Weird Situation

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by LtheUKAmerican, Jun 15, 2017.

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  1. LtheUKAmerican

    LtheUKAmerican New Member

    So, basically, I'm in the UK, from America. I'm currently doing a BEng in Electronic Engineering, starting with a foundation year. I was admitted as an exception to this degree. In the UK you do not have general ed so you do not declare majors, the individual departments of each university accept you and you start directly from year 1 of that degree.

    Because of the way some things in my life have gone I've decided to pursue the maths and linguistics BA, however to transfer I need to accumulate 30 college credits over the summer to meet their entry requirements for US students.

    Keep in mind this BA would only be 3 years.

    I'll be using one transcript from excelsior.

    I already have 15 because I know I'll pass the french exam at the 59 excelsior would require. (I speak the language fairly well), and have a previous credit from a local university that transfers. That plus getting the Analzying Literature and College Composition Cleps will be easy. and then from previous knowledge am doing calculus and biology.

    That leaves me with 36 credits from prior knowledge.

    I'm also studying at iowa state for fun over the summer (had this planned out as a nondegree student for awhile..long story, i like learning) in Astronomy and Astrophysics (1 credit) Evironmental Studies 101 (3 credits) and macroeconomics (3 credits).

    So at the end I'll have acquired 43 credits worth of College material in less than 2 months... it won't be costing me much either as my 30 credits are being met from cleps alone, the iowa state classes are circumstantial to that.

    My only question is... since at that point I'll have 43 credits, is it worth it trying to do an associates online part time in a disparate field from Mathematics/Linguistics? I could finish it by the summer after, and my thought process is if I acquired the associates here:
    Excelsior College | Associates Degrees | Technology Electronic Instrumentation Technologies

    I could then tutor maths, physics, and electronics online while finishing my bachelors over the next 3 years, which pays a fairly good rate for a job that you dictate the pace of, and would cleanly pay off quite a large amount of my student loans before I even finish school.

    I'm already certified to teach English (TESOL) and soon to be French as well and am able to charge around $12 an hour pretty effectively, and it helps. I'm also starting to be able to raise my prices as I've gotten more experience. but tutoring maths and physics is much closer to $15-25 an hour, which part time when my dorm and utilities is being paid for is quite good. I also feel like having completed a degree level qualification in any subject, especially a stem field, would increase my CV.


    But my questions are:
    Do you think the above listed associates would be worthwhile achieving, seeing as it's a different background from the one I'll be going into and allows me to salvage some of the knowledge I've gained from the year of study in the UK so far? Also keeping in mind I do believe it would qualify me for online tutoring positions.

    Looking at the description of the course, would the classes I've listed satisfy the general ed requirements? I believe all I'd have to take are the technology components right? In order to satisfy the electronics components are you guys aware of exams any other institution has that would save me money from taking the 17 credits through excelsior? I'll already have a large portion of the background knowledge.

    Otherwise is it worth testing into a liberal arts associates for the extra couple hundred bucks? I'd have less career prospects no doubt however, but already have most of the knowledge.

    (it should be noted that as both institutions are in different countries with classes that do not overlap each other completing both programs at once would be no issue.)

    Personally I do believe that 20 hours a week of hours set by me at $15-25 an hour is a good enough reason to complete the associates, as most online tutoring websites require a relevant qualification. If I completed it, it would pay off itself within the first 2 months and the remainder of my undergrad degree assuming I was able to find hours. (Which I do tend to think I would be able to as there is a market for it.)

    The other thing is I kind of like the challenge of pursuing the second degree for fun, even though it wouldn't transfer to my UK degree, we don't do general ed over here anyway and my degree is only estimated to take about 20 hours of independent study a week. So 20 hrs of part time work + 20 hrs of studying an AA for fun comes off as reasonable, if I'd even have to study that long.

    I also feel like, as employers in the UK aren't familiar with the associates, it opens up talking points on my CV/resume if I decide to go work somewhere B&M here for some reason.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 15, 2017
  2. LtheUKAmerican

    LtheUKAmerican New Member

    Also, looked into it.. I could get an excelsior Associates for about $2000 with just testing... seems fun and more justifiable than the more specialised program.
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    In my opinion it would be worth it to get the Associates degree.
     
  4. LtheUKAmerican

    LtheUKAmerican New Member

    It seems this part didn't post, this is the situation:
    So, basically, I'm in the UK, from America. I'm currently doing a BEng in Electronic Engineering, starting with a foundation year. I was admitted as an exception to this degree. In the UK you do not have general ed so you do not declare majors, the individual departments of each university accept you and you start directly from year 1 of that degree.

    Because of the way some things in my life have gone I've decided to pursue the maths and linguistics BA, however to transfer I need to accumulate 30 college credits over the summer to meet their entry requirements for US students.

    Keep in mind this BA would only be 3 years.

    I'll be using one transcript from excelsior.

    I already have 15 because I know I'll pass the french exam at the 59 excelsior would require. (I speak the language fairly well), and have a previous credit from a local university that transfers. That plus getting the Analzying Literature and College Composition Cleps will be easy. and then from previous knowledge am doing calculus and biology.

    That leaves me with 36 credits from prior knowledge.

    I'm also studying at iowa state for fun over the summer (had this planned out as a nondegree student for awhile..long story, i like learning) in Astronomy and Astrophysics (1 credit) Evironmental Studies 101 (3 credits) and macroeconomics (3 credits).

    So at the end I'll have acquired 43 credits worth of College material in less than 2 months... it won't be costing me much either as my 30 credits are being met from cleps alone, the iowa state classes are circumstantial to that.

    My only question is... since at that point I'll have 43 credits, is it worth it trying to do an associates online part time in a disparate field from Mathematics/Linguistics? I could finish it by the summer after, and my thought process is if I acquired the associates here:
    Excelsior College | Associates Degrees | Technology Electronic Instrumentation Technologies

    I could then tutor maths, physics, and electronics online while finishing my bachelors over the next 3 years, which pays a fairly good rate for a job that you dictate the pace of, and would cleanly pay off quite a large amount of my student loans before I even finish school.

    I'm already certified to teach English (TESOL) and soon to be French as well and am able to charge around $12 an hour pretty effectively, and it helps. I'm also starting to be able to raise my prices as I've gotten more experience. but tutoring maths and physics is much closer to $15-25 an hour, which part time when my dorm and utilities is being paid for is quite good. I also feel like having completed a degree level qualification in any subject, especially a stem field, would increase my CV.


    But my questions are:
    Do you think the above listed associates would be worthwhile achieving, seeing as it's a different background from the one I'll be going into and allows me to salvage some of the knowledge I've gained from the year of study in the UK so far? Also keeping in mind I do believe it would qualify me for online tutoring positions.

    Looking at the description of the course, would the classes I've listed satisfy the general ed requirements? I believe all I'd have to take are the technology components right? In order to satisfy the electronics components are you guys aware of exams any other institution has that would save me money from taking the 17 credits through excelsior? I'll already have a large portion of the background knowledge.

    Otherwise is it worth testing into a liberal arts associates for the extra couple hundred bucks instead of the technology one? I'd have less career prospects no doubt however, but already have most of the knowledge.

    (it should be noted that as both institutions are in different countries with classes that do not overlap each other completing both programs at once would be no issue.)

    Personally I do believe that 20 hours a week of hours set by me at $15-25 an hour is a good enough reason to complete the associates, as most online tutoring websites require a relevant qualification. If I completed it, it would pay off itself within the first 2 months and the remainder of my undergrad degree assuming I was able to find hours. (Which I would be able to as their is a market for it.)

    The other thing is I kind of like the challenge of pursuing the second degree for fun, even though it wouldn't transfer to my UK degree, we don't do general ed over here anyway and my degree is only estimated to take about 20 hours of independent study a week. So 20 hrs of part time work + 20 hrs of studying an AA for fun comes off as reasonable, if I'd even have to study that long.

    I also feel like, as employers in the UK aren't familiar with the associates, it opens up talking points on my CV/resume if I decide to go work somewhere B&M here for some reason.

    I wouldn't really be open to spending more than $5000 on the qualification, as I just want it so I can have a chance to learn more and earn more while finishing uni here in the uk. Not planning to make a career out of the associate's field so the path of least resistance is ideal.
     
  5. guyfawkes

    guyfawkes Member

    Are you transferring any credits it? I once calculated how much it would cost to earn an extra associate's degree there and, while I don't recall the specific amount, I do remember that it was much higher than that.
     
  6. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    The cost of 20 CLEP exams @ 3 credits apiece is $1,600. (Okay, a couple might get you 6 credits each.) Whatever you pay Excelsior (at least $1,600 I believe) is on top of that, so -- how could it be done for $2,000?

    J.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 15, 2017
  7. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Duh. I should have read more. You'll have 43 out of 60 credits going in? That helps a lot. Still . . . $2,000? You'll need some very cheap credits. Shmoop? Straighterline? I'm no expert in that kind of stuff - Canadians don't deal much in that - unless they're earning American distance degrees.

    I'd have to travel 1,000 miles to write a CLEP in Canada. None in any major cities near me. But the US border is only 50 miles away and a CLEP exam can probably be written within a mile of it.

    J.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 16, 2017
  8. ooo

    ooo New Member

    I would get the BA, skip the AA. I've never seen a job or educational program require an AA. Unless you don't have a BA. An AA for "fun" sounds a lot more expensive than you're guessing. Could it really be done for that $2000? That school quoted me a lot more for testing when I was planning to waive a lot of requirements a handful of years ago. If it's for fun and learning, and you have spare cash, go for the AA too. Otherwise, I'd skip the AA. Get the BA, then an MA later.
     
  9. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I agree completely. In a number of vocational fields the Associate degree is the entry point, but since that's not the goal here I don't see any reason to bother. When I was finishing my undergrad through testing and such, I could have gotten an AA along the way and didn't even bother pay the modest graduation fee to do so, I just kept going until I had the BS.
     
  10. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    I've never seen an associates required for anything, either. The bachelors is the gold standard first degree.
     

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