Having trouble picking a school?

[zenurez]

I was homeschooled as well and I am really enjoying testing by exam. I did a year's worth of college in the past 10 weeks with out the added time and added expense of attending a campus. I did learn about credit by exam from reading the book Accelerated Distance Learning by Brad Voeller (also homeschooled) about 15 years ago and I wish I had started sooner.

With the exams, I haven't had to do silly get to know your classmates exercises and whatever other busywork the instructor deems necessary like I did when I attend community college and earned my AAS degree. I've owned my own successful small business for the past 10 years, and I haven't felt I missed anything by not getting the "social" aspect of living on college campus. (Of course I never did live on campus, so maybe I missed something and I just don't know it).

Unfortunately, I can't speak very well to your specific question, as I don't know much about the two fields you are interested in. However, I am certain I've seen someone on this forum with an engineering degree in their signature line, who earned their degree by testing out at least partially by exam. I'd do a google search that includes the terms "site:degreeform.net engineering" and see what threads come up. Some people list what they did to earn their degree.

I think you will need to use your homeschooling initiative to thoroughly research what kinds of engineering or physics degrees are offered at the big three. Then you need to think of if you want to pursue a graduate degree and what types of admission criteria would be required. Additionally, look at what jobs you think you'd want to apply for and see what their degree requirements are.

The main reason people like the big three is you can transfer in almost all your credits from multiple sources. Most colleges limit you to 12 or so credits transferred in by exam and almost all colleges require you to take at least 30 credits from them directly. The big three are exceptions, which is why they are so popular.

I am pretty certain when I say that you will have to take classes as there are not enough engineering/ physics related exams to get a degree entirely by testing out. However, you might find some good resources for online self paced classes. I like universities who cater to the military because they often offer 8 week courses instead of 12-16 week courses, and some enroll for class every month. The least expensive online university I've found is American Public University, and I hear most people are pretty happy with APU except when it come to financial aid (I guess they're a little disorganized in this respect).

Hopefully some people who are pursing Engineering or Physics will write in with more specific feedback. Hope this helps.

I'm 19 years old and doing college the traditional way isn't working out for me. I've been homeschooled a majority of my life so Im used to doing things at my own pace. Right now im currently debating on an engineering or physics major. Which of the big 3 is right for me?