Which of the 'Big Three' is more user friendly?

Easier to receve advicee/get degree from? Thank you.

 

COSC by far!!!

 

That's what alot of people seem to be saying. Don't know if it's actually true. Some of the policies and things on its web site suggest it might be. I dunno... I've never used any of them, nor do I intend to. But I'm just sayin' the word on the street seems to be that COSC is the friendliest and easiest to use... for what that's worth.

 

MHS,

What do you want to major in and what type of degree will get you where you want to go? How do you want to obtain credits?

I chose COSC in part because of their legendary customer service but mostly because the degree fit my needs. All they offer however is a general studies degree w/concentration which I like but may not work for everyone.

I've looked at a lot of programs through the years and for what I wanted to do COSC IMHO was far and away the best DL program available. I did however thoroughly review TESC, COSC & Regents catalogues prior to deciding.
All are good choices.

My brother got a degree at Regents and recommended that to me. But I wanted to portfolio and Regents accepts but does not offer that so I looked at COSC.

Dan

 

I found COSC to be very helpful. I strongly recommend this school!

 

Making this decision requires you also consider which of these schools has the degree you seek.

In addition, you should consider the kind of credit you already have, and the kind of credit you'd like to earn. They don't all three have the same policies.

All that being said, I've been an observer of all three since 1979. In that time, I've been impressed with TESC's efforts to provide credit for experiential learning, and for providing innovative programs. I've been impressed with Regents (now Excelsior) for their liberal credit practices and robust degree programs. And I've been impressed with COSC for their customer service and credit policies.

Which? Whichever fits your particular needs. But for customer service, my impression has been that COSC is superior. But customer service is only a small part of the equation. Like John Bear once told me, you might want to put up with the bad car salesman in order to purchase the car you want. (It was a metaphor, and didn't actually involve purchasing cars. And in that situation, he and I both decided that we liked neither the car nor the salesperson.)

 

I thought that USNY(Excelsior) had fairly detailed materials to help me make a decision. I looked at all three(back in 1990) and then decided on USNY.

I don't think I ever spoke with anyone at the school. I already knew what I had to take to get their accounting program done. I requested their catalog, they sent it, and I took night classes accordingly. Then, I applied for their BS and got it about three months later. All pretty easy.

I already had a bachelor's degree from another school, though. Most of my credits transferred on in, including classes like Book of Mormon, Church History, and Doctrine and Covenants. I was surprised that they would because I had applied to University of Arizona and they did not accept some of those religion credits then. So, I know USNY was fairly liberal with credits. I even received two credits for an Air Force budget officer school I attended.

 

go here, scroll down and read

http://bain4weeks.com/Whichcol.html


some schools offer letter grades for exams, dome don't, some calculate GPA one way, other schools a different way

some offer credit for the subject GRE exams, some don't

I chose Excelsior for the low price,

the ease of getting approval for courses (You don't even really need approval, just take any exam you want),

the ability to take any exam anytime you want (I believe one of the other Big 3 won't give you credit for introductory exams/courses after you've taken advanced exams/courses)

30 credits for the GRE subject exams

for publishing EXACTLY what score you need for each exam to get an A, B, C and so on

for giving letter grades for most exams

they don't require you to submit a 'Concentration Plan of Study'
http://www.cosc.edu/advising/cpsRequirements.cfm
or 'Academic Autobiography'
like COSC does
http://www.cosc.edu/advising/AcademicAutobiographyRequirements.cfm

they actually offer majors, not just concentrations

 

James said:
"they don't require you to submit a 'Concentration Plan of Study'
http://www.cosc.edu/advising/cpsRequirements.cfm
or 'Academic Autobiography'
like COSC does
http://www.cosc.edu/advising/Academ...equirements.cfm

they actually offer majors, not just concentrations"


You know the Academic Autobiography is really not a difficult effort. Mine was 4 pages and it was actually fun. I then submitted it and it was approved. Simple as that and they offer several examples to refer to. Actually a good idea that allows for some self analysis.

A concentration does offer a structured
course plan for a particular discipline and it is pretty thorough. How well that fits into everyone's career requirements I don't know but I like the approach.

Dan

 

Thank you for sharing. Very informative.

 

I had a friend who had a similar situation with transfer of religion credits. Since U of Arizona has a degree program in religious studies they will only transfer credits for courses equivalent to the ones that they offer (obviously not Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants or LDS Church History). When I looked into it, they would have transferred my course work in Christian History, Old Testament, New Testament, World Religions and (probably) Psychology of Religion, but not the LDS-specific courses. USNY credits were based on accredited courses offered at other colleges and universities, so all of the BYU religion courses transferred.

 

COSC

Yep, I'm a cosc grad and I have to say it was a breeze. Good luck.
Dan B

 

I had a similar situation - enrolled and probably communicated a dozen times via e-mail with my advisor over the course of 12 months. Everything else was automated - billing, status reports, etc.

Ironically, I'm probably one of the few who e-mailed COSC and never received a reply.

Cheers,
Mark