Starting My Degree Journey and Looking for Guidance

[diegoox902]

Hi everyone,
I’m starting to map out my degree plans, and I’m trying to make sense of all the general education options out there. I’ve been reading through a lot of threads, and the advice has already helped me get a better feel for the process. I thought this would be a good time to introduce myself and ask a few questions.
I’m especially interested in which gen-ed courses tend to be the most flexible, which ones transfer without problems, and which providers people here usually trust. I’d also love to hear any study habits or tips that made the early stages easier for you.
If you’re open to sharing your experience or pointing out things I should watch out for, I’d really appreciate it. I’m here to learn and hopefully help others as I progress.
Thanks in advance, and I’m glad to be joining the community!

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board, great intro post with some basic info. It's great to get some basic questions answered, but it's better to provide more pieces of the puzzle. Please fill in the addendum and template here to provide a bigger picture of your scenario: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

[Kevin.B]

Hi everyone,
I’m starting to map out my degree plans, and I’m trying to make sense of all the general education options out there. I’ve been reading through a lot of threads, and the advice has already helped me get a better feel for the process. I thought this would be a good time to introduce myself and ask a few questions.
I’m especially interested in which gen-ed courses tend to be the most flexible, which ones transfer without problems, and which providers people here usually trust. I’d also love to hear any study habits or tips that made the early stages easier for you.
If you’re open to sharing your experience or pointing out things I should watch out for, I’d really appreciate it. I’m here to learn and hopefully help others as I progress.
Thanks in advance, and I’m glad to be joining the community!

I feel transferring credits is very institution specific. If I remember correctly most of my gen ed's transferred from a community college in MI to Northern Arizona University. They were things like into to psychology, essential biology, english comp, etc... The more specific core classes also transferred as electives. I've never used any of the study.com/straighterlin/sophia (bc I didn't know about them until recently) but have heard good things. 

I did both in person and online degree programs. Personally I learn better self pace, at home via online learning.  Some things I did was set up a comfortable area to study, turning do not disturb on my phone, setting small attainable daily and weekly goals. Finding ways to help study that work for you (i.e. I learn better by hearing so listening to relevant podcasts, course videos, and youtube videos). Find the time to study without burning yourself out (for my masters I listened to youtube videos on my commute to work, on breaks at work, and no life'd the degree, literally would only go to the gym and study on my days off - on days I worked I would study then head to work listening to youtube or instructor videos, go home and study, but I was able to complete my MS in 6 months through WGU). Tie what your learning into your career or educational goals and most importantly, have fun with the courses.

[bjcheung77]

To start... I would fill in the addendum and template, plus update us with anything new. Once that is done, you should create a spreadsheet of the requirements and see which alternative credit providers combined will give you the max transfer of credits. Your final step is to complete the residency requirements of the institution you select.

Sometimes you can't decide on the degree or the institution, thus, I would get started with one of the providers, such as Study.com to get the general education and electives done, make sure it can transfer to all the institutions you're interested in (as you can create multiple spreadsheets for each degree/institution of your choice).