UMPI Bachelors of Business Administration - Supply Chain Management - My Story

[joshua27]

I just submitted the draft for my final assessment in my final class at UMPI, BUS 469 - Strategic Professional Communication.  While I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, I can't help but sit here and reflect on my degree journey.  For those of you that don't know, I attended college over 20 years ago but did not finish.  I completed 3 semesters at Virginia Tech and decided to take a break.  I never went back and have worked in jobs of varying and increasing responsibility for a fortune 300 company ever since then.  I recently reached a 'glass ceiling' point where if I wanted to move up any higher I HAD to get a bachelor's degree.  My 20 years of experience have taken me very far but there are certain standards at certain levels that must be adhered to.  

I applied at WGU in late November or early December of 2022 and my admissions counselor recommended that I take a few courses on Sophia while I waited to start classes.  My intentions were to start in January at WGU and begin my journey.  I had never heard of Sophia and had no idea that "alt" credits were a thing that was possible to utilize to achieve a college education.  My google search for more information on Sophia eventually lead me to this forum which opened a whole new world of possibilities for me to finish my degree much faster and at a greatly reduced cost.  I kept coming back to UMPI for several reasons, most notably their $1,400 per session cost (I'm self funded) and settled on designing a degree plan to maximize time and efficiency for my degree completion at UMPI.  I wish I had known about alt credits years ago as I would have done this much much sooner.

I began courses at Sophia on December 16, 2022 with intentions of finishing all required courses in 1 month.  I completed 16 courses in 1 month and then began courses at SDC.  I completed 6 total courses at SDC in just a little over 1 month (I had to utilize a 2nd month of service to take my 6th exam but they did refund me $70 for the unused exam for that month).  There was some downtime between my SDC courses ending and my UMPI start date so I completed two certifications at Coursera for Data Analytics.  I also had to go back to Sophia and take Nurtrition to complete a GEC requirement which was an oversight on my part.  

On March 13th I began my first term at UMPI.  I thought that it would take me two sessions total to complete 10 classes but I was able to complete 10 in about 6 weeks.  Having a significant amount of experience in business and the luxury of working from home was definitely a big factor in my ability to do this.  I wouldn't recommend it for most people as I have done nothing but work and go to school since December 16th with very little time spent doing anything else.  My wife misses me, my kids miss me, my dog misses me, but thankfully I'm done!

All told I completed 17 classes at Sophia, 6 classes at SDC, 2 certifications at Coursera and also had 24 hours of RA credit from Viringia Tech that was applicable to my chosen degree.  Obviously I won't and can't use all of that credit for my degree but with a little bit of luck once the grades are posted I will be an official 2023 graduate of UMPI with a Bachelors in Business Administration with a concentration in Supply Chain Management and a minor in Management Information Systems!!

I do appreciate all the help from all the members of the forum and am incredibly appreciative of the wealth of knowledge stored in this forum that is available for everyone to utilize on their degree journey.  It has truly been a game changer for me.

[ss20ts]

Congratulations! What did you think of the supply chain management courses? I don't think we've had someone complete this program yet. It is one of the newer programs. It was released with the marketing one a couple of years ago.

[joshua27]

Congratulations! What did you think of the supply chain management courses? I don't think we've had someone complete this program yet. It is one of the newer programs. It was released with the marketing one a couple of years ago.

Overall I though the SCM courses were excellent. I particularly enjoyed Professor Michaud and Professor Good’s classes.  Most of the courses I took at UMPI were for my concentration as there are really no alternative courses available.  I would say that this could be quite challenging for someone without experience but luckily enough for me I work in procurement so the degree is in exactly my line of work.

It’s very “doable” as a major and prepares you for an assortment of positions. SCM is in demand and one of the better paying business admin degrees. In hindsight I do sort of wish I had done accounting or something I’m less familiar with for the learning experience but I can always go back and get another bachelors lol.

I made a spreadsheet for all the courses I needed. I should modify it for someone without any prior credits to show how to ‘start from scratch’ on a SCM degree.

[bjcheung77]

@joshua27, great job, congrats on getting this done! You put in the effort to get the remaining credits completed and that's what really matters! Yes, please create a spreadsheet and/or pdf document illustrating your path, even though there is a WIKI for that particular degree path, it's best to have options to compare. Thank you for sharing your journey!

[rachel83az]

Congratulations! Even counting your prior credits, you've come a long way in a relatively short time.

Are you thinking about a Master's eventually, or are you done?

[joshua27]

Congratulations! Even counting your prior credits, you've come a long way in a relatively short time.

Are you thinking about a Master's eventually, or are you done?

MBA next for sure.  I need to take a short breather for the summer for several reasons:  

Number 1, I'm brain tired.  I basically crammed 3 years of a degree into 4(ish) months.  
Numbers 2, I'm moving from TN to GA in about a month and I don't want to deal with a move across state lines while also trying to study (also one of the reasons I crammed so hard).  
Number 3, I really just need to take a break for a couple months lol.

My plan is to get started in the fall on a MBA.  I'm currently looking at Georgia Southwestern, LSU Shreveport, Arkansas State, Henderson State and Southeastern Oklahoma State.  There is tons of feedback on LSUS but not much on the other schools that I've been able to find but they all have great pricing, AACSB accreditation and can be done within a year.

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@joshua27, great job, congrats on getting this done!  You put in the effort to get the remaining credits completed and that's what really matters!  Yes, please create a spreadsheet and/or pdf document illustrating your path, even though there is a WIKI for that particular degree path, it's best to have options to compare.  Thank you for sharing your journey!

Thank you sir.  You actually were the one that convinced me to give UMPI a try.  I had originally decided upon TESU but a reply by you to one of my posts told me that I should do SCM at UMPI since I already had a background in it.   You were right, I was able to complete it much faster than I think I would have anything else.

[mohelena02]

So happy for you!! Thank you for sharing your journey, like you I wish I had known about Sophia way back, it was life changing for me. Will you be going for a Masters?

[joshua27]

So happy for you!! Thank you for sharing your journey, like you I wish I had known about Sophia way back, it was life changing for me. Will you be going for a Masters?

Yes, I'm looking to do a MBA somewhere.  Likely a brick and mortar school of some sort but I'm undecided at the moment.

[origamishuttle]

Obviously I won't and can't use all of that credit for my degree but with a little bit of luck once the grades are posted I will be an official 2023 graduate of UMPI with a Bachelors in Business Administration with a concentration in Supply Chain Management and a minor in Management Information Systems!!

Congratulations! Your progress at UMPI is rather impressive, especially with the new final lockout rule that is slowing everyone down.

I made a spreadsheet for all the courses I needed. I should modify it for someone without any prior credits to show how to ‘start from scratch’ on a SCM degree.

This would be very helpful.

[joshua27]

Obviously I won't and can't use all of that credit for my degree but with a little bit of luck once the grades are posted I will be an official 2023 graduate of UMPI with a Bachelors in Business Administration with a concentration in Supply Chain Management and a minor in Management Information Systems!!

Congratulations! Your progress at UMPI is rather impressive, especially with the new final lockout rule that is slowing everyone down.

I made a spreadsheet for all the courses I needed. I should modify it for someone without any prior credits to show how to ‘start from scratch’ on a SCM degree.

This would be very helpful.

What is the final lockout rule?  I know all my finals were locked out for submission until my milestones were affirmed but I thought that was pretty standard.  I didn't have any issues getting my milestones affirmed in a timely manner with the exception of one professor.