Hello all, I just wanted to drop a line to say hello, since I've been sorting through the archives for the last few eeks--it is fairly addictive. I enjoy the topic of DL and used one of Bear's earlier guides as a resource towards my bachelors degree from Excelsior (then Regents). I was a college dropout with 24 hours back in 1998 when a good friend of mine turned me on the "sideways entries" to a degree. I began in September of that year and graduated a year and a half later with my Bachelors of Science--dual concentrations in Psychology and Sociology. I would have completed it much sooner had I: 1) Had Lawrie's resource to use as a strategy guide and 2) Not gotten angry at a poor showing on a History GRE (490) and spent too much time prepping for the test a second time. I was enchanted with the idea of having a concentration in History instead of playing to my strengths. Live and learn. The Psychology GRE was much easier for me to grab the 30 credits (660) and the Sociology was downright simple (620). I was lucky enough to take the Sociology GRE in its next to last test date before it went the way of the buffalo. The only difficulties I had with a DL degree were: 1) Perception of friends and coworkers that usually went like this: Coworker: "I don't know about this degree by distance thing." Me: "Exactly." 2) I wanted my teaching degree so I enrolled in an accelerated education program based on the two teaching deficiency areas (special ed and bilingual) and had I not gotten in, the deficiency plans two local universities gave me were atrocious, something like 62 hours more college. I spoke with the advisors and explained that under the current system of general education, electives and then about 30 hours of specialization, I shouldn't be 62 hours away from Malaysian basketweaving, but they were adamant. Luckily, I was accepted into the one year program, completed it and am now working on my Masters in educational administration in the University of Texas system and had no problem whatsoever with admission or transcript evaluation there. though to be fair, my General GRE scores were better than average and that might have smoothed the road a bit. I owe a huge debt to my friend who told me of the program and to Dr. Bear. If I had been forced to do a traditional program while working full-time, I suspect i would have completed my Bachelors sometime around next summer. Instead, I'll have completed my coursework for my Masters and begun my internship. Thanks again, Ben
Congratulations, Ben (and thanks for the testimonial!). Here's a hypothesis: Of all the degrees one can earn, in terms of time, difficulty, problems of adjusting to a new way of doing things, anguish, despair, agony, and ultimately satisfaction, the Bachelor's degree is top of the list. It was for me. Wonder if this is so for others with 2 or more?
Yes! Congratulations, Ben... A deserved acheievement, and a gratifying life-altering course you are on. Would you mind sharing where "in the University of Texas system" you did your masters work? (I'm curious, because if... --Orson
New Member/Dr. Bear Congratulations, Ben (and thanks for the testimonial!). Here's a hypothesis: Of all the degrees one can earn, in terms of time, difficulty, problems of adjusting to a new way of doing things, anguish, despair, agony, and ultimately satisfaction, the Bachelor's degree is top of the list. It was for me. Wonder if this is so for others with 2 or more?>>> Dr. Bear, I agree with this 100%. Personally, I don't know if it's the length of the program compared to the Masters, the fact that it's first, the availabiltiy of evening classes for the Masters as opposed to the Bachelors, or the large number of classes one has to take outside one's area of interest, but after the Bachelors was done, I think I could complete three Masters without breaking a sweat. Well, maybe a little one. Ben
New member/Orson A deserved acheievement, and a gratifying life-altering course you are on. Would you mind sharing where "in the University of Texas system" you did your masters work? (I'm curious, because if... --Orson>>>> At Tyler, though I'm not done yet. I still have two classes and an internship left. That is one thing I didn'r car for--the internship that stretches the program out an entire year, but it's difficult to fight against the convenience of a cheap, RA program within a thirty minute drive from the house. Ben
