06-02-2022, 04:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-02-2022, 07:04 PM by skite.
Edit Reason: Added Transcript Info
)
Hello,
I am not exactly sure where to even start without giving my entire life story. To keep it short, I graduated high school in 2000, making me 40 years old. Education, especially higher education was very frowned upon in my family and my parents refused to fill out FAFSA, take any loans, or provide any money toward higher education. I was kept as a dependent of theirs as long as possible to prevent me from accessing funds myself. “College is where you learn to be a tree-hugging liberal”, after all. (My father) So, I moved out asap, went to community college on my own dime and just went after what I thought would be fun outside of under the thumb of my family. Fashion. Cool. I literally had no higher expectations for myself than working at department store. I have no idea what classes I took but can guarantee you I did whatever the bare minimum was to pass. I probably got mostly C’s, to be honest.
My life has changed drastically since then and I embraced my love of travel and history and worked my way up over 10 years at a corporation that provided education travel opportunities to students. By the time I left to relocate with my husband I was senior level and managing 125 field staff around the United States. I always wanted to get my BA, but I travelled so much for work I did not think there was a feasible way to achieve this goal.
After relocating to Florida, I got very sick and was unable to work for almost 3 years. After recovering I took a job giving guided tours at a historic house museum in a very busy history centric tourist destination in Florida. After a complete breakdown of the upper management, and the realization of my past experience, I was installed as the Director of Museum Operations which is second in line in the food chain. I love my job so very much and can do everything that is expected of me exceptionally well resulting in growth through the ceiling over the past couple years. But this is a non-profit and I have a red flag – I don’t have a BA. I feel it is a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any minute. The association and board are lovely, but they are very education centric and its all about where you went to school, what clubs you belonged to, etc. I will probably never ever completely fit in, but I need the BA to at least smooth things out.
Since we are a non-profit, we do everything with a small staff and I am not only the Director of Operations, but I am also the accountant, human resources, staff manager, gift shop manager and buyer, facilities manager, grants coordinator, museum programming coordinator… literally everything. As such I am very interested in any programs which will allow work and life experience for possible credit or to be able to test out as much as possible.
Your Location: Florida, United States
Your Age: 40f
What kind of degree do you want?: I would like to first obtain a Bachelors in Business Administration and am leaning toward a focus in marketing. I would likely take as many history-based electives or general education classes that are allowed. I cannot decide what the best institution would be for me. I would like to take as many courses as possible through free or low cost equivalent courses. I would really like to start from scratch as well if that is even an option. I cannot fathom using my meager credits and GPA from 20 years ago for placement. I am finding this all a bit overwhelming and work best with a detailed step by step plan to follow.
Current Regional Accredited Credits: NONE
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: NONE
Any certifications or military experience? NONE
Budget: I'd like to go the cheapest route possible. Speed is not the most imperative as I have not been a proper student in 20 years and have since found out I am dyslexic. I am open to educational grants/financial aid/loans. My employer offers a $500 yearly higher learning allowance that will help.
Commitments: I work 40 – 45 hours per week at my day to day job and then about 5 hours total 2 nights a week helping out at a friends business for extra spending money. Just me and my cat and my family lives several hours away.
Dedicated time to study: I would like to try to study about 3 hours a night M to TH, none on Friday (second job) and unlimited on Saturday and Sundays.
Timeline: I don’t have a hard timeline, but as long as I am plugging along it would be nice to finish within 2 years or less.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Yes, my workplace provides a $500 yearly stipend for continuing education.
Thank you in advance for any advice!
Edited to Add: I was able to find my transcript and have listed my courses below. I added everything but the Fashion centric courses and I am pretty sure there are none that would apply to this degree. I appreciate your responses and help!
EN 101 English Composition 1 A
EN 102 English Composition 2 B
BA 172 Sales C
BA 170 Principals of Retailing B
BA 270 Marketing C
PS 110 Survey of American Government B-
CO 101 Intro to Computer Science B+
I am not exactly sure where to even start without giving my entire life story. To keep it short, I graduated high school in 2000, making me 40 years old. Education, especially higher education was very frowned upon in my family and my parents refused to fill out FAFSA, take any loans, or provide any money toward higher education. I was kept as a dependent of theirs as long as possible to prevent me from accessing funds myself. “College is where you learn to be a tree-hugging liberal”, after all. (My father) So, I moved out asap, went to community college on my own dime and just went after what I thought would be fun outside of under the thumb of my family. Fashion. Cool. I literally had no higher expectations for myself than working at department store. I have no idea what classes I took but can guarantee you I did whatever the bare minimum was to pass. I probably got mostly C’s, to be honest.
My life has changed drastically since then and I embraced my love of travel and history and worked my way up over 10 years at a corporation that provided education travel opportunities to students. By the time I left to relocate with my husband I was senior level and managing 125 field staff around the United States. I always wanted to get my BA, but I travelled so much for work I did not think there was a feasible way to achieve this goal.
After relocating to Florida, I got very sick and was unable to work for almost 3 years. After recovering I took a job giving guided tours at a historic house museum in a very busy history centric tourist destination in Florida. After a complete breakdown of the upper management, and the realization of my past experience, I was installed as the Director of Museum Operations which is second in line in the food chain. I love my job so very much and can do everything that is expected of me exceptionally well resulting in growth through the ceiling over the past couple years. But this is a non-profit and I have a red flag – I don’t have a BA. I feel it is a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any minute. The association and board are lovely, but they are very education centric and its all about where you went to school, what clubs you belonged to, etc. I will probably never ever completely fit in, but I need the BA to at least smooth things out.
Since we are a non-profit, we do everything with a small staff and I am not only the Director of Operations, but I am also the accountant, human resources, staff manager, gift shop manager and buyer, facilities manager, grants coordinator, museum programming coordinator… literally everything. As such I am very interested in any programs which will allow work and life experience for possible credit or to be able to test out as much as possible.
Your Location: Florida, United States
Your Age: 40f
What kind of degree do you want?: I would like to first obtain a Bachelors in Business Administration and am leaning toward a focus in marketing. I would likely take as many history-based electives or general education classes that are allowed. I cannot decide what the best institution would be for me. I would like to take as many courses as possible through free or low cost equivalent courses. I would really like to start from scratch as well if that is even an option. I cannot fathom using my meager credits and GPA from 20 years ago for placement. I am finding this all a bit overwhelming and work best with a detailed step by step plan to follow.
Current Regional Accredited Credits: NONE
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: NONE
Any certifications or military experience? NONE
Budget: I'd like to go the cheapest route possible. Speed is not the most imperative as I have not been a proper student in 20 years and have since found out I am dyslexic. I am open to educational grants/financial aid/loans. My employer offers a $500 yearly higher learning allowance that will help.
Commitments: I work 40 – 45 hours per week at my day to day job and then about 5 hours total 2 nights a week helping out at a friends business for extra spending money. Just me and my cat and my family lives several hours away.
Dedicated time to study: I would like to try to study about 3 hours a night M to TH, none on Friday (second job) and unlimited on Saturday and Sundays.
Timeline: I don’t have a hard timeline, but as long as I am plugging along it would be nice to finish within 2 years or less.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Yes, my workplace provides a $500 yearly stipend for continuing education.
Thank you in advance for any advice!
Edited to Add: I was able to find my transcript and have listed my courses below. I added everything but the Fashion centric courses and I am pretty sure there are none that would apply to this degree. I appreciate your responses and help!
EN 101 English Composition 1 A
EN 102 English Composition 2 B
BA 172 Sales C
BA 170 Principals of Retailing B
BA 270 Marketing C
PS 110 Survey of American Government B-
CO 101 Intro to Computer Science B+
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