Fastest Path to a Bachelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me

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Fastest Path to a Bachelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - Ninjadude - 03-12-2023

Hi everyone!

I've been flirting with the idea of going back to school to become a family and marriage therapist and I was thrilled when I came across bain4weeks.com and then this site. Thank you all who actively contribute to this community, you give such amazing resources!!

I'm coming here to seek some advice on what might be the best* path for me.
*Best is comprised for me of FASTEST & CHEAPEST

My ultimate goal is to become licensed, so I'd like to earn a Master's degree from an accredited program that would satisfy licensure requirements.
Obviously first, I need to complete my Bachelors.

I've attached my credit/ course history below.
I have a total of 118 credits, with 57 being general, 30 being in engineering, and 31 others that I'm unclear where they would fall.

The F's are from the semester when I dropped out and left the country, I just didn't withdraw so I didn't have to pay my scholarships back.

I have an A.S. from UCF (where I earned the credits that don't list a "transfer source")

One more thing, I still have around 200% of Pell Grant use, which as far as I understand, means that I can get up to the maximum benefit for a total of 4 terms (2 terms per year limit)

I live in Florida and that’s where I’d like to be licensed.
Exam-based preferred to writing, but not an absolute.
Secular instead of religious.

With all of this being said, I wonder if someone can help me get a direction for the FASTEST way to finish a Bachelor's in Psychology?
(Priority to FAST over CHEAP, because the Pell Grant should cover the cost, within reason. So also not super crazy expensive. If I can do it all for almost free because the Pell Grant covers it all, that would be ideal)

**Special consideration: The Pell Grant only covers Bachelor's degrees and not Master's degrees. With that being said, if I can work on my Master's as part of my Bachelor's, that would be the best-case-scenario because I could cut down on the Master's degree cost while doing my Bachelor's.

(as in, the credits count towards both, then I believe it will cover it. I took one UL engineering course - level 5000 below and that's how it worked then)

I know that was a mouthful and not the most graceful.
Any help, guidance, or feedback would be tremendously appreciated.

Thank you all so much,
And have a great day!
Big Grin

RE: Fastest Path to a Bacelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - rachel83az - 03-12-2023

What state are you in? I assume that you'll want to pursue licensing; that's something that varies from state to state.

Writing or exams?

Secular or religious?

RE: Fastest Path to a Bacelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - Ninjadude - 03-12-2023

(03-12-2023, 01:06 PM)rachel83az Wrote: What state are you in? I assume that you'll want to pursue licensing; that's something that varies from state to state.

Writing or exams?

Secular or religious?

Oh, right, I’ll edit the post to add those details.

I’m in FL, which is also where I’d like to be licensed.

Writing or exams – assuming that’s the method for completing credits or the degree, I’d say exams.

Secular or religious, is that the kind of license or degree?
I haven’t heard of that, but probably secular because it sounds broader or more relevant to more people.

Thanks!!

RE: Fastest Path to a Bachelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - dfrecore - 03-12-2023

Just a note that you don't have to get your bachelor's in Psych to get your Master's in Psych. But I'd do TESU or EU if you want to do it the fastest/cheapest. They both have Psych degrees that can be done via alt-credit.

RE: Fastest Path to a Bachelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - Ninjadude - 03-12-2023

(03-12-2023, 07:06 PM)dfrecore Wrote: Just a note that you don't have to get your bachelor's in Psych to get your Master's in Psych. But I'd do TESU or EU if you want to do it the fastest/cheapest. They both have Psych degrees that can be done via alt-credit.

Thank you.

Would there be a benefit to getting a Bachelor’s that isn’t Psych?

For TESU / EU do you have any guidance on what specific plan/ path I could take based on the credits I have?

RE: Fastest Path to a Bachelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - rachel83az - 03-13-2023

Secular or religious applies to the type of school. The degree you want is popular at many faith-based universities. For instance, Kairos University is relatively inexpensive and is faith-based. I can't remember if their degrees are valid for licensing in Florida. Then there are secular institutions like Walden where you can get a similar inexpensive Master's after you finish your Bachelor elsewhere. Again, I cannot remember if they are valid for Florida's licensing needs.

For Psych vs. not Psych, non-Psych may be a faster/cheaper route at the undergrad level. You'd need to decide on your possible schools for your Master's degree, though, and be sure you hit the prerequisites, if any.

You can see degree plans for TESU here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sample_TESU_General_Education_Requirements_Roadmap

RE: Fastest Path to a Bachelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - Ninjadude - 03-13-2023

(03-13-2023, 04:47 AM)rachel83az Wrote: Secular or religious applies to the type of school. The degree you want is popular at many faith-based universities. For instance, Kairos University is relatively inexpensive and is faith-based. I can't remember if their degrees are valid for licensing in Florida. Then there are secular institutions like Walden where you can get a similar inexpensive Master's after you finish your Bachelor elsewhere. Again, I cannot remember if they are valid for Florida's licensing needs.

For Psych vs. not Psych, non-Psych may be a faster/cheaper route at the undergrad level. You'd need to decide on your possible schools for your Master's degree, though, and be sure you hit the prerequisites, if any.

You can see degree plans for TESU here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sample_TESU_General_Education_Requirements_Roadmap

Gotcha - thanks!
If that's the case, I think I will almost qualify for a Liberal Arts degree as it is.

Any guidance on Master's programs for Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) that are reasonably fast to complete and reasonably priced?
That will give me a starting point for seeing if completing a Liberal Arts Bachelor's will do the trick.

Thanks!

RE: Fastest Path to a Bachelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - dfrecore - 03-14-2023

(03-13-2023, 12:05 PM)Ninjadude Wrote:
(03-13-2023, 04:47 AM)rachel83az Wrote: Secular or religious applies to the type of school. The degree you want is popular at many faith-based universities. For instance, Kairos University is relatively inexpensive and is faith-based. I can't remember if their degrees are valid for licensing in Florida. Then there are secular institutions like Walden where you can get a similar inexpensive Master's after you finish your Bachelor elsewhere. Again, I cannot remember if they are valid for Florida's licensing needs.

For Psych vs. not Psych, non-Psych may be a faster/cheaper route at the undergrad level. You'd need to decide on your possible schools for your Master's degree, though, and be sure you hit the prerequisites, if any.

You can see degree plans for TESU here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sample_TESU_General_Education_Requirements_Roadmap

Gotcha - thanks!
If that's the case, I think I will almost qualify for a Liberal Arts degree as it is.

Any guidance on Master's programs for Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) that are reasonably fast to complete and reasonably priced?
That will give me a starting point for seeing if completing a Liberal Arts Bachelor's will do the trick.

Thanks!

Since a MFT degree is not a Psych degree, you're not going to get much out of a Psych bachelor's degree. So just start researching MFT degrees, choose one, and then see what degree will work best. I'm guessing any bachelor's degree will be just fine.

Your fastest option by far is going to be the TESU BSTS, since you have almost everything met:

1) Intellectual & Practical Skills area
- not sure if your Intro to Communications course is a speech course; if not, that's easy enough to take cheaply/quickly

2) Civic & Global Leadership area
- all 3 covered

3) Knowledge of Human Cultures area
- You need a few more GE's
- a SocSci
- 1 course from SocSci, History/Humanities that you haven't already taken (you've taken US History I & II, Art History I, Sociology, that leaves a lot)

4) Science area
- covered

5) AoS (Major)
- Computer course should be covered by Programming course, if not, Intro to IT is fast & easy
- Physics I & II covered
- Stats covered
- math above college algebra covered
- 21cr from a single discipline covered by EGN/EML/EGM courses, 2cr LL and 30cr UL
- 18cr of other technical covered by remaining EGN/EML/EGM courses and then remaining science courses
- Project Management can be done via alt-credit
- Capstone

6) Free Electives are covered

So my guess is, you pay for a month of Sophia and take:
- Intro to Psych
- Visual Communications (or Art History II)
- Project Management
- possibly Intro to IT
- possibly Public Speaking

and then you do a term at TESU for the Cornerstone and Capstone.

Maybe $7000 when all is said and done, unless you want to do a 16cr term to save some money (I probably would not).

You should immediately apply to TESU for the BSTS, and send:
- AP transcripts
- CC transcript
- 4yr school transcript

Then post your eval here and see if they took the Engineering courses as we hope they will (all as a single discipline) to meet the 21cr threshold.

RE: Fastest Path to a Bachelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - Ninjadude - 03-14-2023

(03-14-2023, 11:53 AM)dfrecore Wrote:
(03-13-2023, 12:05 PM)Ninjadude Wrote:
(03-13-2023, 04:47 AM)rachel83az Wrote: Secular or religious applies to the type of school. The degree you want is popular at many faith-based universities. For instance, Kairos University is relatively inexpensive and is faith-based. I can't remember if their degrees are valid for licensing in Florida. Then there are secular institutions like Walden where you can get a similar inexpensive Master's after you finish your Bachelor elsewhere. Again, I cannot remember if they are valid for Florida's licensing needs.

For Psych vs. not Psych, non-Psych may be a faster/cheaper route at the undergrad level. You'd need to decide on your possible schools for your Master's degree, though, and be sure you hit the prerequisites, if any.

You can see degree plans for TESU here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sample_TESU_General_Education_Requirements_Roadmap

Gotcha - thanks!
If that's the case, I think I will almost qualify for a Liberal Arts degree as it is.

Any guidance on Master's programs for Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) that are reasonably fast to complete and reasonably priced?
That will give me a starting point for seeing if completing a Liberal Arts Bachelor's will do the trick.

Thanks!

Since a MFT degree is not a Psych degree, you're not going to get much out of a Psych bachelor's degree. So just start researching MFT degrees, choose one, and then see what degree will work best. I'm guessing any bachelor's degree will be just fine.

Your fastest option by far is going to be the TESU BSTS, since you have almost everything met:

1) Intellectual & Practical Skills area
- not sure if your Intro to Communications course is a speech course; if not, that's easy enough to take cheaply/quickly

2) Civic & Global Leadership area
- all 3 covered

3) Knowledge of Human Cultures area
- You need a few more GE's
- a SocSci
- 1 course from SocSci, History/Humanities that you haven't already taken (you've taken US History I & II, Art History I, Sociology, that leaves a lot)

4) Science area
- covered

5) AoS (Major)
- Computer course should be covered by Programming course, if not, Intro to IT is fast & easy
- Physics I & II covered
- Stats covered
- math above college algebra covered
- 21cr from a single discipline covered by EGN/EML/EGM courses, 2cr LL and 30cr UL
- 18cr of other technical covered by remaining EGN/EML/EGM courses and then remaining science courses
- Project Management can be done via alt-credit
- Capstone

6) Free Electives are covered

So my guess is, you pay for a month of Sophia and take:
- Intro to Psych
- Visual Communications (or Art History II)
- Project Management
- possibly Intro to IT
- possibly Public Speaking

and then you do a term at TESU for the Cornerstone and Capstone.

Maybe $7000 when all is said and done, unless you want to do a 16cr term to save some money (I probably would not).

You should immediately apply to TESU for the BSTS, and send:
- AP transcripts
- CC transcript
- 4yr school transcript

Then post your eval here and see if they took the Engineering courses as we hope they will (all as a single discipline) to meet the 21cr threshold.

Thank you for this.

Here are the BSTS requirements that I found:

[Image: BSTS-Requirements.png]

A few questions:

- Do I have to take those 3 specific Knowledge of Human Cultures classes? (Forensic Science, American History I, and Exploring American Cinema)?
- Does anything I have satisfy CIS-107?
- Wouldn't I also have to take APS-401
- You would recommend that capstone and cornerstone at the same time?
- Would a BA in Liberal Arts / Liberal Studies be shorter?

Thank you!!

RE: Fastest Path to a Bachelor's (and Master's) in Psychology for me - dfrecore - 03-14-2023

(03-14-2023, 04:22 PM)Ninjadude Wrote: Thank you for this.

Here are the BSTS requirements that I found:

A few questions:

- Do I have to take those 3 specific Knowledge of Human Cultures classes? (Forensic Science, American History I, and Exploring American Cinema)?
- Does anything I have satisfy CIS-107?
- Wouldn't I also have to take APS-401
- You would recommend that capstone and cornerstone at the same time?
- Would a BA in Liberal Arts / Liberal Studies be shorter?

Thank you!!

TESU changed their website a few years ago, from a great one that showed the categories of courses you need, to specific courses that THEY offer, without any explanation. Their new degree plans SUCK out loud.

So, you do not have to take SPECIFIC courses they list except ones specific to the degree.

\In the Knowledge of Human Cultures area, you need 1 Social Science (which you don't have since Sociology satisfies the Diversity requirement), 1 History course (you have AP US History for 6cr), 1 Humanities course (this is satisfied with the remaining 3cr of AP US History), and then 2 courses from Social Sciences or Humanities.

The "Computers" requirement MAY be satisfied by your programming course, which is why I said you MIGHT have to take something like Intro to IT.

APS-401 is the Capstone for this degree.

The capstone and cornerstone can be taken at the same time, or you may choose to take them in different terms, it's up to you.

The BALS will not be shorter, because none of the Engineering courses you've taken can be used in the AoS/Major. Meaning all of those 30cr of UL will be going to Free Electives.

This BSTS is by far THE best use of your current credits if TESU will bring them in the way I (and you) hope.