Newbie in need of advice. Any help is much appreciated.

I feel like I have so many questions, it is not possible to get them all into one post.

Allow me to give you some background on myself: I will be 27 in August, I graduated high school in 2002. Up until that point I was a normal, if slightly disorganized, student. I went to college right out of high school, as normal students do. To make a very long story short, I took a "medical leave of absence" from my first semester and took the following semester off. I returned the following fall, only to drop out again. Several years later, I attended a local community college as a student in their honors program, where graduates transfer to Ivy League and other top schools around the country. I won some such award for one of my papers at a conference of community colleges. Blah blah blah. I dropped out shortly thereafter. I am a fountain of wasted potential and opportunity (or at least that is what my mother would say lol). There are reasons, but most people are not interested in such things, and rightfully so I suppose. I have been working since 2003 or so as a waitress or sometimes a receptionist. I am engaged to be married in November, and have two wonderful daughters with my fiance.

I am happy, for once, and I am finally motivated to make something of myself! I have always been a smart person, but there have been a number of factors holding me back. I am getting those things under control, and I want to get my degree. I am currently taking a Certification course at Penn Foster and I am extremely pleased with them. I realized they offer degree programs, and so my research into online learning began.

And that is what brings me here.

My ultimate goal is to acheive two Bachelors degrees (or a double major). One in Business and one in Psychology. I am looking very seriously into Excelsior. It seems from my research that most of Penn Foster's courses are ACE reviewed and thus would be transferable. My plan is to get the associates degree in Business Management from Penn Foster, then transfer to someplace like Excelsior to obtain my Bachelors. Does anyone know the possibility for double degrees/majors at Excelsior?

Now my problem is: Penn Foster does not offer Psychology.

I am thinking of going somewhere else to get an associates in Psychology at the same time as I am getting the Business one at PF. Any recommendations? I like Penn Foster for their self paced program as well as their payment plans, so any schools who also offer those two things would be ideal. I do not have much money at all to fund this endeavour, so the monthly payments really are a must.

I was looking into Ashworth, but cannot find any information regarding the transferability of their credits. What little info I was able to find seemed very out of date.

I am really glad to have discovered this wonderful world of distance education, and am pumped and eager to begin this new journey. And anyone who is still reading this, bless your little heart! :wave: Any and all advice, experiences, or comments would be most helpful and very much appreciated! Thank you! And apologies for excessive newbieness...

 

Hi - I moved your new thread to the Distance Learning forum as it will get more attention there. I think that you'll find that you have a number of options available and our members can help you to get started. Best of luck.

 

Well, according what you're saying...I assume you're a lady? If that is the case, I assume you're looking for distance learning to maintain taking care of the kids. As far for the career wide, what exactly do you want to do with your Psychology degree? I believe you have to stay with Regional Accreditation and APA in order to gain license in your state (New York). I would recommend to take a look at Charter Oaks State College and Thomas Edison State College; which you can get some FREE elective credits from FEMA. I think Excelsior College is more restricted from National Accredited transferred credits than COSC and TESC. You can spend less than $1,000.00 for general education credits by using the following exams and courses.

- FEMA
- Straighline
- CLEP
- DANTES

I would not recommend double Bachelor degree 'cause a Master degree is out ranked a second Bachelor. Therefore, you should work on your Psychology undergraduate, then MBA or vice versa.

BTW, Welcome to the class of 2002; however, I was not a normal student...who did not enter college right after high school graduation. :usa:

 

Look into state universities that offer distance education. There may even be a university in your state that offers distance education and you'd be able to receive in state tuition.

I'm afraid the degrees from Ashworth and Penn Foster will only limit future career or graduate opportunities. I only say this because these two schools are basically only known for their online programs. Plus when I checked out Penn Foster's website, there was a graphic that looked exactly like a coupon saying "save up to 20%" and then listed a 1-800 number. Stay away from the for profits.

Find a reputable state or private university that offers distance education. Most of the time degrees from these brick and mortar universities will have the same faculty that teaches on campus.

Also I have to ask, why a double bachelors?

 

Thank you so so much. I did indeed stress for a good 30 minutes at least on where to place my post. I decided that in the Intro section, at least I wouldn't be "in trouble" haha.

But I really appreciate the assistance, and encouragement. =) Thank you.

 

What kind of career are you interested in?

 

Allow me to clarify a few points...

My primary goal is to open my own business, so right now the focus is more on that end of it.

The psychology aspect is more my own interests, and perhaps as something to fall back on.

I realize that I need a RA school to obtain my Bachelor's (and any further) degrees, and that is what I plan on doing. I am only talking about obtaining two associates degrees and the credits that go with it, so I don't have to do the ENTIRE length of the program at Excelsior/Charter Oak/the school I end up going with. As PF's courses are ACE reviewed, I do not forsee having much trouble with their credits. It's the Ashworth or whatever other school I choose that I am worried about.

I have a number of other various credits scattered about from my time at traditional B&M institutions as well that I am sure will transfer, so that is a plus for me I believe?

I am not afraid to take a few classes that will ultimately not transfer, either. Part of me is doing this just for the knowledge I can gain, and for my own self awareness. I just don't want my entire (or most of my) degree at Ashworth/etc to be worthless.

From my research I know that there are RA schools that will accept transfer credits from NA/DETC schools (e.g. Charter Oak). I want to know what schools those are, if possible.

And I do have an email out to Admissions at Excelsior (as they are my main interest at this time) inquiring on this very subject, so I also realize I must contact each individual school for the Final Answer. I am just seeking any knowledge or opinion I can find, from any source I can utilize.

I appreciate everyone's responses, thank you! Keep them coming. =)

 

Welcome to the board. There are a lot of options to choose from and Excelsior and Charter Oak is the place to start if you have the credits already. I found Charter Oak the best to work with.

How many credits do you have? If you have 90 or less, have you considered an online program from a more traditional school? I ask this because more schools will require you to take 30 credits from them so if you need 30 anyway, this may work. The time to get it done might be slower but it is an option.

If you take that route, you can look at Fort Hays. They offer quite a few BS degrees and one is in General Studies so you can take a mix of business and psychology classes (58 credits in open electives). Bachelor's Degrees - Fort Hays State University

Amberton also has a BS in Business that might work. - Amberton University - Bachelor of Business Administration - General Business
I only mention these two because they are respected and inexpensive.

If the goal is fast and cheap, you can always take CLEP and DSST exams. I was able to complete a BS in about 4 months starting with an AA and a few computer certifications. Good luck to you.

 

I am honestly not sure how many credits I have, since I have started and stopped so many times. I have trouble remembering which semesters/classes I completed and which I withdrew from. I am in the process now of getting all my transcripts and such so I can better assess my actual situation.

I am 100% sure, though, that I have less than 90. So what you are saying is that any school will require me to take a minimum of 30 credits from their own program?

I appreciate your input into these other school options. The main problem I have is financial, and having to fork out hundreds of dollars up front for a program as opposed to having a monthly payment plan. I will definitely look into these options further, though.

 

Thanks for the reply! I am a lady, yes. *g*

I am also looking into Charter Oak and TESC. However, I had read something about those two schools (as opposed to Excelsior) that said while they do accept those transfer credits, it is only on a Pass/Fail basis and you do not actually recieve a letter grade, which in turn effects your GPA. Do you know anything about this?

 

University of Illinois at Springfield offers a large number of psychology classes online. It appears to me that it would be more than enough classes for a major, but for some reason they don't offer an online major or minor in psychology. They do offer a Bachelors in Business Administration online, but I think almost everybody does. For some reason, business degrees seem to be the most plentiful online offerings.

 

I see nothing wrong with going to Penn Foster (nationally accredited with ACE reviewed courses BTW) and getting your associates in Business Management. It would be a good milestone for you and you'd save a boatload of money. Then you can transfer your credits from your associates to Peru State College (an example but there are more regionally accredited schools you could transfer to because of the ACE reviewed courses) and finish your bachelors. That is what I'd do if I were most interested in business management/administration. If you're interested in psychology I'd go with one of the regionally accredited suggestions above. My son graduated from UT-Dallas with a dual major in business and psychology. None of that was done by distant learning and was all done on campus. This was just to let you know that you have more options then you think you do and to keep an open mind. Good luck.

 

Because its the most popular major.

Top 10 College Majors