Trouble Picking which Degree to Go For! - Any advice?

[cclocks8]

Hello!

I am planning on applying to UMPI this September for the upcoming October start, and would love some advice on which degree to choose and a quick check over on my plan!

Your Location: US

Your Age: 34

What kind of degree do you want?: Trying to pick between BLS in Management, BABA Management, & BA History. End goal is MAOL in Organizational Leadership

Any certifications or military experience? no military, have AAS from Pierpont

Budget: $3K for Bach, 8k for MAOL

Commitments: job, kids, family

Dedicated time to study: 3-4 hours weekdays, 12-16 hours weekends

Timeline: I'd like to finish the bach degree either in 1 or 2 terms, not sure on MAOL

Tuition assistance/reimbursement: 2k per year through job

Current Regional Accredited Credits: 30

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 3 Clep, 43 Sophia

Spreadsheet with current credits and plan


I still have to fulfill a few gen Ed requirements: Comp II,  Foreign Language, US Gov, & Human Bio+lab. I was planning on taking Comp II and maybe US Gov at UMPI, and doing Spanish 1 and Human Bio at Sophia over the next month. If I still have time before the September application deadline, I'll knock out US Gov at Sophia as well. (On average, I finish a sophia class in about 4 hours, longest took a week because of grading.)

Questions: 

I saw a thread that Human Bio+Lab was no longer being accepted from Sophia - has that been confirmed? If so, I guess I'll have to do it at UMPI...

Does my plan look pretty good?

The reason I'm having trouble picking between the 3 degrees 

I think BLS would probably be easiest/fastest, so that's at the top of the list. BA History, mostly just because I'm a history nerd and being able to engage with material will make it faster and more fun. BABA in Management because it "looks better" than a BLS. 

Since I'm planning to do the MAOL, I'm not sure how important the BABA vs BLS thing is. I don't really need a Bachelor's degree for my job, it's more of a personal achievement thing and future proofing. My career path is internal communications & marketing with a sprinkle of instructional design for corporate training, so the MAOL is the end goal.

Any advice on which path to take?

[bjcheung77]

@cclocks8, Welcome to the board, great intro post with the info in the template/addendum along with additional details... You can do the following, the BABA plus a History minor, you'll have exactly what you're looking for.

Basically, I updated the Human Bio/Lab thread, it seems that has changed for UMPI, there should be other providers such as Study.com they would accept, we just need to know if they made changes there too (or not).

In regards to the MAOL, you get 3 courses exempt if you complete the UMPI undergrad degree from them, so it'll be cheaper, easier, faster if you can finish in two sessions or three sessions for the 9 remaining courses.

How long did you take to complete the Sophia.org courses? That should give you an indication of the time needed for UMPI. If you have tuition assistance or reimbursement, plus fin aid, you can get this BA/MA inexpensively!

[rachel83az]

If you know you want the MAOL or will be going for an MBA, absolutely do the BABA. The BABA Management should waive 3 of the MAOL classes, making it faster/easier to complete.

If you go for an MBA later, having a Business degree will make the application process easier because you'll already have most/all needed prerequisite courses. For your case, BABA vs. BLS is really a no-brainer.

[cclocks8]

@cclocks8, Welcome to the board, great intro post with the info in the template/addendum along with additional details... You can do the following, the BABA plus a History minor, you'll have exactly what you're looking for.

Basically, I updated the Human Bio/Lab thread, it seems that has changed for UMPI, there should be other providers such as Study.com they would accept, we just need to know if they made changes there too (or not).

In regards to the MAOL, you get 3 courses exempt if you complete the UMPI undergrad degree from them, so it'll be cheaper, easier, faster if you can finish in two sessions or three sessions for the 9 remaining courses.

How long did you take to complete the Sophia.org courses?  That should give you an indication of the time needed for UMPI.  If you have tuition assistance or reimbursement, plus fin aid, you can get this BA/MA inexpensively!

Thanks for the detailed response! I'm incredibly disappointed about bio+lab not being accepted anymore. That's what I get for deciding to take the summer off, dangit. I'll see if the Study.com one still works.

BABA + history minor would be pretty cool. I was considering checking out the psychology degree, but with it being so new and with no details on the practicum, I'm not sure about it. The career/job I'm in now is heavily focused on psychology and organizational change/leadership. Depending on how fast I can complete courses, maybe I'll do both!

I usually finished the sophia classes in 2-4 hours and never had lower than an A in any of them. (Well, except for statistics - sometimes I have trouble with certain math concepts.) 

I didn't know that about getting courses exempt for MAOL - that's fantastic! It almost makes up for bio not being accepted anymore... almost. I do get some tuition reimbursement from my job, so that would be great!

[davewill]

I know you say the bachelor's won't help with your current job, but you might want to think about situations where things don't go to plan and you either don't complete the MAOL, or need to change jobs before you can complete it. The business degree is going to be much more useful in that case.

[ss20ts]

Currently, there are 3 courses in the BABA with Management & Leadership Concentration that transfer into the MAOL. Now this may change with the move to Brightspace and it may not change. It's something to consider as it would decrease the number of courses you'd need to complete in the MAOL. Any business degree will help you move through the MAOL quicker.

[cclocks8]

If you know you want the MAOL or will be going for an MBA, absolutely do the BABA. The BABA Management should waive 3 of the MAOL classes, making it faster/easier to complete.

If you go for an MBA later, having a Business degree will make the application process easier because you'll already have most/all needed prerequisite courses. For your case, BABA vs. BLS is really a no-brainer.

That's definitely a horse of another color! Looks like I'll be going for the BABA. 

Now I just need to figure out how to get a lab credit -_-

[bjcheung77]

You don't really need a BABA to get into the MBA programs, you just need the prerequisites completed (if any). Some people take the BLS and whatever minor they have interest in and complete the MAOL or MBA programs we recommend. In order to be accepted, they need to know the requirements for the masters before completing their bachelors, the reason is to make sure any prerequisite courses required for entry into the masters is taken at the undergrad level.

[ss20ts]

Stick with Sophia on the science lab. We have not seen the actual post about it from Facebook as it was removed. There has been ZERO discussion about this on Discord. I wouldn't stress. We don't know the backstory about that thread so keep on trucking until we hear otherwise.

[Duneranger]

As someone pretty steeped in education/hiring, I wouldn't recommend a MAOL. It's more of a check-the-box sort of degree versus actually having practical value. Especially considering these degrees usually require a fair degree of networking to have much conventional use. How much do get in a yourpace situation? I don't know, but I am guessing not a ton.

If you do go to an MBA program, PLEASE make sure it is from a ranked school. There are a million online MBAs and the majority aren't worth their salt. An MBA is one of the few degrees where reputation, rankings and networking all matter greatly.

If its a check-the-box situation, ignore everything I have said.