Comparing the BIG 3 agggregator schools (COSC, TESC, EXCELSIOR)

Since my first 2 threads on these boards were all ?'s I thought I'd try to contribute what I can since I spent the last 2 months CAREFULLY studying the 3 aggregator schools. I'll make a thread to compare them from what I know so far- any other insight is welcome: I TRY to "tell it like it is" BUT FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME IF YOU DISAGREE:

EXCELSIOR:
PROS:
*This seems to be the most exam friendly school. Talking to the customer service, the other 2 will allow unlimited exams but seem to strongly discourage and get annoyed if I ask about them.

*Excelsior has the most flexible Liberal Studies program- As long as they're upper level you can do almost what you want.

*Requirements are clear in black and white.

*By far the most friendly customer service of the 3.

*They offer MAJORS not just concentrations.

*DistanceLearn

*Prices seem the most reasonable for out of staters since it is now Private.

*Pre-Enrollment evaluation

*Awards generous GRE credit.
CONS:
I think the name "EXCELSIOR" (NY's "other" state nickname besides empire) seeems TACKY and fake- even though its accredited. I'd feel funny telling my friends my alma- mater is Excelsior (like the hotel) Also I think having STATE in the name garners more respect. Excelsior does not (??? What does it say on Excelsior diplomas now BTW) I wish they stayed REGENTS College. Excelsior sounds almost ...pretentious...

*The new Information Literacy requirement (a 4 month online course) is a pain in the butt if you plan on testing out.

*Excelsior requires the most (30) upper level courses to get a degree...

CHARTER OAK:
PROS:
*Its a state university.

* Only requires 15-18 upper level credits.

*Friendly customer service.

*THOROUGH pre-enrollment evaluation.

CONS:
*No majors- just concentrations.

*the LEAST flexible- you need to submit an essay to articulate what courses you are taking and WHY they make sense- it needs to be approved by 2 faculty members. Liberal Studies they are tough- EG- They would not let me combine Psych-Soc- and History saying they are totally unrelated. Also they won't let me take courses over that I got a D in so I can put them in my concentration. (maybe this is why they only have 1000-2000 students- TESC has abot 10,000 and excelsior about 27,000)

*Will only accept certain exams (but the selection is still good)


THOMAS EDISON STATE:
PROS:
*Public (well ok Public id say has advantages and disadvantages...

*In my opinion, the most authentic sounding name- just an opinion.

*Requires less 300 and 400 level credits- I think 27 have to be at least 200 level- not sure of the details...

*Great Selection of areas of study, simple curriculum...

*Has a comprehensive tuition option

CONS:
Most $$$ if out of state but still reasonable...

*Customer Service SUCKS, they were arrogant, condescending, and every ? is a STUPID ? It's as if they're saying show us the money first or your wasting our time.
I think Excelsior is friendlier cause its private and they need to COMPETE to stay in business. And BELIEVE ME!!! I "do my homework" before I ask a ?

*Shady about what they require.

*Only accepts 80 credits fron a 2 yr college, the other 2 accept 90.

*NO pre-enrollment evaluation HOVEVER since the other 2 do and I took advantage of them- they both accepted similar credits- I'm guessing as the 2 most popular if the 3 TESC should be the same but its just a guess (except only 80 from a 2 yr school)

*No credit for GRE subject tests.

*They will admit if you ask that THEORETICALLY you can totally test out BUT the guy strongly discourages it and said they dont have many courses OR exams in social science which is a LIE- The kid sounded like they don't want my business. He's like trying to reason with "Judge Judy"

*No way to track application status and no confirmation e-mail.

I hope this helps someone(DISCLAIMER This is a mix of my opinion and what facts I researched)...

 

I finished the IL in an afternoon--the four months is a maximum I think.

 

Given COSC's reputation for good customer service, would it be possible to present them with examples of degrees like the one you planned and see if they would change their mind?

On this side of the pond, History and Sociology would be a completely unexceptional choice of degree, as evidenced by my alma mater http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/undergrad/degrees/sochist/ and psychology and history, whilst a little more strange, is by no means unheard of,
and interdisciplinary approaches, like that taken by Cambridge http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/ugprospectus/courses/solpolsci.html can be found as well. The syllabus of Essex's BA in History and Criminology http://www.essex.ac.uk/history/ba/joint/ba-hist-crim.shtm might also be a good place to start.

Angela

 

Pesonally, I thought TESC's customer service sucked! They were incredibly non-responsive

 

LJinPA

I first must congratulate you on your thorough homework of the 3 schools. I do think that each person is different and it all depends on what you are looking for in a college. For Example:

1.) You seem to like it when the name "State" appears in the title of the college and don't like the idea of telling your friends you attended Excelsior.

I think that has more to do with age. When you are 18 to 25 bragging about what college you went to is paramount. At my age, experience is just as important as the degree. Whether the name "State" is in the title means nothing to me. A Regionally accredited piece of paper will do just fine.

2.) Major vs. Concentration. Through my own experience I think that a major at the Bachelor's level is not as important as it is at the Master's level. For Example:

When you are 18 to 22 most students (me included) pick a major, then by the time you are 30 years old your job has little if nothing to do with your major. At 18 who knows what the heck they want...hahaha. At that age you change your mind every day !!!
My point is - whether English Lit at the bachelor's level was a major or just a concentration.......won't mean much in 5 to 10 years.
Did you ever notice the amount of people whose bachelor's degree and master's degree are in 2 entirely different areas of study ??? At the bachelor's level, just get the piece of paper.

3.) I Agree 100 % with you about Thomas Ed. I am from NJ and they are very rude. Customer Service is horrible.

Before I leave, I noticed that most of my responses stereotyped you into the 18 to 25 year old category. If you are a dinosaur like me, I apologize. It just seemed that a lot of your concerns are the things that a younger student would care about.

 

?/comment

So far my communication with the TESC advisors has been excellent!

I graduated USNY,Regents College(Excelsior) in 1992 and thought they were okay as well! I am looking at TESC for a 2nd BS in Nursing.

Are you saying that Excelsior College is no longer a state school and is now a private school not affiliated with the University of the State of New York? My B.S. says The University of the State of New York and when I get a college transcript from Excelsior they say "oh its the same thing."

I am still listing it as The University of the State of New York on my C.V. I hope this is correct???

 

Actually I'm 27, but I know what you mean. As you get older you realize things are not as black and white as you think when your 18 and see the big picture.

Mid Twenties and even late 20's is usually the age when people sport their alumni stickers on their little red sports cars (Penn State, East Stroudsburg, University of Scranton...) Can you picture an Excelsior sticker in the same situation..........? Can you picture Excelsior beating Notre Dame in football? I know I'm sounding silly BUT MY POINT..... Excelsior just doesnt sound like the name of a college.

BTW I'm curious what do Excelsior Diplomas say on them? I'm talking the ones NOW after the switch? I'd certainly rather USNY to be written on it just to make it look more legit.

I also admit I live in a provincial area where people still reminisce about who they dated in jr. high. college... and even wear their High School Football jackets into their early 30's.
I feel like a pioneer doing what I'm doing, since doing ANYTHING untraditional or unconventional with one's life is UNHEARD of in parts of Northeast PA. Many of my friends never heard of distance ed!!!!! sorry to get so off topic...

As for Charter Oak- they want an essay to articulate why your courses make sense AND it takes a while to get it back with no guarantee that they will accept the courses- yet they dont list their guidelines very clearly for liberal studies.

 

Delta,

Excelsior College is now a private school.

Every college in New York is a part of the University of the State of New York.

From: USNY

 

?

Thanks Decimon.

Is Excelsior College now the custodian of the official transcript records for those who graduated from USNY?

 

Re: ?

I'd think that would have to be so. But then, I thought Microsoft would remain a penny stock. It's probably best to email Excelsior with the question.

 

I recently finished my degree at COSC (waiting for the paper,) and the essays (Concentration Plan of Study and Academic Autobiography) weren't nearly as painful as I had anticipated. Of course, I did the Health Studies concentration, which has a fairly predefined course set and only needs to be OK'd by one faculty member, and the liberal studies concentration is a somewhat different kettle of fish. Everyone at COSC, however, was uniformly helpful and quick to respond to queries.

 

I think people are always saying how much more helpful the customer service at Charter Oak is compared to the other 2 cause Charter Oak is much smaller- 1 or 2 thousand compared to 10,000 at TESC and 27,000 at Excelsior. I think the other 2 schools are overwhelmed.

 

Thorough coverage of the three schools

Bravo on the coverage of the big 3 distance learning schools.

I have NO problem whatsoever with Excelsior College's name. I'm sure "Microsoft" sounded stupid when they first came out. So did "Harvard" University.

My entire roadmap breaks down distance learning from someone who's actually done it. This link here jumps directly to the big 3 comparison.

http://www.123collegedegree.com/distancelearning.html

But overall, I do believe that Excelsior College is the best choice for distance learning when it comes to the residency requirement (0% unless you are enrolled in the military option, then it's appx 10%)

 

LJinPA,

I know exactly what you mean!!! I am here in West Hazleton, and I can't believe the people here!!! Are you new to the area? Are you AGR also? I have been here a year, and have been looking into finishing my degree through either Excelsior or COSC. I would love to chat with you more on this subject . Feel free to look up my name on Global and send me an email. Maybe we can help each other complete our degrees.

 

Re: Re: Comparing the BIG 3 agggregator schools (COSC, TESC, EXCELSIOR)

I'll second that. I finished the IL course in a couple of hours, to include the test. If I had to say anything bad about Excelsior, it would be that it seemed like an add-on that just helped increase the bottom line of the college. To me it was a total waste of time and money; however, I suppose that if I operated a nontraditional college, I'd want ensure that my students could use the medium that they'd chosen as effectively as possible.

In the final analysis, if you are reasonably computer literate (know how to use AND, OR and NOT to do a google search, for example) you aren’t going to spend much time working on the course. Add to that the fact that there are post-tests for all sections of the course (10 total?) and you can easily gauge your strong and weak points. You may retake the tests over and over again, so I used them as pre-tests and when I passed, skipped on to the next section.

Bill

 

Great job. Accurate and helpful

LJin PA,
Great job in your assessments of the Big 3. My experience at TESC was exactly the same. The professors I had were excellent. The student services/administration/VA dept were absolutely horrendous. As you say, they were condescending, inept, inefficient and rude. This is consistent with Lawrie Miller (BAin4weeks.com) and countless other students.

Your pros and cons were excellent as well.

 

Re: Re: Comparing the BIG 3 agggregator schools (COSC, TESC, EXCELSIOR)

I'll third that. It only took me about 8-10 hours to complete. (one setting). Not impossible by any means. I agree with flightofpenguins that it was kind of a waste of time. I think that Excelsior implemented it to ensure that some of their students actually knew how to do current research. But by completing the written english requirement, that should've satisfy the research portion as well.

Probably an added measure so that they can say they do in fact assess a student's acheivement of 'information literacy'