Which school should I choose?

[fretbrner]

I have asked this similar question in the past but have refocused my study back on IT, which I am working in since the late 90's.

Which school is the most veteran friendly and would most likely award the most credit? Former AE E3 US Navy(4 years). I reside in New York, so I would think Excelsior would be better to get New York tuition assistance. Anyone know if this is true? Their tuition is not the cheapest.

Which school would most likely give me the most credit for work and life experience? Industry certification?

Which one would most likely get me into grad school or law school? Not Harvard, but a good B&M school?

Do either of these school offer me the chance to earn two degrees? One in IT and one in Management or international Business?

Thanks

[sanantone]

No accredited school will automatically give you credit for life/work experience. There are things called prior learning assessments where you have to prove you learned a subject at the college level during work or life. I heard they take a long time to do and it's just easier to test out of a subject if you can. I know TESC and Excelsior give credit for certain professional certifications; someone else might be able to answer for Charter Oak. For which school is better, it really depends on what kind of certifications you have. I believe TESC and COSC only give military discounts to active duty while Excelsior gives a small discount to veterans.

Any of the schools will get you into a b&m graduate school since they are all regionally accredited. If you end up not having a lot or any graded credits, though, because you tested out of them, it might make it a little harder to get into some schools. I'm not sure about the other schools, but TESC does not let you earn two bachelors degrees at the same time. You have to finish one and then earn 24 new credits in the area of study for the second one after the first degree is conferred. Another option is to double major within one degree.

Here are their degree programs.

Concentrations (Majors) and CPS Forms at Charter Oak State College
http://www.excelsior.edu/ecapps/degreePr...eTable.jsf
Thomas Edison State College | What You Can Study

[fretbrner]

Cheers for that mate. Right now it is hard to do DSST or Cleps as I am overseas at the moment with no testing sites available. So my testing out options are limited at the moment. I do have Aleks, Uexcel and straigherline, EX & TE exams but they can only get me so many credits.

I realize I could get a few cheaper courses out of the way with New Mexico colleges as well. But again, they are still term based.

I am enrolled in Empire State College but have not signed up for any classes the next two terms yet.

I still don't know why they put a time limit on the when you can use the GI Bill and when it expires.

[mrs.b]

I'm not sure about the other schools, but TESC does not let you earn two bachelors degrees at the same time. You have to finish one and then earn 24 new credits in the area of study for the second one after the first degree is conferred. Another option is to double major within one degree.

One possible work-around on that is the BSBA-CIS with BSBA-General Mgmt or BSBA-International Business. You should be able to pair those and earn them concurrently, in which case your General Education and general Business requirements would be the same, then you would just need 12 different credits in each of the Area of Study focus areas. You can test entirely out of a General Mgmt degree (search the forum here for others' plans). I'm not sure of how much of the CIS or International Business majors can be tested down.

Some graduate schools are open to undergraduate programs that are 100% tested. Others do not care about Gen Eds and basic business courses, but prefer actual courses for core requirements. Others frown on ACE credits. It honestly depends on the graduate school. You would need to do some hunting now and put together your short list to see what each of their requirements are if that is a consideration for later, so you do not work yourself into a corner.

[Gaz]

fretbrner-

In regard to credit for work experience, are you aware that you have a transcript through the Navy College called a SMART? You should have credit for boot camp, A-school and advancement to E-3. If you PNA'd third class you will have credit for that too. I will include a link where you can get access to your SMART. Once you are able to sign-on there are links to various schools that have 'Navy Roadmaps' for your rate. You click on the school link and it plugs your credits into their degree program. This may or may not be helpful to you. There is a program called SOCNAV that might be of interest to you, I'll include a link.

In regard to credit for certifications, the American Council on Education (ACE) has credit recommendations for various certifications such as ones for Microsoft. You can search their database to see if any of your certifications qualify for college credit. If so, you can get a transcript through ACE to send to schools. I also believe you can have your SMART credits added to this transcript.

Lastly, It is possible to take Excelsior College exams in Australia. The exams are administered through Pearson VUE, they have locations all over the world. Check out their website. DSST has international test sites. There is test site in Perth that administers CLEP exams, but that is quite far from you.



SMART
https://smart.navy.mil

ACE GUIDE
ACE CREDIT | The National Guide to College Credit for Workforce Training

SOCNAV
SOCNAV: SOC Degree Network System Associate and Bachelor’s Degrees for the Navy