Need HELP!! (long post....sorry)

Hello everyone,

I am fairly new to this board as far as posting, but have been a lurker for a good year at least. I have enjoyed reading the topics here, and everyone here has helped me tremendously (although you don't know it). I am more than ready to complete me degree. My dilemma is that I do not know what school to go to. I have searched the Big 3 schools, but am still stuck. I do not really care what I get a degree in, I just want a degree!

I do have goals I would like to pursue, then again I keep changing what I want to do. For a little background on me: I am 26 years old, and I am in the military. My job in the military is in the logistics field.

I have been attending college for 3 years now, and have enough credits to have my Associates degree. They are just spread out with numerous colleges. When I first started working on school, I thought that just my AA would be good. Now that I'm there I'm not ready to stop. I just recently learned about DANTES, CLEP, and ECE. I am looking to do this to complete a Bachelors' degree.

Here is a breakdown of what credits I have so far.

Hawaii Pacific University

Writing and Critical Analysis Grade: C Cr: 3
Intro to CIS A Cr: 3
Introductory Biology (no lab) A 3
Fundamentals of College Math C 3

Central Carolina Community College

Prof. Research and reporting B 3
American History I C 3
College Algebra B 3
Fit and Well for Life B 3
General Psychology B 3

Fayetteville Tech Community College

Principles of Financial Accounting B 4
American Literature I C 3
Southern Culture D 3
Sociology of the Family C 3
Public Speaking C 3
Literature-based Research C 3
College Algebra B 4
Introduction to Sociology C 3
Elementary Spanish I B 3
Statistics I C 3

Strayer University

Origins of Western Culture B 4.5
Logic D 4.5

Now here are my questions...

1. If I were to transfer these grades to a college (say one of the Big 3), would I have enough for an Associates?

2. What Bachelor degree would I be able to complete with the credits I already have, by testing out on the UL classes? Or, would I be required to take another science class?

3. Can anyone suggest any other schools besides the Big 3 that I can also obtain a degree from? Eventually, I'm positive I would like to become a counselor for young teenage mothers. I am just not sure what route to take.

I appreciate all the comments that everyone here will offer. Thanks for reading this!!

 

here's a guess, you have a lot of credits, it depends on how they distribute them, but from looking at this page, I think you need anoter written Englsih, you might want to take the Excelsiot college exam for written Englsih, 6 credits, then you will have enough for an AA

Excelsior College
page 19 of http://www.excelsior.edu/pdf/Liberal_Arts_Catalog.pdf

Written English 3 credits required
Writing and Critical Analysis Grade: C Cr: 3, possibly
General Education 33 credits required
6 humanities required
American Literature I C 3
Public Speaking C 3
9 social sciences or history required
American History I C 3
Origins of Western Culture B 4.5
Introduction to Sociology C 3
6 natural science or math required
Introductory Biology (no lab) A 3
College Algebra B 4
Arts and Elective 3 other
Southern Culture D 3
Applied Professional 30 or additional arts and sciences
Fundamentals of College Math C 3, possibly
Prof. Research and reporting B 3, possibly
Literature-based Research C 3, possibly, don't know if that duplicates the above course
Sociology of the Family C 3
Statistics I C 3
Intro to CIS A Cr: 3
Fit and Well for Life B 3
General Psychology B 3
Principles of Financial Accounting B 4
Logic D 4.5
Elementary Spanish I B 3


you should read this page
http://www.excelsior.edu/pdf/Student_Guide_and_Assessment_Catalog.pdf

if you want to counsel, then you will probably want to get a Bachelors in psychology or sociology

you might want to read Cliffs notes on Developmental Psychology and take either the CLEP or excelsior exam for LifeSpan Developmental Pysch,

then begin studying for the GRE Psych and take that in Nov or Dec, if you do very well, you will get about 24 credits, 18 of them upper level

 

Thanks for your input. Excelsior was my initial choice because they also will give me 15 credits for my military training which would mean I would have more than enough credits for AAS in Administrative/Management Studies. Then I read the boards about Excelsior and their customer service, painful name..etc.

So my second choice was COSC, but I was concerned about the them not having majors, just concentrations.

 

I went with Excelsior.

I've gotten over the name. Any RA degree will fit my needs.

As for customer service, I say, pay the money, enroll and do all the work myself.

I can read their catalogue. I can come on here and ask questions. I can look at the CLEP adn DANTES site. I think I can figure out 80% of what I need to know. I'm confident they can help me with the rest.

I didn't choose COSC because they want you to write an essay that outlines your degree plan including ALL the courses you are going to take. I figure that if I have to do all that work anyway, why not go with Excelsior?

Don't wory about the concetration. The fact is, it will be VERY hard to ever get anything more than the most basic job without a Masters or PhD. If you have a concetration in Psych or a major in Psych, it will make litte difference for what you want to do. You can use either to get a basic job or apply to a Masters program.

 

Anyone else have any more suggestions? I'd really appreciate it.

 

James,

Thanks for all your help so far. I just have a few more questions, if you wouldn't mind taking time out to answer them.

1. Say for instance, I do well on the GRE Psych exam. What other exams should I take to fill in the degree. I have been searching sites for the past 72 hours. I think I am in the middle of information overload. I just can't figure out what tests to take.

I am sorry if I amm bothering you. This testing for credit is new to me, and there are so many different ones to take, I just can not figure out what to do.

 

Anyone else have any more suggestions? I'd really appreciate it.

 

read the 4 year program on this page,
http://bain4weeks.com/1st-year-bs-degree-exams.html
it will give you a good idea of what the requirements are and how to fulfill them


here are a few tests and the difficulty level of each one,
http://bain4weeks.com/examdifficultytables.html

check out page 41 of
http://www.excelsior.edu/pdf/Liberal_Arts_Catalog.pdf
for the requirements for a psych degree

for a BS in psych all you need is statistics (which you've got), a research course in psych (which shouldn't take too much studying for you, if you're comfortable with your statistics and psych, http://www.excelsior.edu/pdf/Research_Methods_in_Psychology.pdf ) and the psych GRE


http://www.getcollegecredit.com/materials.htm
you might want the DANTES Criminal Justice, DANTES Counseling, DANTES Drug & Alcohol Abuse and DANTES Law Enforcement, DANTES Human Resource Management, DANTES Principles of Supervision

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/ex_pman.html
and the CLEP Management

 

Start At Your Base Education Center

First, if you are on a base you are neglecting the counseling professionals who are there to help you find a Serviceman's Opportunity College which will maximize your credits. I didn't notice an indication of your branch, but you should stop at your Base Education Center and make an appointment to see a counselor. The counselors often can set up some vocational testing to help you identify specific interests.

Second, I am partial to the Governor's State University Board of Governor's degree program. Very flexible degree--one advantage is that they will take up to eighty credits lower division which means that you can make use of those military credits which are typically lower division (100-200) level. Check out this link.

http://www.govst.edu/bog/

R,

Ternahan (ex Navy College Counselor)

 

If you want to be a counselor some day you might want to look past the BA because an MA will better serve you. If you plan to go on and get the MA after the BA, the BA can really be in just about anything as long as you select a psychology or sociology concentration. One route you may want to go is FHSU. They are inexpensive and they offer a Bachelors of General Studies. You can pick from a variety of concentrations. If you choose that route you can pick up additional credits through CLEP, and very cheap credits ($67 per hour) from LSU. It will all transfer into the FHSU program provided you take a little time and pick courses wisely from this point forward. I would call FHSU and have them do a transfer analysis for you.

Pug

 

First, if you are on a base you are neglecting the counseling professionals who are there to help you find a Serviceman's Opportunity College which will maximize your credits. I didn't notice an indication of your branch, but you should stop at your Base Education Center and make an appointment to see a counselor. The counselors often can set up some vocational testing to help you identify specific interests.

My branch of service is the Army. I am a full-time AGR soldier stationed at a Reserve Center. The nearest Education center to me that does counseling and testing is more than two hours away. I have called down there, but with them servicing the whole state of PA, they are not very helpful. Once I decide what testing to do, I am actually going to do it locally. I'd rather pay the fee as it will be cheaper than the gas I will use just to get to the ed center.

Thank you for the information you have provided, and I will check out the link to the school you gave me.

 

As a side note, grades under a C will probably not transfer so you will have to recalculate your total number of credits.

 

Thanks Pug,

FHSU is one of the colleges I have checked out. You are right, they are cheap compared to many. My TA would completely cover the tuition. Right now I am at the point where I am ready to complete this degree. I've been going to school for the past 3 years straight. I have 4 children to take care of, plus my husband makes 5 (LOL!!!). Before I get tired of school, I would like to have a degree.

Thanks for the info, and I'll call FHSU for the credit transfer.

 

Hi roscooley,

Is eArmyU not a viable option for you?

http://www.eArmyU.com

 

EarmyU

Unfortunately, I can not use EarmyU. It is not available where I am at. Probably, by the time I even get a chance to use it. I will have my PhD.

 

iquagmire

It is a good thing I only have two D's. Both of these classes are not a part of Gen Ed requirements so I don't really need them. On the other hand, I do believe that the D will transfer to Excelsior provided I have read the transfer section right.