Excelsior -- BS/BA-MIS degree questions. Spammy. Be patient please.

Hello all. I hope someone can help me out with some questions I have on Excelsior's Management/Info Systems degree.

Most importantly, what the heck do I actually need to do to fulfill the Business Component? Page 28 of the School of Business and Technology catalog isn't very clear, as with many of the Excelsior publications. Under the Business Component, it says that I need 45 semester hours, then goes on to mention 11 specific classes (Organizational Behavior through Business Policy. Too many to list). I would assume that these 11 classes would equal 33 credits, leaving 12 credits to fulfill the rest of the Business Component.

I would assume that the remaining 12 would be taken up by the mention of 12 credits required off to the side under Advanced-Level Business Credit. However, there's another section off to the side that says that I must have 18 hours under Business Concentration. Where is this coming from? Do the 11 classes they specifically mention not cover the concentration?

What do I actually need to take aside from the required 11 courses? Do I actually need 33 credits from those courses plus 12 more advanced-level and even more beyond that?

I don't consider myself to be a moron, but this catalog certainly makes me feel like one.

Going back to the advanced-level business credit, it states that I need 12 credits in the diagram. However, under the description of the various components of the program beginning on page 29, it says that I need 9 advanced-level credits out of 18 total in the business concentration. Can EC make up their mind, please?

Also, the catalog states that I need the following:

• A business programming language
• Database Management
• Data Communications or Telecommunications or Networking
• Systems Analysis and Design

Call me blind, but I don't recall seeing those in the ECE/CLEP/DANTES list of exams. Does this mean that, unlike every other EC degree available, I'll have to find classes to cover these? That seems a bit inconvenient, since I'll likely have to have to take several prerequisite classes just to get into those classes. Additionally, if I did decide to just go through with the classes, they would most likely be at my local community college and would only be considered lower-level credit. Is it okay if these four required classes are lower-level as long as I'm able to make up the 9 or 12 upper level courses through other exams?

And now, down to the last couple of questions. Whew, this is getting longer than I thought it would be.

1) What all is considered a "business programming language"? I would like to learn PHP to create web applications, and those applications could be business-oriented, but would PHP be considered business-level? I personally wouldn't see why not. The only difference is that PHP is web-oriented.

2) Can IT certifications be applied toward the advanced-level business credit, or will they only be good toward electives? I have a few certifications that I know would be considered upper-level toward the CIS degree, but this isn't the CIS degree.

Thanks for any help you all can offer. I'm hoping for a better answer than "call Excelsior". I plan on doing that at some time, but I would rather get some feedback online rather than sit on the phone long distance for 45 minutes hashing it all out.

Thanks.

 

Rook,
I don't have time to answer your questions right now, but I will get back to you today. I too remember being confused about the way the requirements were presented, I did figure it out though, I completed my last class for my BS/MIS at Excelsior just this past week!

Karen

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is/was confused.

Congratulations on finishing up the degree! I'm just curious -- how long did it take you, and did you already have other college credit before starting?

I work very demanding hours, so it would be impossible for me to follow a regimen as mentioned on bain4weeks.com, but I'd like to go from start to finish in a couple of years. I'm good at retaining info, have some background in IT, and great at taking tests, so I'm hoping a 2-year timeline from 0 credits to BS/MIS isn't unrealistic. I have some college credit, but not enough to bother with transferring.

Thanks again for any help and I look forward to your response when you have more time.

 

You need 120 credits total:

60 Arts and Sciences
45 Business (including concentration)
15 Additional from either (includes 1 credit Info Literacy from Excelsior)

The overlap in the credit requirements for business and concentration is very confusing. Here's what they are trying to say for the business requirement:

45 credits in Business total
18 of these in the MIS concentration (9 must be upper level)
3 other upper level credits can be in the concentration or not

If you subtract 18 from 45 you have 27 credits. These represent the business classes that are listed, EXCEPT Ethics and Org Behavior because those two classes can end up being counted under Arts and Sciences. I guess if they are classified as business, then they go in the group of 15 additional credits that can be from Business or Arts & Sciences.

It also states under B on page 32 that "courses meeting core requirements are not classified as advanced even if they are offered by a four-year college or university at the junior/senior level." This means that those 27 credits of core business classes can be lower level if need be because they aren't going to count toward your 18 credit upper level requirement anyway.

I hope you are following all this, I'm sure no one else is!

I don't have any IT certifications, but I would think you can use them toward the MIS since they are listed on page 6 along with the other "Sources of Undergraduate Credit." The problem is that 12 credits of the 18 required for the concentration are specific classes (the 4 you listed). You can use ICCP exams, although I have heard they are very outdated. I did take the Dantes MIS test, which counted as upper level credit.

Looks like I really am not much help after all, my situation was very different from yours. I had an AS in Business and a few computer classes beyond that, so I only needed about 12 more classes. The reason I went with Excelsior is that most other schools require 10 classes taken from the school and I didn't want to take 10 more classes, I planned to test out on some of them.

I ended up taking only 5 CLEP/Dantes tests: Org Behavior, Marketing, Management, MIS, and Analyzing/Interpreting Literature. I've taken 5 classes at Limestone College and 1 at Excelsior. I like Limestone's 8 week term, it's a good pace for me.

I haven't done this quickly at all, I took my first CLEP 2 years ago! I've got 2 school age kids and I work, I was looking more for convenience than speed. Okay, truth be told, I'm fairly lazy, and I did overstudy for the 5 tests that I took, I made very high grades on all of them, but it wasn't really necessary. I didn't get really serious until last Fall, I've taken the 6 classes since then, I found I needed the discipline of class deadlines.

I'm curious, why aren't you going for the IT degree since you have IT certs?

Karen

 

FYI:

 

Karen,

Thanks for the response. You've definitely shed some light on the credit mystery. I think I basically know what I need to do at this point. I've done a little more research and found what EC classes I can take to satisfy 3 of the 4 specific classes I mentioned in the bullets in my post. My last big question mark is what I need to do to fulfill the Systems Analysis and Design requirement.

As for why I'm pursuing MIS rather than BS/CIS or BS/IT, I just feel that I would be better off with MIS as it's a combination of business admin and IT. Even though the concentration is in information technology, it's still essentially a business degree and I wouldn't be restricted to an IT role if something better should come along.

Also, the greater majority of employers in my area are looking for IT generalists. People who can do a little bit of everything. An MIS degree fits the bill pretty well for that.

 

Could business Ethics count as a Advance upper level class. I took my Business Ethics class at a 4 yr university and it is a 400 level course. I was reading on excelsior page for their business ethics class and I think it will
count as upper level business credit which would fill this requirement. I am two upper level classes short.


ck out the following link
https://www.excelsior.edu/portal/page?_pageid=57,114706&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&_piref57_191753_57_114706_114706.next_page=CourseSearchShowServlet&_piref57_191753_57_114706_114706.ecPage=Summary&_piref57_191753_57_114706_114706.ecEvent=Detail&_piref57_191753_57_114706_114706.TITLE_ID=30173203

ganization Excelsior College
Course Title Business Ethics
Course Number BUS*323
Prerequisite
Description

This undergraduate course examines corporate governance, business government relations, the impact of economic and social change, organizational ethics, and the political role of business. It considers the measures business may use to anticipate and provide appropriate responses to changes in public and government expectations while defending legitimate business interests

Note: In the B.S. Business degree programs, this course fulfills the Ethics requirement. It can apply as an advanced-level business elective or upper-level arts and sciences elective in the Humanities. For associate degree students in the Business programs, BUS 323 fulfills the Ethics requirement and applies as an arts and sciences elective in the Humanities. For students in the Liberal Arts degree program, this course applies as an upper-level arts and sciences elective in the Humanities. In the Nursing degree programs, BUS 323 applies as an upper-level arts and sciences elective in the Humanities.

This course applies as:

* AAS (Nursing) - - Humanities - Humanities Core Requirement Satisfied - Upper Level
* AS (Nursing) - - Humanities - Humanities Core Requirement Satisfied - Upper Level
* BS (Nursing) - - Humanities - Humanities Core Requirement Satisfied - Upper Level
* BS General Business - fulfills the Ethics requirement
* BS Liberal Arts - Philosophy - Humanities - IIB - Upper Level
* BS Liberal Arts - Communications - Professional & Organizational Communication - Humanities - IIB - Upper Level
* BS Liberal Studies - - Humanities - Humanities Core Requirement Satisfied - Upper Level