Difficulty or ease of Grad School options from TESU BA/BS experience?

[hoffdeb]

My daughter (18) has earned 51 (soon to be 54) college credits thus far. Her first goal is to complete her TESU BA or BS degree (right now it looks like Liberal Studies.) She is starting to see the possibilities now of the advanced degree! She has concerns. I hope I can gain some insight here for her. How difficult is it to go from the TESU four year degree to a Master's degree? What kind of requirements (generally) do schools require? Is the GRE needed? Please share your experiences! Thanks! Debbie

[KayV]

It really depends on the sort of graduate program that interests her. The GRE is needed for many grad schools but not all. What sort of graduate degree is she seeking?

[hoffdeb]

As of right now, it looks like she is leaning towards business. So, maybe an MBA? Not sure...we are in the very early stages of this path! Thanks!

[KayV]

She should check out WGU. A lot of people here have had/ are having a positive experience with them.

[rebel100]

She can absolutely get into an MBA program...or most other Masters programs form TESC. There are a lot of options to weigh however. I have a WGU MBA but I WOULD NOT recommend it to my 18 year old daughter. One important element of an MBA is the networking potential of the school, WGU almost completely lacks any legitimate networking and their idea of graduate placement is essentially workign through an online proprietary version of the book "What Color is Your Parachute". Its ridiculous.

There is a poster here on these boards who used a credit by exam style (I believe a TESC) degree to get into a top 50 MBA program. I know of another who managed to get into the International MBA at Duke. Note that most top schools will require some work/leadership experience...so there isn't necessarily a big hurry. A young person should pursue their advanced degree at the best school possible that won't leave them in debt. I like name brand schools, flagship State Universities, well known regional players, schools with big football teams. An advanced degree is a bit of a different beast.

She might also take a look at the MS Management or Finance from Harvard Extension.

[kalishakti]

Not to hijack this thread, but would a program such as WGU or Patten be best for a 20-something homemaker who would like a master's? I do not have the ability, need or desire to enter the full-time professional workforce in the foreseeable future, but would like to pursue remote work/freelance/contracting opportunities, some of which (especially in the writing and education fields) require or suggest a master's. I would also like the master's for personal reasons but do not have a large budget.

[kdubbub]

Not an MBA, but I was just accepted to a graduate program at NYU. I just finished a BS in Social Sciences at TESU. If you search the forums, there are other threads about people being accepted to B&M grad schools after TESU; you just have to complete your degree with the goal of grad school in mind and take the necessary steps. I took almost 60 credits of graded course work (the rest being tested out) including lots of Uexcels so that really helped with having a decent GPA. She should take the capstone and before selecting a professor, send an email to all of the professors instructing that term and ask if they would be willing to write her a grad rec if she excels in the class. And then develop a RELATIONSHIP with that professor. Ask loads of questions, call them during office hours, ask how you can make your capstone project better. If she plans right and rocks the GRE she should be fine

*Edit- I also put a lot of effort into my personal statement to try and explain how my unconventional degree helped prepare me for graduate work.

[davewill]

Work experience can mean a lot for grad school acceptance. It can make up for the lack of graded courses or even a low GPA. She may want to pay extra attention to internships, and consider working for a time before moving on to grad school.

[Synicaal]

As of right now, it looks like she is leaning towards business. So, maybe an MBA? Not sure...we are in the very early stages of this path! Thanks!

If she is leaning towards an MBA she should most certainly look at getting a business degree at TESU and not Liberal Studies. Also most of the schools I looked at for graduate school require the GRE or GMAT to get into.

[dfrecore]

Not to hijack this thread, but would a program such as WGU or Patten be best for a 20-something homemaker who would like a master's? I do not have the ability, need or desire to enter the full-time professional workforce in the foreseeable future, but would like to pursue remote work/freelance/contracting opportunities, some of which (especially in the writing and education fields) require or suggest a master's. I would also like the master's for personal reasons but do not have a large budget.

Yes, I think it would be a good plan for your circumstances for sure.