Intro Post: About to start BALS @ TESU

[rook]

Hello, everyone,

First, the obligatory "first time post, long time lurker" confession. This forum has been a huge help to me so far. So, thank you! I figured it would be good to finally join the forum and start contributing, since I'm about to begin the BALS degree at TESU. I'm also hoping to complete it with the Social Sciences Concentration. Maybe someone else can benefit from my experiences along the way, as I have from many of yours.

To give a little background on my situation-- I'm not starting from scratch; I have already transferred in about 90 credits from various B&M institutions I've attended, with the largest chunk of hours coming from a community college (where I also happen to be employed as a degree auditor). I completed my Associate of Arts in 2012 and recently finished a Web Development certificate. So, aside from the standard Gen Eds that I completed for my associate degree, my coursework is all over the place-- Business, Accounting, Computer Science, Graphic Design, Sociology, Philosophy... However, I was thrilled (and a little surprised) to see that TESU was able to utilize all but ONE course on my degree plan. That was certainly a big part of my decision to go this route!

So, at this point, I need:

• Cornerstone
  
• Ethics
  
• Information Literacy
  
• 3 more hours of a General Elective
  
• 15 hours of UL courses
  
• Capstone
  

Luckily, I applied for admission last December. So, I'm already registered for TES-100 (which starts April 1st) and will complete it before the June cutoff to avoid the new 3 SCH Cornerstone requirement! Thank goodness.

I plan to complete everything else (aside from the capstone, obviously) through Study.com. In order to finish the BALS requirements and get the Social Sciences Concentration, my planned courses are:

• Philosophy 102: Ethics in America (Should fulfill the Ethics requirement, right?)
  
• Religion 101: Intro to World Religions (To fulfill the Information Literacy requirement)
  
• History 108: History of the Vietnam War (To fulfill the remaining General Elective hours)
  
• History 308: Causes and Effects of the Vietnam War (UL)
  
• History 311: The Holocaust & World War II (UL)
  
• Psychology 310: Psychology of Personality (UL)
  
• Sociology 305: Sociology of Work (UL)
  
• Criminal Justice 305: The Juvenile Justice System (UL)
  

Hopefully, that will work! The Social Sciences Concentration isn't a necessity, but I definitely like the sound of it and it suits my primary area of interest. There may be some easier/faster UL courses on SDC, but I'd rather work on something that I actually want to learn than push quickly through something I don't care about.

If anyone has any feedback or experiences to share about these courses, I would love to hear it! I'm excited to start on this...albeit a little nervous, anticipating the Capstone! But, I will be so happy to finally finish a bachelor's degree. I just need to keep myself motivated!