Excelsior BS if I have another BS

Suppose I had a BS from one school in a technical field. I decided "You know what? Screw it. I just want to study what I like", and decided to fill in my academic holes in history with upper division history classes. Would I be able to apply my existing BS and my shiny new 30 history credits to Excelsior and get a degree in history from them? What about COSC? I don't want to mess with TESC. I'm from New Jersey and I can relate to the pain-in-the-arse stories I hear about them. My memories of Trenton, NJ do not warm the cockles of my heart.

Thanks much for any insight.

Sean

 

I'd say the answer is "probably" if the existing BS is from a RA school, but I'd also ask why you'd want to this aside from pure interest.

It'd likely be more than just UD history classes though - you're probably also looking at filling a gap or three in general education credits or other specific requirements for graduation (like Excelsior's Information Literacy requirement). I think with COSC their concentration requirements are 36 credits plus a concentration rationale.

Too bad there's not a Subject GRE for History...

Cheers,
Mark

 

No other reason than pure interest. That's why I wondered if Excelsior waives the various general ed req's if I already had a bachelors degree. Hmmm... this might even be a good reason to look at an NA degree, since I'm pretty sure I would only use the structure as an reason to study. Possibilities...

Sean

 

I suppose it would probably be wiser to just make sure I have 12 history credits at the undergrad level and then check out something like Fort Hays MLS program with a concentration in history. They have a program that looks pretty interesting, and I've heard some positive things about the institution.

Sean

 

Stay away from Fort Hays, the History department is Ok, but the core classes for the MLS degree comes from the Philosophy department, and that area is a train wreck!
I questioned the department head why a first time instructor was allowed to grade 50% of our work in the last two weeks of class, well Mr. Department Head said the instructor was "teaching" 3 classes, which contained about 150 students, so therefore some graded work may come rolling back with a " little delay".
So I snap back," Dont you think a 150:1 student ratio is not being in the best interest of the students?"....now get this he replied we have a 20-1 ratio. Hahhaha I still trying to figure out which class he is taking about!

Naturally the department head defends this crap because in all probability he was the one who hired that buffoon!

Heck, but it gets even better, the "overloaded" instructor that "Mr. Department Head" was so quick to defend was not only first time teaching but was hardly touching the work, he was using a graduate assisstant to grade the work! Hahahahaha, I'm still trying to figure out which lazy-assed individual returned our work so late!

So I took all my History classes and transfered out! Fort Hays is a great lure on the cost side, but they trim every corner too make it affordable and the shortcomings will in all likelyhood come back to haunt you in a similar scenario: A first time instructor, slothfully suffering from "paralysis of will"; completely backed by a department head who says just about anything to vindicate shoddy oversight!
Take some sound advice, spend an extra 100 bucks for each course and avoid Fort Hays like a plague.
Best,
Gavin

 

Um...

So where would I go to spend that hundred bucks per course and study history at the graduate level?

 

That "extra" hundred bucks: Northern Iowa State, CSUDH, Mountain State U. ( transfer in program for MA in IDS; you can take 25 hours of credit from just about any college/university towards your IDS/History concentration degree) Sam Houston- more than 100 bucks extra, likewise so is Excelsior....many other universities offer Independent study courses at the graduate level that would hopefully fall within that price range of 500-600 dollars for a 3 hour class.
Best,
Gavin

 

Much obliged

Thanks, Gavin, for the information. I see in an old set of posts where you became disgruntled with FHSU and tranferred out. Did you transfer into another program? If so, where?

Thanks,

Sean

 

Sean,
I looked at many, but ended up with Mountain State University, outside of Excelsior, they offered perhaps the most flexibility with the amount of hours a person can transfer in, up to 25!
Best,
Gavin

 

It shouldn't be a problem. You should be able to transfer the large majority of your lower division courses to meet core curriculum requirements. Everybody wants X hours of English, X of social studies, X of lab science, etc. Only problem there is that all core curricula differ somewhat. Some colleges require American history, others world history, etc. But I'd bet you can meet 90% of their requirements with what you have under your belt. Then you can focus almost exclusively on history. Again, you'll probably have to have 27 or 30 semesters hours in your major from your new school. Most require 30 or 35 total hours be completed under their jurisdiction to get their degree. Check out U of Maryland University College for history. Also, I know they're just DETC at this point, but I really am impressed with APU whose RA accreditation is pending and, in my opinion, a slam dunk.

http://www.apus.edu/APUS/default.aspx

 

Jugador, I'm actually looking at APU right now. This school looks like a real winner, since so many folks say they are a slam dunk for RA, and the tuition right now is DETC. The course descriptions seem almost threatening in their rigor:

Sean

 

Sean: the cable TV news networks frequently use their professors as expert commentators -- especially matters relating to military history. Someone here posted that you could lock in the DETC tuition rate before they go RA (with an assumed big increase in tuition), but I don't know if that's the case.

 

spmoran,

Since your goal is study for personal interest, have you considered the humanites M.A. at Cal. State @ Dominguez Hills? You can be admitted with any undergraduate degree, and one of the concentrations is history. This option would open more doors for you if later you decided to change careers to something that matches your interests.

http://www.csudh.edu/hux/