Help planning BA Psych with MSW program in future

[Cinch]

Hello everyone,

I'm a 32 year old high school dropout who recently decided to go back to school to become a therapist. To that end I have completed my GED and, after a decent amount of scouring the internet and this forum in particular for information, I am currently weighing my options between UMPI and TESU for a BA in Psychology.

Which means that, of course, I have been looking into transferring credits from Sophia and Study.com. I also may have some credits to transfer from AP Exams I took during high school.

My main concern is that transferring these credits may make it more difficult for me to eventually get into a graduate program for a MSW, which is what I ultimately want. I haven't been able to find anything conclusive on whether graduate programs will readily accept credits transferred via Sophia and the like on my undergraduate transcripts.

Is this concern valid? And if so, what should I do? Perhaps it would be wiser to transfer only a certain amount of credits, or maybe just electives? Or should I not use credits from Sophia, Study.com, etc. at all and take all my courses at whichever university I choose?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Your Location: Currently living in Turkey, eventually plan on moving back to U.S.
Your Age: 32
What kind of degree do you want?: BA Psychology, either at UMPI or TESU, then MSW (have only cursorily looked at universities for this).
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None.
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: None as of yet. Still in the planning stage.
Budget: Don't know if it's feasible but <$30k including both BA and MSW would be fantastic.
Timeline: Would love to finish my BA in <2 years. MSW will take 2-3 years regardless and I'm okay with that.
Commitments: Part-time WFH job, my husband and our dog.
Dedicated Time to Study: Around 20 hours a week. If I need to ramp things up I could do 25-30 hours a week some weeks.
TA/Employer Reimbursement: None. Thought about applying for FAFSA but I don't know if I'm eligible seeing as I've been outside the U.S. for 15 years.
Any certifications or military experience?: None.

Just want to also mention that this forum is absolutely amazing. I couldn't have done a quarter of the planning I have already if it wasn't for the vast amount of help and guidance that has been archived in these hallowed forum halls. Thank you all so much.

[bjcheung77]

@Cinch, Welcome to the board, great intro post to get the ball rolling with the addendum and template! There are degree plans on the WIKI, my suggestion is to create a spreadsheet comparing both degrees side by side with their requirements and classes transferrable to each. You can then take the Sophia.org and Study.com classes that go towards both as you will need 30 RA credits for either of them... TESU requires 15 residency credits if you want to skip their residency waiver fee, UMPI requires 30 residency credits and can potentially be cheaper, easier, faster than TESU.

[Cinch]

@Cinch, Welcome to the board, great intro post to get the ball rolling with the addendum and template!  There are degree plans on the WIKI, my suggestion is to create a spreadsheet comparing both degrees side by side with their requirements and classes transferrable to each.  You can then take the Sophia.org and Study.com classes that go towards both as you will need 30 RA credits for either of them... TESU requires 15 residency credits if you want to skip their residency waiver fee, UMPI requires 30 residency credits and can potentially be cheaper, easier, faster than TESU.

Thank you for the response!

Is there a disadvantage to say, getting just the minimum 30 RA credits from UMPI and the rest from Sophia/Study.com? Would using 90 of these outside credits potentially hinder my chance of getting accepted into a graduate program?

[davewill]

It depends on the program. In general, if you're flexible about where you get your master's, then using alt credit is not an impediment. If you want to get into a specific program, then you should absolutely check with admissions at the school to see if they will have any issues with alt credit used in the area of study.

I'd expect that if you get all or most of the area of study as graded RA credits, then most schools would not have an issue.

[bjcheung77]

For TESU, UMPI, and the majority of the ones we recommend, you can max transfer credit for the general education and electives, the 'major' is where you want to take the bulk of your classes at the institution you intend to graduate with, at least 30 credits. For most institutions, that should be sufficient, you really want to check a few of your future institutions to decide and see what is required as prerequisites, I would take those prerequisites at a college/university and for any thing else, you can transfer them...

[Cinch]

Very grateful for your responses.

As suggested, I will look into a few institutions I would be interested in getting into in the future, and determine where I take my 'major' classes according to that. But I will go ahead and maximize the amount of general education and electives credits I can transfer, as my fears in that department have been assuaged.

[bjcheung77]

its a pleasure to be here at on this forum.

That's great, you may want to review my previous post directed to you: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid420524

[louise]

My main concern is that transferring these credits may make it more difficult for me to eventually get into a graduate program for a MSW, which is what I ultimately want. I haven't been able to find anything conclusive on whether graduate programs will readily accept credits transferred via Sophia and the like on my undergraduate transcripts.

In general, MSW programs are not that competitive. They have pretty low admissions standards and there are so many programs that it's unlikely you won't be able to find one to admit you. There are a few schools that are the exception to this so if you're planning on applying to the top schools then it might make a difference. Spending a lot of money on an MSW is ill advised, though, and no one really cares about program prestige in this field unless you plan on going the PhD route later.

My advice, as an LCSW, is to get your undergrad and grad degrees as cheaply as possible. Many think they can rely on PSLF for loan forgiveness but trying to financially stay afloat for 10 years working in low paying nonprofits is incredibly difficult.

[Cinch]

My advice, as an LCSW, is to get your undergrad and grad degrees as cheaply as possible.

That's the plan!

Thank you so much for the advice. I'm a lot more confident about being able to apply to a graduate program afterward. Don't have any plans on going the PhD route.

[bjcheung77]

For your reference, Degree Plans/WIKI links for TESU and UMPI:
UMPI: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI
TESU: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:TESU