Hi,

 I am 59 and planning to attend an MA program in depth psychology...but am about 45 credits short on my bachelors...or more depending on what my transcipts will pass along...last at school in '77 and earlier in '68 '69.

 

Are there accredited schools that can offer life experience credit. I just need the bachelors in any legitimate form. I am looking for the fastest, cheapest legitimate method to do so.

 All help appreciated.

 Galen

Hi Galen, and welcome.

There are three schools, called the Big Three, that are what's known as assessment colleges.  There are all regionally accredited schools, they're Excelsior College in New York, Charter Oak State College in Connecticut, and Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey.  The Big Three would be very lenient about the age of your transfer credits (many schools require transfer credit to be newer than ten years), and they have processes for portfolio evaluation of life experience.

One important thing, though, is that portfolio evaluation is a lot of work.  You don't just send them a resume and get credit, you have to document the experience you've had and demonstrate that it's equivalent to academic work.  I finished my Bachelor's through Charter Oak, and I decided that exams like CLEP were easier and faster than portfolio evaluation.

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

Also it's worth mentioning that there are people out there who consult for portfolio creation for evaluation, or at least there used to be.  I wonder if there are people still offering that?