Help Me Stay On-Track

[Tedium]

I chose Excelsior for couple of reasons (I did look at others). With my work, and the travel that goes into it, and the often long hours, I needed a school that was 100% online. I wanted a school that wouldn't make me retake the ACT/SAT, or some proprietary school or state test just to gain admittance -- at the time I just wanted to start. Plus, the degree options had to be something I was open to (criminal justice is a common online degree but not something I was interested in, for example). I was less concerned about name recognition, though I did set base criteria when looking for schools (had to be RA, not for profit). Those things narrowed the field a bit.

In regards to those first two concerns, they aren't nearly the hurdle that they once were. Many, many schools offer a wide range of degrees 100% online now. I know you said you looked around, but I would take another look. There are some really decent programs that have generous transfer policies and also have accelerated 8-week courses to help you with your time issues. You usually just have to worry about ~30 hours residency, but if you are using the GI Bill, that's not so much of a strain. Plus, you would still have quite a bit left over for your graduate degree, I would think.

Also, if you are over the age of 25 you are considered a non-traditional student at many colleges. That means no ACT/SAT, etc. And Excelsior or TESC will always be there for your Master's when you graduate. Like rebel100 said, you have a lot of options out there. You can usually take a few courses at schools like Fort Hays State or Western New Mexico before you have to be enrolled. They are surprisingly cheap for graduate credit, so it wouldn't take you long to get nine or so before you got your bachelor's, and it wouldn't break the bank.

Just some food for thought.