Degrees and certs at the same time, TESU

[sanantone]

I believe the residency requirements do not apply to certificates as long as you are a degree seeking student so it may be possible to graduate with a bachelors degree, an associates degree and a certificate at the same time. For non-degree seeking students there is a residency requirement for certificates. You would have to check with TESU. If you want to do the history degree as a second bachelors then you would need 24 new credits in history, some of which have to be specific classes, and a capstone course.

The business school just told me that the 50% residency requirement applies to everyone, including degree-seeking students. However, I think you may be able to fulfill it with TECEPs and PLAs.

[Ideas]

Would COSC allow 2 degrees at one time? Or a BSBA and GS with history concentration?

Yes, but not two majors that are from separate schools like business and non-business. You can finish one then get a second degree. They require new 30 cr after graduation, but only 15 in AoS. (TESU only needs 24 new cr.)

[icampy]

Thanks yall.

Maybe just focusing on a bsba fron TESU and then a concentration in history after that is the way to go.

[icampy]

Solution:find a NA school and do a history degree from there, or an associates from APU. No luck on finding a NA one yet, though.

[dfrecore]

Solution:find a NA school and do a history degree from there, or an associates from APU. No luck on finding a NA one yet, though.

Why an NA school? I guess if they were cheaper, but if not, then why bother?

The good part about using TESU for it is that the Residency Waiver is paid for for a year. So that might be a good option.

[SolarKat]

If I was going to get a cert, I would actually look for one that meant something outside of the school environment. Like in the CIS realm, a CISSP or something equally highly regarded. In the OpsMan realm, that would be the CPIM certification, or something that meant something to a hiring manager in that area. Both of those actually get you credit, as well. The CPIM gets you 12cr of UL at TESU. The CISSP gets you 16cr (12 UL, 4 LL) if you "launder" it through COSC (I've heard that's possible).

Also, if you get a cert first, that you want to bring into your degree, you actually get to put that on your resume well before you get your degree. So there's that to consider as well.

This is a really good point, and also brings up the difference between a professional certification and an academic "certificate". Personally, I would look to professional certs for career building. The academic certs really only have value in a couple of situations. For example, if you don't want to do a computer science degree *but* you're looking at a career where some CS background is expected, such as in data science. Being able to list the CS certificate on a resume shows background without a recruiter having to dig through your transcript for proof of CS coursework. Second, an academic certificate is useful along the way to a degree. Say you *are* doing a CS degree - if you focus on the certificate requirements early on, you can have it awarded while you finish the rest of the degree, giving your LinkedIn/Resume a boost well in advance of degree completion. Third, the academic certificate *might* be useful towards admission to a program, by demonstrating the ability to do work at that level, or within that area, that is otherwise not well-documented in your current portfolio.

Of course there's the 4th option, the "because I wanna" reason. Like, someday I'm going to wallow in history classes, and it might be nice to have a piece of paper for show & tell afterwards. But it's not really the end goal, just something that might be nice to have.

[bjcheung77]

Why an NA school? I guess if they were cheaper, but if not, then why bother?

The good part about using TESU for it is that the Residency Waiver is paid for for a year. So that might be a good option.

+1, I mean, there aren't many NA schools that offer anything cheaper than the Big 3. Your best bet is the AA at TESU on route to the BSBA. The AA parchment won't mention History, but the transcripts should indicate the concentration. In fact, The majority, if not all, schools do the same.. the parchment just indicates the degree, not many also show the concentration or major/minor. If you really want a second BA, go for it also at TESU to take advantage of only needing 24 credits to the new degree and no longer needing a second residency waiver. That's cheaper, faster, easier than a second degree from any NA school.

[Ideas]

If you really want a second BA, go for it also at TESU to take advantage of only needing 24 credits to the new degree and no longer needing a second residency waiver.

Wouldn't they need to complete both degrees in the 1 year? It seems tricky to time this right, because waiting for the first graduation takes over 2 months (after you have all the credits), and you can't be working on the second degree credits during that time. Then the capstone for the second degree takes 12 weeks, and some other factors about timing.

I've wondered about doing this myself, and the scheduling seems very tight, but I guess possible? I recently signed up for the Strategic Mgmt TECEP for May, but they already said I'm "enrolled". So I think I'd need the second degree credits done April 1st for June graduation... or is that too late? Would I have to graduate in March? If it's June, then working backwards, I could enroll in the January capstone for the second degree. (That's the only way I see it working, because I have no chance of completing all BSBA credits in ~5 weeks, meaning that the earliest I graduate is December.)

And I'd have to do the other degree credits during the same 3 months, which seems feasible for some degrees, particularly where someone has prior knowledge. I do have prior knowledge. The second degree I'd want is just a BA in English or Psych. (I like others more, but they would take too long.) BA Psych says that you do 39 credits in AoS, 3 of those are the capstone. So twelve 3 credit courses. I've seen the 24 new credits mentioned on their site, but you still have to meet all their AoS requirements I'm sure. I'm thinking the only way to do only 24 new credits is if you planned it, so 12 cr of electives from your first degree were in the second AoS. In my case, I currently only have 0 or 3 credits in Psych, and can't use more Psych credits in my BSBA So 36 credits while doing the capstone! (Actually, I guess I'm allowed to do about 6-9 credits while waiting for graduation.) I'm still interested, because I feel I could test out of most with 1-2 days studying and hopefully about 3-5 days studying for the hardest ones.

Am I missing something? Another potential problem I see is you need to request permission to do the second bachelors, and between graduation and enrolling in the capstone, there's not much time and there are many holidays.

For me, the lack of GPA in the Psych degree is a potential issue. I feel I'll want a Masters in that field someday. (I do already have a decent Psych GRE score, but some schools will still not like the blank GPA.) I'm also a considering Psych degree from COSC because I would only need about 21 Psych credits there, since they give GRE credit. (However I worried that grad schools could somehow tell I got lots of credit in this unusual way. At COSC, I'd manage to get some GPA, but most courses would still be ungraded.)

[swalke321]

If you do a second Bachelors at TESU you have to wait until you have officially graduated with the first bachelors before earning the new credits. If you plan on graduating in Dec 2017 then the earliest you could start earning the new credits for the second Bachelors would be Dec 2017 but the courses exams would have to be completed after the conferral date, TESU will give you the exact conferral date. You can start on courses or start studying for exams before that time but can't complete anything until after the conferral date. There is still not much known about the residency waiver fee. Some are saying it is effective for a year after paying it but no one knows for sure if that means it would apply to two degrees. So you would have less then a year to earn the new 24 credits. It could be doable. If you choose a degree that has more than 24 credits required in the AOS then you could start working on some credits before graduating. The capstone course is required for most degrees at TESU so if you did a BA degree then you would have to take it at TESU. It would give you a gpa but for only one course. I think some of the BA degrees have specific requirements that must be met so it might be more challenging to find alternatives for them.

[Ideas]

It would give you a gpa but for only one course. I think some of the BA degrees have specific requirements that must be met so it might be more challenging to find alternatives for them.

Oh yeah about GPA. That helps a little.

Yeah I would be doing an easier-for-me BA.

The rest of what you said... yeah that's my understanding too, except I think I'd need to complete the 24+ AoS credits and capstone in three months. Seems fine because of prior knowledge.

Now that I think about it, if COSC is only saving me 5 courses (15 credits) then it's clearly more expensive. If I have to pay a residency waiver to COSC and not pay another to TESU. The courses/exams are mostly about $100 each. Needing UL could cause more expense or scheduling issues.

The biggest problem I see is whether I need to graduate the second time in March. Probably not. And the money for those exams