I have a question regarding my major and where I should look to attend. I don’t want to bore anyone with my life story but a little background might help. I am a 3o year old police officer (9 years) in San Diego County (CA) who works beyond full time hours and has no hope of really attending college full time. I have been taking community college classes as I can fit them in my schedule for several years and have finally amassed about 70 semester units to transfer. My GPA is nothing to brag about, probably around 2.7, mostly due to dropping and bailing on quite a few classes due to my career and scheduling. I am majoring in History (specifically Medieval or Military if I have a choice) and hope to one day, most likely years down the line, teach at the community college level since I am completely burned out in my law enforcement career and am interested in working in a career field I am passionate about.
I understand schools like Phoenix and National are simply diploma mills. In law enforcement that is where many people get their bachelor’s degrees due to the hectic schedule of our life, online is usually the only way to go. I recently came across Troy University and saw they have an online program in many fields including History. While Troy isn’t Standford or UCLA, it’s better than Phoenix. Pretty much my only choices are find an online program, attempt to transfer to SDSU or CSU San Marcos (nearest public universities) and only attend part time, or stop doing this and wait until I retire to finish this all up.
Would attending Troy University online as a history major be a good plan or will the online degree be viewed just the same as most other online schools? In a perfect world I suppose I would get the BA in History from Troy and use it to one day get into a good Master’s program, possibly as USD or UCSD.
Any help is greatly appreciated, I’ve always been blue collar through and through so I am attempting to navigate this academic world. Thanks in advance.
Troy isn’t Stanford either. While this list is far from complete, you might look at a few other online as well. You may do better to attend sdsu, you will get exposure to profs in the dept and get better LOR. I think you will have a hard time getting into a good grad school without those.
Oh you are right the for profits should be avoided, those credits don’t transfer and are mostly useless for grad school. Stick to schools that are regionally accredited. In the west that is WASC. Troy is regional. Avoid national.
In online the more credible names are associated with the state schools univ Maryland, Oregon, Colorado. I also hope you research how very difficult the job market you are looking at is, how low the pay, how nonexistent the benefits.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1797405-list-of-inexpensive-reputable-online-college-ba-bs-classes-and-degrees.html
SDSU part time would be good, it’s the best CSU in California after Cal Poly SLO (which isn’t well-known for history anyway). It’ll be more credible than Troy if you wish to continue on to a Master’s degree.
An online programm associated with a brick-and-mortar flagship is another way to go.
If you love history, a way to make a living before you burn out and faster than finding a job at a CC, is to prepare a bilingual education/Social studies certificate. Those are in HIGH demand, whereas straight history isn’t. Your school district would likely fund some History Master’s classes, too. With a high GPA and a good number of history classes, plus mastery of one foreign language, you’d be well situated to apply to a PHD program (which will be funded, unlike a Terminal Master’s - you’re free to stop at the Master’s level after 2 years in your PHD.)
For military history:
http://www.smh-hq.org/grad/gradguide/degree.html
Of those, I would recommend
Duke, GMU, GWU, tOSU, Penn State, Temple, UNC-CH.
For Medieval History, Princeton, Yale, NYU?
You’ll need to know French in both cases and be able to read Latin, plus for Medieval History Middle English and probably German.