I have been lurking on this site for a while and I have a question regarding the Big 3 and the liberal arts majors as opposed to Business or Information Technology Degrees. I am so thankful to have found it, lots of great info! I currently have two associate degrees, A.S. in Information Technology and an A.A.S. in the same thing from Florida State College at Jacksonville. I graduated in 2006. Since that time FSCJ has become a four year degree granting institution, they offer B.S. and B.A.S. degrees. I would like to complete my BA/BS degree in anything at this point. I have 75 lower division credits at least from my degree(s) and I have about 30 upper division credits from Marylhurst University where I was enrolled in their BS in Business Adminstration/Real Estate Studies also. I transferred these back to FSCJ and have taken about 6-9 more credits there in their BAS in Supervision and Management. I would have 34 credits to complete my degree there with 18 being in General Ed requirements (math - 6, social science- 6, and natural science-6). My confusion is that most of the Big 3 seem focused around liberal arts completion, although I have a ton of Computer and Business credits and only a few liberal studies credits, could I still finish at one of the big 3? I have two english plus upper division business writing completed, 1 3D design class, speech, a social science, and a bunch of electives in keyboarding etc. I applied to COSC with intentions on completing a concentration in Organizational Leadership. Does that sound like a good track or are there options I am missing? I am very tired of school and am paying all costs out of pocket so payment plans are another consideration for me.
All colleges require a certain number of liberal arts courses to be completed. This isn't anything unusual. If you do have to take some more to fulfill degree requirements, you can always test out of them with CLEP, DSST, etc. Yes, of course you could finish with one of the Big 3. These schools are commonly considered to be more generous with the credits they will accept toward degree completion. In fact, you might want to consider Thomas Edison State College since you already have 75 lower division credits. Last time I checked TESC will accept up to 80 lower division credits toward a bachelor's degree. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and apply to TESC. They will evaluate your previously earned credits and let you know how many more you need to graduate. It's a very straight-forward process.
Even if you don't quite fulfil all the general education requirements, if you're at all decent at taking multiple choice tests you could knock them out cheaply and finish your degree by taking CLEP tests. You said you applied to Charter Oak, definitely ask your admissions person or academic advisor about this.
I too had a lot of professional credits (mostly engineering and a few business) and at the time the Excelsior BS in liberal studies/arts was school that would accept all my professional credits. As you can see my EC BS was accepted by two grad schools. I suggest you compare your credits with each of the big 3 school degree requirements. Also note that some DSST exams carry upper division credit. COSC is often mentioned as the best big 3 school. I was pleased with EC but that was more than a decade ago. Other than CLEP/DSST exams Clovis CC in NM offers on-line lower division courses at relatively low cost.
I agree. I did this for a handful of courses I needed to complete my BS at Excelsior (they rejected one upper division course I proposed).
I created a test out plan for TESC's BSBA in Computer Information Systems that might work great with your credits. Sanantone's BSBA in Computer Information Systems - Degree Forum Wiki Sanantone's General Education Options - Degree Forum Wiki BSBA in Computer Information Systems Degree Program TESC only requires 18 upper level credits for their BA degrees. The BSBA degrees require 12 UL credits in the area of specialization. Several courses in the business core are automatically UL unless they came from a 2-year college. Even if the course was lower level at the original 4-year college, if it has a similar title and course description to an upper level course at TESC, it will be transcribed as UL. TESC has an 80-credit transfer limit on community college courses, but that does not apply to lower level credits from 4-year colleges. The great thing about TESC is that you don't need to enroll to see how your credits will fit into other degree programs. Once your evaluation is completed, you can use their "what-if" feature in Online Student Services to see how your credits will be applied to other majors.
TESC only requires 18 upper level credits for their BA degrees. The BSBA degrees require 12 UL credits in the area of specialization. Several courses in the business core are automatically UL unless they came from a 2-year college. Even if the course was lower level at the original 4-year college, if it has a similar title and course description to an upper level course at TESC, it will be transcribed as UL. TESC has an 80-credit transfer limit on community college courses, but that does not apply to lower level credits from 4-year colleges. The great thing about TESC is that you don't need to enroll to see how your credits will fit into other degree programs. Once your evaluation is completed, you can use their "what-if" feature in Online Student Services to see how your credits will be applied to other majors.[/QUOTE] So do you think they will transfer all of my credits since my community college is not longer a community college - they are now a 4 year school? (Most Community colleges in FL have converted to 4 year schools as of 2010.)
My current college has something called 'degree shopping' to find the best fit for your current credits. Is this what you are mentioning is like the 'what-if' feature at TESC? I see they also have a program in Organizational Leadership. When I called admissions for COSC they said FSCJ will be considered a 4 year institution because community colleges cannot grant Bachelor's Degrees. I called EC and they said the upper limit on the number of credits that can be transferred from a 4 years school is 116. So will i have to apply in all cases and have my credits evaluated by each school before I will find out which will be the best fit?
