online community college pathway to asu bs mech engg

[galactus]

I'm a working professional who'd like to get a BS in mech engg (as I work in the field without a degree) to improve my job prospects. I'm based in Philadelphia, PA. I've done my GED few years ago and have specific training for NDT (immaterial here I know). I have no college credits and have zeroed in on two programs which offer ABET accred BS in Mechanical Engineering which are offered online (I work 40 hours a week) Out of the two Arizona State University is my first preference (University of North Dakota is my second preference).

I'm looking for an online community college that has AS Engineering or Mechanical Engineering (I'm in PA) that would help me with some credits so as to transfer to ASU. Instate would be preferred but out of state would be okay too. My employer has yearly $3500 for education, I can pull the rest from savings. 


ASU has a link to check
https://transferguide.apps.asu.edu/app/transfermap

thankyou

[rachel83az]

For ASU, I'd take some ASU Universal Learner classes. Once you pass (IIRC) 12 credits with a B or better, they promise "guaranteed admissions". I would take as many of the ASU classes as fit into your degree plan because they're quite cheap and most of them are relatively easy. The Chemistry class on ASU UL should probably be taken alone because it is super difficult/time-consuming compared to the others.

[bjcheung77]

@galactus, Welcome to the board, that's a pretty good introduction post with the basic details, however, it's not as complete as the addendum and template here, with more compact and concise information on your scenario, we will be able to assist you further: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Question, are you looking at Mechanical Engineering specifically at those two institutions? Or would other types of Mechanical Engineering such as Engineering Technology programs that also have ABET work for you?  Again, the more info, the better so we can see what path is best and has the least resistance to alternative credit...

[natshar]

My first advice would be to take CLEP and DSST tests. They are one and done tests. They are $100 each but you could do the CLEPS for FREE with reimbursement through ModernStates.

You can transfer in around 60 credits via exam: https://catalog.asu.edu/credit_exam

Also do the ASU universal learner courses: https://ea.asu.edu/courses/

Suggestions:
CHM 114: Intro to Chemistry
CSE 110: Intro to Programming
FSE 100: Intro to Engineering
FSE 150: Perspectives of Engineering

Here are a list of ASU partner CCs: https://provost.asu.edu/academic-alliances/partners

Also worth noting ASU does NOT accept ACE or NCCRS credits. But they do accept credit by exam.

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https://www.bucks.edu/academics/transfer...rsity.html
https://transferguide.apps.asu.edu/app/m...on#forward
"type in Bucks County CC as the school and Mech Enger online as the major.

[fmsoa]

With the exception of MAE 384 Numerical Methods for Engineers (upper level), basically all of the courses from Year 1 & 2 can be fulfilled by cc & credit by exam. ASU is very generous in transfers e.g. even MAE 201 Statics and MAE 202 Dynamics can be transferred from Community College of Philadelphia. What you need to do is first run all 15 community college districts in PA to ASU Transfer Map, make a list of equivalencies accepted, then check their corresponding schedule of classes to see which of those courses are available online. After that, expand your search to cc in AZ and other states. For example, ASU accepts credit for MAE 215 Programming w/ Matlab from Rio Salado college (part of Maricopa Community College district) at Arizona.  

It's a good idea to finish Statics, Dynamics, Mechanics of Materials, Fluid Mechanics, and Thermodynamics all at cc as they are weed-out classes for ME majors in B&M colleges. Calculus, Differential Equations, Physics and Chemistry are such piece of cake (relative speaking). Make sure you put in the work even though it's cc as all of the above subjects would show up on your FE(EIT) licensing exams.

[natshar]

between CLEP, DSST, CC and maybe ASU Universal Learner looks like ALL classes in terms 1A - 4A, 5B and 6B. could be done elseware and transferred in (besides MAE 384 and 1 credit orientation course in 1st term). And also humanities in 7B and both the humanities and social sciences in 8A.

My calculations indicate this is around 60 credits which is half the degree!! If you combined and did CLEP, DSST, ASU Universal Learner and CC you could do all this in a year instead of two years. So you just turned a four year engineering degree into a 3 years total (or even less!) since ASU does 7 week terms. ASU does require 60 credits be taken at a Four Year University so idk if you could transfer a whole lot more than 60 credits. (ASU would count as ASU credit tho, so you could do 60 credits worth of CLEP, DSST and CC)

1yr: CC, DSST, CLEP, ASU Universal Learner
1.5 to 2.5 yrs: ASU online

I have no idea if you want to do this but if you got a job at Starbucks at worked 20hrs a week after 90 days you get ASU online for FREE. This could be a huge savings. But I don't know if it would make sense at all careerwise or timewise (probably not)

[bjcheung77]

"My employer has yearly $3500 for education, I can pull the rest from savings." In regards to that, which provider does your employer use? Is it something like Bright Horizons (EdAssist) or Guild Education? If either one, you should have up to $5K or something close to that number... You may want to verify, it could be something different or another provider, any way you slice things, that amount can be used this year and if you wanted, next year as well if you don't finish this year...

[indigoshuffle]

Lets say OP transferred 30 credit for free (or close to free). What would the rest of the degree cost? 

By the way, for some degree programs and for certain CCs, one could potentially transfer up to 75 credits.

[bjcheung77]

I've not looked at ASU and their transfer policies, you can give it a look or review, I think it's something like 60 credits using CLEP, 30 RA elsewhere from community college, and the 30 residency credits. So, by using CLEP/MS, that first 60 credits is free, then take the 30 cheapest classes online from a community college, and the last 30 credits - if the Universal Learner classes fit in the degree, and have upper level that can be used, it'll be $400/class, 10 of those is $4K alone, plus any other extra fees...

[rachel83az]

Not all CLEP exams can apply to an ASU degree. Even if they have 30 free electives, I don't think the gen eds allow 30 credits of CLEP for the STEM type degrees. They are a LOT stricter than a school like TESU. You have to double, triple, quadruple check everything. For a degree like this, even if ASU policies allow for 90 transfer credits, there may only be 60 viable transfer credits available in total. IIRC, a couple of years ago, someone's husband here pursued a similar degree from ASU and they were only able to transfer in 45 to 60 credits at that time.

It's still a relatively affordable Mechanical Engineering degree, but it takes a lot of planning to save money.

1. Take as many CLEP as you can. Whether that's 5 or 20, they'll save you money.
   
2. Fill out as much of what's left with ASU Universal Learner classes. Cheaper than most CC classes and there is no question of transferability.
   
3. Check out CCs like Luna or NMJC for inexpensive prerequisite courses that you can't take from CLEP or ASU UL.
   

If one is lucky, this should bring the student close to 90 credits. Finish the rest at ASU itself.