TESU BA PSY

[xBless]

Hi,

Your Location: FL
Your Age: 28
What kind of degree do you want?: PhD Psychology
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 60? (Associate's in General Studies acquired)
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0
Any certifications or military experience?: 0
Budget: Willing to go in debt.
Commitments: I have a lady and family to consider, but I've given them so much positive equity in relational love that they can take a hit.
Dedicated time to study: 60hr/week is probably my burnout.
Timeline: Dec 1. is PhD early app deadline. This year or next year. (If MA needed for app improvement) Maybe I slide in with a strong personal statement.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Pell, I have no income currently.

I am interested in starting with a BA in PSY from TESU. I intend to pay for Instacert. I've reviewed both the sample plan and JSD's. Perhaps I'm incorrect about Study/Sophia, but I'd imagine DSST/TECEP/CIS would be quicker? Self-study followed by an exam. Is that true?

The attached file is basically copy&paste of the Sample Plan for the AOS section. I'm not familiar with how my degree would transfer with respect to gen ed requirements. It also has my completed courses from my degree. 60CR (-12, transfer?) +45 (AOS) = 93. Do any credits need to be in General Ed? Can I just fill the remaining 27CR with relevant UL/LL related courses?

Anyways. TYSM you guys for this forum and its wealth of information. I've learned so much from you all. Shout-out to you, bjcheung. I've got a lot of energy to work. I'm fully recovered after smacking cancer around a lil bit. I want a PhD from an APA school. I don't want a Psy or Ed degree. I will spend the extra year paying the entrance fee for the PhD if need be. My GPA is 3.1. I've got myself together now, though. Worked through all that childhood trauma, namsayin'? I could likely get a higher GPA is what I'm saying. I don't know what the DGS's value most, though. A MA, relevant work experience, or a 4.0 AOS GPA. They won't respond. I'll just keep knocking at the door. All words appreciated.

[wow]

In my opinion, exams are only faster if you already know the material. Otherwise, you need to spend quite a bit of time studying. InstantCert certainly helps, but I'm not sure that learning from it is any faster than doing an intro Sophia or Study.com course.

For me, some of the Sophia courses have been pretty easy to get through quickly because I already had previous knowledge of the topics or they involve a lot of "common sense": psychology, sociology, US history, nutrition, health and wellness, some of the business courses, algebra, etc. Sophia courses without touchstones (papers) tend to go more quickly. Also I find the courses with video lectures easier to zip through; I retain information better that way.

The same can be said for study.com. However, study.com limits the number of cat classes you can complete to 5 a month, and it is more expensive. I use it for credits I can't get elsewhere. For a psychology major TESU, I believe you can get all of your major requirements but one through Study.com (unless I am mistaken, study.com only has four upper level psychology courses and you need 5 to complete the degree). However, you can also get some of the requirements for field through relevant CLEPs, TECEPs, and possibly Sophia.com.

All that said, you'll need to check that a degree earned this way will be acceptable to your graduate program. I would expect you need to get a masters degree first before getting a PhD.

[RJ77]

What are your plans occupationally after completing the degree? I know you said that you want a PhD specifically and not a PsyD, but if you're looking to get into counseling, you'd likely be better off with a PsyD, which is more clinical focused than a PhD in Psychology. Or go for a Masters in counseling and become a LPC. The latter can save you a lot of time and money and still get you into the counseling profession, if that's what your goal is.

[bjcheung77]

@xBless, Welcome to the board, thanks for the shout-out... I would recommend you to carefully plan your pathway and decide what type of Doctorate or PhD is suitable for you. For example, you can go the TESU or UMPI Psych undergrad and then decide further to get the Masters at Kairos or Walden, then ladder to the Kairos doctorate...

[xBless]

TY everyone. There will be an opportunity I get into regarding a PhD. It's only a matter of time. Someone will let me in. A PsyD would be the fallback. I am intending to aim for a PhD in an APA recommended institute and have reached out to a graduate studies director for advice. I'm waiting for feedback. My concern with the PhD from Kairos (though I love that they are faith-based) is that they aren't APA certified. I'm aiming to be a Licensed Psychologist which would require 4,000 hours of supervised training.

I would take recommendations for better-looking BA programs with an emphasis still on speed. My AOS is still wide open as I've not taken many courses in it. I was actually quite math focused at first.

I also do think that, from working just on the outside of a PhD program, that that institute did accept Master's students commonly. Perhaps TESU is step 1 with a high GPA MA. That was my initial thoughts. I'm not really too fearful when it comes to getting into the PhD program. I don't want to shoot myself in the leg before running a marathon or anything, but it'll happen.

I'll look into Walden a little more. Are their classes like TESU? They're not, right? You get a GPA. It's more like WGU grading?

Also, for the degree plan, would I be most helped by applying to TESU and having an advisor looking it over?

[allvia]

I would recommend you look at the UMPI BA Psychology now available through their YourPace program https://www.umpi.edu/yourpace/academic_p...sychology/, it would likely faster and cheaper (and financial aid friendly too) - Wiki page for planning - https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

[xBless]

Oh, I really like that.

[RajSingh]

I would recommend you look at the UMPI BA Psychology now available through their YourPace program https://www.umpi.edu/yourpace/academic_p...sychology/, it would likely faster and cheaper (and financial aid friendly too) - Wiki page for planning - https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

Thank you

[bjcheung77]

Yes, that's what I recommended in post #4 as well, decide if it's going to be TESU or UMPI. If it's a hard decision, you can still do up to 90 credits that can transfer to both institutions by using the Sophia.org and Study.com combo towards each. You can create a spreadsheet of the requirements to both degrees, then take the classes that can be used in either degree as most of the requirements will overlap... You have roughly 30 credits to decide which one would be a better fit.

[xBless]

I completely missed that bjcheung. I see it now. Thank you! I have been on that exact page a few times but it had never looked as good as it did yesterday until, well, yesterday.

I am most certainly happy to self-study most courses as UMPI. I've got lots of time to give and it is all on the subject material I care about. I have applied to the school and expect to start 10/28. I hope to knock down 6 courses a term and be done by summer. I intend to focus on GPA maximization.

When it comes to graduate applications after the fact, do you guys think I should just handle all courses at UMPI? Or would I be safe to have some LL courses from Study.com? I have looked at programs and people's experiences and see that often it's never even reviewed. 60CR remaining, 42 left AOS. 18CR remaining that I'm not sure how I'll fill yet.

I'd mostly consider this done as I do think I know the answer to my question. (it's safe to get some credits from Study.com, up to 90, heard that bj). Thank you all. Have good days.
It looks like Instacert has a few options still worth considering too.