Online courses to fulfill prerequisites

[StarkResilient89]

I'm applying for the Fall 2015 class (MPA), but at the moment I don't have microeconomics or statistics under my belt yet. Technically, I already do have microecon covered via coursera, but I was previously told that it wouldn't count even if I got the certificate for paid courses.

That said, are there any online institutions that offer credited courses in these topics AND transcripts? I live in NYC, for the record, but it's super hard from what I can tell now to register for online courses at the CUNY system. I'm even open to doing courses via University of Phoenix, but something tells me most schools wouldn't accept that either. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[outofspace]

Try UC Berkeley Extension. GUCL at least accepts credits from there. There are some other online programs out there as well, some of which you can find through a forum search here.

[outofspace]

Sorry, by GUCL, I meant Georgetown SFS.

[Gov2School]

University of Phoenix courses might be accepted, but as I recall from looking into this they're expensive.  BYU has some courses that I recall are pretty cheap, and there's a University of Illinois online program as well.  You might check out University of Arizona, they offer a lot of online degrees, which suggests you might be able to take some individual courses online as well.  Did you try community colleges or city college of NY? I would think in NYC there would be lots of options, beyond CUNY. 

[chocolatecheesecake]

Just finished up my course at UCLA Extension in July. I got it by crowdsourcing it from friends on Facebook, and it worked out pretty well -- online exams, all open-book, so proctoring wasn't an issue. And it cost $595 per course, so pretty cheap as far as online courses go. It'll satisfy your university's requirements, but it's not the most rigorous crash course in econ, so just know what you're buying. =)

[StarkResilient89]

Try UC Berkeley Extension. GUCL at least accepts credits from there. There are some other online programs out there as well, some of which you can find through a forum search here.

 

 

University of Phoenix courses might be accepted, but as I recall from looking into this they're expensive.  BYU has some courses that I recall are pretty cheap, and there's a University of Illinois online program as well.  You might check out University of Arizona, they offer a lot of online degrees, which suggests you might be able to take some individual courses online as well.  Did you try community colleges or city college of NY? I would think in NYC there would be lots of options, beyond CUNY. 

 

 

Just finished up my course at UCLA Extension in July. I got it by crowdsourcing it from friends on Facebook, and it worked out pretty well -- online exams, all open-book, so proctoring wasn't an issue. And it cost $595 per course, so pretty cheap as far as online courses go. It'll satisfy your university's requirements, but it's not the most rigorous crash course in econ, so just know what you're buying. =)

Thanks for the feedback so far, folks (chocolatecheesecake & Gov2School, for at least the second time no less). 

 

Even though we've established that coursera is somewhat iffy in terms of schools recognizing credits, does anyone know if straighterline is generally more acceptable in that regard? 

 

The reason why I'm somewhat skeptical about the nyc community college/cuny system for credits is that there's this huge, huge bureacracy that I simply don't have the time to deal with (in light of my current job), and not to mention that it's pretty much past the deadline to apply for 99% of these schools at this point. Or more simply, they don't have the courses (statistics and possibly microecon) in an online format. 

[Gov2School]

The best thing to do would really to be to contact the grad schools you're most interested in and find out what their policies are re: considering online courses for submission. Every school may be different. 

[MJA87]

I just recently (last friday actually) finished up Micro and Macroeconomics at my undergrad institution. I took them as a non-degree seeking student because that was sort of my only choice to register as. This shouldn't be a problem with the grad schools I'm applying to, right? As in, these clsses will still be represented on the official transcripts they recieve?

[KenBesonders]

I just recently (last friday actually) finished up Micro and Macroeconomics at my undergrad institution. I took them as a non-degree seeking student because that was sort of my only choice to register as. This shouldn't be a problem with the grad schools I'm applying to, right? As in, these clsses will still be represented on the official transcripts they recieve?

You will likely have to request additional transcripts for the classes if you already graduated. Most grad schools should accept them as long as you have them on a transcript.

[notsosure]

I have to take an online course "Principles of Microeconomics" before the start of the fall semester. I got a list of Colleges/Universities that are approved but didn't really find a course that would fit.

 

Also: I am international student so I can not take the final exam in the U.S. So far I couldn't find any online courses from European Universities. I would prefer to take a self paced course that doesn't cost a ton of money.

 

Does anyone have experience with this? I appreciate any additional help I can get!

[chocolatecheesecake]

I have to take an online course "Principles of Microeconomics" before the start of the fall semester. I got a list of Colleges/Universities that are approved but didn't really find a course that would fit.

 

Also: I am international student so I can not take the final exam in the U.S. So far I couldn't find any online courses from European Universities. I would prefer to take a self paced course that doesn't cost a ton of money.

 

Does anyone have experience with this? I appreciate any additional help I can get!

 

@notsosure, I hope you have already gotten in touch with student services staff at your school. It's their job to help you out when you're having trouble with things like fulfilling pre-requisites! I suggest you email them with the problems that you have (i.e. why you couldn't find a course that fit - was it the timing or needing to have it proctored in person or not being able to do the final exam in the US?). I think they're your best option, because ultimately, they will need to approve whatever you end up doing.

[shrimps]

I have to take an online course "Principles of Microeconomics" before the start of the fall semester. I got a list of Colleges/Universities that are approved but didn't really find a course that would fit.

 

Also: I am international student so I can not take the final exam in the U.S. So far I couldn't find any online courses from European Universities. I would prefer to take a self paced course that doesn't cost a ton of money.

 

Does anyone have experience with this? I appreciate any additional help I can get!

For what it's worth, I've had good luck working with UCLA's Online Extension courses. At around $600 each, they're certainly not inexpensive, but they were still the cheapest option I was able to find for online courses or community college classes in my area (NYC). They also have the benefit of being tied pretty tightly through UCLA's online platform, for everything including midterms and finals. The second cheapest option I was able to find what Berkeley's online courses, where you have to take a final at a certified proctored site, and there wasn't a lot of graded coursework to help boost a bad test grade if it didn't go well.

 

Anyway, don't know if that's helpful for your specific needs/budget/schedule, notsosure, but thought I'd throw it out there!

[invincible49]

For what it's worth, I've had good luck working with UCLA's Online Extension courses. At around $600 each, they're certainly not inexpensive, but they were still the cheapest option I was able to find for online courses or community college classes in my area (NYC). They also have the benefit of being tied pretty tightly through UCLA's online platform, for everything including midterms and finals. The second cheapest option I was able to find what Berkeley's online courses, where you have to take a final at a certified proctored site, and there wasn't a lot of graded coursework to help boost a bad test grade if it didn't go well.

 

Anyway, don't know if that's helpful for your specific needs/budget/schedule, notsosure, but thought I'd throw it out there!

 

 

So what would happen if a person in India would want to take the course? Would they have test sites here?

 

As for UCLA, any person, any where can take the courses, am I right?

[chocolatecheesecake]

UCLA Extension's courses are online, and there are no in-person test sites. So you can take the courses anywhere in the world you have an Internet connection. I suggest you look more closely at the UCLA site, and the economics courses offered starting in June.

[shrimps]

Yeah, you can really take them from anywhere. In my Macro class, we all wrote little introductions, and it turned out 50-60% of the students were based in China.

I'm just finishing Macro and Micro now and will be taking Stats over the summer. Happy to answer questions if anyone's got them.

[invincible49]

Yeah, you can really take them from anywhere. In my Macro class, we all wrote little introductions, and it turned out 50-60% of the students were based in China.

I'm just finishing Macro and Micro now and will be taking Stats over the summer. Happy to answer questions if anyone's got them.

 

Thanks, Shrimps!

 

How do you find the courses? As a guy working full time, how much time do you think one needs to spend on the courses to get an A?

[shrimps]

Thanks, Shrimps!

 

How do you find the courses? As a guy working full time, how much time do you think one needs to spend on the courses to get an A?

To find classes by subject, you can search by online courses only on UCLA's Extention site (link here). 

 

I also work full-time, and have been taking two classes this quarter. The micro/macro combo is nice because the classes do kind of build off each other, they use the same (expensive) textbook and every once and a while, the reading material overlaps. It's about a solid 15 hours of extra work a week, in part because taking a class online does require being more proactive about seeking out resources.

 

I think it's totally doable while working a regular job, but that being said, I'm really looking forward to taking just the one class over the summer term.

[avflinsch]

Try Rutgers - no online stats over the summer, but there are a few Microeconomics sessions offered online thru the Camden campus, and it is not too late to register for them.
 

http://sis.rutgers.edu/soc/

Edited May 26, 2015 by avflinsch