publius2k4 Wrote:You say that you've been in IT for many years. What kind of IT certifications do you have? Those can also be easily turned into college credit.

andrewtn Wrote:No IT Certs

I was programming in PHP and some Java for several years but next attempted any certs. The last 5-6 years I've been working as a Project Manager and now have the required experience (5 years) to sit for the PMP (Project Management Professional) test but I haven't taken it yet. My employer has put me through a few days of PMP training and I have 3 more days of training scheduled in July which will give me the required training needed to sit for the test. Thanks for asking

JohnnyHeck Wrote:Cookderosa - I normally would acede the ground to your experienced and insightful commentary, but in this case I have to stand-by my original recommendation that andrewtn should apply to all the schools, You are of course quite right, that in the current list of earned credits there is probably no "quirkiness" but there sure is a lot of it at each of the different degree finsihing schools wtih what's left to do fo complete a degree! With all that real life business experience that andrewtn brings to the table, each school will have some very different options available. Andrewtn seems like the perfect candidate to me to possibly qualify and earn a lot of credits via PLA. This is a very difficult area to navigate successfully. There are a lot of options, and you can't pick the best of the lot for your own circumstances without a lot of detailed investigation. Some time and a little money spent now will save a lot of both while working all the way to final bachelor goal.

cooperalex2004 Wrote:Enrollment went up? I'm still seeing enrollment as cheaper than that at Thomas Edison State College: Enrolled Options Plan

It looks like it is $2958 for out of state enrollment, $117 for technology fee, and $280 to graduate. In any case I definitely agree with everyone else, the end goal of a BA/BS degree should be your guide to what school to choose. Find one with a major/area of study you want and I am confident that most schools will be about the same in regards to being essentially done with your AA. Whatever your choice, good luck to you.

andrewtn Wrote:Thank you everyone (cooperalex2004, JohnnyHeck, Jennifer, Max Droid, Mrs B, sanantone) for taking the time to give me some input on this. I don’t think I would want to spend ~$3,000 just to obtain an Associates though if I could knock out both the Associates and the Bachelors for nearly the same cost it would probably be worth it.

Several of you talked about completing the Bachelors in less than a year which sounds great but worries me. We are talking about filling somewhere around 66 credits which I would imagine would therefore require somewhere around 20 tests in one year. That seems like a lot but if some can be done in days maybe it's possible. I have to remember that I have a full time job and 4 children.

It sounds like the next step most of you are suggesting is to go ahead and submit to TESC, and maybe to all three. Once I understand how things transfer I can build a plan for tackling the reqs.

The July 1 deadline for TESC is a bit concerning as well. I saw a separate tread today which stated that as long as you apply before July 1 you have 6 months to enroll so hopefully that is correct and would buy me a few extra months to complete the reqs. I wonder if we have an understanding as to what is changing as of July 1st? I'll search around on the forum and see if I can find any details on it.

Thanks Again!
Andrew

cookderosa Wrote:Let me help you with a tiny issue, you'll need to factor in the 2 tests I mentioned above (A&I Lit, SS&H) which total 12 credits. That overflows 3 into the bachelor's degree. Also, you have an unused PE class that gives another 3 into the free electives. So, upon filing for AA graduation, you'll actually be starting your bachelor's with 66 finished. Now, that leaves 54, and of those, you'll have 12 that can come from FEMA ($0 can be done in a long weekend) leaving only 42 to be completed in the year. Also, that would be a full 12 months, because you would't start your clock until you enrolled, and you wouldn't enroll until you've taken the 2 tests above. So, my math shows you working on only 10-14 exams/courses and that's if you can't pull together a PLA. A test schedule of 2 per month is absolutely reasonable, so at 1 per month, you'll be so incredibly bored that you'll probably start on your MBA.