Pierpont to UMPI Degree Plan

This is a degree plan specifically for students who wish to continue on to a UMPI Bachelor of Applied Science degree after obtaining their Pierpont BOG AAS. Others student are also free to use this plan. However, if your ultimate goal is a different school or if you already have prior credits then you may want to substitute some of the suggestions for other options.

= Note on RA credit = As of the time of creating this guide, Pierpont only requires a single graded RA credit and everything else can come from Sophia.org or other alternate sources. This is something that could change at any time, however, and students should be advised that they may be required to obtain 12 graded RA credits before being granted a Pierpont degree. Proceed with caution if you don't have 12 RA credits already.

= Degree Plan =

The BOG degree specifically requires 3 credits in communications, 6 credits in math/science, 3 credits in social sciences, and 3 credits in computer literacy for a total of 15 required credits. The degree plan listed below has been designed to fill both Pierpont's requirements and as many UMPI GEC requirements as possible.

Required Courses
Total credits: 21

Students can choose whether they want to take both Communication & Social Science courses listed above or if they only want to take one of each.

It is strongly recommended that students take their English Composition courses through UMPI if they do not have prior English Composition credit. If you have already taken 1 or 2 English Composition courses from a college or university, that's great.

While Pierpont accepts essentially any math courses toward their degree, UMPI requires a minimum of College Algebra. Thus, that is recommended over the other Sophia.org math options. If you struggle with math, you may wish to take advantage of Sophia's free tutoring for Algebra. Some students who have difficulty with math have found Sophia's Statistics to be easier for them than Algebra after following the suggested videos.

Additional Courses
After filling out the core requirements, students are required to bring an additional 39 credits or more to Pierpont to meet the 60 credit requirement. These can technically be anything and students are free to choose others if they feel that a different course will be better for their goals at UMPI. These are just suggestions.

Area of Emphasis
It is strongly suggested that students pursuing a BAS at UMPI choose an Area of Emphasis in Information Systems. At Pierpont, this requires 15 or more credits in the desired AoE. Another AoE, aside from Information Systems, can be chosen, but students should still obtain enough technical credits to be able to pursue the BAS. For UMPI, students must have at least 40 technical credits in order to access the BAS path.

Students who have obtained an AAS but who did not obtain any computer or technology credits along the way have previously been denied the ability to pursue the BAS. Suggestions are as follows:

Information Systems
It is known that Pierpont gives the full 12 credits for the Google IT Professional Certificate, but it is currently unknown how UMPI brings this course in. It may only be worth 3 credits at UMPI (the same as at TESU) and it will almost certainly only fill general electives. Students should plan accordingly. This is still a quick, easy, and free (through The American Dream Academy) way to get an Area of Emphasis at Pierpont.

Business
Principles of Management is listed as being an upper level class in the ACE guide. Students may attempt to complete this course instead of the Saylor courses, but the Touchstone for Principles of Management appears to be quite involved for students who are just looking for quick and easy credit.

UMPI students are strongly advised to avoid the Project Management course at Sophia. This is because the Sophia course replaces BUS 141: Introduction to Project Management with Microsoft Projects at UMPI. The final project for BUS-141 is a requirement to be able to complete two upper level Project Management courses for students who decide to complete either the concentration or minor in Project Management at UMPI.

Electives
Students who are intending to get an Area of Emphasis will only need at least 24 additional credits here. Students not seeking an Area of Emphasis will require at least 39 credits. Students may also choose to take some of the Area of Emphasis credits listed above instead of some of the courses listed here.

RA credits
Currently, the cheapest, easiest & fastest way to meet this requirement is with ASU's 1-credit course CIS-194 Technical Support Fundamentals for 1 credit. Coming in second place is the free Clackamas CC credit. Although free, the Clackamas course has limited availability and is not self-paced. If you don't have the good fortune to be able to take this class, the ASU course is recommended.

TEL Learning also has a $67 College Readiness course that should work. While self-paced, this course has a proctored exam with scheduling that could slow down course completion.

If students need 12 RA credits for Pierpont, Olivet Nazarene University is recommended for courses. These are self-paced courses that cost $50 per credit with payment not due until the student completes the course. This would bring the cost of 12 credits to $600. After signing up, students are able to see approximately how long ONU thinks it will take a student to complete a course. These times are just estimates. For instance, students who are very comfortable with math may be able to complete Finite Math in just a couple of days. Students who are not comfortable with math may require significantly longer.

= Post-Pierpont instructions =

The above includes recommendations to fill the BOG AAS requirements as quickly and as easily as possible. While waiting for Pierpont to confer your AAS, students will want to take additional courses to bring their credit count as close as possible to 90 credits. Two essential GEC courses that were left out of the above degree plan are GEC 3E (lab science) and 5C (foreign language).

For GEC 3E, there are currently 1 recommended course. Biology 101L: Intro to Biology w/ Lab from Study.com is most recommended due to reported ease. Students may also choose Biology 107L: Clinical Microbiology w/ Lab or Chemistry 111L: Chemistry I w/ Lab. These courses rely on virtual labs instead of having to wait for physical lab kits as you do with StraighterLine. Earth Science 104: Intro to Meteorology is listed as a possible course, but this is thought to be a mistake due to Intro to Meteorology having no lab component at all.

For GEC 5C, is strongly recommended that students who are fluent in a non-English language take an ACTFL exam if possible. Otherwise, Spanish I at InstantCert.com is suggested. Students who are following the above plan but who intend to go on to a degree in History should instead choose Spanish 101 & Spanish 102 from Study.com