UMPI BA in History & Political Science with Minors Spreadsheet

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

Hivemind, I've attached a spreadsheet for a second Bachelor's through UMPI's BA in History & Political Science program, beginning May 8. I already applied to UMPI last month, completed the orientation on Brightspace, and if the new glut of course equivalencies from Tulane University recently added in the UMPI database is any guide, some my transcripts have been arriving. I have not received any official audit from Jessica yet, and she hasn't replied to my last email over a week ago since she's also likely waiting for that audit.

She did provide the History major requirements in a .docx file a couple weeks back. I've used this to create a spreadsheet that may or may not be totally misguided, since it suggests I could incidentally earn up to 4 minors with the major by taking only 10 UMPI courses. That's not really a goal at all, but I'd appreciate sage advice either way. Highlights include:

• Green font = course is already completed and transfers in.
  
• Light green = course is already completed, but transcript not yet received.
  
• Purple font = course can also fill a minor requirement.
  

• A2 = History major requirements at UMPI, indicating currently completed + intended coursework. Jessica mentioned my previous coursework "can apply toward your UMPI degree but you'll still need to meet our residency requirements," and more specifically, "of the 30 courses you have to take at UMPI 12 of those credits must be in the major and of those twelve 9 of them have to be at the 300/400 level." Since I'd take 18 HTY CHs at UMPI in total with 12 UL, I should meet all major requirements by taking 6 UMPI courses.
  
• A20 = Excessive HTY electives. Includes 6 courses from a junior year abroad that transferred to UMPI as a single bulk unit of 20 (!) credit hours. I don't expect to apply any of these to anything at UMPI, but it's unfortunate to lose out on distinguishing between so many UL SOC/POS/HTY/language courses that could fit in some potential minors.
  
• A32 = Irrelevant electives. Credly transcript was sent in late March. 
  
• A47 = Course equivalencies at UMPI from my first Bachelor's at TU. Major was Anthropology, Minors in History, Brazilian Studies, and maybe Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (don't remember, and the transcript stops listing at 2 minors). The 3 UL HTY courses could help in the major distribution requirements. I noticed that 29 CHs of language courses mostly came in as random electives; as long as they still help meet the foreign language requirements for the History major and Intl. Studies minor, all good. 
  
• A80 = Course equivalencies at UMPI from my semester spent at Sewanee University while Tulane was underwater due to Hurricane Katrina. All four appear as Pass on Tulane transcript, but Sewanee transcript has been delivered to UMPI. Primarily only care about the LL History elective, although it's irrelevant to everything except some minors.
  
• A87 = Course equivalencies at UMPI from AP credits. All appear as Pass on Tulane transcript, but AP transcript has been ordered from College Board. Primarily only care about AP Government and AP U.S. History, although I already have the Sophia U.S. History courses anyway. Willing to retake U.S. Government at UMPI for the unrivaled thrills, but it feels kind of silly. I've seen conflicting reports in the database for how AP English transferred in the past, but it's also irrelevant. 
  

I've also delivered my Walden transcript (MS in Early Childhood Studies: Management, Administration, & Leadership). It doesn't matter.

My biggest question concerns whether my HTY coursework plan seems feasible. However, my other big question concerns minors.

I noticed that I may incidentally qualify for up to 4 minors, but I have no idea how UMPI allows courses to apply to both the major and [multiple] minors. Currently, every course but one only appears in the major and a single minor, so there isn't any tripling-up. I am totally unsure if UMPI and my coursework would allow me to earn some or all of the minors, but the minor requirements are laid out in A97 International Studies, A109 Social Studies, A120 Pre-Law, and A131 Business Administration. I don't care much about any of the minors compared to just getting the degree done, but in decreasing order of willingness to earn them, I'd rank them Pre-Law at #1, followed by Intl. Studies (earned automatically anyway?), Social Studies (also on cruise control?), and Business Admin as a distant #4. I especially don't care about Business Administration since it's already part of my MS, and demands such a wide diversion of Sophia coursework. Fully have time for it, though.

Over on the K column, there's a summary of my plan at UMPI, SDC, and Sophia before and beyond the April 19 deadline for application materials:

• K1 = Courses I intend to take at UMPI. Since only 6 are needed for HTY, the other 4 can focus on filling up minor requirements?
  
• K15 = Courses I am taking/will take at SDC. I can easily finish 5 SDC exams in total before April 19 and send in the first SDC transcript on Credly, then send up to another 5 in the next billing cycle that begins for me on April 28. I will also have all the quizzes and practice tests complete at 100% for all listed SDC courses before my billing cycle ends, just to quickly be able to take those exams and send in that second transcript. However, that may not be necessary, since I still need to leave 10 courses at UMPI. 
  
• K26 = Courses I could take at Sophia before April 19, primarily for the Business Admin minor, which is totally unimportant to me but gives me something else to do if everything else is on track. Only Business Law is relevant for a Pre-Law minor, but I could also just take Criminal Law at UMPI as one of the 10 courses. I'm willing to avoid all but Business Law (or even avoid it too) because the Business Admin minor is just a side diversion.
  

I'm just doing this degree for fun, and could finish in 1 session, 2 sessions, or hell, never. I've already organized a bibliography of potentially relevant sources for future HTY assignments. If I have to drop minors and replace random stuff like Business Math in favor of more HTY/POS courses at UMPI, that's also A-OK. Will pay out-of-pocket.

So basically, the History major is the primary focus, with a Pre-Law minor (if anything) as a secondary goal. Other minors wouldn't hurt, but they're incidental at best. If anyone can help point out any misunderstandings and glaring flaws, I'd appreciate it. Thanks for your help!

[mohelena02]

Not helpful at all, but this is also a dream of mine to pursue a history degree, please keep us posted on your journey.

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

I can't figure out how to edit my original post, but I've found my transfer credit report in MaineStreet and noticed a couple of surprises:

• The 20 CH block unit actually came in as 6 distinct UL GEL 4XX courses. This includes 2 language courses, and 4 courses that were originally SOC/POS/HTY, but unlikely to be usable in the degree plan.
  
• Sophia's Foundations of College Algebra (taken in 2020) came in as MAT 1XX. It's no longer recommended for ACE credit and irrelevant anyway, but neat.
  
• TEEX 0279: Info Security for Everyone came in as COS 2XX (1 CH), and TEEX 0278: Cyber Ethics came in as COS 2XX (2 CH). Also irrelevant to me, but may help more technically savvy users on this forum.
  

After running a degree model, all my transfer courses appeared twice, so it seems to be glitchy. I'm also still waiting on transcripts from AP, Sewanee, and SDC to bring in POS 101 U.S. Government, a HTY 1XX elective, HTY 3XX Vietnam, and HTY 439 Vietnam.

Anyone know how to model any potential minors, or how to incorporate all my sources of transfer credit into a single model?

Overall though, the HTY major plan seems to be OK. Will update as I know more.

[dfrecore]

Sorry, I misread the post.

[bjcheung77]

Hey OP... There really isn't a way to find out exactly how to model the degree at UMPI when you have so many credits for possible transfer, the best you can do with the transfers you have is that it would take up 90 credits towards the degree, you still have to complete 30 credits for the Your Pace BA History/Political Science minors.

Your best bet is to apply, see where your credits go, and also ask if you can take alternatives elsewhere or switch courses around so it'll be more favorable for you to take courses that interest you more, and are easier/shorter courses at UMPI. I really admire people who can finish in two sessions, if you can do that in two sessions, it's just $2800 for a second Bachelors!

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

Hey OP... There really isn't a way to find out exactly how to model the degree at UMPI when you have so many credits for possible transfer, the best you can do with the transfers you have is that it would take up 90 credits towards the degree, you still have to complete 30 credits for the Your Pace BA History/Political Science minors.

Yeah, the lack of an overarching model that pools together all the transfer streams is unfortunate, but I imagine most applicants don't really need that functionality. I've already applied, and the degree model that uses all of the coursework from my first B.S. suggests everything is mostly as expected within the History major and aligning with the spreadsheet. I'd have to clarify with the advisor later of course, and I'm open to being totally misguided on all this.

I guess I'm confused by the specifics of the 90-credit rule when I have a previous degree. Since the GEC is waived and I only need 30 credits completed at UMPI (12 of those within the major itself, 9 of those being UL, etc. etc.), does this mean that I could transfer in 30 CHs that help complete the History major distribution requirements out of the 48 total that are ultimately required for the major + ~45 CHs from SDC/Sophia that are directly relevant to help fulfill minor requirements? As laid out on the spreadsheet, these transfers would slot neatly into everything I need for any/all of the minors, and I could complete the outstanding requirements at UMPI for any/all of the leftover major/minor requirements in exactly 10 UMPI courses. I'm still unclear on how courses can apply within both the major and potential minor(s), and I'd drop them if I'm incorrect in assuming that courses can appear in both the major and a minor at UMPI.

[mohelena02]

Please keep us posted, I am very interested to hear more about the pre-law minor.

[ss20ts]

Yeah, the lack of an overarching model that pools together all the transfer streams is unfortunate, but I imagine most applicants don't really need that functionality. I've already applied, and the degree model that uses all of the coursework from my first B.S. suggests everything is mostly as expected within the History major and aligning with the spreadsheet. I'd have to clarify with the advisor later of course, and I'm open to being totally misguided on all this.

I guess I'm confused by the specifics of the 90-credit rule when I have a previous degree. Since the GEC is waived and I only need 30 credits completed at UMPI (12 of those within the major itself, 9 of those being UL, etc. etc.), does this mean that I could transfer in 30 CHs that help complete the History major distribution requirements out of the 48 total that are ultimately required for the major + ~45 CHs from SDC/Sophia that are directly relevant to help fulfill minor requirements? As laid out on the spreadsheet, these transfers would slot neatly into everything I need for any/all of the minors, and I could complete the outstanding requirements at UMPI for any/all of the leftover major/minor requirements in exactly 10 UMPI courses. I'm still unclear on how courses can apply within both the major and potential minor(s), and I'd drop them if I'm incorrect in assuming that courses can appear in both the major and a minor at UMPI.

You will need to complete and minimum of 30 credits at UMPI AND all of the major, minor, and concentration requirements. So you could end up needing to complete more than 30 credits. Only the GEC is waived with a second bachelor's. With the BA in History you do not have a minor unless you add one.

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

You will need to complete and minimum of 30 credits at UMPI AND all of the major, minor, and concentration requirements. So you could end up needing to complete more than 30 credits. Only the GEC is waived with a second bachelor's. With the BA in History you do not have a minor unless you add one.

This may either be semantics or my five hours of sleep, but I'm still not exactly clear. I understand that I'm taking at least 30 CHs at UMPI, over half of which will wrap up the major. However, if I am able to complete ALL those requirements for ALL programs by applying some coursework to slots within both the major and any minor(s) as a result of wrapping up those courses at UMPI (as shown in the attached spreadsheet), does that earn the minor(s) as well? Or would I need to take courses that are entirely distinct from my major distribution requirements to have totally separate and unique courses to slide into any minor requirement slots?

I'm asking about this specifically since I've seen people reporting that they basically picked up an Intl. Studies minor as a happy accident while completing the History major, which implies that they weren't going out of their way to take distinct courses to apply to a minor.

[ss20ts]

There must be a difference of a minimum of 9 credits with a minor. So if a minor is 21 credits and it shares 9 credits with the major, you're fine. If the minor is 18 credits and it shares 12 credits with the major, you cannot complete that minor. You'll need to transfer in most of the courses for the International Studies minor as it is not available on YourPace. YourPace only contains the courses required to complete the specific degrees listed on the YourPace website. International Studies is an on campus minor, but you can transfer in courses for it. The foreign language requirements is 9 credits - 6 beyond the GEC requirements. You may be able to complete multiple languages. You will need to contact the YourPace academic advisor to confirm that multiple languages would work or if only 1 language is acceptable. Then you need to figure out where to get the credits from. If you want your degree done quickly, just stick to completing a major only without the extra minor.

ETA: One thing i just noticed. You have already completed a bachelor's degree and many of the courses you're looking to use for the major and minor were already used for the BS. Some schools won't count those credits towards a second degree. You will need to check with UMPI that they will be acceptable. Why get a BA in history when you have a BS in anthropology? Why not go for a master's instead?