UMPI BA Psych, BA English, or BLS? Minors?

[radicallena]

You're young, you can take some of that energy, time to get some certs done that have ACE credit to try offsetting the experience that you may not have, you'll also be well versed in Business, CS/IT, etc.  Many people older than you have gone through many of those cheapies/freebies on the WIKI such as Coursera, EDX, TEEX, and all.  If you go the BAS/BLS route, you have 60+ electives to take what you want, including Bridge TEFL classes in addition to the 40+ technical credits required for the BAS, you add an extra cert or two/three, these certs can give you a discount on the ACE.edu Masters.

I’m grateful for your encouragement to truly just focus on educating myself and learning new things! Many posts on here are about finishing your degree as quickly/cheaply/efficiently as possible, so I was overthinking what the best possible plan would be to get exactly the degree I want with no extra credits. I understand why some people need to do that, but I guess it’s not necessary for me. Especially since these prices are much less than traditional schools, I can take my time and explore all these cool options and certificates. I wasn't considering how young I am in the big picture, since most of my friends and classmates graduated from traditional college in the last couple years, it made me feel so "behind." I was stuck in a mindset that I'm "not able to finish college," since traditional school and deadlines were very difficult for me. But I am enjoying self paced classes so far and I'm so glad I found these options!

I can overthink like crazy, and I'm kind of weird and have fun planning/looking at degree sheets (maybe I should be an academic advisor lol). But I'm going to keep in mind that my education is not a race, and I enjoy taking these types of classes, so I can chill out and take what I’m interested in without worrying too much about going over the max transfer credits (especially with certs)! I still want to go moderately quickly, because last year I boomeranged back to my parents' house, and I feel like I need to finish my degree before I can get a better job and move to where I want to be... So everyday right now is just working at a job I dislike and working on my degree until I can start the life I really want to live and be independent again. It's all the more motivation to keep going and stay focused though!

Also, thanks for the info on Master degrees! If I end up doing Psych, I'm considering Walden and a couple others. As of right now, I think I'm becoming more interested in the English/Education route! Though I clearly have lots of time to decide. Bridge is intriguing, I also heard to keep an eye on the Cambridge CELTA. Looks like the ACE M.Ed. is the cheapest out there! I'm actually still not certain if I would need a cert and a Master's in teaching English learners... It may just depend on employers' preferences? I will research this topic more when I get bored one day haha