11-23-2013, 02:36 PM
Greetings fellow seekers of knowledge!
For starters, I apologize if I am posting in the wrong sub-forum, or if some of my questions that I ask have already been brought up. I have been perusing this forum for quite some time now and recently have taken the plunge and formally registered with this community in an attempt to avoid being accused of lurking any more. I have read with great interest some of the stories on this forum and I would have to say that so many of the struggles and tribulations that have been "penned" by the posters have been very appreciated, and I applaud your continuous efforts and I am motivated by your successes and especially by those of you whom have been able to obtain the validation of the degree that you have worked so hard for. Congratulations to you and thank you for sharing your knowledge to those of us who are still on the journey!
To introduce myself, I am 31 years old and have had a very interesting life thus far, I was raised as a MidWestern country boy, homeschooled at a very early age and earned my GED after leaving home when I was about 19 years old. From there I worked a few odd jobs before finding my way into the business world where I owned and operated a small insurance agency office, which was able to grow into three other agency offices with the help of my partners. I enjoyed this success at an early age but due to some serious soul searching I decided to walk a path less traveled after 5 years and decided to enlist into the Marine Corps when I was 25 years old. I felt that my calling in life was to be a bit more on the active side of life and I wanted to find the personal fulfillment in life, rather than settling for a "safe" career just because I happened to be proficient at it.
To avoid making this initial post longer than it needs to be, I will summarize by saying that after my deployment to Iraq with my unit I ended up spending 3 years working in federal law enforcement, and from there I proceeded to take a position with the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security where I have now been working for the past year and a half. I am very satisfied with what I am currently doing and altho my work certainly has it's challenges and stressful days, I feel much more fulfilled doing a career like this and cannot see myself doing anything else for the time being.
With all of that being said, I am seeking to advance myself within the academics area, I have taken some steps towards pursuing a college degree which I feel would make me to be a very positive candidate for any future positions I might seek out combined with my operations experience and work experience that I have gained within the military, my time in law enforcement as well as my time in this current position.
The steps that I HAVE taken are as follows:
-Enrolled at Excelsior University
-Enrolled in a Bachelors of Science in Military Studies program with EU, I feel that a bachelors in this area of study combined with my resume will allow me to stay competitive in this field for as long as I desire.
-Enrolled in StraightLiner
-Have completed approximately 25 credits, with most of these credits being transferred in from my military SMART transcripts and the remainder from a small private college that I attended in 2011.
As I type out the above "accomplishments I feel a bit underwhelmed at my progress, as it still leaves me with a LOT of credits left towards completing my degree program to be honest. But anyway, I would like to paint a complete picture for those of you are would be kind enough to guide me on my path and offer me advice towards completing my goal. With that being said, I feel like I should be frank and talk about some of my current weakness that might hinder my progress.
Weakness Areas:
-Weak mathematical skills
-Limited availability to textbooks (Currently assigned to the Baghdad area)
-Slow internet speed
-Typing skills
-Limited knowledge of the collegiate process (How some credits transfer, classes you can take for a degree, grading etc)
Strength Areas:
-Reading skills
-Determination
With all of that being said, I would love to hear from some of you who are vastly more experience than I in this pursuit. I know that the degree plan that I picked is a relatively new one, and I am not too sure of how it will be perceived as of yet but from all I can see it is basically a liberal arts degree with a concentration of military studies and history classes, and the fact that it is from a regionally accredited college is a majorly important factor of course.
I enrolled at the Straightliner website, but I am still waiting to hear back from them as to which classes would be accepted for actual college credit towards my degree. If anyone has anything to offer for advice towards this particular area I would love to hear from you.
Another option that I was considering would be to do a Prior Learning Assessment, I did the whole initial assessment with the Learning Counts website, and the results said I could earn well over 30 credits using PLA? I find that hard to believe but if I can get at least half of that is that a good option to pursue?
Another question I had was if there are any test-for-credit options using just the internet as I cannot get to a Pearson center?
I hope that all of this makes sense, and if anyone of you have anything to add or resources that you think I would be best served by using or really anything at all (Even some motivation!) I would very much appreciate hearing from you!
Thanks!
For starters, I apologize if I am posting in the wrong sub-forum, or if some of my questions that I ask have already been brought up. I have been perusing this forum for quite some time now and recently have taken the plunge and formally registered with this community in an attempt to avoid being accused of lurking any more. I have read with great interest some of the stories on this forum and I would have to say that so many of the struggles and tribulations that have been "penned" by the posters have been very appreciated, and I applaud your continuous efforts and I am motivated by your successes and especially by those of you whom have been able to obtain the validation of the degree that you have worked so hard for. Congratulations to you and thank you for sharing your knowledge to those of us who are still on the journey!
To introduce myself, I am 31 years old and have had a very interesting life thus far, I was raised as a MidWestern country boy, homeschooled at a very early age and earned my GED after leaving home when I was about 19 years old. From there I worked a few odd jobs before finding my way into the business world where I owned and operated a small insurance agency office, which was able to grow into three other agency offices with the help of my partners. I enjoyed this success at an early age but due to some serious soul searching I decided to walk a path less traveled after 5 years and decided to enlist into the Marine Corps when I was 25 years old. I felt that my calling in life was to be a bit more on the active side of life and I wanted to find the personal fulfillment in life, rather than settling for a "safe" career just because I happened to be proficient at it.
To avoid making this initial post longer than it needs to be, I will summarize by saying that after my deployment to Iraq with my unit I ended up spending 3 years working in federal law enforcement, and from there I proceeded to take a position with the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security where I have now been working for the past year and a half. I am very satisfied with what I am currently doing and altho my work certainly has it's challenges and stressful days, I feel much more fulfilled doing a career like this and cannot see myself doing anything else for the time being.
With all of that being said, I am seeking to advance myself within the academics area, I have taken some steps towards pursuing a college degree which I feel would make me to be a very positive candidate for any future positions I might seek out combined with my operations experience and work experience that I have gained within the military, my time in law enforcement as well as my time in this current position.
The steps that I HAVE taken are as follows:
-Enrolled at Excelsior University
-Enrolled in a Bachelors of Science in Military Studies program with EU, I feel that a bachelors in this area of study combined with my resume will allow me to stay competitive in this field for as long as I desire.
-Enrolled in StraightLiner
-Have completed approximately 25 credits, with most of these credits being transferred in from my military SMART transcripts and the remainder from a small private college that I attended in 2011.
As I type out the above "accomplishments I feel a bit underwhelmed at my progress, as it still leaves me with a LOT of credits left towards completing my degree program to be honest. But anyway, I would like to paint a complete picture for those of you are would be kind enough to guide me on my path and offer me advice towards completing my goal. With that being said, I feel like I should be frank and talk about some of my current weakness that might hinder my progress.
Weakness Areas:
-Weak mathematical skills
-Limited availability to textbooks (Currently assigned to the Baghdad area)
-Slow internet speed
-Typing skills
-Limited knowledge of the collegiate process (How some credits transfer, classes you can take for a degree, grading etc)
Strength Areas:
-Reading skills
-Determination
With all of that being said, I would love to hear from some of you who are vastly more experience than I in this pursuit. I know that the degree plan that I picked is a relatively new one, and I am not too sure of how it will be perceived as of yet but from all I can see it is basically a liberal arts degree with a concentration of military studies and history classes, and the fact that it is from a regionally accredited college is a majorly important factor of course.
I enrolled at the Straightliner website, but I am still waiting to hear back from them as to which classes would be accepted for actual college credit towards my degree. If anyone has anything to offer for advice towards this particular area I would love to hear from you.
Another option that I was considering would be to do a Prior Learning Assessment, I did the whole initial assessment with the Learning Counts website, and the results said I could earn well over 30 credits using PLA? I find that hard to believe but if I can get at least half of that is that a good option to pursue?
Another question I had was if there are any test-for-credit options using just the internet as I cannot get to a Pearson center?
I hope that all of this makes sense, and if anyone of you have anything to add or resources that you think I would be best served by using or really anything at all (Even some motivation!) I would very much appreciate hearing from you!
Thanks!
![[-]](https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/images/collapse.png)
although a lot of people are at TESC and have some great insight into gaining credit in a number of ways. Sounds like you are working as a civi CP I'm wondering if you still have access to a CLEP testing center during your R&R if you get any? Its certainly worth taking a few if you still have the Military ID and they pay for the tests. In some areas the exam is administer by pen and pencil and worth looking into if you still qualify. The marketability of Liberal arts degrees come up for debate. Check out the Naval Institute Proceedings article "Science does not always trump art" by commander Clay Harris on Excelsior's library system. Well worth the encouragement if you are doing liberal arts. You may also want to check out some of the proctoring requirements as you may be able to work through them even while you are "in country" Feel free to ask questions, there's a wealth of information inside some of these people on here, itching to escape.
