Quickest route to Bachelors with credit transfer

[Cbird90]

Greetings all. Been lurking around this forum for awhile now and have absorbed a lot of helpful advice. I have a verify specific question about my situation and would much appreciate any insight someone could share. Basically I started knocking out classes on Sophia and more recently study.com just a few months ago. My intent was to earn my BSBA in IT management from WGU with the purpose of using it to apply for an officer commission into the Navy. The issue I have run into with WGU is that they don't use the standard 4.0 grading scale that most colleges use. 

The program I am applying for through the navy requires me to be a full-time student and keep a certain GPA based on a 4.0 scale with at least 60 credits earned at the time of applying. Basically I need to transfer my credits to a school that will accept them and then get a GPA score by taking at least one class to get an actual GPA score that will show up on a official transcript that I can send my recruiter. 

Ive looked into TESU and Excelsior but am very confused about how they grade and score a GPA regarding transfer courses. It is my understanding that you must complete some classes with them to get an actual score. As far as degrees go I would prefer to stick with a business major or anything tech related utilizing the credits I have already earned. I would also be open to the quickest and most efficient route to earn any bachelors degree and get a GPA that I can get on a transcript quickly.  


Here are the classes I have completed so far from Sophia.
-English Comp 1
-Human biology
-College Algebra
-Introduction to Statistics
-Us History 1
-Microeconomics
-Principles of Finance
-Project Management
-Visual Communications
-Workplace Communications 
-Intro to Business
-Business Law
-Intro to Sociology 


Study.com courses
-Business 106: Human resource management

Thanks in advance for anyone who can give me some advice on what the best route will be from here.

[rachel83az]

If you need a GPA and you want a business degree, UMPI may be just what you're looking for! It's competency-based, similar to WGU, but most UMPI classes are based on papers/projects and not exams. You would still want to take Biology 101L @ Study.com, Environmental Science or Chemistry I from Sophia, and Spanish I from Sophia. At the very least.

There are degree plans for UMPI here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI

Or, instead of Biology 101L + another Sophia science, you could do Chemistry 111L at Study.com. From what I've heard, the Chemistry 111L course is kind of dense and is significantly more challenging than the Biology 101L course. So, I wouldn't recommend that one. But UMPI requires a "natural" science and a biological science, one of which must have a lab. And you do not want to take UMPI's science course.

Since you need 60+ credits on a transcript, a faster way to do this might be to go for the FREE Pierpont degree along the way. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pierpont_C%26TC Get the 1-credit ASU class for $25, that can be done in 1-2 days. That's enough to get the Pierpont degree. If you need more credits for a "proper" GPA, I would either do Pre-calculus (probably time-consuming) or SES-106. SES-106 might count as a lab science for UMPI. https://ea.asu.edu/courses/habitable-worlds-ses-106/ Both precalc and SES-106 have self-paced options. You might prefer one of the self-paced CIS courses, though.

[ss20ts]

Since you need 60+ credits on a transcript, a faster way to do this might be to go for the FREE Pierpont degree along the way. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pierpont_C%26TC Get the 1-credit ASU class for $25, that can be done in 1-2 days. That's enough to get the Pierpont degree. If you need more credits for a "proper" GPA, I would either do Pre-calculus (probably time-consuming) or SES-106. SES-106 might count as a lab science for UMPI. https://ea.asu.edu/courses/habitable-worlds-ses-106/ Both precalc and SES-106 have self-paced options. You might prefer one of the self-paced CIS courses, though.

SES-106 isn't in the transfer database yet. Is there a lab component for this course? I don't see anything about a lab in the description. AST111 specifically mentions that labs are 15% of the course. BIO100 doesn't have a lab. BIO130 does have a lab component. It's not in the transfer database yet. CHM114 has a lab and has transferred to UMPI filling the lab science. 

AST111 with AST113 transfers in for the lab science. People have transferred in a lot of bio and chem courses, too. ENG102 transfers in as ENG121 at UMPI. GLG101 and GLG103 transfer in as a lab science as well. Lots of math courses have also transferred in.

[rachel83az]

SES-106 is 4 credits, which means a lab science of some sort. I don't know what it looks like on the transcript, exactly. Same as AST-111 is listed as 4 credits, but it's transcripted as AST-111 (3) and AST-113 (1).

If you check out the course brief at https://ea.asu.edu/assets/courses/SES%20...0Brief.pdf, it says "This course includes a lab and
satisfies 4 credit hours toward the Natural Science - Quantitative (SQ) General Studies requirements at Arizona State University. It is strongly encouraged that you consult with your institution of choice to determine how these credits will be applied."

BIO-100 also has a lab. See https://ea.asu.edu/assets/courses/BIO%20...0World.pdf If UMPI didn't accept it as a lab science in the past, I don't know why that is.

[ss20ts]

SES-106 is 4 credits, which means a lab science of some sort. I don't know what it looks like on the transcript, exactly. Same as AST-111 is listed as 4 credits, but it's transcripted as AST-111 (3) and AST-113 (1).

If you check out the course brief at https://ea.asu.edu/assets/courses/SES%20...0Brief.pdf, it says "This course includes a lab and
satisfies 4 credit hours toward the Natural Science - Quantitative (SQ) General Studies requirements at Arizona State University. It is strongly encouraged that you consult with your institution of choice to determine how these credits will be applied."

BIO-100 also has a lab. See https://ea.asu.edu/assets/courses/BIO%20...0World.pdf If UMPI didn't accept it as a lab science in the past, I don't know why that is.

I was looking at where the points are distributed for these classes. The description doesn't mention a lab. BIO100 didn't count as a lab science in the transfer database. Although looking at it now, the LO's are all wrong. A & B are both math so this is weird. Someone must have made a mistake. Maybe they meant C & E. So weird! 

BIO 100
The Living World
BIO 1XX
Biology Elective
GLO3:LOA,B

[rachel83az]

That's weird! Whatever else BIO100 is, it's not a math class!

[Cbird90]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I will definitely look into the pierpont route. My only other question is regarding the GPA scoring through UMPI and TESU. Do they base your GPA off the courses you complete through them or do they take into account the courses you transfer over through Sophia and study.com?

[ss20ts]

UMPI's GPA only includes courses you've completed at UMPI. Nothing that transfers in will be included in your UMPI GPA.

[rachel83az]

There is institutional GPA and whole-transcript GPA.

UMPI and TESU (and most other schools) only calculate your GPA based on the classes you take from them. This is your institutional GPA.

I believe (though you might want to double-check) that the navy will calculate whole-transcript GPA. So, taking classes at ASU and transferring them to Pierpont should work for the immediate future.

FWIW, TESU could be cheaper for military than UMPI, but that'd only be if you don't need progressive GPA updates. Active military has a 24-credit residency requirement at TESU, but 18 of those can come from TECEPs. Unfortunately, TECEPs are pass/fail, just like Sophia classes. Also, being a full-time student at TESU, even at military rates, is just too expensive, IMO.

So, go for UMPI and take their classes. It should be pretty fast and cheap.

[LevelUP]

UMPI doesn't issue grades lower than a B, so the lowest GPA you can get there is 3.0. UMPI has business and non-stem programs. 

UMPI is generally the fastest and cheapest way to go out of all the colleges we recommend keeping in mind the slowest college is still often 4x faster than a butt-in-seat college. 

Most students at UMPI can easily get a 3.5 GPA, graduating with honors.

PUG has a IT degree and we recently had a student earn a perfect 4.0 GPA going there
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/PU...egree_Plan

From what I understand, PUG is mostly papers, and if you do get a low grade, you can make adjustments to turn in the assignment again, so there is a low risk of making mistakes.

TESU if you are doing a computer science degree, then there may be only 2 or 3 classes you are graded on. 

Earning a high GPA isn't hard. Its pretty basic stuff. I recommend all students at least earn a 3.0 GPA so they won't be discriminated against in the future
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...in-College