I need you advice! What would you do?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by bceagles, Jun 10, 2006.

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  1. bceagles

    bceagles Member

    I’m looking for everyones advice! I’m considering enrolling at Excelsior, I want to take a few more exams before I start the clock ticking. The main reason I’m considering Excelsior is b/c they award letter grades. I wish to obtain an undergrad degree in anything! A BA or BS in General Studies or Liberal arts is fine with me! I have the following credits under my belt, what exams would you recommend I take to finish up?

    DSST Exams
    Intro to Law Enforcement 3
    Criminal Justice 3
    Fundamentals of Counseling 3
    Principles of Finance 3
    Principles if Financial Accounting 3
    Human Resources Management 3
    Organizational Behavior 3
    Principles of Supervision 3
    Intro to Computing 3
    Personal Finance 3
    Management Information Systems 3
    Business Math 3
    Here's to your heath 3
    Ethics in America 3
    Intro to World Religions 3
    45 DSST Credits

    B & M Schools
    English Comp 3
    English Lit 3
    Intro to Business 3
    Investments 3
    Intro to Psych 3
    Intro to Soc 3
    Eath Science 3
    Intro to Ethics 3
    Intermediate College algebra 3
    Business Applications - Computers 3
    30 Lower Level B & M

    Total: 75 credits

    What do you think are my potential “Bumps in the Road”? Should I consider COSC? HELP!
     
  2. siersema

    siersema Active Member

    The best advice I can give is for you to go ahead and enroll now. With only 45 credits to go you’ll have plenty of time to finish within the year before you would be charged again. My opinion below is based on a BS in Liberal Studies at Excelsior.

    Aside from just enrolling and asking an advisor what to take next go ahead and download both the Liberal Arts catalog and the Student Guide to Credit by Examination from Excelsior.

    Pay special attention to the chart on page 24 of the Liberal Arts catalog it can help you determine what you still need.

    In my opinion your distribution of credits looks pretty good. You might have some overlap in ethics. What you’re probably lacking in the most is the Arts & Sciences UL credits. You’ll need a total of 21 UL credits in Arts & Sciences, and it looks like you don’t yet have any, though you do seem to have the 9 UL credits in the professional area that you need. I would take a look at the Excelsior Exams and DANTES Exams that are listed for UL Arts & Sciences credit in the Guide to Credit by Examination catalog and start from there.


    Best of Luck.
     
  3. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    First, I am a fan of COSC :D . I would look at the degree program you want and start to put the tests you passed into the catagories they will fill - Here's to your heath is an elective, Eath Science is science, Intro to Soc is history, etc. You can use this for COSC to get an idea -
    http://www.charteroak.edu/Advising/GenEd2005.cfm
    http://www.charteroak.edu/Advising/StandardizedExamsGE2005.cfm
    http://www.charteroak.edu/Advising/Liberalartsrequirements.cfm


    A BA requires more liberal arts credits (90) then a BS (60) at COSC.

    See what catagories you must fill, complete them
    See how many upper credits you still need and find a test that will give you the credits
    Look for the other tests that will give you the elective credits

    Hope this helps-
     
  4. Papa Georgia

    Papa Georgia New Member

    If you are considering Excelsior, I would suggest that you look at the following DSST exams:
    Civil War
    Money and Banking
    Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union
    All of these are considered upper level Arts and Sciences and receive a letter grade.
     
  5. SactoMike

    SactoMike New Member

    Excelsior....

    I'm personally not too familiar with Excelsior, but a co-worker of mine graduated with a BA from that school and is now working on his MPA from USC.
     
  6. CoachTurner

    CoachTurner Member

    You look to me to have a very solid start on the BSc in Liberal Studies from Excelsior.

    Your challenge now is going to be filling those upper level arts and science courses -- you look to have plenty of applied professional.

    It also looks like you have the Excelsior core minimums nearly met.

    I might hold off on further testing and enroll in Excelsior BSLS and see where you come up needing some credits. It's very easy at this point in what you have to duplicate hours.

    Missing history/western civ. seems conspicous to me -- you might go after one of the history/civ exams just to fill out the coursework.

    You might hold off on enrolling anywhere for as much as about 15 more hours. 75sh puts you in traditional "junior" class and you might save enrollment fees if you're closer to 30 hours from completion -- especially if most of those 30 are going to be upper level courses.

    The Excelsior BSLS has a 9/9/6 model for humanities/nat sci-math/soc - hist

    That means you need 9 hours in each of two of these areas and 6 in the other.

    You have, it would appear;

    Hum = 9 (ethics may duplicate and Eng Comp will go to written english req.)
    Nat Sci/Math = 9
    Soc Sci/Hist = 6

    good deal - with written english met.

    2 areas of depth study with 12 hours total in a single subject and at least 3 upper level (you may have one met as "business") - you need another.

    You'll need to take the info literacy course and you'll need at least 30 more hours in the arts and sciences.

    You already have about 48 credits in "applied professional" and that program allows for 60 -- careful what other tests you take. You can look here for about 12 more hours and consider that 9 need to be upper level and 1 is the info literacy requirement.

    You need at least 35 hours in arts and science. Since the BSLS requires at least 21 hours upper level in arts and sciences and you have none, it would appear that you need to look there for some more coursework.

    Summary:
    You're about 45 hours shy of the BSLS. That's 1.5 years full time equivalent.

    You need at least 33 more hours in arts and sciences and 12 more hours in applied professional (or can be arts and science if you want).

    You've probably met the requirements for one depth area (business) but will need 12 hours (with 3 upper) in another area and it must be arts and science field.

    If they accept ethics as a philosophy and business math as a math -- you've met the humanities/soc. sci/and math-sci core requirement as well as the written english requirement.

    You need a full 30 hours of upper level credit. 9 can be applied professional, the rest need to be arts and science. 3 of the arts and science need to be in a field that you are going to use for a depth area.

    Some of your tests and credit may duplicate meaning you'll need more credit somewhere...

    Source for above is page 26 of the new Liberal Arts catalog.

    good luck
     
  7. bceagles

    bceagles Member

    Thanks for the EVAL. Anyone esle have anything to add?
     
  8. bceagles

    bceagles Member

    Would I have any reason to look into COSC? Would I have any advantage with my current credits over Excelsior?
     
  9. CoachTurner

    CoachTurner Member

    I've not studied at COSC or at TESC but I have read their material.

    For the most part, as a generalization, Excelsior, COSC and TESC are going to evaluate RA transfer credit and standard exams in about the same manner.

    Where there is a difference is in degree program requirements. I understand (though can't confirm) that the upper level requirement is not as demanding at TESC as it is at Excelsior. This may or may not be true.

    The other consideration might be major requirements if you wanted to complete your degree with a specified major (not applicable to COSC) instead of Liberal Studies.

    Be aware that once you get a liberal arts BA/BS from Excelsior, you may not earn another from Excelsior in the liberal arts school.

    Consider too that you may have another valid option to degree completion. Most RA schools will allow transfer of as much as 90 hours. Some limit credit by exam to 30 hours. It's possible that you may have a fairly nice transfer package at local state university.

    My preference is obviously for Excelsior College so be sure to evaluate opinions less biased than mine.
     
  10. siersema

    siersema Active Member


    I think this might be a little off. From the LIberal Arts Catalog, page 56

    ".. you may also earn a second degree at Excelsior College in a different degree program. In addition, if your first degree is in liberal arts or business, you may pursue a second degree in the same program as long as you complete a different area of study (major/specialization/program) at Excelsior."

    Based on that it looks like you can do a second Liberal Arts degree if it's just another major.
     
  11. CoachTurner

    CoachTurner Member

    I kinda thought that too so I asked for clarification of what "degree program" means. According to Excelsior "degree program" refers to the school of the college - ie: business, technology, liberal arts, etc...

    Of course, Ms. Newman could be wrong but, I've gotten that same answer from others in the past. The rules are different if your first baccalaureate is not from Excelsior College.
     
  12. siersema

    siersema Active Member

    Well that's confusing. I'm enjoying the program so much I was considering a second degree after I finish the current one (6 credits to go!). I don't understand why the catalog would point out the Liberal Arts and Business departments as exceptions to the one degree per school if that isn't the case. I e-mailed them as well with an example of the BSLS I'm working on and CJ or Psychology. I'll post what I find out.
     
  13. CoachTurner

    CoachTurner Member

    I was just reviewing the new Liberal Arts catalog online and it's very clear that the portion you cite above is regarding a second degree where the first is not earned at Excelsior as it begins with "if you are a graduate of another..."

    The paragraph prior to that one refers to the issue of a second degree where the first was earned at Excelsior. The important issue here is how the college defines "different academic program". It would appear that Excelsior holds that this is a policy required by the state.

    This is on page 84 of the new Liberal Arts catalog.

    unfortunately, the pdf version of this catalog is copy protected or I'd paste the section here so that it appears on the archives and can be considered by others.

    I too was considering another BA/BS (I'm now over 200 RA semester hours). In my case though it will be a 3rd bachelor's degree and 3rd undergrads are frowned upon at most schools without some justification.

    Be aware too; getting a 2nd bachelor's requires (in most cases) that you use no more than 75% of credit earned in the prior degree applied to the 2nd. This means that even if you meet the major requirements of two majors with 120 hours -- you still need to complete at least 30 new hours for the 2nd degree. This is a fairly universal standard. A second bachelor's is not the same as a double major.

    One solution would be to complete the subsequent bachelor's degrees through another of the Big Three, an idea I am exploring at present.
     
  14. siersema

    siersema Active Member

    You're right, thanks for the clarification.
     
  15. bceagles

    bceagles Member

    I think my strategy going forward is going to be
    • Sit for (and hopefully pass) the remaining Upper level DSST exams
    • Take a few lower level DSST exams that I think will not be duplicate credit.
    • Then apply to Excelsior

    My question is, will EXC let me apply as undeclared and then once all my transcripts are evaluated give me some insight as to what type of degree I am closest to earning?
     
  16. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    COSC does offer concentrations - http://www.charteroak.edu/Forms/Official%20Catalog.pdf see page 53.
     
  17. ShotoJuku

    ShotoJuku New Member

    100 Credits

    If you wait until you have amassed 100 credits then you will have plenty of time to complete your degree. Remember, sometimes there are unforseen bumps in the road and/or unexpected delays that can set you back. Why take a chance?

    GOOD LUCK!!
     

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