UMPI Degree Conferred, I'm One of the Slow Ones!

[Claudia P]

I have received my UMPI Bachelor's via parchment and am awaiting receipt of the physical diploma in the mail!!!
First, I'd like to thank everyone on this forum for your amazing advice and guidance.  Words just cannot describe how blessed and fortunate I feel to have found this group.  A special shout-out to BJCheung, Ashkir, ss20ts, Carebear and many others.  You all are my advisors, my mentors, and my motivation!

My story:  I am a busy mom in my 50's with a lot of family commitments.  I have two teens with disabilities, and devote a lot of time to them.
I had been taking one or two classes at a time at a community college for years and years hoping to one day finish an associate degree.  A bachelor's was a far-fetched dream.  Two years ago, I had to drop my cc Algebra class because I was completely lost.  I was on the hunt for alternative Algebra courses, and a google search led me to this forum.  Thanks to your guidance, I set my sights on a bachelor's from UMPI. 
Today I celebrate having earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with an emphasis in Project Management and Info Systems, plus a minor in Management, summa cum laude! 
I couldn't have done it without the support and advice from everyone on this forum.

Secondly, I would like to go on the record as one of the slower and (probably) older UMPI students, in hopes that it will encourage those that may feel inadequate about moving slowly through their courses.  My experience has been one of true self-discovery and an unquenchable thirst for learning.
I quit my job so I could completely focus on my kiddos and school, and it still took me seven (7) sessions to complete my degree
I finished most of my gen eds on Sophia, took one more cc class, a study.com course, and passed four CLEP tests - that took almost one whole year.  Then, I took 18 classes at UMPI over seven sessions.
There are many on this forum that are able to complete many classes per session.  That is wonderful, and I admire and cheer for them, but, there are probably many that are shy (like me) to admit it took them longer.  My advice:
"Move at the pace that works best for you.  Don't be deterred.  You are not alone, and this forum of wonderful people will cheer you on, no matter your pace.  If I can do it, anyone can!!!!" 

Thanks to the invaluable advice from this forum, I am moving on to planning for a master's degree!

[ltw900rr]

Congratulations!!!!

[ss20ts]

Congratulations! Sounds like you valued your learning experience at UMPI. Thank you for highlighting the length of time you spent completing your degree. So many people only post when they've completed 300 courses in a week and that can give the appearance that everyone's doing that way which is totally not the case.

[Chankosumo]

Congratulations! Amazing accomplishment and great advice! In many cases taking it slower is the wiser thing to do. Good luck with future master's!

[bjcheung77]

Congrats! Great job in getting this completed and now you're onto researching the next educational journey! Since you have a BABA, a possible option would be a 3K MBA at HAU, this is not competency based, but their program was really recommended by many on the sister board and also on here as well. If you want one and done option, the UMPI MAOL might be a good option as well... or if competency based is what you want, the WGU MBA or MSML is great too.

[Claudia P]

Congrats! Great job in getting this completed and now you're onto researching the next educational journey!  Since you have a BABA, a possible option would be a 3K MBA at HAU, this is not competency based, but their program was really recommended by many on the sister board and also on here as well.  If you want one and done option, the UMPI MAOL might be a good option as well... or if competency based is what you want, the WGU MBA or MSML is great too.

Thank you, BJCheung!  Yes, I am weighing all the options you mentioned plus Amberton.  I will start a new thread in the graduate program section because I have a few questions about Amberton.  Thanks again. 

[ss20ts]

Feel free to message me about Amberton! I really enjoyed my time there.