Advice please

[jmichelle79]

Hello everyone,

I'm considering focusing my testing on completing my ASBA, then work on the rest for my BSBA. I plan on enrolling with TESC.

Someone in a previous thread said 'Some degree is better than no degree.' This makes sense to me.

What do you think? Would it be worth the extra cost?

Say I have all credits for the ASBA and have a partial completion for the BSBA. For whatever reason I need to enroll and get my ASBA could this mess up my degree plan for the BSBA? Or more specifically do you think TESC would mess up the allocation of credits.

I apologize if these questions have already been discussed, I couldn't find the answers in the threads.

Thanks

[valsacar]

Generally, if you're doing your associates and ba with the same school all the credits from the aa will roll over into the ba.

I personally have never seen the point in an associates, unless you NEED something RIGHT NOW.

[jmichelle79]

Generally, if you're doing your associates and ba with the same school all the credits from the aa will roll over into the ba.

I personally have never seen the point in an associates, unless you NEED something RIGHT NOW.

This is what I'm leaning towards. Focusing on the credits I would need for the ASBA, but only unrolling if I NEED to. I really cann't afford to pay the annual fee twice.

I would just hate if I submitted transcripts (it would be more than just the AS credits) from ACE and my degree plan is somehow messed up.. (I have read about the wonderful TESC costumer service ) Yeah, I guess I'm paranoid.

[emichele20]

Honestly when you apply you tell them that you want to do the bsba. Once you are enrolled you send an email to enrolled@tesc.com and say that you believe that you have met the requirements for the ASBA and would like to have an evaluation done. Once they add that degree to your profile you can see if everything matches up properly. If it does and all requirements are met you can fill out the grad form and send in the grad fee.

This is what I have personally done and I havent had any problems. I met the requirements for the AAS in Administrative Studies first and was going to go with that degree until I passed my precalc. Now that I have passed the precalc I think that I will be applying for the ASBA.

TESC has been great with letting me move around my credits to where I needed them to be. Sometimes because their system is automated classes do fall in the wrong place but it is as easy as sending an email or calling them to get it corrected.

@ valsacar, I understand that some ppl may feel that getting an associates is pointless but if you have been in college for years, starting a stopping along the way and never earning a degree it matters. I have thought about all of the different schools I have enrolled in and never got a degree and when I think about how long it would of taken me with another school I get ill. When I enrolled with a for profit school which shall remain nameless, they made it so that I could only take two courses at a time, and would then overlap them so they could juice my FA. With them it would have taken me two and a half years to finish my BA. So when I enrolled with TESC the first thing I looked at was the BSBA but then I also looked at the associates degrees too. Being able to earn additional credits in the last few months has allowed me to get my associates and although it may not be a bachelors it is something. At least it feels to me that my entire 10 year journey with school has not been for nothing. It makes more sense to me to get a degree under your belt now if you have the credits than to have nothing at all or have to wait up to four years to see a result. I think that when they created the associates degree it was a way for people to keep motivated. Waiting for four years to see or hold something is quite absurd and down right depressing.

[Mian]

@ valsacar, I understand that some ppl may feel that getting an associates is pointless but if you have been in college for years, starting a stopping along the way and never earning a degree it matters.

Totally agree with this! I started college in 1988 and didn't get my first degree (an associate) until 2003. I started and stopped many times and thought I'd never get a degree in anything ever. So getting that first associate degree was really something for me. I went to the graduation ceremony and I was really proud of finally completing it.

Even if you're young and just starting college, getting an associate degree is a good way to break down the task into smaller chunks so it doesn't seem so long and overwhelming. Getting the associate usually isn't but a few extra credits along the way and most of your credits will apply toward the bachelor degree anyway.

It can help you get your foot in the door at a job in your field and by the time you finish your bachelor you'll have experience to go along with the degree. There's nothing wrong with getting an associate degree any way you look at it.

[cauble_txsg]

A person's educational journey can be a long one, lifelong even. The reason that I decided that the completion of an AAS was important on my journey to a BA/BS was simple. It gives me an absolute on my resume. While I clearly state that I am working on my four-year degree, my resume reflects that my educational commitment is not just fluff, since my AAS would show most that I am already at least half way to my educational goal.

There are positions out there that will allow you to substitute experience for college. By having my AAS now, that is two years of education that I don't have to negotiate about. Potential employers can see my transcript and decide for themselves with my 4.0 GPA and Phi Theta Kappa membership, if I have what it takes to complete my college journey.

It is all about how I market myself...

[jmichelle79]

Thanks for the feed back. It is good to know that tesc will work with my credits.
I'm still undecided on what I will do, but I do have more testing before I get to that point.
Breaking it up a bit is appealing, when I look at my degree plan for BSBA there is so much left.

[burbuja0512]

I used to feel strong against getting an associates degree, but I have changed my opinion. I now say that if you're going to get your bachelor's within a year or less through testing, an associates is probably not needed, unless you have immediate, specific needs at your job.

I do think that the younger you are, or the less job experience you have, the more benefit you would see from an associates. For example, my DS's goal is to have his AA before or by the time his peers graduate from high school and then move on to a B&M college. He's also hoping to be a certified pharmacy tech by then as well. His idea is that the combination of an AA plus pharmacy tech certificate, on top of all the volunteer work he's doing at the hospital, will enable him to start off with one of the better paying tech jobs (they range from around 12-16 dollars in my city) to support him through college and eventually pharmacy school. I think the AA will definitely set him apart from the other techs who often don't have any college degree.

DH also is looking at an associates. He doesn't like studying and is not enjoying testing like I have. He doesn't know if he has what it takes to complete a full bachelors degree and would rather have something than nothing at all. No it won't help him at all in his career as he's already managed to work his way past the point where an associates would matter, but it would be a nice personal achievement for him and a good motivator to keep on moving.

[bricabrac]

This is what I'm leaning towards. Focusing on the credits I would need for the ASBA, but only unrolling if I NEED to. I really cann't afford to pay the annual fee twice.

I would just hate if I submitted transcripts (it would be more than just the AS credits) from ACE and my degree plan is somehow messed up.. (I have read about the wonderful TESC costumer service ) Yeah, I guess I'm paranoid.

You can graduate with both the ASBA/AAS and BSBA in the same enrollment year or the same graduation date. It will cost only an additional grad fee of $257. If you graduate with both on the same date I'm not sure about fees, you would have to ask the registrars office.


Undergraduate Academic Policies - Thomas Edison State College - acalog ACMSâ„¢[INDENT]"Students who desire both a Thomas Edison State College associate degree and a Thomas Edison State College baccalaureate degree may have both degrees awarded together in the same graduation cycle."

[/INDENT]When enrolling you choose both degree plans and what happens is credits earned will be applied to both degree programs. If you choose the ASBA its easy because its basically all the GenEd and core courses for the BSBA. Once you complete the requirements you apply for graduation and then work on the specialized and business elective courses for your BSBA. If you do the AAS, the concentration area can be filled with any business courses. So if you have earlier credits that will not apply to BSBA (such as SES or OAD courses) you can use them here and combine with BSBA UL exams (HRM, Management, Marketng...etc). Again, once completed you apply for graduation and then complete the remaining courses for your BSBA. It's a very easy process.

If you are doing a lot of testing you might wait until after completing the associates requirements to apply. And then you have a full year to finish the BSBA. If you are taking it slow, more than one year, I would wait and do both degrees on the same grad date or as close as possible (within 3-6months). The only issue is the longer you wait until you've completed all courses the program requirements may change. You would have to keep checking the catalog and policy to be sure your courses still meet requirements for those degrees. The good thing about actual enrollment is it locks you into the current catalog.

Good luck in whatever path you choose!

[valsacar]

I didn't mean to come off as saying an AA is useless, it depends on your situation and personality. I work in IT, where experience trumps any degree. My first time in college I worked for a year as an intern, which helped me land my first paying job (after which I stopped going to college). I then decided to join the military, took a couple courses but nothing serious (at first, at the end I really focused on my BS).

After leaving the Army I moved into defense contracting, where I put my unfinished degree on my resume (listing number of credits completed, and expected completion date) and it wasn't questioned at all. I landed the job (6 figures) and my degree should be done this winter.

Of course, in my case, I'm also a programmer... I'm used to working years towards one goal before seeing anything really happen. Last big project it was 6 months before the program even compiled, which didn't bother me at all (been working on that project for almost 4 years now, still don't have it fully completed).