Someone Blind Me! Looking for the obvious...

I just discovered this board today. Great info all around. I have seen several threads mentioning a "find a school link" on the website, but I can't seem to find the tool. Can someone direct me to it? Or, I guess I can just ask the question here and get a little guidance from all of you. I have about 100 hours toward a Biology degree, all obtained from traditional B&M schools, and am looking to finish out my degree. I don't work anywhere near any type of biology field, and probably won't unless the right opportunity were to arise. Quite simply, I am in a career crisis, and am looking at finishing my Bachelor as a way to increase my overall marketability. I have decided not to go the strict online route, not because I believe it to be inferior, but simply to avoid the stigma that may or may not follow that route. What I am trying to find is a way to transfer as many credits as possible to a reputable university with decent name recognition and finish out my work in a 100% online fashion. I am very budget conscious, and look to finish by the end of spring 2011.

On a side note, maybe someone here can rid me of my conception of the online degrees possible. There is just something about the Bachelor of Arts in Multidisciplinary Studies that sounds so.....generic....unexciting....who knows? Same thing for General Studies, or University Studies. I know I won't find a Biology degree online from a reputable source, but it would be great to find one in Natural Science or something akin to that.

**relevant factors: Texas resident, good test-taker, etc...

Thanks to everyone on here, and keep up the great work!!!

 

Thomas Edison State College

TESC is one of the "Big 3", but it is regionally accredited and a state school.
As far as I know it is thought of as a quality school. They also have an online Biology BS if you have enough biology courses done you may qualify for that with just a few test to finish off your credits. They also have a Natural Science & Mathematics BA which I am 26 credits from. If you are worried about the math I am doing it with just Algebar and Trig. My credits are mostly in Chemistry and date back as far as 35 years. I am an in-state student so it is cheaper for me, but I believe you could do it for ~4K including testing. TESC does not have a residency requirement so you could transfer all your credits and if they fit you could just do the remaining credits through testing.

I am newer to this board so I am not an expert, but I have been a member of the instancert board for a while and from what I have seen there this seems a good option.

 

Hi, and welcome to degreeinfo!

I have to apologize, the older posts that refer to the "find a school" link are referring to a part of the site that hasn't been live for a couple of years. We're working behind the scenes to revamp things so there eventually will be such a link again, but in the meantime, I'm sure you'll get the advice you seek by posting here. If you don't get enough good responses from this thread, I'd suggest making another one with a subject line that's more direct; this subject, while attention getting, might be too obtuse for many people to take the time to read

 

Assuming you have a 100 semester units the only schools that will accept all of them towards a degree (as far as I know) are the big three (more later). All other schools will probably require to earn 30 semester units in residence which means only 90 of your units would be accepted.

TESC has a Biology degree
http://www.new.scpdca.com/secure/alerts/images/Resident%20Alert%20January%202010%20(01-28).pdf
You can check to see if your units match requirements.

TESC also has a BA in Natural Science/Mathematics
http://www.tesc.edu/3665.php

You could also look at Excelsior
https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/School_of_Liberal_Arts/Bachelors_Degrees_in_Liberal_Arts
and COSC
http://www.charteroak.edu/Prospective/Programs/degree.cfm#BachelorsDegree

With a bit of luck you might be able to complete a degree with one of the big three by taking CLEP or DSST challenge exams in just a few months at low cost.

The big three schools are all regionally accredited and many people have gone on to pursue graduate degrees with them including myself. In my case my Excelsior BSLS is predominantly engineering courses and just about all my courses were earned at B&M schools.

Do you have a career field in mind? That would make it easier to suggest a suitable degree for you since there are many other options available.

Note that a biology degree will allow you to work in many fields indirectly related to biology such as pharmaceuticals, healthcare, utilities (water), agriculture, and food.

 

Another thought for you to consider is to earn an associates degree in Biology, then earn a BS in a different area (business, liberal studies, natural sciences, etc). The associates units can be applied to the bachelor degree. I think this would be a neat combo for your resume.

 

I am also one of the newer members here, so don't take my word as gold.

I am wrestling with the same question you are. The truth is, while all signs point to online education as not being in any measurable way inferior, depending especially on your profession, you might still have the little problem of having to explain yourself from time to time. That said, after reading an unbelievably large amount of posts here, I have concluded that it is definitely MUCH better to have a regionally accredited degree than to not have one. This means to me that even if I have to explain what my school is, or even justify it, I will still complete my (RA) degree by any means, and any school, necessary.

There are, however, tons of B&M schools that offer online degrees. My suggestion (disclaimer: I repeat that my word isn't gold) would be to see if any of the schools you have attended in the past also offer online programs. I suggest this because all online and B&M schools but the big 3 have "residency" requirements that would force you to take more classes than you need to fill degree requirements- but if you already have some classes with a school, you would be much closer to meeting this requirement.

If it ever matters to anyone to ask you about it (for example, maybe you moved 2 years ago to Idaho but are now reporting a University of Texas graduation date after you moved), you can say that you started your B&M degree at their traditional location, but (fill in the blank) made you decide to complete the last few courses online.

 

I'd recommend against this approach.

More and more companies are using extensive background searches as a precondition of employment. I work for a private firm in an old school business (read not one that you'd think does a rigorous screening). We know when you've moved and from where, where you went to school, and exactly when you went to school.

More and more clearing house agencies are providing the online demarc to the schools that are fully online as well.

So if the dates don't work out and you're not going to a "local" school don't flub it in an interview.. you'll likely DQ yourself. If it can somehow be reasoned that you were in the area of a school, the dates support the argument and the school is primarily a B&M (as craniac stated already) then take your chances as the B&Ms generally don't report a degree as online to the clearinghouses.

Yet another good reason to look local and look established.

That said, there are plenty of good arguments to use in an interview for the rigor of an online education. Self-motivation, time management, lack of direct supervision and still achieving goals, etc.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback! My main determining factors are that the program be fast, cheap, accredited, and relevant (i.e. not throw any red flags on the resume, and actually lend itself to increase my credibility/marketability). It would also be great if in the process I could actually gain meaningful knowledge and enjoy the learning experience.

Ian Anderson mentioned earning my associates in Biology and getting the Bachelors in another field (currently starting to lean toward TESC Natural Science/Mathematics). Love this idea! I notice that TESC doesn't have an AA in Biology; does anyone here know off-hand one of the online programs that does? With my current credits, I'm sure I would already have completed everything needed.

I guess my ideal situation would be a state school that is regionally accredited, offers a degree in the sciences which is completeable in a year, can be completed for $4k or less, has good name-recognition, also maintains a b&m campus, allows more scheduling flexibility (i.e. self-paced study or accelerated completion times), will allow me to transfer 100 hours in, and will shower me with rose petals on demand. OK, so the last one is more of a want than a need. Seriously, does anyone know of some good RA b&m based online programs in the sciences where a guy can move as quickly as he is intellectually capable?