What school should I go to?

Okay, this is what I am looking for. I tried UoP and didn't like it, because it was so much paper writing based.

I have about 80 credit hours from Arizona State, I would like to transfer these credits to a distance learning school. Eventually I want to finish my Bachelors of Accountancy and get a MBA or Master of Accountancy so that I can meet the 150 credit requirement to get a CPA.

However, I don't like online classes or writing a lot of papers, like UoP.

What I would like is to read text books, perhaps watch lectures on tapes, and take tests through some sort of correspondence. I also would like an Accredited school. The cheaper the better.

So is there any schools that the people on this board would recommend that would meet my requirements?

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

The Big Three are the most accepting of credit; exams, portfolio, transfer, etc., and are always a good starting point;

TESC - http://tesc.edu/2165.php

Excelsior - https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/School_of_Business_and_Technology/Business_Programs/BS_in_Accounting

COSC - http://www.charteroak.edu/Prospective/Programs/Concentrations/Business.cfm

 

University of Ohio - Athens also has a huge collection of correspondence courses and does exams by correspondence. They also (last I checked) allow you to challenge any course by simply taking the exam and granting credit for a passing grade.

They are a little more restrictive than the big 3 as far as majors they offer, but if you like the more traditional correspondence style of education, they may be worth looking into.

 

>>

Depending on where you enroll, you can cut away some of the courses through CLEP testing. I tested out of 60 credits doing exactly what you like- reading books, independent study, watching lectures online and using free lectures on iTunes and youtube.
Depending on what courses you have left, TESC (Thomas Edison State College) may allow the most flexibility simply because they count anything above a 100 level as "upper" level credit- in other words, you can use more exams to meet your degree requirements. You can use exams to test out of almost the entire business core, and you can get an idea for what you already have if you look at their breakdown: http://www.tesc.edu/2816.php
If you already have your accounting courses done, you may not need any more classes at all! (only a few exams)

 

Athabasca University (http://www.athabascau.ca) offers challenge for credit for many of their courses. The course description indicates whether the particular course is eligible for challenge for credit. Search on the Athabasca University web site for "challenge credit." Sorry, but for some reason my web browser is acting up and I cannot properly add the URLs.

 

Great thanks for the information. I have contacted TESC and they should be returning my call early next week.

I have another question, is there an MBA or Masters of Accountancy program that would be flexible also in the learning style like mentioned above? Would MBA and Masters of Accountancy programs accept me if I have a Bachelors degree from TESC?

Thanks again for all your help.

 

You will meet the entrance requirements of having a regionally accredited Bachelor's degree in Business. Whether or not you're actually accepted into a program is something else entirely.

 

Any graduate school should admit you with a TESC degree as long as your GPA meets admission requirements. The more prominent the grad school, the more competitive you can expect the admissions process to be. Do you know what the CPA requirements are for your state? You mentioned 150 hours, which is also the requirement here in Maryland where I am located, but do you know how many hours are required in the specific subject areas? Using Maryland as an example, a total of 150 semester hours are needed, 57 of them must be in accounting or finance. Each undergraduate hour counts as 1 hour toward the accounting/finance requirements, graduate level hours count as 1.5. However, there are certain requirements like "x" number of hours in tax accounting, "x" number of hours in business law, "x" number of hours in finance, etc. Depending on where your hours fall, you may not even need a graduate degree in accounting. It's possible you could do a MBA with an Accounting focus.

Liberty University offers a M.S. in Accounting (http://www.luonline.com/index.cfm?PID=14411).

University of Maryland University College offers several graduate degrees in accounting as well as dual degree options (http://www.umuc.edu/programs/grad/mgmt_acct_fin.shtml)

UoP has a Masters of Accountancy, but you've already said you don't like them.

If the MBA/Accounting cirriculum will meet your needs, there are countless options. However, even in a math driven field like accounting, I think you should expect a good deal of writing at the graduate level. If the CPA is really your goal and you don't want a ton of writing, you may want to consider doing an additional 30 hours at the undergraduate level, maybe even toward a second BA if you can get it to work.

Pug