Decision time: BABA/Leadership vs BLS/Management

[Kjnova]

It is the 2d requirement. I do see Visual Communications listed there on the link above, though it does not specify which UMPI course it maps to. Is it ART 108?

My credit assessment says I need 2d and defines it as either ENG 211 or ART 108.

I'll add it, thanks!

[LevelUP]

It is the 2d requirement. I do see Visual Communications listed there on the link above, though it does not specify which UMPI course it maps to. Is it ART 108?

My credit assessment says I need 2d and defines it as either ENG 211 or ART 108.

I'll add it, thanks!

Visual Communications has been confirmed by recent students to meet the 2D requirement.  It comes in as GEL 1XX.

[Kjnova]

Thanks, Visual Communications is in the books.

I will send a fresh Credly transcript to UMPI as soon as they grade the touchstones on Business Law 1 and Business Ethics.

Assuming everything counts the way I expect, this is my current standing.

I transferred in 101 credits from NCSU. This filled GEP requirements except for three. I did not transfer in any business credits initially.

For BLS/Minor, I transferred in plenty of electives, so my requirements were the three GEPs, plus the six Management minor requirements, for 9 total requirements. Residency is 30 hours, so I would also have needed any one elective for that.

For BABA/Leadership, I needed the three GEPs, plus the 20 major and concentration classes, for a total of 23 classes.

On Sophia starting Thursday June 20, I have completed:
GEP: Visual Communications
GEP: US History 1
GEP: Introduction to Ethics
BLS Minor: Business Communication
BABA: Introduction to Business
BABA: Macro and Micro Economics
BABA: Financial Accounting
BABA: Conflict Resolution
BABA: Business Ethics*
BABA: Business Law 1*
* These are complete but have touchpoints awaiting grading

Note that Business Communication does not count as a BABA requirement, even though it might look like it should. That is strictly for the BLS/Management option and has no bearing on BABA.

So, my belief is that the three GEP classes are accounted for under either degree plan. If my assumptions are correct:

Under the BLS plan (which I am considering as the faster path to box-checking), I have five remaining Management minor classes to take, and would need any five electives for residency. Under the BABA plan (which I perceive as having more longterm value in my specific case), I should have only the other 14 major and concentration classes.

I went to Study.com yesterday to find the first month for $75 price. Since I had a Study.com account from about 7-8 years ago, I didn't see that offer. I just saw an offer to reactivate my account for whatever the standard price is ($200+ per month). I emailed to ask about the introductory offer and whether I am eligible for it. I'd pay the $200+, though, if that offer isn't available. Any tips, codes or direct links to the offer price would be appreciated. Meantime, I am waiting for their reply about the pricing.

Study.com offers nearly all of the concentration classes, five in total. I will do as many as I can, though I doubt it will flow as well as Sophia since their courses require scheduling a proctored exam, and the UMPI term begins next Monday July 1.

I mentioned seeking portfolio review earlier in the thread, and I created a separate thread to ask about this process. I have not found anyone yet who attempted this via UMPI, but the consensus is that it's not worth the time and cost, and odds of success are not great, so I may not put time toward this possibility. Though, I am tempted to try so at least one of us has tried.

[Kjnova]

I found a way to get the $75 first month offer at Study.com (using my UMPI email - I have no prior SDC completions, so no concerns about dividing credits between accounts) and signed up using bjcheung's code, thanks! I am enrolled in SDC Business 304, which should fill the requirement for UMPI BUS 260. Will see how it goes on Study.com, though I do not expect to match my pace on Sophia.

Also, Jessica confirmed that Sophia Visual Communications meets the 2D requirement. For next week at UMPI, I am now signed up for MAT 140 and BUS 200 (in place of ENG 211).

The classes I still need are: BUS 200, BUS 220, BUS 244, BUS 325, BUS 440, BUS 460, BUS 469, MAT 140, BUS 321*, BUS 335*, BUS 415*, BUS 489, BUS 260*, BUS 330*.
* means there is a Study.com equivalent available.

I have not done any Study.com classes yet, but I am going to try to do BUS 260 and BUS 330 via Study.com and see how that goes. If it goes surprisingly quickly, I might be able to also do BUS 335 and/or BUS 415 via SDC. But I suspect it won't go that quickly, due to the proctored exams.

Thanks to everyone for info, suggestions and advice.

[LevelUP]

I found a way to get the $75 first month offer at Study.com (using my UMPI email - I have no prior SDC completions, so no concerns about dividing credits between accounts) and signed up using bjcheung's code, thanks! I am enrolled in SDC Business 304, which should fill the requirement for UMPI BUS 260. Will see how it goes on Study.com, though I do not expect to match my pace on Sophia.

Also, Jessica confirmed that Sophia Visual Communications meets the 2D requirement. For next week at UMPI, I am now signed up for MAT 140 and BUS 200 (in place of ENG 211).

The classes I still need are: BUS 200, BUS 220, BUS 244, BUS 325, BUS 440, BUS 460, BUS 469, MAT 140, BUS 321*, BUS 335*, BUS 415*, BUS 489, BUS 260*, BUS 330*.
* means there is a Study.com equivalent available.

I have not done any Study.com classes yet, but I am going to try to do BUS 260 and BUS 330 via Study.com and see how that goes. If it goes surprisingly quickly, I might be able to also do BUS 335 and/or BUS 415 via SDC. But I suspect it won't go that quickly, due to the proctored exams.

Thanks to everyone for info, suggestions and advice.

With Study.com, the key is getting near 100% on the quizzes. Then, you only need a 55% score on the final exam to pass. Your grade on the final exam will likely be within 10% of what you scored on the practice exam. You get three tries to pass each quiz, and most of the time, they give you the answer when you get it wrong.

For Study.com courses that include papers, this usually makes it easier to pass as the final exam doesn't matter as much. Some upper-level (UL) courses can be passed with as little as a 30% grade on the final exam.

The most common complaint with Study.com is the volume of quizzes, but I think that helps for a difficult subject as it keeps you on track with learning each part.

[Kjnova]

Something that @kyledudedog told me via PM is worth noting for my situation, and other similar situations. He said he thought that as long as I complete my residency at UMPI (30 hours), I can then transfer in classes that meet requirements after, and meet graduation requirements without another UMPI term. For example in my case, I need 14 classes for BABA. Let's say I complete two via SDC before the session, then complete 10 during the session, and then complete two more via SDC after the session. When I transfer in those last two and receive UMPI credit for them, I can graduate without another UMPI session.

I checked with Jessica, who confirmed that this is accurate.

That gives me some relief about timing. Though, I still hope not to need anything beyond the term.

[bjcheung77]

Yes, that has been the case for a while now... UMPI allows you to continuously transfer your credits into the degree program (with permission from the assigned advisor and as long as the course can transfer from an alternative source), just like COSC, Excelsior, TESU, etc. WGU requires you to transfer everything in and will not accept more transfers when you start the session or term.

[Kjnova]

My prior college experience is from a deliberately strict old-fashioned university that makes everything as hard as possible, and part of that is, you must be enrolled there at the time you apply to graduate. So, this is a welcome surprise for me.

Not that I am bitter about my prior university's policies!

[Kjnova]

I checked on UMPI today to see if my Sophia courses had transferred over as expected. I am glad I looked, because one I thought would come over as COM 210 (Sophia Conflict Resolution) came over as a BUS 1xx elective. I had seen that listed for COM 210 somewhere, now I'm not sure where. After talking with Jessica about it, I added the Sophia class that does count for COM 210 (Workplace Communications) and did it in about two hours. So that's taken care of, but, I lost some time I could have put into Study.com today.

And, I could have used that time, because man is Study.com slower than Sophia. Or maybe it's just me. I'm slogging through the quizzes and I'm on #45 out of 109 on a class I started yesterday. I like the quiz structure for learning the material. But right now what I want more than anything else is simply speed, and it's a whole different world there from Sophia. I think it's also more effective for learning the material, so I can see why it would be better for some situations.

[LevelUP]

I checked on UMPI today to see if my Sophia courses had transferred over as expected. I am glad I looked, because one I thought would come over as COM 210 (Sophia Conflict Resolution) came over as a BUS 1xx elective. I had seen that listed for COM 210 somewhere, now I'm not sure where. After talking with Jessica about it, I added the Sophia class that does count for COM 210 (Workplace Communications) and did it in about two hours. So that's taken care of, but, I lost some time I could have put into Study.com today.

And, I could have used that time, because man is Study.com slower than Sophia. Or maybe it's just me. I'm slogging through the quizzes and I'm on #45 out of 109 on a class I started yesterday. I like the quiz structure for learning the material. But right now what I want more than anything else is simply speed, and it's a whole different world there from Sophia. I think it's also more effective for learning the material, so I can see why it would be better for some situations.

The key to going fast with Study.com is to have multiple windows open at the same time.

Some courses have placement tests that help you test out of 25% or more of the course. Additionally, the more courses you complete with Study.com, the more quizzes in other similar courses will be automatically completed. For example, if you were a CS major, you would start with Intro to Programming, and by the time you were done with Intro to Programming, half of the Data Structures quizzes would be automatically completed.

The good thing about Study.com is that it is somewhat similar to Sophia. Saylor, onlinedegree.com, CLEP, and StraighterLine are completely different and take quite a bit of time to learn how to navigate optimally. Some people never manage to go through those courses quickly and end up spending 80 hours on each course.

You're kind of like Neo breaking out of the Matrix by learning all this degree acceleration stuff. I completed Sophia's Visual Communications in around 4 hours, but I watched every single second of video at 2x speed. With my current knowledge, I bet I could go through Sophia's Intro to IT course in under 1 hour. The fastest I earned college credit equivalents was by passing a certificate in 4 hours, which equals 7 courses at PUG!