Hi everyone. I'm new here. I want to ask a question, not actually for myself. Can anyone advise a plan that would be fairly quick for obtaining an associate's from scratch? (Starting with maybe 3 credits.) This person wants to get it out of the way and move on to a bachelor's. So far, TESC looks good. I have read a bit about the FEMA credits, but which ones in particular should be taken? CLEP might be an option for some things, but since we're starting more or less from scratch and high school was some time ago, not sure ... Also curious, what majors do the FEMA credits best apply to? What would be a good major to do at TESC, one that could be completed fairly quickly?
Hi Cero, Welcome to Degree Info. Hope you enjoy your time on this board. We have a number of members who know quite a bit about the best way of earning an associate's degree. You should get some good answers soon. Wondering about the delay in seeing your posts? http://www.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/35100-new-users-ask-where-did-my-posts-go.html
Excelsior College may be an option. They offer an Associate in Applied Science in Admin/Management Studies and an Associate in Science in Business. See : Excelsior College
If the person is wanting to move on to a bachelor's they need to evaluate whether or not their desired 4-year school will accept the AS degree in whole or if they will break it down into individual credits. If they do the latter the FEMA credits and possibly others will likely be lost in the transfer.
Very wise words. I just witnessed a young friend who fell victim to a 4 year school not recognizing many classes that this individual took. This person was told by one school that the school was only going to let in about 50% of the credits. That would have made someone with an AA degree start as a sophomore. VERY FRUSTRATING for this young person.
TESC should accept up to 25 raw FEMA credites as either gen ed or free electives(depending on major). Some other FEMA options would be Clackamas ($30/credit-class) and Red Rocks - they both have an Emergency Management AAS. EC will accept some but they will have to be transcibed through FCC ($70/credit). A few others will do the same if transcribed through FCC. Both TESC and EC offer Bachelor degrees in various fields so transferring them would not be an issue. I am checking into the Red Rocks option right now and will post after I get feedback from the program director. I was told they will accept up to 45 FEMA. Red Rocks has a deal with Regis to transfer into their Bachelors of Applied Science with the emergency management AAS. This sounds like a good option but will know further in a couple days, hopefully. I am hoping to optimally utilize my FEMA credits for an AAS then just follow on with a Bachelors. TESC seems like a decent deal but I am hoping maybe the Red Rocks will work out to be as awsome as it sounds.
Psychology, Business (General Management) and History are probably the three TESC degrees with specific majors that can be done quickly. Also look at the BA in Soc Sci or BA in Liberal Arts.
So, a reasonable route might be to do the FEMA credits, then do the associate's at TESC, then continue on with, say, a business degree at the same school? Can anyone link to the specific FEMA credits that would likely be useful on this route? How useful would a business bachelor's degree from TESC be? Could one use it to go on to a graduate school at a bricks and mortar school?
If you think a bachelor's degree and associate's degree from the same school is your goal, you should follow the credit requirements of the bachelor's degree and en route you will complete the associate's. That's how you can be sure you'll get 100% utilization of your credits. Just so you know, a general studies AA "can" be a smooth slide into their Bachelor's of Business Administration, however, not using 25 FEMA. The Business degree has fewer openings for free electives (FEMA) so you'll want to watch that you don't spend time completing too many that won't count later. Go into the website Thomas Edison State College and look under the BSBA degree at TESC. Click on the "credit distribution" and what you see for the "GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS" would be your first course of attention. Those will then back-fill your AA degree. By the way, don't worry about CLEP. There are excellent resources, that when studied, allow you to pass the tests. I had never taken a college course when I started my journey (I went to trade school in 1988-1990) so I was very nervous. The resources are huge- you won't need to worry about getting help finding what to study. People here will tell you. On line classes, in my experience, were a little more of a challenge due to the amount of writing compared to an in-person class. Seriously, look at the degree requirements. Start with some FEMAs. Then do a few CLEPs. THEN decide if you want to earn a degree. FEMA and CLEPs are open to the public, you don't need to be a student anywhere to try them. Worse-case, your out some time and a few bucks. (a lot less bucks than a class I might add lol!!)
Thanks for your replies, everyone. So, does anyone have an idea for a major where the FEMA credits would fit in well, allowing for a smooth continuation through an associate's and bachelor's? I think TESC would be best, but am open to other places. One other question: How do you know which CLEPs will substitute for which courses?
Building a degree around FEMA has been done by several people. I'm on a couple boards, so if not here, I can show you a second place to look- there are people who have done it. Also, are you sure? Seriously, the time/money/effort required when starting from scratch to ANY degree is very similar. FEMA doesn't necessarily provide a big jump over anything because those are free electives (unless you use them as your major). So, if you were in a business degree, you'd use FEMA as free electives. If you were in a psychology degree you'd use FEMA as electives. And so on. No real gain going in one direction over another. Your advantage, is having no credit. (SERIOUSLY!) Many people come to college late in life with a lot of credit, and they have to either suck it up and put it toward a degree they really might not want or walk away from all that work/money/time they put toward it years back. They also sometimes are brining in with them bad grades from 20 years ago. You have no baggage So, my suggestion, is to seriously pursue the degree you'd most like to have. Time/money/work will be very very similar. CLEPs (as well as other exams like TECEP and DSST) can sub out a lot of classes. This will vary with each college. For instance, English Comp CLEP comes in at TESC as ENG101 and ENG102. Perhaps another college says it comes in as ENG115. So, know that the list I'm directing you to is TESC specific. Here is a full list. Undergraduate Ways to Earn Credit - Thomas Edison State College - acalog ACMS Lastly, knowing all the jargon, how things work, the paths of least resistance, etc will payoff 10-fold if you are not too quick to jump. Do your homework now and it'll cut 1-2-3+ years off of your bachelor's degree. I was somewhat slow by the standards of this board, I earned my whole degree in 18 months taking classes and tests. I'd have been faster but I worked nights and homeschooled 4 kids, so my time and money had limits.
As I recall several members of degreeinfo have gone on to earn masters degrees after earning a TESC Bs/BA degree. I earned my BS from Excelsior and was accepted at two schools (the only two I applied to) for masters degrees. The Excelsior AA and BS degrees in liberal studies allow you in include a large amount of professional credits (e.g., business, engineering, CJ, education). The Excelsior liberal studies degrees are probably the most flexible degrres in terms of content. My BSLS is primarily an engineering degree.
Something you have to look at when utilizing non-RA sources of credit is whether or not your desired grad school just requires a BS / BA or if they want to see completed 120 RA credit hours. Some schools will not allow admission to those who have earned credits for FEMA, professional certs, etc. The school I attended wanted 120 credits, part of which can be CLEP and DANTES, which they accept. Others have gotten in elsewhere with just the completed degree.
