Bachelor Degrees Based On Life Experience

A bachelor degree is an undergraduate academic degree for a major that usually takes 3 to 4 years. In some institutions, it takes 6 years. If you are a working adult who wants to return to school to finish your degree, you don’t have to start from scratch. Life experience credits can significantly reduce the time and money it takes to earn a degree. Here are tips you can add to your portfolio of experiences that degree granting institutions are looking for so you can get your bachelor degree life experience credits.

Evaluate your previous learning experiences

Ask yourself - what have you finished so far? Start by browsing through your college transcript. What subjects have you finished? Were they useful to you? Next consider what bachelor degree you want. Your work experience may have led you to a different career path different from your previous degree. Compare the subjects you have taken before to what you need now based on your work experience.

Evaluate your current work experience

Ask yourself – what have you accomplished so far? Are you skilled in typing and filing? Maybe you have extensive experience in accounting. Are you good in negotiation and communication? Maybe that’s your strength and your company considers you an asset for that skill. Maybe your skill is at retailing. You may have the company record for most insurance policies sold. List them down whether it is in the field of financial management, organizational work or time management.

Do you have non-credited informal education?

Have you attended workshops before and clinics outside office premise? If you have, you can also use them for your portfolio. If you have attended seminars like John Maxwell’s Maximum Impact Leadership Series or seminars done by Steven Covey or anything similar, these are pluses. What about lectures or other courses? Maybe you attended a 5 day Basic Life Support course by Red Cross. List them down. It will also help if you got certificates from these sources.

List down independent self teaching activities

Do you have a habit of reading? Maybe you do a lot of reading on management and you supplement this reading with audio CDs you listen to everyday in your car. Maybe you have an extended contact with a recognized expert like a mechanic, a pastor or with a couch. You certainly pick up a lot of things with them. Self teaching activities are valuable to add into your portfolio.

Add your volunteer work activities

Here’s a list of examples: church activities like marriage counseling, political campaigns, social service work in hospitals and others alike. Have resource people who can put out a good word for you from these events.

How about travel experiences?

Have you taken study tours or maybe you’ve taken significant amounts of business trips in different countries and learned a few words about their culture and dialect? List them down.

Look at your recreational activities

Do you have musical skills and expertise? Maybe you are excellent in theater or public speaking. What about crafts or creative writing? List all of them down.

After you have listed all your credentials, organize them into a portfolio. This would work like your resume. Then you’ll present this to degree granting institutions who will grant you your bachelor degree.