what's the quickest way to get a associate's..

gdeusthewhizkid

hey guys,

I dont want to be at wgu too long.. Im not gonna lie im desperate right now to make more money and i need to get out of my present job but im having a hard time with certificates and my fear is WGU is going to take me to long to complete...

help ?

MrBishop

gdeusthewhizkid wrote: »

hey guys,

I dont want to be at wgu too long.. Im not gonna lie im desperate right now to make more money and i need to get out of my present job but im having a hard time with certificates and my fear is WGU is going to take me to long to complete...

help ?

The only way you can shorten your time is by taking additional courses. Instead of the normal 12 credits for full time, you'll need to but it up to 18 or 21. Its a very grueling pace and its not for everyone. I had the same feelings as you when I was going for my B.S. degree. I went beyond the full-time schedule even when my adviser was trying to question my decision; just because the classes were already accelerated, meaning 8 duration.

I want to clarify this by say that I was doing terms and not semesters which made it a little easier to do 3 or 4 classes every 8 weeks.

gdeusthewhizkid

MrBishop wrote: »

The only way you can shorten your time is by taking additional courses. Instead of the normal 12 credits for full time, you'll need to but it up to 18 or 21. Its a very grueling pace and its not for everyone. I had the same feelings as you when I was going for my B.S. degree. I went beyond the full-time schedule even when my adviser was trying to question my decision; just because the classes were already accelerated, meaning 8 duration.

I want to clarify this by say that I was doing terms and not semesters which made it a little easier to do 3 or 4 classes every 8 weeks.

you have your degree now ?

longhorn79

Usually an associates degree consists at least 64 credit hours basically 15 credit semesters and 1 or 2 classes for summer. that is really the easiest way to get it done quick. but if you haven't been in a while I usually tell people take a 12 credit hour semester to get a feel of it first.

Valsacar

ALEKS can get you a few math classes for cheap and quick credits (check with your school to see what ACE approved credits they accept). Same with StraighterLine (WGU accepts these if you take before you start), and of course CLEP/DANTES/ECE. I believe WGU doesn't allow transfer credits after you start, so if you're already there you can only do classes as fast as you can with them.

If you're not enrolled yet, Thomas Edison State College, Charter Oak SC, and Excelsior are generally the best options if you're going to use a lot of non-traditional study.

SteveLord

IMO, an Associate's is worth far less....if anything at all. In today's world, it's Bachelor's or bust.

ptilsen

gdeusthewhizkid wrote: »

hey guys,

I dont want to be at wgu too long.. Im not gonna lie im desperate right now to make more money and i need to get out of my present job but im having a hard time with certificates and my fear is WGU is going to take me to long to complete...

help ?

If you're desperate for more money and already have experience, certifications are what you need. Associates degrees really aren't going to make or break it for you getting a different job that pays more.

WGU is a no-brainer if you're going after the same set of certs as one of the degree programs consists of.

MrBishop

gdeusthewhizkid wrote: »

you have your degree now ?

Yes, I completed it back in 2010. Now working towards a double Master's degree...I'm trying to leave no room for companies to not pay up! It wasn't my original goal to obtain my master's degree but sometimes other students can influence your decision. Just reading this forum has change my mind about finishing my MSIA since its only a few additional classes; since changing majors.

Every time I think I'm finished, something pulls me back in! The journey was long and I hope all the years of studying pays off.

CodeBlox

I only have my associates now. Took me the traditional two years to get it at a community college. I was resenting the fact of taking longer than two years to finish my bachelors but have grown to accept it. Seems like it would be really intense to take 8 classes in a single semester and while it may work for some people, I just don't think it'd sit well with me so I've been slowly but steadily chipping away at my bachelors.

MrBishop

CodeBlox wrote: »

I only have my associates now. Took me the traditional two years to get it at a community college. I was resenting the fact of taking longer than two years to finish my bachelors but have grown to accept it. Seems like it would be really intense to take 8 classes in a single semester and while it may work for some people, I just don't think it'd sit well with me so I've been slowly but steadily chipping away at my bachelors.

Yes, in a semester it would be tough doing that for anyone. I tried to clear that up by saying I was doing terms. Terms are shorter full semesters, so I could take 3 to 4 classes in a 8 week period. Semesters classes run 16 weeks, so with the shorter 8 week terms I could take 6 to 7 classes in the same period. Just have to find a college that offers this kind of programing schedule if you want to speed up the process.

My associates held me up also because they only offered certain classes at certain times and made no exceptions. I however, got them to allow me to take 2 sequential classes at one time. Otherwise, I would have had to wait until the fall to graduate.

rep21

WGU is a lot faster than getting an Associates IMO. If you REALLY want it, you could finish a generic IT bachelors in no time.