Our daughter is unexpectedly transferring from a small private school due to the demolition of the art building. She was previously a very happy studio arts major, but is now planning to get her bachelor’s in either business or liberal arts from an online program. She will be transferring in at the junior level, and wants to do an all online program. Her goal is to either open an art studio or a collaborative art gallery, so she wants to get practical business management tools along with any other added value coursework. Her bachelor’s will likely be followed by additional art instruction through a nondegree program.
There is scant information on online programs: all we have is what they tell us, and a bit in college confidential and college niche (plus US News - which is confusing as many times the brick and mortar and online are meshed). Anyone have any advice on these or other online programs which will allow a QUICK, high value online degree? She doesn’t want to just jump through the easiest hoop, but she does what it fast. So far, we are hearing that she will enter with about 60 credits, which is effectively the beginning of her junior year. THANK YOU!!!
I completed a Master of Liberal Studies through ASU 100% online a couple of years ago and absolutely LOVED it. Found them very easy to work with and the courses were fabulous.
I think your D would be able to sail through the remainder of her BA pretty quickly if she’s willing to go year-round. Spring and fall online courses last 7 weeks, summer courses are 6 weeks long, and there are two sessions every semester.
She can also look into taking CLEP exams as a way of expediting her degree.
I think we may be on the right track! SNHU is another one of her current top choices. THANK YOU for your replies - this is such a confusing process! Oneofthosemoms, may I ask what your background was prior to your arrival? One issue is that her courses at her current college have unusual titles (part of the culture of the school, and on the block program). It’s quite possible that her 60 credits may be an underestimation due to titles like The Art of Insurgency, which is actually a political science class… The number of transfer credits allowed seems like a key piece along with the diversity of coursework she can choose for the remainder of her credits.
I would love other school suggestions: compressing the search into a month instead of the 2 years last time is a little challenging!
I think it might be helpful for you to reach out directly to an admissions counselor for ASU. They can give you a better idea about the transferability of prior coursework. My situation would not be analogous due to the difference in degree level/my not having been a transfer student. The admissions counselor I dealt with for ASU online was very eager to help and I think you’d likely have a similar experience.
No, but I do know that SNHU is a leader in online degree programs. It is a non-profit brick-and-mortar school but also has specialized in the development of online programs. My son and I looked into it for a degree completion program but decided to go with an instate program for maximum grant eligibility.
Thank you to both of you! Kidzncatz, I see that you are a “senior administrator” which to me means that you are data driven. Did you use a spreadsheet of any sort to narrow down the online programs under consideration? Right now, we are considering size of classes, enrollment, amount of transfer units allowed (which is tricky as it seems you need to “negotiate” them), quality metrics on US News (always dicey), and potentially the applicability/availability of coursework that directly relates to small business management skills. The ability to complete additional digital art coursework would be a major plus, as those classes were not completed at the time of transfer and they have real world importance.
No, no spreadsheet. My son is very loan-averse. The school he ended up applying to was the only instate public (Clarion University) which had an online major he liked, that accepted nearly all of his credits for transfer, and where he could get both federal and state grants and thus graduate debt-free. He will complete all the requirements to graduate in December after only 2 semesters.