What next? Graduating from FHSU...

Hey Everybody...

It's been quite a while since I posted here but can recall several pointing me in the right direction when I arrived and, for that, I will always be thankful. If you can remember, I graduated from AIU Online with an A.A. in General Business with Honors in 2004 and began asking, sometime shortly thereafter (as I graduated in February), about a good and affordable school that I could attend in order to earn a Bachelor's degree. Several of you pointed me toward FHSU and I attended there for two semesters before becoming burned out and attempting to complete me degree quicker at Excelsior.

I became even more frustrated with my plans to complete a degree and never actually enrolled with Excelsior and returned, instead, to complete the degree two years later at FHSU. Looking back, I can honestly say that I don't regret returning. It will be such a nice accomplishment when I finally get the degree...

I will be finished with all undergraduate work in December and can continue taking undergraduate classes or can begin taking graduate classes. Because I didn't turn in an application for graduation at the appropriate time, it will be May before I receive my degree. So one question I have is this: If I decide to apply for new employment before next May (as I feel I will), is it acceptable to indicate that all coursework for the B.G.S. degree has been completed but the actual graduation ceremony will not take place until May? Also, I earned a concentration in General Business but there are easily well over 36 hours in Business courses included in that degree. With the limit being 124 hours needed to complete the degree, it looks like I'll have around 135 at completion. (My employer recently added tuiton reimbursement at a local university at 100% with passing grades this past summer and, needless to say, I used that benefit to complete the degree at FHSU).

I'm looking to eventually move into Education (as my past two jobs have been at universities) but am perplexed as to what I would like to earn a Master's Degree in. I feel like, with the ability to go ahead and begin taking Graduate courses, that I shouldn't pass it by and should begin taking them as quickly as possible in order to finish my degree earlier. How do you guys think an employer would accept an MLS (Master of Liberal Studies)? What kind of employment could I begin with the FHSU degree in Instructional Technology (the M.S. degree)? Also, what do you know about the Certification programs at WGU? I have did searches on each of these but would like a little more input...

Thanks-
Cade

Also, are there any good options (in regards of being affordable and regionally accredited) for graduate work other than FHSU? And, by affordable, I'm talking about a Master's Degree for a total amount of less than $9000.

 

You asked a lot of questionsl, but I'll only address a couple...

FHSU is a very good school with extremely low tuition rates, so if they offer what you need at the graduate level, then go for it.

When getting a Masters degree, it may help you in several different ways:

• It will authorize you to teach in that particular field at the collegiate level. This may or may not interesting you.
• It may help you in your line of work, if it is in the same field.
• If you decide to get a doctorate, then it may or may not transfer into your doctoral program. Thus, if you want to get a doctorate, then you should choose a Masters degree accordingly i.e. you don't want to get a Masters degree in underwater basket weaving that isn't transferable into a rocket science program.
• You may get a great deal of personal enrichment out of it. This is undervalued.