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I miss it. I miss being challenged and I miss thinking about this in a methodical way, and I want to do something with biology again. I am thinking about making my next career move be into science writing, but it looks like all jobs except for freelance require that I have a bachelor's in a science.
I have a minor in biology and in chemistry, and I've taken calculus and physics, so as long as those are accepted I need only about five upper division classes to get a bachelor's in biology. I don't have a lot of flexibility in my work schedule, so there's the added complication that I would need to take any classes at night or on Saturdays.
Does anyone know what schools in the DC area I should look at? I'd rather not get it from a community college if I can help it, but it may be that it's just not possible to get it from any of the traditional universities around here under those restrictions.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I laughed because I had similar sentiments about missing math and science. I wish I could help you in your search for schools in the DC area. Good luck.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Katie, you should be aware than most universities will have a minimum-credits-attended-on-site requirement. In some states, this is required by state law. I have no idea what D.C. or Virginia's policies are, nor those of the local institutions, but it's something to check on.
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Yes, Utah State require 30, which is ten classes. That's frustrating, but I still want to try. Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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30 is very common; 45 is not uncommon as well.
Oh, and think it's very cool that you're doing this. Science/technical editing/writing used to be my dream job.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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There are several schools in the DC area; George Washington, George Mason, and the University of Maryland to name a few. Further south (in Fredericksburg! YAYY!) there's the University of Mary Washington. Most of these are mainly liberal arts schools, although I think Mason is gearing itself towards computer science these days.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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A lot of Virginia schools have a program set up where you can get your associates degree from a community college, then transfer those credits to a 'regular' school. When I find the time to get my Bachelor's in CS, that's what I'm going to do.
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I don't know what their requirements for a degree would be, but I imagine most of the schools in the DC area have pretty extensive programs for professionals. I've had friends get degrees at George Mason while working 9-5, and I think they have a number of pretty flexible programs. Same with Maryland. Additionally, both Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia have a satellite campus in the area (Falls Church, I believe) and I know that VT's programs there are almost exclusively geared towards individuals working full time.
I don't know so much about the schools in DC, but in addition to GWU and Georgetown, Catholic, Trinity and American may all be worth a look.
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Dan_Raven: I've got an acquaintance (my stake president, actually-- it's a Mo' thing) that works for the Smithsonian institute. He's an entymologist. When he found out I was an amateuer beekeeper, he gave me a quiz on bees that made me feel REALLY amateur.
He recently took the youth in our ward (about 30 or so kids) on a behind the scenes tour of the Smithsonian. Very neat dude. Also, I hear that he is one of the best campers to go camping with, since he also does a lot of field work and has the latest toys to play with.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Okay, none of the above. I'm going to try some of the public universities.
The catch is that I'm already into a masters program. My university in Texas doesn't have an online option, so to finish, I need to transfer somewhere. Technical Writing is not a popular program, so there aren't a lot of good options. The best option is Texas Tech. However, I'm no longer a resident of Texas, so that just got a great deal more expensive. Ideally I want to both finish the masters in tech writing and a bachelor's in biology, because I think that for what I want to do at the level I want to do it, I might need both.
The links are amazing. I'm going to check them all out.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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FOr record keeping purposes, there are also the following options:
Marymount University Virginia Commonwealth has an Arlington campus. Northern Virginia Community College
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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NoVA CC (NOVA) is a community college-- you can't get a bachelor's degree from there, I don't think.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I'm still short of the 30 needed, but it's possible my calculations of the above aren't quite right and I'll need a couple more biology classes because of the laboratory and writing intensive requirements. Hmm..
Added: There's not a lot of classes taught at night, but it looks like there's two or three a semester that would work.
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My mom is a freelance science editor (specializing in papers by non-native speakers), and she greatly enjoys it. I'm sure you'll find the endeavor rewarding.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Katie, have you called VCU to talk with someone who specializes in transfer credits? I strongly recommend doing so.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Check with the University of Maryland. It useta be (may still be, just haven't checked recently) the accrediting school for off-campus college classes for the US military worldwide, including remote and sea duty. I'd suspect that UoM credits were highly transferable to other colleges because of agreements of reciprocity. If that were the case, UoM probably has a more lenient attitude toward accepting credits from other colleges than most universities.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Cheap, flexible (onsite, online, whatever), excellent reputation, especially in language courses. Most courses are scheduled evening/weekend, designed for people working full time.
I'm planning on taking beginning Arabic there as soon as I get off of this crazy night schedule. It's $365 for a three credit course that meets one evening a week for two and a half hours.
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Caveat: Not sure how one goes about getting a degree from there.
Second caveat: They also don't seem to offer degress in straight biology or chemistry. Their math/science stuff is a little more vague, like meteorology.
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ooh, and aspectre's right. I had a friend who was enlisted in teh Air Force, stationed all over the world, and got her bachelor's from UMD online all while working full time and overseas.
She now works for the NSA doing stuff she can't tell me about.
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Don't forget American University. I don't know about their website and credit transfers though.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Oh, and just fyi - all of the DC-area schools (including UMD) are part of the consortium. It's a nice one stop place to take a look at all of them.
I do need to do something. I usually need a project outside of work to capture my attention anyway, and it's currently worse because my DVD player broke. I went to buy one yesterday but bought shoes instead. Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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