Dear Friends, I have a question for you. I know a lot of you attend Thomas Edison State College. I have 101 college credits in the Social Sciences, general education, Fema, Aleks, and even the three US Fire Administration courses accredited by ACE. My question is which degree program at TESC would accept all my credits here? I will be getting a credit evaluation shortly and would like your opinions here. If I posted this twice I am sorry but I could not find my post when searching. I believe I accidently deleted it Thank you, ASQTV
Compare your credits against the BA Liberal Studies option: http://www.tesc.edu/3619.php Have you looked at the Excelsior Liberal Arts BS degree? The BS allows 59 units of electives in the arts, sciences or professional courses. https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/School_of_Liberal_Arts/Bachelors_Degrees_in_Liberal_Arts
>> TESC will accept all of your credits from the sources you listed- 100% of them. The trick, is that your credits must fit into a degree plan like a key in a lock. A few rules: No duplication- For example, let's say you took English Composition 1 for 3 credits, and then you took it again. TECHNICALLY, you "earned" 6 credits, but you don't get to count 6 because you duplicated the credit. So, you earn 3. If you went on to take the English Comp w/ essay CLEP exam, it counts as 6 credits for English Comp 1 and 2...but you already have Eng Comp 1, so again, you only get to use the last 3 credits of that exam. So- no duplication. Credit must fill a degree requirement. Each of the degree plans have a list (credit distribution requirement) that states which credits in each area are needed. For example, you'll need English Comp 1 and 2 for a total of 6 credits. So, having 500 credits in something else is nice, but until you include the English comp 1 and 2 credits, your degree requirement is not yet met. There are about 120 majors at TESC, so you'll need to spend some time looking through them and sorting out your credits and where they fit. Know how to classify credit. This is important. There are 2 kinds of credit, liberal arts and not liberal arts. Within liberal arts, you will find the subjects: social science, math, natural science, and humanities. These credits make up "general education" requirements of each degree. All general education credits *when full* overflow into "general education ELECTIVES" which then *when full* overflow into "free electives." T "Not liberal arts" classes must fit into a major, or if they do not, are automatically dumped into "free electives." This is the bottom level, and it is important to note that credit never flows UP in rank. FEMA is in this group. So, once you use up all of your free electives (usually 27) you are full and additional credit in this category is wasted- or unused. Your major can be made up of any of the liberal arts or any of the not liberal arts fields. (business, for example, is not liberal arts) ALWAYS know where a credit will be classified before you earn it. Good luck to you! I earned an AA and BA (social science) from TESC. The requirements have changed slightly since I attended, but if you have any questions I'll try to help.
