Upper-level Credits Required for Dual-AOS Bachelor Degree

[csbachelor]

If you're doing a TESU bachelor's degree with two areas of study, do you need only 18 credits to be upper level for the whole degree?  Or do both areas of study need 18 upper level credits?

Take a BA in Math and Biology for example.  Not really any overlapping upper level classes in these subjects, except the capstone can be double counted.

So does this degree require 18 upper level credits, or is it (18+18 - 3 for the capstone) 33 upper level credits, split between the two subjects?

[WDue]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I was researching this option earlier. I was trying to do a Psych/CS dual AOS. If I understood it correctly, you need to complete the required AOS for both. For mine, both AOS had 45 credits, Psych had 6 UL courses in the required section itself, and as for the CS portion I needed to do 5 UL courses. I just checked Biology and fortunately it doesn't appear like any of the required courses are UL. But you would have to complete all 60 of those Biology credits, the 12 credits as electives is where I'm assuming they'd require the UL credits.

From their website: "Students may complete up to two areas of study within one bachelor's degree. Only one bachelor’s degree is earned in this case. All policies that apply to a degree, such as maximum credits/semester hours per source (foreign, ACE/NCCRS, community college) must be applied to both areas of study. No more than 9 credits* that are used in the first area of study may be used for the second area of study. All related required credits for each area of study, as well as all degree requirements, must be met at the same time. Students cannot complete a third area of study within one bachelor's degree. Students may not earn two of the same degrees in the same graduation cycle. If a second baccalaureate degree is pursued after the first one is earned, the appropriate second degree policy applies."

So you can have up to 3 courses shared between the two, I don't remember if the capstone is part of that sharing requirement or not. Since it says all degree requirements must be met at the same time, I'm assuming this means the 18+18 - 3 capstone credits calculation is correct. It's a bit convoluted honestly. Also it's best to ask an advisor because the Biology degree is structured a bit differently, it only needs 15 credits worth of electives compared to the 30 in Math.

In the Math AOS there's a 12 credit portion, Natural Science and Math Electives, I believe this is where you'd be able to overlap the Natural Science portion with the 9 (or 6) Biology credits.

[csbachelor]

I contacted TESU and they confirmed it is 33 upper level credits. 15 for each area of study and 3 for the double-counted capstone.

[WDue]

I contacted TESU and they confirmed it is 33 upper level credits.  15 for each area of study and 3 for the double-counted capstone.

Good to know, that's one of the reasons I switched to UMPI for now. It's a lot of work to insure that both AOS work together. That would also mean you technically need one of the required Biology courses to be UL, most likely Cell Biology, to complete the 15 credit UL requirement. 

Biology at TESU seems pretty straightforward with the amount of required courses being LL science courses but it's pretty difficult to do unless you're in the U.S. For one, in Canada, our lecture and lab together count as 3 credits and you take both during the semester as one course, if you fail the lab, you fail the course, if you pass the lab but fail the course then you can request an exemption and only retake the lecture component. I had 6 required courses done if they'd all transferred properly, but they didn't, leaving me with a lot of retaking to do. 

At least all of Bio, Chem and Phys l & ll can be taken at NMJC. But it's frustrating there aren't many alternatives, if you do the CLEP for any of those then you have to take the labs somewhere else and I couldn't find another source that does labs only. Hence why I switched to Psychology, but I hope you'll have better luck with the program than I did!

[wow]

At least all of Bio, Chem and Phys l & ll can be taken at NMJC. But it's frustrating there aren't many alternatives, if you do the CLEP for any of those then you have to take the labs somewhere else and I couldn't find another source that does labs only. Hence why I switched to Psychology, but I hope you'll have better luck with the program than I did!

I didn't realize NMJC had second semester chem *and* physics 1 & 2 now. That's a nice alternative to Straighterline or Study.com etc. I am tempted to enroll.

Given that I made my degree plan before those were available, mine relied in part on CLEPs and non-lab Saylor courses (no longer available for credit), with the plan to round them off by taking labs (without lecture course) at TESU where possible. So that is also an option for people who already have the lectures but need the labs, at least for some science courses. (They offer standalone labs for physics, for example.)

[WDue]

At least all of Bio, Chem and Phys l & ll can be taken at NMJC. But it's frustrating there aren't many alternatives, if you do the CLEP for any of those then you have to take the labs somewhere else and I couldn't find another source that does labs only. Hence why I switched to Psychology, but I hope you'll have better luck with the program than I did!

I didn't realize NMJC had second semester chem *and* physics 1 & 2 now. That's a nice alternative to Straighterline or Study.com etc. I am tempted to enroll.

Given that I made my degree plan before those were available, mine relied in part on CLEPs and non-lab Saylor courses (no longer available for credit), with the plan to round them off by taking labs (without lecture course) at TESU where possible. So that is also an option for people who already have the lectures but need the labs, at least for some science courses. (They offer standalone labs for physics, for example.)

For sure! I went through the Biology degree plan again and mapping it out seems like a real nightmare, lol. Credit to the people who put it together! If you take CLEP Bio, there doesn't seem like an alternative place to take the labs. Another thing is the discontinuity with how TESU accepts them, if you take the SL course for Bio l, there's no SL course for Bio ll (doesn't exist) same issue for Physics and for Chemistry they don't accept it. Chem and Physics as you said, offer the labs at TESU, but I think that would be a more expensive option for non- NJ residents and non-military, right? Also curious if they count as "courses" for the flat rate term. And with the changes you described (like Saylor courses for e.g.) I think the best approach now would be to do all 6 courses at NMJC, but I don't think it's self paced and on top of the amount of UL alt-credit sources also utilizing a semester structure makes the Biology degree more difficult to accelerate through...

It's doable but very alt-credit heavy and appears to take more time to finish unless you've taken the pre-req science courses at a community college.

[wow]

I think the best approach now would be to do all 6 courses at NMJC, but I don't think it's self paced and on top of the amount of UL alt-credit sources also utilizing a semester structure makes the Biology degree more difficult to accelerate through...

It's doable but very alt-credit heavy and appears to take more time to finish unless you've taken the pre-req science courses at a community college.

Definitely not accelerated. I've been working on it on and off for several years now with no end in sight. Some of University of the People's health science classes will transfer into the biology degree -- both the intro bio courses with labs and some of the upper level ones. 

I don't see why labs wouldn't count toward residency requirements or the 15-16 credit term.

But I digress!

[KagomeH]

At least all of Bio, Chem and Phys l & ll can be taken at NMJC. But it's frustrating there aren't many alternatives, if you do the CLEP for any of those then you have to take the labs somewhere else and I couldn't find another source that does labs only. Hence why I switched to Psychology, but I hope you'll have better luck with the program than I did!

When searching these courses at NMJC, where exactly are the Chemistry and Physics courses located (like for summer or fall)...what category are these courses listed in? I see the biology but cannot find the physics or chemistry courses. Thank you.

[WDue]

Definitely not accelerated. I've been working on it on and off for several years now with no end in sight. Some of University of the People's health science classes will transfer into the biology degree -- both the intro bio courses with labs and some of the upper level ones. 

I don't see why labs wouldn't count toward residency requirements or the 15-16 credit term.

But I digress!

Interesting, but still time consuming, haha.

Right, they're one credit each, whoops, lol. Meaning 3 labs would take up the equivalent of one "course".

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When searching these courses at NMJC, where exactly are the Chemistry and Physics courses located (like for summer or fall)...what category are these courses listed in? I see the biology but cannot find the physics or chemistry courses. Thank you.

I went under current students, then course schedule, I looked at the past sessions which are view only, like Fall 2025 and Spring 2026. I was able to find Bio and Physics by searching for it, but no Chemistry. It might be worth emailing them to double check!

Edit: Weird, when I browsed an even older version like Spring 2024, it showed up. I wonder if they even offer it anymore.

Edit #2: So I checked Summer 2026 and it appears they only offer Biology, you would likely have to enroll in the Fall session for the Physics course, Chemistry isn't appearing in either section nor the older categories of 2025

[KagomeH]

Thank your checking as well. I just wanted to make sure it was not just me.