Internship for credit at Excelsior, TESC, or COSC?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Michelle, Oct 26, 2010.

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  1. Michelle

    Michelle Member

    I am planning to enroll in either Excelsior, TESC, or COSC soon. I am trying to decide if I want to enroll in January or continue next quarter at the b&m college I'm currently attending. I am enrolled in a certificate program that I had planned to complete in two more quarters, but I can't stand my current program and am ready to move on. Except, next quarter I want to do an internship and have already gotten approved by the place I want to do it. Does anyone know if any of the three colleges offer an internship class in the psychology department? The class at my current college is very loose, with the student setting up the internship and just writing a few papers about the experience.
     
  2. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 26, 2010
  3. Michelle

    Michelle Member

    Thanks, Ian.

    I called Excelsior and found out that they do not offer a class for internships. One of my professors had mentioned that I might be able to do the internship without getting credit, so I just sent her an e-mail to find out more about that option.

    I have more credits than I need, although most of the programs seem to require a few classes I'm missing. I'll include an updated list of classes I've taken in case you want to see them.

    I really like COSC, and they have great customer service, but I would really like to have a double major. I had planned to enroll in TESC but they never completed the correct evaluation a few years ago when I applied and I have had enough other customer service problems to think that enrolling and completing my degree there might be a huge hassle. So, I've been looking into Excelsior. Their programs seem to have more specific classes that I would need to take than the others, so I was thinking about enrolling through their partnership program to get the discount. My concerns are cost, being able to graduate by next summer (or sooner! I'm ready to move onto grad school), and being able to double major, although that is not as important right now.

    As I understand it, at least 3 credit hours are required to be taken at both COSC and Excelsior but wouldn't have to take any at TESC. And, if I wanted to get financial aid to help pay, I'd need to take at least 6 credit hours.

    The cost breakdown I've come up with is

    TESC - Fees + 12 Credits out of state
    6 credits $4338
    0 credits $3135

    COSC
    0 credits $1705 (but must take at least 3)
    3 credits $2575
    6 credits $3400

    EC Partner - Fees + 12 Credits = $3620 (+$20 POAG subscription for 1 year)
    0 credits $1905 (but must take 3)
    3 credits $2910
    6 credits $3915

    Let me know if you know of a less expensive or faster way to complete it.
     

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  4. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I took a very quick look at your credits list.. I may be wrong but I think you need one more upper division course in Psych to satisfy a major. Also you have a stack of professional credits so it looks like the Excelsior BS is your best betsince it allows up to 59 pro credits. Aside from a major you could take the concentration route that I think you have the credits for already. Note that you need 30 upper div credits with at least 21 being in the arts and sciences (see Chart 4 in the EC LS catalog).

    The one Excelsior course (Info Literacy) you have to take appears easy based on prior comments on degree info and is only one unit. Also some members of this board have reported an alternate lower cost course which satisfy the requirement.

    It would be helpful if you marked on your list which are lower and upper div credits (note that some schools may classify some UD credits as LD and vice versa).
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 26, 2010
  5. Michelle

    Michelle Member

    I'm not sure which classes will count as upper level. I'm sure the 300 and 400 classes will, but I think some of the 200 level ones may transfer in as upper level too from what I've read.

    I'm glad to hear that the Info Literacy class at Excelsior is just one credit!

    I'm not sure the credits I have count as professional credits. I have a group that are art (my aas is in Visual Communication), another group in communication from a local state university, and then a smaller group in psychology. Which ones looked like professional credits?

    I'm glad to hear I may only need one more credit to major in psychology! I thought I needed about 4 more. I was leaning toward having a major in communication and a concentration in psychology (possibly psychology and art) from Excelsior. I would really like to have both "communication" and "psychology" somewhere on my degree or official transcript because of future educational and career goals.

    Thanks for your help!
    Michelle
     
  6. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    Courses with the following prefixes might be considered professional courses by Excelsior:
    SHS (?)
    STS (?)
    SCT
    CIS
    VCM
    PT (perhaps this falls under art)
    TCOM (?)
    Again the only way to know how Excelsior handles these courses is to apply.

    Whether you have a major or a concentration in Psych you could have your second concentration in communications (although in my case Excelsior decided my concentrations for me – not that it mattered to me because all my pro courses were in engineering).

    If you are short any UD courses check out the DSST exams – some provide UD credit
    http://www.getcollegecredit.com/resources.html
    Low cost way to get credit.
     
  7. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    You could see if another college (cc?) will give you credit, and then just transfer. If you go this route, the only "catches" I could forsee would be the transcript fee and whether your school will consider it elective credit, which could be an issue if you already have or are planning on taking a large ammount of electives.
     
  8. TMW2009

    TMW2009 New Member

    Nope - EC is rather specific in what is required to satisfy the major.
    From what I can see, they'd need 7 specific classes to fulfill a Psych major at EC.. An AoF or Depth they'd be able to do, but not the major.
    EC's Major in Psych requires the following -
    I. Core Requirements:

    IA - Intro to Psychology - Done with PSY 191 INTRO TO PSYCHOLOGY
    IB - Statistics
    IC - Research Methods
    ID - History and Systems
    IE - Research & Writing - This can be fulfilled if you have a 8+ page graded paper from one of the psych classes that they can review, IIRC.

    II. Intermediate and Upper Level Requirements

    IIA. Biological and Psychological Perspectives
    IIB. Developmental Perspectives - Done with PSY 290 Life Span Development Psychology
    IIC. Social Influences
    IID. Abnormal Psychology
    IIE. Cognitive Bases

    III. Elective
    One of the other Psych courses may fit here.

    Depending on the course information, the other courses may be useful in fulfilling the requirements above, but that's dependant on Advisor decision. Also, 12 credits in the major must be UL credits. (Which is part of the 30 UL credit requirement, not in addition to, though).
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 27, 2010
  9. Michelle

    Michelle Member

    Thanks for all of the feedback!

    The university I'm currently attending does offer an internship class; I just was hoping to make the switch to one of the big three after this quarter. The professor in charge of the class gave me some advice about setting up the internship for 0 credit so I won't have to pay for it. I don't need the credit, but I was afraid the office where I want to do the internship wouldn't set it up for me if I weren't getting credit. I added the psychology focus entirely because I want to be involved with the new treatments that are being done at this office, so I'd really like to do an internship there. I'm going to ask them if we can set it up as a non-credit internship. If I can, I'll go ahead and switch schools in January.

    Thanks for the breakdown on the psychology degree, TMW2009. I'll have to do a focus in psychology instead of a major. How do you think my credits match the communication major? The TCOM classes were all taken in the communication department of a state university, and the upper level rhetoric class had a large focus on ethics.

    I think my classes line up better with the requirements at TESC than Excelsior, but so far Excelsior's customer service seems to be a lot better and they seem to be less expensive. At COSC, if I did a concentration in independent studies, would there be an indication anywhere that I focused on communication and psychology?

    Michelle
     

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