UMPI BA English plan and questions

[spaindreamer]

Hello,

I'm well into my tech career. I managed to break in and acheive a high level without a degree including having held a Principal Lead title at a multi-thousand international software company. I've also had management titles at various points in my career, but am back to being an IC by choice. I've saved my nest egg, and now I'm looking at what I want my passion career to be.

My current dream is to move to Spain as an English teacher. My understanding from my Google research is that being a native US english speaker, having my BA, and obtaining a language teaching certificate should make me an attractive candidate. A bachelor's seems necessary if I want to get in on a student teaching visa program with one of the regional education authorities out there. VISA requirements make employment harder for US citizens out there, but I'm not sure how much Brexit has opened the playing field for us in relative competitiveness. I also imagine my tech background will make me an uniquely qualified candidate for some more specialized adult teaching roles, but I haven't researched that yet. Unforunately, I don't have the degree (nor the certificate, but I'm less worried about that). That is where I think UMPI and the resources here can help!

I have some college credits from ~15 years ago at well established, regionally accredited, brick and mortar junior colleges in my local area that still operate and maintain their accreditations.

Plan Spreadsheet


My main questions:

1. Given that I'd like a language related BA (Spanish, English, or Linguistics), would you agree that UMPI seems like a top target candidate for my needs? Are there other programs offering English or Spanish degrees with a YourPace/Accelerator/competency type program available or that I should consider? I suppose a "teaching" track may also work if they are substantially easier/faster, but I prefer a language degree with all other things being equal.
   
2. With reference to my plan, I'd say my priorities, in order, are: Easy(content/tests) > Speed > Costs. Would it make sense to just take some of the business classes which I currently have planned for study.com at UMPI directly if cost isn't really a factor for me?
   
3. Given I have no Chemistry background, would it likely be substantially easier to just do Bio again via study.com to get the lab and eat the fact that my JC credit might not be of value? Does UMPI typically give the transferable credit value as elective credits if they consider the coursework similar to another course(like my Gen Bio creds from JC if I take 110L at study.com) or should I increase my sophia coursework to compensate if I go this route?
   
4. Is it reasonable to think that I could acheive a BA in a calendar year if school becomes my new obsession and I have a solid background in relevant skills? I know this one is harder to know for each individual, but if others have experience with completing the coursework given a similar or weaker background, please let me know how it went for you!
   
5. Has anyone here gone the English route at UMPI? Are there any classes that were particularly painful? I saw someone talking about the Marketing classes being particularly challenging for them, but not sure if any overlap with the English/Journalism/Comm degree I'm looking at.
   
6. Any generic criticism or advice referring to my plan before I get too deep into the actual work here? 
   

Skills/capacity summary:

• I work fulltime remotely, but I have no kids, and historically I dedicate 2+ hours average per work day to my current obsession and 4+ on weekends. Spanish has been getting ~3+ hours per work day for the last couple months.
  
• My English writing skills are at a college level and have been well-practiced over my career. I completed two college English courses already. Writing papers in English will be a breeze for me, although the shorter the better. :-)
  
• My Spanish is at an effective B1 level. I could take the DELE A2 and pass right now without studying further (passed a few practice exams a few weeks ago without problems or direct study), and sometimes I pass at a B1, it would probably take a few days of dedicated formal grammar study to be confident in passing the B1 (first intermediate level), but I've put in ~120+ hours over the last couple months and did 3.5 years in High School, so I'm really not worried here on the speaking and comprehension parts. Writing in Spanish is easy for me with Google docs doing the heavy lifting as it provides grammar and spelling highlighting as I go. Unfortunately, DELE has a strong grammar-as-proxy for competency bias (it's just easier to test for, I get it).
  
• For digital design/marketing part of this path, I'm already decent at getting around in Adobe Suite, and I started tech as a web designer/PHP developer, so I have a lot of relevant experience already researching and implementing web marketing, SEO, layouts, etc.
  
• For Math, I've already passed Pre-Calculus in JC (twice, lol, I took it again to review when I went back to JC the second time).
  
• Due to my profession, I am very skilled at looking at questions and scanning relevant content to get an answer, and I've always been an excellent test taker on standardized and multiple choice type exams. I was able to complete the first milestone of the Intro to Stats course on Sophia last night within a couple hours starting from 0 with an 86% on the exam despite speed-running the test in 20 minutes due to this particular skillset.
  
• My confidence is obviously pretty high. I'm not scared of proctored tests, and I do fine under observational pressure; the main annoyance I forsee with those is the scheduling slowing down my progress (similar to my only avoidance of classes on Sophia with touchstones).
  

Thanks in advance for any advice. I hope my long-windedness is helpful for context and not overbearing!

[dfrecore]

So, I'd like to point out that UMPI's English degree is not what I personally would like if I wanted to be an English major: it's really more of a Professional Communication and Journalism degree. There's not a lot of Literature (the fun part of English in my opinion) and is just a strange degree. But I would take a good look at the courses there before you decide that's what you want.

Second, to be an TESOL teacher, you do not have to have an English degree. Nor do you have to have a Spanish degree.

So, here are your options:
1) English/ProfComm/Journo degree at UMPI

2) English degree at TESU - between CLEP, Study.com, Coopersmith & ONU, you only need 1 add'l UL English course (which you can find at BYU-IS or other places). This is much more of a Literature degree. If you want to take your final UL English course at TESU, you could actually do the single 16cr term and save a bundle.

3) Spanish is available at TESU - but none of the courses you need are; so I think that degree is out

4) A Liberal Studies degree from TESU or EC

The nice thing about choosing TESU is that they allow you to bring in a LOT of Spanish credit - you could conceivably bring in 24cr of LL and 12cr of UL from the ACTFL exams, plus 9cr of LL from the CLEP, plus 3cr from the Study.com course. Not sure how EC brings all of those in, there may be some overlap between exams.
-------------------------
For UMPI's lab science requirement, which is a pain, you could opt for a few different ways to get credit and still keep the Bio course:
Rio Salado (pricy) has Nutrition w/Lab
U of Idaho IS has Geology w/Lab, and Descriptive Astronomy w/Lab
Your local CC might have something like that you'd enjoy more like (Astronomy, Geology, A&P, Earth Science, Nutrition, etc.). While you're at it, take a hands-on art class (my husband is taking Astronomy w/Lab and Drawing in the fall at a CC in-state for free).
---------------------------
If you go to TESU, they don't require a lab science - neither does EC.

I would take a look at all of your options before making any decisions.

[spaindreamer]

So, I'd like to point out that UMPI's English degree is not what I personally would like if I wanted to be an English major: it's really more of a Professional Communication and Journalism degree.  There's not a lot of Literature (the fun part of English in my opinion) and is just a strange degree.  But I would take a good look at the courses there before you decide that's what you want.

Second, to be an TESOL teacher, you do not have to have an English degree. Nor do you have to have a Spanish degree.

So, here are your options:
1) English/ProfComm/Journo degree at UMPI

2) English degree at TESU - between CLEP, Study.com, Coopersmith & ONU, you only need 1 add'l UL English course (which you can find at BYU-IS or other places). This is much more of a Literature degree.  If you want to take your final UL English course at TESU, you could actually do the single 16cr term and save a bundle.

3) Spanish is available at TESU - but none of the courses you need are; so I think that degree is out

4) A Liberal Studies degree from TESU or EC

The nice thing about choosing TESU is that they allow you to bring in a LOT of Spanish credit - you could conceivably bring in 24cr of LL and 12cr of UL from the ACTFL exams, plus 9cr of LL from the CLEP, plus 3cr from the Study.com course.  Not sure how EC brings all of those in, there may be some overlap between exams.
-------------------------
For UMPI's lab science requirement, which is a pain, you could opt for a few different ways to get credit and still keep the Bio course:
Rio Salado (pricy) has Nutrition w/Lab
U of Idaho IS has Geology w/Lab, and Descriptive Astronomy w/Lab
Your local CC might have something like that you'd enjoy more like (Astronomy, Geology, A&P, Earth Science, Nutrition, etc.).  While you're at it, take a hands-on art class (my husband is taking Astronomy w/Lab and Drawing in the fall at a CC in-state for free).
---------------------------
If you go to TESU, they don't require a lab science - neither does EC.

I would take a look at all of your options before making any decisions.

Thanks so much for this info.

Nutrition with lab sounds enticing. I'll look into that further. I've had a hobby obsession with nutrition for years that would be leveragable there.

I'm open to TESU. I think for my priorites, the biggest thing in favor of TESU and a "proper" English degree is that it might help me more easily get into a TESOL Master's program than the UMPI Eng/BizCom one if I decide to go that route in a few years. I am seeing that these Master's programs at ASU (and I checked my local CSU) want a GPA based on the last 60 credit hours, how is that affected by not actually having 60 graded credits? Or are these study.com/sophia/etc credits graded towards GPA?

I'm a little worried about how easy/well I'd do in CLEP test vs how Sophia seems to be going for me. I finished section two of five today for stats in ~2.5 hours, might finish section three tonight. I probably wouldn't pass these GEC items this quickly if the browser-searchable text wasn't literally right next to me while taking the tests. For stats, having a spreadsheet in front of me rather than doing calcs on a traditional calculator or some other proctored nonsense has made things a lot faster too. I also like that I don't have to schedule anything, just do it. This "just do it" is great for me, because I have no idea how good/prepared I'm going to feel tomorrow, let alone next week.

The ACTFL path and using Spanish to fulfill a lot of my elective credits is very enticing. I doubt I'll be at a C-level in the next few months, I'm in the wide plateau of intermediate right now, but even acheiving B-level and whatever credits come with that will be relevant to my goals and I've already put in the bulk of that work. It looks like UMPI respects the ACE credit recommendations from ACTFL tests too, but doesn't give UL credits according to this UMPO ACTFL thread. I'm not sure I care about UL if I go the UMPI route anyway.

I did see that the English degree at UMPI is a weird mix of Comms and English. I'd much prefer if it was the same proper English courses it already has, but mixed with the education minor instead of the Business Comms stuff. But as it is, I'm thinking that I'm likely to have an easier time with it because of my professional experience relating to the BizComm stuff. 

How to Coopersmith & ONU compare to Sophia in course design? Are they similarly structured with mostly online-graded material? Part of my bias towards UMPI with the research I have done, is how much I'm liking Sophia and the ease in finding transfer equivalents. I've only actively compared Sophia to study.com so far, but study.com's assignments seem like more work generally.

CC is not in the cards. The way my brain seems to work, I'd more likely finish/pass Calculus from home in a couple weeks than finish a multi-month intro to music performance class on an instrument that I already know, if the latter required that I have to travel on a fixed nightly or weekend schedule for 2-3 months while also maintaining my regular work schedule. This is incredibly silly from a logical perspective, but driving/transporting myself to physical classes while also working full time is a huge psychological barrier for me. Even for work, I have literally moved to within a mile of every new workplace I've had in the last 10 years just to avoid transportation related stress (before my current remote-only job).

Based on your feedback so far though. I'll probably switch my Spanish focus to the ACTFL, and ask my Spanish tutor to move our goals in that direction for the time being. Seems like a good use of the time I'm already spending on language studies. I'm also going to start digging into the TESU forums here to get a feel for what to expect from their classes vs UMPI from a format/ease perspective.

[bjcheung77]

Basically, You can decide on a degree/school, but sometimes it's hard to make a firm or quick decision.  The best bet right now is to get started on courses that will go towards the two or three top choices. Before you do that though, you may want to decide if competency based is right for you or not, the 2-3 hours/day may not be sufficient and will take you longer, in the end will cost you more.

My suggestion though is still UMPI BLS with a minor or two of your choice, then ladder up to a Masters later.  UMPI will require 30 residency credits and these are all graded credits.  If you go the transfer credit route, you can try Excelsior/TESU, but alternative ACE/NCCRS credits are not graded, if you don't have the 60 or so credits, some colleges/universities may want to take a look at your ACE transcripts.

Here's an example of someone who followed our recommendations and completed a BLS from UMPI, it took them about a year, but now they're starting their MBA, you may want to do something similar, as I pointed out - a BLS from UMPI, a TEFL/TESOL certification or two, and then select a Masters of your choice!  Review forum posts and the wiki, there are so many options for you to select from.

Note: This person transferred from several colleges/universities and went for WGU, TESU, then finally decided on UMPI.  It really doesn't matter who you select, as long as you start and then finish.  They've created multiple threads/posts for help, but this is just the two, the start and the finish posts/threads.  

Link 1: Help with the fastest/cheapest option for a BALS (degreeforum.net)
Link 2: Finally got my degree today! You guys can do it!!! (degreeforum.net)

[Jennr2z]

I am not educated on the degree requirements for you to teach abroad, but consider the UMPI BLS in Education Studies. Any of the UMPI BLS degrees will be the fastest that you can complete. If you transfer in 90 credits you can easily finish your last 10 courses (30 units residency minimum) in 1-2, 8 week sessions.
https://online.umpi.edu/degrees/undergra...nal-minor/

[rachel83az]

If you think you'll need 60 graded credits, what I would do would be to get a UMPI degree. Transfer in 90 credits. Once you've seen how fast you can go, you can decide whether or not to add another minor or two to bump it up to 60 graded credits instead of 30.

[spaindreamer]

Thank you everyone for all of this information.

Based on all this information so far, I think I'm convinced to not go for that BA English/Comms route, and certainly feel like I don't need to make the final decision now.

The BLS does seem more appropriate for my goals of easier and faster, and it seems I can pick coursework more relevant to my interests. I think I was scared of it not having a "standard" name like BA or BS, but I'm now convinced I shouldn't worry too much about that.

Sent in my first Spanish assignment last night, grinding through Stats again today. Getting some new credits under my belt ASAP seems like the most useful thing I can do right now as bjcheung77 suggested. I don't want to put more time into planning the degree than actually doing the work to get it. Also, grinding through some credits seems like the best way to predict my own velocity and timeline.

[dfrecore]

So, for CC, it does't have to be on-campus. My kid has taken 60cr so far, and not one has been on-campus except the first 3 months of 2020 when she was a HS senior (and then Covid hit, and it went online).

Second, the BLS/Education - again, UMPI has strange ideas about what this major is about. I personally thought about going back for a BA in Teaching of some kind, but I with they had more options there (I want to teach high school kids, not elementary students, and a couple of the courses seem geared towards younger children).

But getting the English degree, and possibly adding the Educational Studies minor for more graded credits is not a terrible option. Although I've heard that the ES courses are much longer and more involved than many of the business classes. But honestly, if you're in a term, and you finish up all of your major, and have time, then take an ES course or two, and decide if you want to add a term and get that minor. You don't have to decide up front.

[spaindreamer]

I just finished the Final for the Intro to Stats course on Sophia. 92% final percentage. Love it. Submitted my first Spanish paper to them on Tuesday night, still waiting on that.

Would regular progress reports be useful to anyone either here or on a new thread/forum? Want to show others what can be done as I go along, but don't want to clutter things here with too frequent of updates if they aren't wanted.