Starting fresh - advice please

[jb111]

My girlfriend is self-motivated but has no college experience. She now wants to get an online BA or BS (psychology or something related to medical field) in the shortest time possible. Funds are super tight. I believe she could start with the easier CLEPs (2 per month). From a time and cost perspective, is/are there specific colleges that she should target? I've been reading posts and saw Excelsior, CharterOak and Thomas Edison. For maximum test credit, is the idea to target the college based on what they'll accept with the hope/expectation it won't change much in 2-3 years?

[Synicaal]

My girlfriend is self-motivated but has no college experience. She now wants to get an online BA or BS (psychology or something related to medical field) in the shortest time possible. Funds are super tight. I believe she could start with the easier CLEPs (2 per month). From a time and cost perspective, is/are there specific colleges that she should target? I've been reading posts and saw Excelsior, CharterOak and Thomas Edison. For maximum test credit, is the idea to target the college based on what they'll accept with the hope/expectation it won't change much in 2-3 years?

First step is to decide on a degree, then to plan out the degree. With places like COSC, TESU, and Excelsior you CAN expect degree programs to change in 2-3 years. Once you get yourself a degree picked out and from where, I would apply and enroll. Not sure how it works for COSC and Excelsior but TESU you can take 1 TECEP per year and stay enrolled. They cost right around the same amount as CLEP exams. All those places require a Capstone/Cornerstone courses, Excelsior I believe is the most expensive of the three. The business capstone can be tested out of via a TECEP but not the liberal arts one. Hope this helps you a bit. Once you know more and post more info the great people on this forum can better help you out.

[KayV]

Search for Ransomsoul's post about how he used Straighterline to complete a BSBA from TESU. He had a lot of good ideas in it.

I also posted a few days ago about how to start a BA Liberal Studies in another thread, which I am copying here.

Your first step should be to go to ALEKS and get your Intermediate Algebra class completed before ALEKS ACE accreditation expires. Search the forum for efficient ways to complete Intermediate Algebra, and be extremely careful as you take the placement exam, because you will get your credits with no further work if you get 70% on the placement test.

You could also take College Algebra, Precalculus or Trig, and Statistics if you have time left over. Be sure to finish at least Intermediate Algebra by January 31, because ALEKS certification is set to expire at that time.

After that, apply for the Study.com scholarship:
Get Free Access to Study.com's College Accelerator Sponsored by Guardian | Study.com

Then take Personal Finance (required first course) and use it as a free elective.

After that, use those five remaining classes for your upper level courses, among which:
Business 113: Business Communication/ TESU Business 113: Business Communication 3UL
Psychology 104: Social Psychology/ TESU PSY-370 : Social Psychology 3UL
Psychology 105: Research Methods in Psychology/ TESU PSY-322 : Research in Exp Psych 3UL
Psychology 106: Abnormal Psychology/ TESU PSY-350 : Abnormal Psychology 3UL
History 108: History of the Vietnam War/ TESU HIS-351 : A History of Vietnam War 3UL
Biology 103: Microbiology/ TESU BIO-351 : Microbiology 3UL
Biology 106: Pathophysiology/ TESU BIO-316 : Pathophysiology 3UL
Or get approval for
Business 107: Organizational Behavior/ as TESU PSY-361 Organizational Behavior 3UL

Study.com also has a lot of education courses, and you could take those along with the Shmoop literature classes to make yourself a good candidate for English teaching jobs. Unfortunately they only count as free electives at TESU.

While you are waiting for your scholarship approval, go ahead and take English Composition I and II through Straighterline, or try to take the CLEP College Composition. If you prefer not to do essays, you could double the price and take the CLEP College Composition Modular and the new DSST Advanced Composition. You will also need to take Straighterline’s Intro to Communication (COM-108). In addition, you could take a science course through SL, or go to Saylor for the cost of a $25 proctor fee.

After those, you could take the free Ethics class from The Institutes.

Shmoop would be a good source for a lot of other general ed and liberal studies credits. You could take their three history classes and lots of literature (and math) courses for $90/ month.

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It sounds like a lot of people are having trouble with Study.com of late, but it might be worth dealing with them to get all five of the upper level courses she needs. The three Psychology, History of Vietnam War, and Organizational Behavior would fulfill the upper level requirements for a Liberal Studies concentration in Social Science.

[OakLakeNC]

Study.com has 8 Psychology courses for credit. Some are upper level at Thomas Edison. I think that is one degree that cannot be fully tested out besides the capstone.

[jsd]

I think that is one degree that cannot be fully tested out besides the capstone.

For psychology -- Capstone, like you said, but also Ethics in the Social Sciences does not have a test-out option. With any luck maybe you can find it at a local CC or something. It's a super easy and worthless class at TESU, but it's very expensive.

[jb111]

Thank you all! I'm guessing she will lean more towards the BA if that makes this easier. Her goal is to enter a program that requires one to have a bachelor's degree. Much appreciated.