Long Time Lurker, Looking For Second Opinions

[mog538]

Hi everyone,

First off, thank you for a great resource and all the great threads that have already helped point me in the direction of various things I would not have been aware of before.

The reason I am posting now is that I had put off registering for a specific program as my situations kept changing. Now I have had an evaluation of my existing study done by ECE and when I applied to Patten I realised I had more credits than expected.

Here is what I have so far:

Courses Evaluated From ECE:

English (6 credits)
Biology (6)
Mathematics (6)
Physics (6)
Systems Analysis & Design I (5)
Software Development IA (5)
Software Development IB (5)
Computer Technology I (5)
Economic Issues (5)
Quantitative Methods I (5)
Software Development II (5)
Computer Technology II (5)
Computer Networking Graded Unit I (2)

Courses Taken Through Straighterline:
(That I have completed or will do very soon)

Introduction To Nutrition (3)
Introduction To Business (3)
Introduction To Religion (3)
Financial Accounting (3)
Introduction To Philosophy (3)
American Government (3)
Microeconomics (3)
Student Success (3)
Introduction To Communication (3)

So by my reckoning I have 93 credits so far (although mainly, if not exclusively, lower level) and wondering what the best way to utilise them is.

As I mentioned previously I am registered at Patten for their AA in Business to gain a qualification quickly. But as they require 15 'residential' credits I am sure there must be a way to use most, if not all of my credits to gain more transfer credit somewhere. I am open to any suggestions just to get something quickly. I do have one eye on possibly doing an MBA in the future so a business degree might be the most applicable.

Sorry for the longish post but hopefully the collective of degreeforum can point me in the direction of something I may not have considered.

Thanks.

[sanantone]

You could be close to a Bachelor of Science in Business (Management Information Systems) at Excelsior or a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration - Computer Information Systems at TESC. At TESC, you can graduate with an AA in General Studies or Associate of Science in Business Administration without worrying about residency requirements or a capstone course.

[mog538]

Sanantone,

Thank you so much for such a quick reply. I have seen your name on a lot of posts so appreciate the knowledge you have regarding online colleges.

I will explore the AA options at TESC first, do you think I would be able to transfer enough credits to not need any courses for either of those qualifications?

[clep3705]

You mentioned that you need 15 residential hours at Patten. If those would all be upper level credits, okay. But if they are additional lower level credits (this is an A.A. degree after all), it doesn't seem like time and money well spent. It's time for you to get upper level credits that will count towards completion of a bachelor's degree.

[mog538]

Clep3705, thank you for your advice. Initially I hadn't expected to have as many credits transfer, so I hadn't thought of/worried about wasting time with lower level over upper level.

Now that I added up all the credit I have, I thought there had to be a way to get an AA from the credits I have and then think about the upper level credits.

Sanantone, I just looked at transferring all my credits to TESC and it looks like there would be a $3500 fee for annual enrolment, etc. is that correct? I hope there is a "better"/cheaper way, if not I may just have to bite the bullet on that to get the piece of paper!

[KayV]

You would just need two more classes from Straighterline to finish an AA in General Studies from TESC, which does not require a Capstone. If you were to take those two as TECEPs along with choosing 2 more TECEPs, you could use the Pay Per Credit plan and avoid the enrollment fee. If you would prefer to keep using Straighterline to finish, I'm pretty sure I saw a free copy of the Business Ethics book somewhere on this forum.

If you would like to know more about bachelor's degree options, it would help to know the course origin (community college or not), prefixes and numbers for your ECE classes. Also, are those classes 5 quarter hours or 5 semester hours each?

TESC AA General Studies
1. English (6 credits)
2. Mathematics (6)
3. Computer Technology I (5)
4. Introduction To Philosophy (3)
5. American Government (3)
6. Introduction To Nutrition (3)
7. Biology (6)
8. Microeconomics (3)
9. Introduction To Religion (3)
10. Need TECEP Environmental Ethics or SL Business Ethics (3)
11. Need TECEP Marriage and the Family or SL Anthropology or Sociology (3)
12. Physics (6)
13. Economic Issues (5) (ECO-299)
14. Quantitative Methods I (5) (MAT-119)
15. Introduction To Communication (3)

[mog538]

KayV, thank you so much for laying that out for me. My classes (besides straighterline) are all from the UK so they were evaluated by ECE. On my copy of the evaluations the have it listed as US Credits. I do not know what they describe that as (I do not have the letter to hand).

The English, Maths, Physics and Biology courses were taken in 6th year of high school (but apparently transfer over as lower level college/university credit. The other courses were all taken at a Scottish University. As for prefixes etc. I would need to look into my paperwork back home tomorrow.

[KayV]

That makes a lot of sense; usually US college courses listed as 5 credits mean 5 quarter hours, but from the UK 5 semester hours is perfectly understandable. Since they were from a university, they may count as upper level if TESC lists them as such. Do you prefer to take as many Straighterline classes as possible instead of trying to do TECEPs? At least the exchange rate would work in your favor.

[mog538]

I think I would probably just stick with Straighterline as I am into a groove with their system and can get through their material relatively quickly! The other thing I have just though of is that it was 15 years since I studied a lot of those credits, hopefully there isn't an issue with that!?

[KayV]

If you can prove current knowledge, I think you'll be all right. Here's a go at a BSBA in CIS for you.

TESC BSBA CIS
I. General Education Requirements (60)
1. English (6 credits)
2. Quantitative Methods I (5) (MAT-119)
3. Introduction To Communication (3)
4. Need SL COM-300 Business Communication (3)
5. Need SL Macroeconomics (3)
6. Microeconomics (3)
7. Need SL Statistics (3)
8. Introduction To Philosophy (3)
9. American Government (3)
10. Introduction To Nutrition (3)
11. Introduction To Religion (3)
12. Need SL Business Ethics (3)
13. Need SL Anthropology or Sociology (3)
14. Physics (6)
15. Mathematics (6)
16. Biology (6)

II. Area of Study: BSBA CIS
A. Business Core 27
1. SL Business Law LAW-201 3
2. Computer Technology I (5)
3. SL Financial Accounting (3)
4. SL Managerial Accounting (3)
5. Saylor/DSST Principles of Finance (3)
6. Saylor/DSST Intro to Marketing (3)
7. TECEP Business in Society/ DSST Business Ethics and Society/ PF Intl Mgmt (3)
8. TECEP/ PF Strategic Management (3)
9. SL Principles of Management (3)
B. Computer Information Systems 18
1. SL Intro to Programming in C++ (3)
2. Systems Analysis & Design I (5)
3. Software Development IA (5) (CIS-351)
4. Software Development IB (5) (CIS-352)
C. Business Electives 9
1. Software Development II (5) (CIS-399)
2. Computer Technology II (5) (CMP-299)
D. Free Electives 6
1. Computer Networking Graded Unit I (2) (CMP-354)
2. Introduction To Business (3)
3. Student Success (3)
4. Economic Issues (5) (ECO-299)