Questions about COSC and TESC

Eh, I just typed a long message but it disappeared when I tried to post it.

I am a web designer, and after this quarter I should be finished with an associates degree in Visual Communication from a local two year college. I live in Georgia and have the HOPE scholarship, which pays for tuition at state colleges, so I had planned to transfer to a local four year college. When the college evaluated my transcript, only a few courses transfered. I'm considering finishing my degree at Thomas Edison or Charter Oaks instead. Since I've already been accepted to the local college and can take classes for free, I'm thinking I will figure out which classes I still need to get a degree from COSC or TESC, take those classes at the local college for free, and then transfer to COSC or TESC for the degree. Does that sound like it would work?

I'm leaning toward Charter Oaks but haven't decided yet. It sounds like Charter Oaks has better customer service, and I could concentrate in Communications. To make the best use of my current credits, I think I would need to concentrate in Art at Thomas Edison, and I'm concerned I may be limiting my grad school options if I have both associates and bachelors degrees in Art. I am considering SCAD for a masters degree in Interactive Design, but I may want to go somewhere else (a non-art college) to study Information Design or Instructional Design.

I have a few questions about COSC and TESC. As far as I can tell, Thomas Edison only accepts 80 credits from two year colleges but they count 200 level courses as upper level, while Charter Oaks accepts up to 90 credits from two year colleges and counts only 300 and 400 level courses as upper level. Is that correct? Does anyone know if either school accepts D's or classes that do not show a grade? I went to Johns Hopkins several years ago and made two D's, plus the university had a policy of showing first semester classes as passed but without the actual grade.

Thank you for your help!!
Michelle

 

IIRC, COSC will transfer your "D" grade credits. However, you can ask the school not to transfer those credits if you like. You may want COSC to leave those classes out so they don't drag down your GPA.

I suggest having COSC do a credit evaluation to give you an idea of where you stand. You shouldn't have any problem taking classes at a GA school and then transferring those classes to COSC. In general, Charter Oak State College is a great college and I was very pleased with their customer service. Good luck

 

Thank you for your help!

Last night I added up the credits I would have IF everything were to transfer, and there would be 108. Of those credits, 77 are from two year colleges, 9 are from AP tests, and the rest are from a four year college. Only 19 are 200 level and none are 300 or 400 level.

To break those down further, I have 46 art and visual communcation credits and 12 non-art communication credits.

I tried comparing my credits with what would be required at COSC and TESC. I think at Charter Oaks I would only need the 15 upper level credit hours, with one of those classes coming from ethics and another comm. theory / philosophy course.

I found the information on the TESC more difficult to understand, but as far as I could tell, it looked like I would only need a second art history class and painting, plus two more classes to bump me up to 120 credit hours.

Now I'm not sure what I should do. Any suggestions?

 

I forgot to ask you in my last post if they only do a credit evaluation after you've applied or if it's possible to get an unofficial one before applying. The financial aid office at my current college is still working out a mistake they made, so I am currently broke and will need to wait one to two weeks before I'll be able to apply.

 

You need to officially apply and have transcripts sent to get a credit evaluation. The application fee is only $75 and IIRC the eval is a pretty quick process. After the eval, they will tell you what, if any, areas of general education that need to be satisfied.

 

Mansfield University of Pennsylvania http://cll.mnsfld.edu offers a BA in Art History via distance learning while Burlington College www.burlington.edu and Thompson Rivers University, formerly known as Open University and Open College of British Columbia www.ola.bc.ca , offer the BA in Fine Arts via distance learning. Perhaps one of them could let you round up those last few credits.

 

Thank you for the suggestions.

I've been doing a little more research to try to figure out the best direction to take. Since I have the HOPE scholarship, I would like to use a Georgia school for the credits. The university I had already been accepted to does not offer painting or art history, but there is another university that is closer to my house that does. Unfortunately, I found out that I've already missed the application deadline for next semester, so I guess I'll go ahead and take courses from the one I've been accepted to.

I called both TESC and COSC to ask them some questions. The person I spoke with at COSC seemed much more knowledgeable than the person at TESC. I found out that I can transfer in ungraded classes as well as Ds as long as the classes aren't in my area of concentration. TESC does not count visual communication classes toward their communication degree, so I would either have to get the art degree or add a third discipline to get a degree in humanities, so I'm still leaning toward COSC but haven't made a firm decision yet. I should have some money next week, and then I'll be able to apply and have a credit evaluation done.

 

You may not need to "apply" to that school to take classes. If you apply, you are being admitted as a matriculated student, but if you're not planning on earning a degree from that school you don't need to be a matriculated student.

Call their admissions office and ask what they need in order for you to just take a class or two as a non-matriculated student. In many cases, since you are not applying to "attend" the school, you won't have to pay an application fee either, so your cost will be lower.

 

I also looked at TESC and COSC. I like the fact that COSC was easier to deal with and the credits were easier to understand. The TESC credits seemed less flexible.

 

To give you an update, I have registered to take some classes next semester at the local university and those classes should apply toward the communications program at Charter Oaks. I was wondering though if it would be possible to get a degree from Charter Oaks as well as a degree from Thomas Edison. Since one would concentrate in communications and the other art, it might be useful to have two bachelors degrees. Does anyone know if it's possible to do that?

Thanks for all of your help!

 

It's certainly possible, but I would much rather spend my time, money, and effort towards a graduate degree than a second Bachelor's.

 

In some cases a second undergraduate degree makes sense. For example, completing an LLB (Bachelor of Laws) after a BA is common. Also, when the areas of study are complementary there may be valid reasons to pursue the second undergraduate degree.

At some point in the future I would like to complete a second BA (Intelligence Studies) but in the immediate future I plan to wrap-up the BA (Natural Sciences/Mathematics).

 

I guess I'm wondering how much trouble it would be to earn the second degree and if the benefits would be worth it. How many of the credits can overlap? If I earned enough credits from the local university and the fema courses, could I basically get both degrees around the same time?

As to why I would be interested in both degrees, once I finish my bachelors degree, I would really like to earn a masters degree in interactive design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (they have an online campus plus one here in the Atlanta area), but realistically, the only way I'll be able to go to SCAD is if I can get a fellowship. I was thinking that I might have a better chance of getting a fellowship if I had both a degree from COSC with a concentration in communication and a degree from TESC in art.