AOE doesn't need to be in a specific area of interest or leading me to a bachelor's degree at this time. Earning an associate degree at this point in my life is the goal. Any advice in planning my path is much appreciated! 

The BOG degree general requirements. 

3 Credits in Communication
Sophia - Visual Communications

6 Credits in Math & Science
Sophia - College Algebra
Sophia - Environmental Science 

3 Credits in Social Sciences
Sophia - Macroeconomics

3 Credits in Computer Literacy
Sophia - Introduction to Information Technology

1 Credit Graded Course
Community College Transferable Credit/ ASU 1 Credit Route. 

Free electives.
3 Credits Introduction to Nutrition
3 Credits Microeconomics
3 Credits Art History I
3 Credits Art History 2
3 Credits Introduction to Ethics
3 Credits Financial Accounting
3 Credits Introduction to Business
3 Credits Principles of Finance
3 Credits Project Management
3 Credits Introduction to Web Development
3 Credits Conflict Resolution
3 Credits Introduction to Statistics
3 Credits Human Biology
3 Credits US History I (1 Touchstone)
3 Credits US History II (1 Touchstone)

[bjcheung77]

@The need 2 learn, Welcome to the board, that's a pretty good intro, I'm not sure if you want to provide more details from the addendum and template here, it may be beneficial for you, so you can give us an overall picture of what you're trying to do (besides your first goal of an Associates): https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Basically, the more detailed the picture or overview you provide us, the better as it will allow us to understand what you need and why you're going this route.  For example, you already have enough credits for the Pierpont BOG AAS including the 1 RA credit from ASU, I don't see an issue with the 1 touchstone for each of the US History I/II classes.

Essentially, you have the 60 credits from Sophia.org and the 1 RA credit from ASU, a total of 61.  If you want to take an easier course also with 1 touchstone, you can swap one of the US History for Ancient Greek Philosophers as that only has 4 challenges, 1 milestone, 1 touchstone, it's much easier, faster than US History, you can 'mix/match' classes.

If you want to add to the extra 1 credit course you have from ASU, you can take the Developing Effective Teams and Essentials of Managing Conflict, both being 1 credit each to make exactly 3 credits total, thus, you can remove the second US History class.  It really depends how you want to do things, another option is, taking an extra Intro to College Math since you're doing College Algebra & Stats.

And that list goes on, if you don't like these two 1 credit courses, there are other 1 credit courses, or even a 2 credit Intro to Stats, or do a science plus lab.  You should check the WIKI link for courses that do not have a touchstone if you really want to skip that option.  Link: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/So...lency_List

[The need 2 learn]

Your Location: Virginia, United States.
Your Age: 39
What kind of degree do you want?: Pierpont BOG degree, goal is to earn any type of associate degree quickly. I want to challenge myself to finish by May 2024.  
Current Regional Accredited Credits: Possibility, currently acquiring past workforce development courses taken at various Virginia Community Colleges to see if any qualify as transferable credit to Pierpont but at this point I’ll bank on a clean slate.

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: These are things like Study, Sophia, InstantCert InstantCredit, CLEP, Straighterline, Davar etc

Sophia Credits: 3

Any certifications or military experience? None, checking with past community college to see if any of my HVAC and Property Management has graded credits that are transferable to Pierpont.  

Budget: Money isn’t a concern but I'd like to go the cheapest and quickest route possible.  
Commitments: I own a semi automated business that I work 4 to 6 hours a day.
Dedicated time to study: I can study as much as is needed
Timeline: Finishing the courses required quickly. I would like to finish by May of 2024.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Money isn't an issue at this point.

Please provide any relevant details you may have that may help us determine a option or path for you to investigate:

First, this is a great website with helpful information! About me, I’m just over 20 years removed from high school graduation. High school coursework was a drag for me and I found it boring taking five 90 minute classes a day (10 classes over two terms in a school year). So much time was wasted sitting and waiting but I was told this is how the college system works. By the start of my senior year I couldn't sit in class for 90 minutes any longer so I figured out a loophole that only required me to test out of US Government, English 12 and a fine art class (beginner guitar). I was at the point where I would have rather dropped out of high school to earn a GED than to have to sit in 5 classes for 90 minutes each day for my senior year. I enrolled in community college after high school but quickly dropped classes after the first two weeks once it started feeling just like high school (sitting and waiting). I’m the type of person that is hands on and things have to get done right now. After dropping out of community college I entered a trade with on the job training and excelled rather fast. Earned promotions over guys that have been in the trade for 20 to 40 years. By the time I was 27 years old I was superintendent of operation for the Mid Atlantic Region of the company. The company changed ownerships and after each acquisition I’d get burned out by the new company cutting back workforce and materials. I left the company 8 years ago to start my own business and haven't looked back since. Fast forward to now, my wife enrolled at WGU in August of 2023 for a bachelors in elementary education. Within the last year she earned her bachelor's and masters from WGU. Giving me the thought of earning an associate degree by utilizing Sophia and Pierpont BOG degree.

Since I was bored of high school course work, I completed high school with a 2.8 gpa. I figured I’d give Sophia a try. I took Visual Communication and passed with ease.

My areas of concern. I am not good with grammar or in english subject matter, somewhat of a slow learner. I excel at history, math, physics, aerospace, mechanical and engineering.

I do get anxiety when it comes to writing without being able to spell check or edit.  
 
My goal for myself is to earn the Pierpont BOG associate degree and maybe one day explore my options at a bachelor's degree but I do not want to focus my time on fitting courses right now in to a bachelor's degree plan. I'd like to jump one hurdle (associate degree) before I think of the next hurdle (bachelor).  

I do apologize if I went off topic or rambled on.

---

@The need 2 learn, Welcome to the board, that's a pretty good intro, I'm not sure if you want to provide more details from the addendum and template here, it may be beneficial for you, so you can give us an overall picture of what you're trying to do (besides your first goal of an Associates): https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Basically, the more detailed the picture or overview you provide us, the better as it will allow us to understand what you need and why you're going this route.  For example, you already have enough credits for the Pierpont BOG AAS including the 1 RA credit from ASU, I don't see an issue with the 1 touchstone for each of the US History I/II classes.

Essentially, you have the 60 credits from Sophia.org and the 1 RA credit from ASU, a total of 61.  If you want to take an easier course also with 1 touchstone, you can swap one of the US History for Ancient Greek Philosophers as that only has 4 challenges, 1 milestone, 1 touchstone, it's much easier, faster than US History, you can 'mix/match' classes.

If you want to add to the extra 1 credit course you have from ASU, you can take the Developing Effective Teams and Essentials of Managing Conflict, both being 1 credit each to make exactly 3 credits total, thus, you can remove the second US History class.  It really depends how you want to do things, another option is, taking an extra Intro to College Math since you're doing College Algebra & Stats.

And that list goes on, if you don't like these two 1 credit courses, there are other 1 credit courses, or even a 2 credit Intro to Stats, or do a science plus lab.  You should check the WIKI link for courses that do not have a touchstone if you really want to skip that option.  Link: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/So...lency_List

Thank you for your time bjcheung77. I took your advice and added more details in post 3. I tried to edit my original post but couldn’t figure where the edit post option was. I do see an option to edit post 3 so I figured that I must not be able to edit post 1 since I was the creator of the thread.

I’ll edit my degree plan to swap out US History 2 for Ancient Greek Philosophers.

You suggest Introduction to College Mathematics but on https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pi...athematics it states “Sophia's Introduction to College Mathematics course does not count. Pierpont considers this to be remedial-level math.” Do you know if this is an error or has changed recently?

You mention 2 credit Intro to Stats but all I could find was 2 credit Foundation of Statistics. Did you mean foundation of stats? If so, do you know or have heard of Pierpont accepting it?

Thanks for the tip on the 1 credit courses, I’ll explore them this evening to see which ones work out.

Trying to avoid touchstone so I can accelerate quickly is the main goal!

[rachel83az]

As far as I'm aware, Intro to College Math is still counted as remedial math at Pierpont. I think the same may be true of Foundations of Statistics. Most colleges/universities don't accept Sophia's "Foundations" courses, so they're kind of a waste of time, even if Pierpont accepts them. There is little point in trying to hit exactly 60 credits, IMO. You'll waste more time trying to hit 60 exactly than you would keeping a strict count.

While you said that a Bachelor's degree isn't on the horizon right now, I would suggest following https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/!U...quirements to some degree to hopefully make things easier when the time is right. Or, if you're pretty sure you'll eventually get a UMPI degree, follow this page: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...quirements Either way, you can go ahead and skip Public Speaking and English Comp because there may be better options, depending on eventual university.

[bjcheung77]

Basically, I recommend getting more than the 60 credits, so do all the non-touchstone courses first if you wanted.  Then continue on with the ones that have 1 touchstones, and keep moving up until you get at least 90 credits through Sophia.org - You should get the 4 month membership as you get the 25% off and take the time to complete all of these at your pace...

Essentially, if you need to add a month, it's just 99/month or cheaper if you get a discount coupon code, you can use these credits and ladder to the UMPI BLS with a minor of your choice down the board.  The foundation courses shouldn't be worth credit at Pierpont or UMPI, but the other ones I mentioned will transfer to UMPI, it may not for Pierpont though...

Here's a link to my Excel spreadsheet which I slightly modified from a copy/paste of UMPI's online database for equivalency.  Link: https://1drv.ms/x/s!AuSy9T2rbQuahxhLGoVQ27HCUYMO  For reference, you can follow this thread to review the most updated info on that database:  https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ivalencies

[Avidreader]

Sophia's Ancient Greek Philosophers is a very quick course. The touchstone was graded quickly. If time is a pressing issue, Saylor exams are another option. If you know the topic content very well, you can just skip to the practice exam without reading any of the material. If you get over 75 on a Saylor practice exam, you will likely pass the Proctored one. The badge will appear on Credly very quickly.

[Smgill2282]

Maybe it's me, but I just transferred over 67 credits and they are showing I still need 9 credits in core classes to graduate. I have workplace communication, that as of the initial set up does not qualify. I have environmental science which does not qualify. I also have intro to IT which somehow did not fulfill the computer literacy requirement. I am waiting on a response to find out why...

[rachel83az]

Maybe it's me, but I just transferred over 67 credits and they are showing I still need 9 credits in core classes to graduate. I have workplace communication, that as of the initial set up does not qualify. I have environmental science which does not qualify. I also have intro to IT which somehow did not fulfill the computer literacy requirement. I am waiting on a response to find out why...

Where are you seeing this? Is it in ROAR or is it the manual degree audit done by Nancy Parks? Do not trust ROAR for anything except confirming that all your classes have been entered into the system. It's not set up for the BOG AAS. Nancy Parks has to do a manual audit.

[Avidreader]

I am approved for graduation and my ROAR continues to say I am missing Gen Ed credits. ROAR is not designed for the BOG degree. Just follow the suggested course map on the wiki and you will be fine.

[The need 2 learn]

Thank you all so much for the advice. Is there any order that I should take the courses to help ladder to the next course? I stated in my earlier post I'm not looking ahead to a bachelor's degree but would Human Biology without the lab be transferable? Is it recommended to take the lab with science courses that offer one?

The BOG degree general requirements.

3 Credits in Communication
Sophia - Visual Communications (Completed)

6 Credits in Math & Science
Sophia - College Algebra
Sophia - Environmental Science

3 Credits in Social Sciences
Sophia - Macroeconomics

3 Credits in Computer Literacy
Sophia - Introduction to Information Technology

1 Credit Graded Course
Community College Transferable Credit/ ASU 1 Credit Route.

Free electives.
3 Credits Introduction to Nutrition
3 Credits Microeconomics
3 Credits Art History I
3 Credits Art History 2
3 Credits Introduction to Ethics
3 Credits Financial Accounting
3 Credits Introduction to Business
3 Credits Principles of Finance
3 Credits Project Management
3 Credits Introduction to Web Development
3 Credits Conflict Resolution
3 Credits Introduction to Statistics
3 Credits Human Biology
3 Credits US History I (1 Touchstone)
3 Credits US History II (1 Touchstone)

Extra 3 Credit to swap for a Course above.
3 Credits Ancient Greek Philosophers (1 Touchstone)