I am the picture of the American economy. Need life advice.

Do not delay

I earned my AA from TESC in Sept. '08 then I sent more transcripts took some time off did an exam here or there and wasted ALOT of time.

Now I have decided I want my BA in Sept '10 to do that I need to have all of my requirements met and in to TESC before July 1st. Which means finished by June 4th at the latest so they can get to TESC.

Since Oct '09 I have taken a 6 credit course (Great way to add 4.0 credits to the GPA) and taken 2, 3 credit exams and some FEMA's I now need 23 credits more. I have 2, 6 credit exams 2, 3 crdit exams 1, 3 credit ALEKS course and 2 more FEMA's planned I can and will have this done. That is 38 credits in 8 months if I can do it anyone can.

 

Sending my unofficial info to the big three next week. Once I get my info back, I'll put a plan together on which way to go. It's really great to think I could actually have this knocked out this year.

 

hang in there

First of all it's good to see another Texan and UT student. I haven't read the whole thread yet but I wanted to say hang in there and good move coming to this forum. I'm new too but the individuals here are experts, from what I've seen so far. You sound like a hard worker and an accomplished student. I can feel your frustration and you have my empathy.

 

You are well on the road to completing a degree. I would apply to Thomas Edison State College immediately to earn an Associate in Science in Natural Sciences and Mathematics (ASNSM) with a major in biology or the Associate in Arts (AA). Then apply to graduate with the AS and continue on towards the Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Natural Sciences/Mathematics. The reason I mention the AA or AS degree is so you have a diploma to motivate you to continue studying the final remaining credit hours for the BA and it is a nice educational credential in and of itself.

As another person suggested you can take courses through Thomas Edison State College to have an actual GPA on your BA transcript. But remember any graduate school will still want all transcripts from all schools attended to calculate the GPA for themselves regardless of the 4.0 GPA on the TESC transcript from one course. Your GPA is not terrible especially if you can earn As in every remaining course towards the BA. All you need is a 3.0 GPA for admission to many graduate degrees.

 

Emissary,

Given your academic background in science, I would strongly suggest that you consider pursuing a degree with an actual major (e.g. Biology), rather than going with a Liberal Studies program. For example, you have 27 credits in Biology. I just took a look at the Excelsior Liberal Arts Catalog, and it appears as though you are just 3 or 4 courses away from a B.S. in Biology. It appears that you have the majority of the courses required for the Biology major. You will likely need to take the following courses (all of them are offered online through Excelsior):

Biodiversity
History of Science or Bioethics
Ecology
Development (perhaps your Comparative Anatomy course will fit in this slot, not sure).

Now, the above is limited to the requirements for the biology major. I did not have a chance to look at the gen. ed. requirements, although I believe that you are pretty close to good.

If you would like to stick with Texas, then perhaps you could peruse the distance learning offerings in your state via the http://www.txelectroniccampus.org/index.aspx site.

Best of luck,
Tom

 

Hi. Have you thought about joining the military? I am a military spouse and have a BA, however my husband has learned so much more than I have through the military. The military will provide you with a stable salary and will cover your medical expenses for your famly and even include housing (taken out of salary). You can get training in many different fields and can really gain a lot from it. Or, if you don't want to be active duty, you can join the reserves or the National Guard (National Guardsmen receive great benefits from their states). You also get sign on bonuses and other perks by joining the military. Good luck to you.

 

It seems like TESC is the best compromise for me between speed, cost, and visibility. But I have to say that the link provided by japhy4529 on the Texas schools is incredible. That will definitely help me in the future. Have all of my transcripts on the way to TESC as we speak, will send in my app for review when I know they are all there.

As far as getting the AS/AA/AAS first, I have decided that I definitely want to do this. I don't believe I necessarily need the motivation; there is plenty of that in my current situation. But I do think that having an Associates in addition to the 4 year degree (preferably in a similar but slightly different major/concentration) would enhance the look of the resume in certain cases. From what I can tell, I can earn the Associates and Bachelors in the same 1 year enrollment period, as long as I apply for graduation for each in different terms. I think I can knock out an Associates with only a couple of extra classes and further diversify my recognizable (resume-enhancing) achievements. Can anyone think of any reason why I should not do this, assuming it does not impede my progress toward the ultimate educational goal?

*Thanks, Radioactive Man.

 

I think the AA first is a good idea

If I was you I would not wait until your transcripts are all at TESC send in your application now and they will do the eval once they have all the transcripts you say are coming.

I would also start study for the DSST Technical Writing exam since that seems to be one you will need no matter which major you decide on.

I finished my AA and started working on my BA within the week.