Major vs. Concentration

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by cmt, Sep 30, 2003.

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  1. cmt

    cmt New Member

    Concerning utility, is there a difference? By "utility" I mean admissions to graduate programs and employment. Has anyone ever had a problem because they had a "concentration?" Would there be a major difference on the transcript?

    I suspect the answer to my questions is going to be "no" (I hope anyway), but it doesn't hurt to ask.
     
  2. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    Excelsior College seems to think there's a utility difference. When its accreditor allowed it to rename its "concentrations" "majors" (with no change in course content), Excelsior advertised it as a major advance.

    Offhand, most people would think that a "major in history" involved more courses, and a more rigorous core requirement, than a "concentration in history". The remedy, of course, is that after you say "concentration in history", in your very next sentence you should describe the courses you actually took.
     
  3. cmt

    cmt New Member

    How ironic, considering a COSC concentration requires more credits than an Excelsior major.

    Do you know what is required for a school to rename "concentrations" to "majors?"
     
  4. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    No, I don't know.

    Excelsior and Charter Oak are in different regions: Excelsior College is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and Charter Oak is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Those two accreditors may define "major" in a different way.
     
  5. June

    June New Member

    I thought a "major" was administered by a single department, while a "concentration" would consist of classes that are related but in different disciplines. So a concentration in, say, American Studies, could include classes in history, literature, sociology, etc.
     
  6. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

    Now that I'm an old-timer (or, as I prefer to say, emeritus), here's a reflection on how TESC used to do it. (Whether they still do it this way or not, I don't know, but it's the way things were when I graduated.)

    Back in the late 1980's, TESC offered two options: a concentration and a specialization. If you earned, say, a B.A. in Humanities (as I did), that was considered a concentration. You had to have at least three areas of the humanities represented, with no more than 12 credits in any one area. (One could do the same in any of the other two areas of the liberal arts, social sciences or math/natural sciences.) Thus, in my case, I used courses in communications, music, and theology. 1+1+1=1: Humanities. If you majored in one particular, say communications or music, with all 30-some credits in the one specific field, that was a specialization.

    Functionally, however, everyone called either way of doing it a major. The concentration was considered a broad-area major, while the specialization was considered a focused major. And the particular terminology TESC used didn't matter a hill of beans - it was functionally a major, regardless of what the transcript called it.

    This differed from what, at least according to my understanding they were going at Charter Oak, where every B.A. was considered to be in "General Studies," even though there may have been a concentration.

    Regardless of the specific terminology, however, what mattered was that the big three (Excelsior, then Regents, being the third) were offering the traditional B.A. and B.S. degrees, as opposed to the mickey-mouse-sounding degree titles from schools like Brigham Young, Elizabethtown, etc. on the level of B.L.S., B.I.S., B.P.S., etc. (TESC ultimately botched this when they offered their second master's degree, the M.P.S. - Master of Professional Studies, which was functionally a liberal arts degree. Their first master's was the more standard M.S.M., or Master of Science in Management.)

    So I wouldn't sweat terms like major, concentration, specialization, etc. As long as you can list a B.A. or B.S. in anything, you've got what you needed in the first place.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 30, 2003
  7. Jeff Hampton

    Jeff Hampton New Member

    There might be a few instances in which it could make a difference. For example, for some government jobs there is a statutory requirement that all candidates must have a degree with a "major" in a given subject. There might be some H.R. people who would interpret this strictly and toss out your resume without even giving you the chance to explain.

    But I suspect such situations would be extremely rare. I agree with Dr. Levicoff that the important thing is to just get the degree.
     
  8. cmt

    cmt New Member

    Spin?

    When asked, "What was your major?" Rather than attempting to explain the concentration/major situation, is it ethical to reply, "My degree is in History." That seems a practical answer even if I am putting a little spin on it.

    To the transcript question. What's the difference on the transcript? Since graduate admissions will probably not see my resume, will there be anything on the transcript that would raise eyebrows? Perhaps a neon sign flashing "NO MAJOR HERE, ONLY A CONCENTRATION"
     
  9. Jeff Hampton

    Jeff Hampton New Member

    Re: Spin?

    I think it depends on who is asking the question. If it's an interview for a job, and the job description said that it requires a B.A. with a major in History, then I think the ethical thing to do is to give a full, honest explanation of the nature of your degree.

    In a social setting, your hypothetical answer would be more than sufficient.

    There are probably some gray areas in between. But I suspect that you will be surprised by how rarely this question comes up.
     

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