Any College Admissions Advisors in the House? (VERY LONG)

Factual Questions
1

Two things:

  1. I’m 33 years old and I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

  2. My half sister, age 17, is thinking of enrolling at Western Illinois University, where I attended for a few years (see below), and has asked me to take her to Macomb to visit the campus this weekend. Yay!

With that out of the way, HeySissy’s pending enrollment in college has caused me to seriously examine some issues in my own life. Namely, that although I have a good job that pays good money, I have a degree in a very narrow field and my opportunities for advancement are slim to nil. That, and the fact that although I enjoy social work, I’ve realized (15 years too late) that my real passions are journalism and writing.

Back in 1988, fresh out of high school, I enrolled at WIU, took classes, yada yada yada. By my third year, I had completely lost my motivation, my focus, etc. I began skipping class left and right, never studied, and consequently flunked a bunch of classes. I then decided that what I really wanted to do was go into the ministry. :smack:

I left WIU in 1991 with 69 credit hours. I enrolled at Ozark Christian College as a transfer student. 21 of my 69 credits transfered. I graduated from OCC three years later. After six months in the ministry, I realized I’d made a terrible mistake and began looking for jobs in the civillian sector. I’ve flopped from job to job ever since then and finally found my current job (a "Bachelor’s-Degree-in-any-field job in social work) in December 2001. I like my job, but I want to go into journalism.

So, by my calculations, I’m 51 credit hours away from a Bachelor’s degree at WIU (120 - 69 = 51). BUT, 21 of them went to OCC, so maybe I’m 72 credit hours away from a Bachelor’s degree at WIU (120 - 48 = 72). BUT, it’s been 12 years since I set foot in a WIU classroom.

So, before I make a long-distance call to Macomb, can anyone give me some idea of where I would stand if I were thinking of re-enrolling at your university under these circumstances? Are my 21 credits that transferred to OCC gone forever? Are my 69 (or 48) credit hours useless since it’s been over a decade since they were earned?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

2

Whether or not your credit hours will still count depends largely on what courses you took. Some classes, especially science classes, stale date after a certain number of years. That’s is something you’ll need to discuss with both the admissions people and with department in which you plan to major. For example, I took my lower division science at a city college and those units transferred over to my 4-year university. However, the 4-year lists Organic Chemistry as an upper division chemistry course and so I don’t get to count the units toward my major.

You might want to check their website for department requirements and any admissions information they’ve elected to post.

3

If you’ve got a Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited university, then in most circumstances(*):

  1. You can earn a second Bachelor’s by earning an additional 30 credit hours (done by completing the major requirements, usually); or

  2. You can try to go straight for a Master’s. Check the program you are interested in for details.

YMMY, etc.

Pantellerite, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor
Sometimes College Advisor

(*)Note that the bulk of my experience is in public universities in the states of TX, NC, and KY.

4

from http://www.wiu.edu/grad/prospective/admreq.shtml

5

Really? Does this apply only for majors that are somewhat close in topic (IE: a BA in English can get a second BA in Journalism with 30 hours)? Or does this apply for a second BA in a vastly different field as well? Say, for example, a BA in English looking to get a BS in physics or computer science [sup]for my friend! Yeah, that’s it… my friend. I personally DO NOT see my BA in English as a complete waste of time. No. Not at all![/sup]…

6

Check with whatever University you’re thinking of getting the second Bachelor’s in. I should’ve said that it’s a minimum of 30 hours, meaning that you have to get in the major requirements plus any deficiencies in the core requirement for a B.S. versus a B.A. (e.g., extra Chemistry, Math, and Physics).

7

Thanks, Pantellerite. I’m slightly less discouraged and overwhelmed than I was when I wrote this thread.

OCC’s accreditation may be an issue, since they’re accredited by a private body that accredits small, religious private colleges. Also, my grades there weren’t too impressive.

Still, it looks like I can probably pull this off without going the start-all-over-again-from-scratch route.