Technical Degree Completion-HELP!!

OK DE experts...I need your assistance. I am currently an Active Duty Army Warrant Officer in the Electronic Maintenance field. I have 8 years experience and have completed an AAS in Electronics Technology. I am a career soldier and plan to stay the whole 30 years if my body holds up.

I would like to complete a bachelor's program as soon as possible. I would like to stay technical and away from the business degrees. And I don't want to take 1 class per 16 weeks at a traditional school, but don't want a degree from some new no name start-up online school. I have done some research and have narrowed it down to several schools...each with it's own perks.

Here are the schools and my reasoning for interest. Can you please give me some advice on what you may have heard about these schools? Also, if you know of alternative choices...I would appreciate it.

Missouri State University-BAS in Technology Management....reputable state school, accepts AAS credit.

Indiana University-BGS General Studies...very good reputation, accepts many of electronic/credit thru its IUPUI campus EET program.

Devry Univ-BS EET...my field, 8 week courses...but not sure about the reputation and how often classes are offered...a big ? for these guys.

TESC-BSASAT EET...same goes for these guys...but they say they accept many CLEP/technical courses.

Indiana State University-BS Electronics Degree Completion...too long semesters to complete in a timely manner, but state school.

Any advice/insight on these or other schools would be greatly appreciated.
I want to finish my BS within 3-4 years. Thanks.

Dan

 

Rochester Institute of Technology has a B.S. in Electrical/Mechanical Engineering Technology. It is listed in the DANTES catalog.

http://www.rit.edu/emcs/ptgrad/online/169.php3

 

Thanks...yes, I looked at them as well...but they require campus visits for labs.

 

Have you completed any CLEP or DANTES exams? I completed 51 credits in 6 weeks to get my BS.

 

First off, thank you for your service.

Secondly, how is your TA going to pay for your choices?

Third, based on your choices and what you provided, I'd go for the Tech Management degree from MSU as option 1, and the BGS from Indiana U as option 2. Hard to go wrong with a state U, and I don't think your TA will cover all of the costs from a private school. Good luck!

Shawn

BTW - I second Randall, look into CLEP/DANTES and cut down on time to degree.

 

COSC offers a BS including concentrations in Engineering Studies or Technology Studies.
http://www.charteroak.edu/Prospective/Programs/concentrations.cfm

Excelsior offers Bachelor of Technology degrees
https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/School_of_Business_and_Technology/Technology_Programs
Excelsior has programs geared towards the many students serving in the US military.

An advantage of these two schools is that they will accept credits earned at most schools along with competency exams such as CLEP and DANTES/DSST. This can save you a lot of money.

AMU may have a degree to suit your needs (such as the one in Space Studies or military history)
http://www.amu.apus.edu/Academics/Degree-Programs/index.htm

 

Thanks, I will definitely look into more CLEP's. I have around 15 hours accumulated over the past few years. As far as TA goes...I have about $30000.00 on the GI Bill I can use...AKA "Top Up" if need be. Yeah, I have been leaning towards MSU and IU. IU awarded me 51 hours of elective (technical) credit so far...not including my general ed. I would still have to take 11 arts/sciences courses to complete, 10 of those upper level. At MSU, I am still waiting on their response. But with IU, I can complete all online or by print with no time lines. At MSU, it is semester based...and I might have to wait to get a needed class. Thanks for your input.

Dan

 

51 credits in 6 weeks? That's 8.5 credits a week! Are you telling me that you completed 3 classes a week for 5 weeks and 2 classes in 1 week?

 

I guess it is possible to CLEP that much....only 3 tests per week. I took 2 tests in one week awhile back.

Anyway, most state schools I have researched only accept 30 hours of CLEP...atleast IU and MSU anyway.

 

Here is the run down-
August
08-14-2002 DANTES Intro to Criminal Justice
08-14-2002 DANTES Intro to Law Enforcement

September
09-04-2002 DANTES Intro to Computing
09-04-2002 DANTES Organizational Behav
09-04-2002 DANTES Envir and Humanity
09-09-2002 DANTES – HR Management
09-09-2002 DANTES Tech Writing
09-09-2002 DANTES Intro to Business
09-12-2002 DANTES Here’s to you Health
09-17-2002 CLEP History and Social Science
09-19-2002 ECE Labor relations
09-22-2002 DANTES Ethics
09-22-2002 DANTES MIS
09-26-2002 ECE Production/Operation Mgt
09-30-2002 CLEP English w/essay

 

You listed TESC as an option and they will take much more then 30.

 

I am going to look more into TESC...you have me hyped about the CLEP's.

 

They are free for the military. I wanted to move on to a masters and a bachelors was just something to get out of the way. Here is what I did-

Review the military passing rates. Anything with over 50% that I knew something about I took. I only failed three of them and passed the ones I have listed.
http://www.dantes.doded.mil/dantes_web/examinations/clepgeneral.htm
http://www.dantes.doded.mil/dantes_web/examinations/clepsubject.htm
http://www.dantes.doded.mil/dantes_web/examinations/dssts.htm
http://www.dantes.doded.mil/dantes_web/examinations/ece2.htm

For me, it was just to get a BS out of the way to move on to a masters. Everyone has their own reasons. Find the reason you want a BS and do what is best for you. Best of luck.

 

Tech66

Thank you for your service. There are several other options:

The University of West Alabama BS in Technology:

http://online.uwa.edu/bachelor.asp

Rogers State University BS in Applied Technology:

http://www.rsu.edu/academics/applied-tech/index.asp

a couple of additional recommendations. Got to www.geteducated.com, sign up and download the freebies for technology degrees.

www.sreb.org

search for the electronic campus programs

http://www.electroniccampus.org/student/scripts/termchoice/ptermchoice.asp


I would urge you to consider where you pursue your degree. Since you are staying for 30 you have time to consider all your options. Your bachelors will be your foundation for any future studies and taking a year or two longer to complete a degree is minor in the long run. You might also consider what you will do upon exiting the military. A business degree will have broader utility and can have a technology minor. I'm someone who pursued a non technical bachelors because I had a technical background (military) and wanted to round out my resume. Really give your future some thought as some schools will have name recognition (which may be good or bad). Most (not all) large state universities offer some type of bachelors degree completion program that is pretty flexible for the adult learner:

For instance:

http://academicoutreach.ua.edu/page.cfm?page=degrees&sub_page=3&degree_no=48

Best of luck and stay safe,

 

Try:

Roger Williams University
http://www.rwu.edu/academics/schools/scs/programs/

and

Fort Hays State University
http://www.fhsu.edu/navy/roadmap.php

I know they both have partnerships with the U.S. Navy, but they will take your credits if they are ACE evaluated.

Also check out:

http://www.soc.aascu.org/socad/CollsAD.html#Four

I decided to go with RWU. You can trasnfer up to 90 credits into a degree program. They have BGS programs in industrial technology and technology management & leadership. You could finish that up in no time depending on how many credits you have, and transfer into a masters program at a major college.

I need to check into that Indiana University program for myself. I would love that.

 

Another option is the 90-credit hour Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) offered by Athabasca University. There is no academic residency as all credit hours can be transferred into the degree. However, there are a significant number of upper-level (300 and 400) credit hours necessary for the degree.

 

Stick with TESC - my 2 cents.....

 

Would you care to elaborate on your statement? Like the pro's/con's?

 

I like IU for that reason....technical credit with liberal arts education...more rounded out like you said. Thanks.

 

One of the downsides to TESC, or COSC, or Excelsior, is that if you meet too many of the degree requirements via testing you might exclude yourself from qualifying for some government positions. Not that everyone wants a government position but for those jobs that require 24 hours in business related subjects the requirement must be met by classes, not CLEP, etc...

However, please elaborate on the pros/cons of TESC, I would also be interested in your thoughts as I have a considerable amount of extra undergrad credits and have considered applying them to another bachelors. Due to the age limitations of the credits Excelsior is out, TESC seems pricey and COSC doesn't have majors.


Thanks,