Quick intro and a few questions

Hello!

I am currently employed full time, and my job entails working rotating 8 hour shifts. It goes without saying that this is not very friendly as far as attaining a college degree is concerned. I currently have a strong desire to change careers, and a college degree is the best way for me to achieve this. In my online search to find a reputable distance degree, I discovered the bain4weeks web site. The information I found intrigued me and I submitted my military transcripts to Excelsior, where I am currently enrolled in the School of Liberal Arts. Further research led me to this site, so here I am! I'll give a quick breakdown of what my evaluation says. First of all, I received 93 credits from my military transcripts (nice!), including completely fulfilling one depth requirement (Natural Science/Math and Applied Professional). What I now need is the following:

General Education (Arts & Sciences Requirement)
5.00 semester hours at the lower level
21.00 semester hours at the upper level

Distribution Requirements
6.00 in Humanities
6.00 in Social Science/History
or
3.00 in Humanities
9.00 in Social Science/History

Written English Requirement
3.00 semester hours in Written English

A depth in the Arts & Sciences
Each depth consists of at least 12 semester hours in one specific discipline,
including 3 hours at the upper level.

Information Literacy Requirement
INL*102 INFORMATION LITERACY

I have done/will soon do a couple of things to help fulfill these requirements. I have ordered the Information Literacy course from Penn Foster to satisfy the INL 102 requirement. I will also take the TECEP English Comp I test soon to satisfy the Written English requirement. After this, it is currently my plan to study for and take the GRE Psychology exam. Hopefully I can do well enough to get a fair amount of credits. Beyond this a have a few questions (finally!). Firstly, I'm assuming any credits I earn from the GRE will help satisfy the Social Science/History distribution requirements. Is this the case? If so, I was planning on taking the DSST Technical Writing exam to satisfy the remaining Humanities requirement. I am also considering pursuing a Psychology major instead of simply an area of concentration. To this end, I'm thinking I would also take the ECE Research Methods in Psychology exam. It also looks like I'll have to enroll in Research and Writing in the Major. Is anyone aware of a better alternative to taking this class than with Excelsior? A self paced online course would be ideal. I thank you for any help. I hope this message didn't ramble along too much.

 

Hi. Welcome aboard!

 

Thank you!

 

By the way, I don't know the answer to your questions about Excelsior courses, but I thought your post looked rather lonely in here...

I'm sure there must be some Excelsior enthusiasts who can help though.

 

Thanks again. I'm hoping so!

 

I completed my Penn Foster Information Literacy course today. Next is the TECEP English Comp I test!

 

do you speak a foreign language? that should help you get some quick upper level classes by testing out...

 

For some upper division courses that might meet your needs check out CSUB
http://www.csub.edu/erm/course_descriptions.html

or AMU/APU
http://www.amu.apus.edu/Academics/Degree-Programs/index.htm

Have you looked at the portfolio method of earning credit at Excelsior?
www.excelsior.edu/portfolio

 

Which foreign language tests give UL credit? I know the CLEPs only give up to 12 LL (still very nice though).

 

Welcome!

Your plan sounds pretty reasonable - as you're an enrolled student have you run this past your advisor? It's their job to approve your degree plan. A strong suggest is to also get any approvals in writing, and to make sure you keep those return e-mails safe in case you get another advisor countermanding them in the future.

FYI - you'll likely find the TECEP English Comp I exam a cakewalk.

Another thought - for 6 quick hours in humanities take a look at Analyzing and Interpreting Literature. If you also then took either Western Civ I & II or History of the US I and II you'd meet the other 6 hours.

If you need UL credit for history, take a look at some DSST exams: Rise & Fall of the Soviet Union (3 credits), The Civil War & Reconstruction (3 credits). Other options for social science:

Substance Abuse (3 credits)
Criminal Justice (3 credits)

If you're computer savvy and the MIS exam looks good to you, ask your advisor if that will apply to any of your UL credit needs.

Good luck!

 

Wow, thanks for the ton of great advise! After the TECEP exam, I'm going to concentrate my efforts on getting as high a score as possible on the GRE. I'll discuss further with my advisor my options from that point. I do have the Penn Foster class and TECEP approved. I will definitely consider all the humanities options mentioned. To answer the foreign language question, I know a little Spanish and a little German. Probably not enough to do well on an exam. If I pursued the portfolio method, I'd end up getting a bunch of credits in an area that I already have fulfilled. The advisor and I already discused this option. Thanks again everyone.

 

EC lets its undergraduate students take MLS 500 Graduate Research and Writing. The course itself is kind of expensive, but it fulfills many of the requirements you need. The course fulfills the Written English requirement, the Information Literacy requirement, the Research and Writing in the Major requirement for those pursuing a major, and it counts as 3 upper level Humanities credits. If you continue on to the Master of Liberal Studies program at EC, they'll count the course toward your requirements. Many graduate programs have a similar graduate research requirement as well, so it would have a good chance of being accepted as transfer credit into a graduate program at other schools. Just another option to consider.

 

Thank you.

 

I feel your pain. I work 12-hour rotating shift and also want a career change.

I can deal with the hours, I just feel like I should be doing something else. Stick to your plan and things will work out.