Is it possible to get a BA in Philosophy from one of the Big Three Fast?

[NoahJ]

By way of background, I am 23. I have a strong background in computer science and software development. I've also read as widely as I can in philosophy during my free time. I am now looking to knock out a BA as fast as possible in order to open to the door for graduate education in philosophy or religion.

I started earning general education credit about 45 days ago. So far I have earned 21 credits through CLEP and TECEP exams. I plan to continue at this rate —*and hope to finish the degree from one of the Big Three in time to start graduate school in the Fall semester of 2018.

Here's my question: I'd like to get my degree in philosophy. I have a fairly strong background in philosophy from my independent reading and study. However, I'm having an extraordinarily hard time finding ways to turn that knowledge into college credit quickly and inexpensively.

TESU does offer a degree in philosophy but they only offer 4-5 philosophy courses: http://www.tesu.edu/heavin/ba/Philosophy.cfm

Additionally, Straighterline offers one course, introduction to philosophy. Other than that, I can find *nothing.*

Does anyone else have any tips here?

Thanks much.

[PhiloScientia]

Hey NoahJ, I'm also trying to earn a BA Philosophy from TESU.  There aren't many of us on this forum so searching around didn't yield much results (or they're out of date and the online sources are gone).  I cannot tell you that my plan has worked since I'm trying to do it now but here's what I was thinking of doing (I'll defer to the senior members of this forum who have more experience):

AOS 33 Credits:

9 Required:
Intro to Philosophy  - Intro to Phil (StraighterLine)
Logic - Intro to Logic - (??????? local community college?)
103 Ethics - (Saylor Phil 103 or Sophia Intro to Ethics)

6 Lower Level:
Philosophy of Religion (local community college)
History of Ancient Philosophy (local community college)

18 Upper:
310 BioEthics - UExcel
304 Existentialism - Saylor
405 Intro to World Religions - DSST
3301 Philosophy of Plato - Univ New Orleans (UNO) delivered via iTunes ($881)
3333 Philosophy of Kant - Univ New Orleans (UNO) delivered via iTunes ($881)
495 Capstone - TESU

This isn't cheap but that's because online Philosophy RA accredited courses are hard to find. I know I included local community college in there, and that's to keep the costs low. And you can always take the other online courses concurrently since you're already well read in philosophy.

As for U Texas Austin, they have 2 self-paced classes for $850 each:

PHIL 301 Intro to Philosophy
PHIL 312 Intro to Logic

The thing is those courses are listed as 300-level which is strange since I've never seen an UL class that's "Intro" to anything.  If they really are UL classes then that knocks out BOTH the core course requirement AND the UL requirement at the same time? I don't know, so I didn't include as satisfying the requirement in the plan above.

As for UNO, they have a LOT of online Upper Level classes delivered via iTunes if you don't mind paying the $881 per class.  You may be thinking that if you pay that much then why not just take the TESU courses. Yes, that's true, it just depends on the subject matter you prefer is all.  For example, I chose the Philosophy of Plato class from UNO because it already overlaps with the History of Ancient Philosophy from the lower level class.

Hope this helps and if there's anybody on the forum who can help us, please let us know. If you've already accomplished your goal, let me know how you did it. Thanks.

[allvia]

Saylor's 304 Existentialism is not a credit granting course.

[High_Order1]

Have you gone through the PLA database to see what PHIL courses you can challenge?

[PhiloScientia]

Saylor's 304 Existentialism is not a credit granting course.

Thanks for letting me know. I'll scratch that one off my list.

---

Have you gone through the PLA database to see what PHIL courses you can challenge?

Thanks High_Order1.  I'm so new to this I didn't even know what PLA means (I just looked it up and now I know).  I also didn't know there was a PLA database on the forum so I will look into it. Thanks!

[Ideas]

The PLA database is on TESU's site.

[PhiloScientia]

The PLA database is on TESU's site.

Thank you! Like I said I'm very new to this and am just learning all the acronyms you guys use on this forum. OK, for other newbs, here's the link to TESU's PLA assessment:  https://www2.tesu.edu/plasearch.php

Unfortunately, there is NO philosophy.

[cookderosa]

Not only do you need 33 credits in philosophy, you need them not to duplicate - and you need 18 of them to be upper level. Those are likely only going to be found within programs that offer a major in philosophy or an extension school like Berkley or Harvard.

As a mom, when I read your post, I cried just a little.

Still, I looked at Harvard for you. They offer 9 graduate level philosophy courses that are open enrollment. TESU will count graduate credit as upper level undergrad. 5 of them are on campus only- so that leaves a grand total of 4 (4 cr each). At a cost of around 10 grand you won't even fill your major.

My advice- liberal arts undergrad and then study what you want in grad school.


https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academ...us-courses

PS I forgot to add, it won't be fast or cheap. But it will be in philosophy.

[Johmford]

How would Ethics in America DSST fit in to the plan? It was a fairly easy test.

[DavidHume]

Hey NoahJ, I'm also trying to earn a BA Philosophy from TESU.  There aren't many of us on this forum so searching around didn't yield much results (or they're out of date and the online sources are gone).  I cannot tell you that my plan has worked since I'm trying to do it now but here's what I was thinking of doing (I'll defer to the senior members of this forum who have more experience):

AOS 33 Credits:

9 Required:
Intro to Philosophy  - Intro to Phil (StraighterLine)
Logic - Intro to Logic - (??????? local community college?)
103 Ethics - (Saylor Phil 103 or Sophia Intro to Ethics)

6 Lower Level:
Philosophy of Religion (local community college)
History of Ancient Philosophy (local community college)

18 Upper:
310 BioEthics - UExcel
304 Existentialism - Saylor
405 Intro to World Religions - DSST
3301 Philosophy of Plato - Univ New Orleans (UNO) delivered via iTunes ($881)
3333 Philosophy of Kant - Univ New Orleans (UNO) delivered via iTunes ($881)
495 Capstone - TESU

This isn't cheap but that's because online Philosophy RA accredited courses are hard to find. I know I included local community college in there, and that's to keep the costs low. And you can always take the other online courses concurrently since you're already well read in philosophy.

As for U Texas Austin, they have 2 self-paced classes for $850 each:

PHIL 301 Intro to Philosophy
PHIL 312 Intro to Logic

The thing is those courses are listed as 300-level which is strange since I've never seen an UL class that's "Intro" to anything.  If they really are UL classes then that knocks out BOTH the core course requirement AND the UL requirement at the same time? I don't know, so I didn't include as satisfying the requirement in the plan above.

As for UNO, they have a LOT of online Upper Level classes delivered via iTunes if you don't mind paying the $881 per class.  You may be thinking that if you pay that much then why not just take the TESU courses. Yes, that's true, it just depends on the subject matter you prefer is all.  For example, I chose the Philosophy of Plato class from UNO because it already overlaps with the History of Ancient Philosophy from the lower level class.

Hope this helps and if there's anybody on the forum who can help us, please let us know. If you've already accomplished your goal, let me know how you did it. Thanks.

UT uses a different numbering system for courses: the 3 at the beginning indicates it is 3 credits. To determine upper or lower level, they use the last 2 digits. 00-19 are lower level, 20-79 upper, and 80-99 are grad courses. So both those are lower level.

If you really want a BA in philosophy, you could take as many philosophy courses as you can cheaply find to fit into the BALS and then go for the postbac program at UNO. They have quite a few scholarships specifically for that program. There aren't a lot of grad programs in philosophy you can get into without a good chunk of upper level philosophy courses. If you don't want to do the postbac, you could try for a MA in liberal studies somewhere that offers philosophy courses. I've looked at open admissions programs in Europe, but even those require completion of roughly 6 upper level courses as prerequisites before actually getting into the required coursework.