Two questions about CLEPS and Career Options...

I'm guessing that if you were working on this degree in a traditional university, some of the coursework would involve some clinical work in the field. Since this degree doesn't offer any hands-on, they are requiring you to get that experience some other way to meet this requirement. Many people are probably working in that field without a bachelors degree and need one to get promoted etc. That degree is probably targeted for those people.

Any way you could try to find some part time work in this area?

 

Welcome!! As you can see, there are a lot of possibilities ahead of you. I would simply suggest doing what you are doing now- keep reading. Reading this board, as well as the Instantcert Forum (google it) will get you started and help you "learn the ropes."

For me, the process of figuring it all out was great fun. If this major- then this plan, if something else, then this....this test instead of another.... and when you map it all out, it's called a degree plan. The goal should be to complete a degree plan that works best for your future goals. (as opposed to "all testing" or "in 4 weeks" or some other example) You probably don't even know your goals yet- you'll need to marinate in the idea for a while. Grad school makes you responsible for bachelor level preparations- maybe grades, maybe GPA, maybe research, etc. Don't rush through it, go in clear and targeted.

I promise you, that with 100% certainty, you can earn a fully legitimate, regionally accredited BA in 1 year. You'll need a plan, and there are dozens of ways to get there. I'll share a brief summary of what I did. I started with a degree that didn't count, so I started at zero. I played around with CLEP exams for a few months, took several, and then got serious about making a degree plan- and exploring enrollment options. I chose a variation of a liberal arts type degree (high flexibility) at Thomas Edison, and knew that I would be required to pay a yearly enrollment fee. With that in mind, I set up a plan that I wouldn't enroll until I was within a 12 month reach of completion. In total, it took me 18 months from my first CLEP to my last final exam. (I have very little free time- and very little cash- so anyone devoting 10-20 hours per week could go much faster. Also, I have very average academic ability- this won't be as hard as it sounds.)

More or less, I used CLEP and DSST exams to complete all of my gen ed courses, and used classes inside of my major. So, I continued to test while enrolled at TESC. I also took classes locally, because TESC didn't have enough classes in my area of interest. I also used a free elective option that TESC uses for people who I teach credits that they don't have credit for -generally, this isn't likely to help you, I only mention it because I did earn credit this way too) but I also used FEMA. FEMA is accepted as free electives, and for free. You can learn about that later.

So- as I leisurely went through my 18 month process <smile> I was passed up by very eager folks kickin butt and collecting credits. There are answers here, and the archives are amazing. You can do it, we can help. (Depot, Home. 2009)

 

MrTEB,

I started with 38 semester hours from having attended college in the early 80s and finished a BA with a History concentration at Charter Oak in 14 months.

I took 84 hours worth of CLEP and DSST exams, a total of 21 exams in 14 months, averaging one and a half exams per month.

If you don't have any college credit you could start with the 6 credit hour CLEP general exams:

Natural Science - 6 hrs
College Math - 6 hrs
English Comp (w/essay) - 6 hrs
Humanities - 6 hrs
Analyzing and Interp Literature - 6 hrs
English Lit - 6 hrs
American Lit - 6 hrs

These seven exams will get you 42 hours or a third of your degree.

Anyway, email me if you want more details

 

With the only caveat that there will likely be a Written English Requirement that may not be able to be met with the CLEP English Comp exam (some colleges might, some might not accept this to meet the WER). Nonetheless, these exams provide a lot of value - I ended up taking 3 of these (Natural Science, Humanities and Analyzing and Interpreting Literature).

 

Excellent advice. The only other thing that I'd add is that the most important step to make is to actually MAKE a decision.

I've seen people around this forum and others who have waffled about THIS school, and THAT school, and the name of the school, etc. and have spent literally years without progressing to a degree. That's fine, but if one is actually looking to COMPLETE a degree at some point you have to make a decision, pick the school and do the work

 

That is definitely a great thing to say, and I definitely feel sometimes like I'm just spending too much time jumping from this to that and such, but I have a much clearer idea of what I want.
Thanks!