Multiple Bachelors Degrees?

Hello again,

Thanks again for all the great responses to my previous thread, they were very helpful! Replies to that thread, as well as previous discussions, have got me to look more closely into the logistics of getting multiple bachelors degrees. The general agreement on this board seems to be that multiple bachelors degrees might not help much, but they certainly won't hurt you (unless they're from a degree mill ). Since the main reason I'd like to pursue multiple bachelors degrees is a sense of personal fulfillment and not career advancement, this is okay with me.

However it seems that a complicated process must be undertaken to get more than a second bachelors degree, even from Excelsior/TESC/COSC. I have been unsuccessful in finding much information about this topic on the internet (probably because it's probably rare for someone to want to earn 3+ bachelors degrees from different institutions), so I thought I would post here.

Right now I'm investigating getting a second and third bachelors in political science and sociology from Queens College. I have 84 credits there and almost all the requirements for those degrees completed (for both degrees I only lack a total of about 5 courses, which I could fulfill during a summer session). Because of the holidays I haven't been able to speak to anyone from there about this in great detail but I hope to do that later this week when their admissions officer comes back from vacation. Although it may not be possible to complete a third degree from there, I expect to be able to at least complete a second degree.

However, can I get a bachelors in liberal arts, a bachelors in business, and/or a bachelors in something else from Excelsior/TESC/COSC after I get a first bachelors from Cornell and a second bachelors from Queens? Which, if any, of the big three would be receptive to such an idea? I wouldn't mind if new credits needed to be earned to do this since I'm sure I could fulfill most (if not all) of the requirements through exams.

Outside of Excelsior/TESC/COSC, are there any institutions that would offer bachelors beyond the second degree via DL?

 

At Excelsior, not in the same area, and subject to limits. They might also limit you on the number of earned bachelor's, and not enroll you if you've earned two elsewhere. I'm sure their website would explain all of that. Perhaps you could look at it (and at the others) and report what you find.

 

My understanding is that the 30-hour rule at some schools for each new degree can cause you to accumulate more credits than it would take to get a graduate degree. Based on my experience (BSJ, BS, BS), having three bachelors degrees causes most people to ask, “why” instead of “what in” or “where from”. I usually only list one of my bachelors on my resume for this reason. Besides, in most cases once you get a graduate degree you bachelors becomes secondary.

 

I've been looking at their websites and other college websites and in general it has been VERY hard to find this type of information on their websites. When there is mention of multiple degrees, it's contained only to second bachelors degrees with no mention of getting your third bachelors degree or more. In the case of TESC the information is supposedly in their course catalog but my stone-age computer keeps crashing when I try to open the 5 meg PDF document, so I won't be able to find out their policies until I get back to Cornell (and I'll most likely have to email them anyway since chances are only second degree policies will be mentioned). I can't find anything at the Excelsior website about their policies so I'll either ask for a catalog or email them. COSC's website was the easiest to navigate and had very specific policies listed, although once again only for second degrees, so I'll have to email them as well.

Definitely true. I have to say that I'm hoping to fulfill most of those 30-hour requirements through testing and other methods rather than coursework, which is why I'm focusing mainly on Excelsior/COSC/TESC. Because of the relatively broad nature of the coursework I've done at Queens and Cornell, I have good knowledge of several areas (ie. business) and hope to get degrees in those areas through testing (or through some transfer credit if at all possible). Plus there's still FEMA independent study coursework which from what I've read isn't really that time consuming and can accumulate a good number of credits that can be applied to some degrees. Considering these options, getting additional bachelors really shouldn't be that time consuming, certainly not as time consuming or intensive as a masters degree (although I am definitely going to work towards at least one of those). I'd do the testing for these extra degrees when I'm not working on my masters coursework (ie. winter intercession).

 

I believe Excelsior's policy on a third undergrad degree is that you must have a valid reason, and 'petition?' the school to allow you to undertake it. This is on Excelsior's website or in one of their catalogs.
Also, anything after three undergrad degrees (maybe before that), I would look at as overkill, and I am far from a traditional academic snob. Especially if they are done completely through testing.
Good to hear you also want to earn a masters, any ideas on subject or school yet?

Good luck,
Tony

 

Addendum on Excelsior after looking at their course catalog. Second degrees are allowed, but to get a third degree you have to submit in writing your rationale (including what benefit you hope to get from the degree) why you want the degree and then the request must be approved by the dean of the school. Anyone know from experience how difficult it is to get this kind of permission (I know some people on this board have 3 degrees, one each from Excelsior/TESC/COSC)?

Overkill? I got the impression from the earlier thread that it made no difference, that it wouldn't be looked down upon. Is this not the case?

Right now I'm looking at the ALM program at Harvard, although I would hope to do another masters through DL either concurrently or the year after (since it seems that the ALM can be completed in a year). Definitely still up for suggestions right now though, although the MA in Chaos offered by the University of Western Sydney looks very interesting.

 

Frankly, I think the investment in a master's degree is much better than addtional bachelors degrees. I often see professionals with a couple of master's degrees and often this appears to strengthen their credentials. Multiple Bachelors degrees are really perceived as lesser credentials.

 

An MA in Complexity, Chaos and Creativity might be just the thing to make a law school admissions committee take notice! It also looks very interesting - if I were able to pursue a degree "just for fun," this one would have to make my short list.

I doubt that having several bachelor's degrees would hurt you, but it might make people wonder why you would do it. Even if it doesn't take much effort, it might not be worth the expense and hassle. I also can't imagine that any RA (or foreign equivalent) graduate degree would do you harm. Some graduate degrees may prove to be more valuable than others, but I'd think that any of them would provide at least some value. This is all just speculation on my part, of course.

BTW, I don't see anything about 3rd bachelor's degrees in my TESC catalog. There are several paragraphs about 2nd bachelor's degrees though, along with a statement that students are strongly urged to pursue graduate studies rather than picking up an additional bachelor's degree. For an additional bachelor's degree you need to earn 30 credits entirely beyond your previous bachelor's degree, and those credits all need to be earned after the degree was officially awarded (transcribed). The additional degree would also need to be in an entirely different area - I get the impression that this means it would have to be an entirely different degree type, meaning that they won't award a BA if you already have one, though I'm not positive about this. I thought about picking up an additional bachelor's from TESC, but decided that it really wouldn't even be worth the expense and hassle of taking the exams, as minimal as that might have been since I was already enrolled for my BA.

 

Am I missing the point: WHY a third (or often, a second) BA?


I can see the 2nd, wher someone may be going from a technical BS to a liberal arts BA (or vice-versa), but why multiple BAs, when there are so may masters programs out there?

 

ANd if...

AND if, as Anthony says, one loves to learn various things, what's wrong with graduating with one degree with (however collected) 150 or 160 total credits like Lawrie Miller?

--Orson

 

IMHO:

Bachelors degrees give one breadth and some depth of knoweledge in an area. The breadth comes from the non-core courses in other fields. Masters are more concentrated and focused.

As said above, if you are going very far afield, such as from BS in Physics to a BA in Social Services, a second bachelors MIGHT help. But the addition of a masters provides depth while building on the original.

I would recommend adding masters instead of bachelors unless the two bachelors were in widely differing fields.

 

I don't know how typical my experience was, but Excelsior (Regents, at the time) turned down my petition for a third BS. My first had been a traditional BS in psychology and my second, a Regents business degree with a specialization in operations management. At the time I was doing graduate study in computer science.

I was within a few exams of a BS in mathematics and thought it might open up some community college adjunct teaching opportunities, perhaps letting me teach a statistics course in a pinch, for example, besides the programming courses I'd been teaching.

Regents didn't buy it and encouraged me to continue with the graduate work.

Happy New Year.
TommyK

 

Very interesting thread. I have two USNY (before it was Excelsior and before it was Regents College) bachelor's degrees. One is the B.S. in Business. The other is a B.A. in Liberal Arts (concentration in Sociology).

I would never have done the second degree, except that it took only two exams to get it. Also, the military paid for the exams. And I was still 20 years old, and hadn't decided on whether or not I was going to get out and get a job (I did) or go to grad school while remaining on active duty. So taking the exams (the GRE Subject Test in Sociology and the CLEP Analysis and Interpretation of Literature) was kind of a lark.

The second degree has never, ever done me a bit of good. Not at all. In fact, I often omitted it from resumes and applications to reduce confusion, especially after I earned the MBA. Even more reason to do so now.

USNY BS: 1980
USNY BA: 1981
NatU MBA: 1985
UIU PhD: 2003 (I think March or April if all goes well with my Pre-Grad meeting and Dean's review. But that's a lot more complicated than it looks, so we'll see.)

 

ALM program at Harvard

Be advised that the majority of the ALM at Harvard are still in residence. Even if the requirement for residential study ceases, the courses may not yet be available via DE.

http://extension.harvard.edu