TESC, Excelsior or COSC (aka Gateway College?)

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by rnfjr6950, Apr 6, 2001.

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  1. rnfjr6950

    rnfjr6950 New Member

    I have read the posts pertaining to TESC,COSC and Excelsior College and it seems the more I read, the more difficult it is to choose one. They seem very closely matched in terms of credit acceptance and cost. I am leaning towards Charter Oak, only because of the posts of Roger Habeck and Randy Kearns. I was talking with a coworker from New Haven, CT and she said that COSC is actually part of Gateway Technical College. She is as an Associate Professor at a local CT college and gave Gateway College a good review. Are the two colleges associated with each other?

    I received an AA degree from a Maryland accredited community college in general
    studies and accumulated another 32 credits from various Maryland 4 year colleges. I have been employed in the accounting field for 29 years and served as a divisional controller for the past 18 years. In addition to my accounting experience, I designed, built (including running the cable and punching down the blocks) and administered our NT network for the past five
    years. I passed the NT Server exam and hold an MCP certificate from Microsoft.

    I want to gain a BS degree in Business (not necessarily in Accounting), complete my MCSE and return for either an additional BS or MS in Management Information Systems or Computer Technology. An MBA is a possibility, but probably a remote one at best. I want to complete as much as possible of the Business BS using the least time consuming method. Considering my background and future plans, could you offer any additional advice that might help me
    decide which college to attend? I have ordered the "Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning." Perhaps this book will offer some new insight that has not been presented on this board. Your comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

    My company has quietly been on the market for over a year and we have been reviewed by several potential buyers. What better motivation than to realize that the next owners may not care what you know, but rather what you have hanging on your wall.
     
  2. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Thanks for buying my book -- but I'm afraid it is unlikely to help your process in choosing among those three excellent schools. Indeed, it may compound the confusion by describing more than 100 other options.

    The notion of any connection between Charter Oak and Gateway Community-Technical College is news to me, and would really surprise me. (But then I am easily surprisable.)

    John Bear
     
  3. Lawrie Miller

    Lawrie Miller New Member

    Earning credit using portfolio assessment may be a useful option for you to consider. You might want to read the thread, "EARN A BUSINESS DEGREE IN 4 WEEKS", currently still on the first page of this web site. This contains detailed instruction of how to earn a BS in Business from Excelsior College by testing out in various proficiency exams. It also discusses the relative merits of COSC, TESC, and Excelsior colleges, and briefly explains the portfolio process. Much of the material relating to the exams is also applicable to COSC but with the caveats noted in the college comparison section entitled, "Which College and When to Enroll".

    You should note that COSC does not offer a major in Business, nor any discipline other than General Studies, though a concentration or specialization in Business is allowed within the General Studies major. Both Excelsior and TESC offer genuine majors in Business.

    Note also that the method detailed in, "EARN A BUSINESS DEGREE IN 4 WEEKS", works just as well if you take longer than four weeks to complete the process, or if you should use existing credit or portfolio credit to augment credit garnered via examination.

    While TESC offers a BA in Business Administration, with various specializations, Excelsior College offers Business degrees in various NAMED disciplines, e.g.:

    BS General Business (this can be completed entirely by examination)

    BS General Accounting

    BS Accounting (NYS CPA track)

    BS Finance (this can be completed 99% by examination plus one distance course in Financial Management)

    BS International Business

    BS Management Information Systems

    BS Management of Human Resources

    BS Marketing

    BS Operations Management

    You mention your networking experience: it is possible to apply your existing MCP and expected MCSE exam passes to a BS degree in Computer Information Systems at Excelsior College (they have qualified the NT 4.0 exam series, but not yet the 2000 series).

    Further, it is possible to complete the whole of the BS CIS major by way of examination, primarily using ICCP exams, augmented by Microsoft or Novell vendor exams.

    And, of course, the remaining portion of the CIS degree credits can be garnered using the usual proficiency exams, or via portfolio credit, or by using existing traditional credit.

    Note though that the CIS degree has a ten year limit on credit that is applied to the CIS major. In the case of the Business degrees, the time limit on credit applied to the major is twenty years. There is no time limit on credit applied to the remaining portion of either degree.

    Watch out for the forthcoming article detailing exactly how to earn a BS in Computer Information Systems, by examination, step by step.

    [Note that it may also now be possible to apply ICCP and vendor exam credit to a Business degree in Management Information Systems]

    Good luck.

    Lawrie Miller, Excelsior/Regents Business graduate, MCSE, and author of "EARN A BUSINESS DEGREE IN 4 WEEKS".
     
  4. RCWaldo

    RCWaldo New Member

    Gateway connection is that COSC has offices at various CT community campus locations.

    Rob Waldo
    COSC AS 78 BA 79 When it was Board for State Academic Awards of........ Which just barely fit the diploma.
     
  5. slappy

    slappy New Member

    I recently finished my degree requirements from Excelsior based largely on the advice from Lawrie Miller and Tom Head. I went the BS Liberal Studies route and was granted credits for my MSCE. I also took the ICCP core as recommended by Lawrie and recieved 18 credits. I didn't do so well on the GRE Psycology, but got 15 credits out of it.

    If you do decide to go with TESC you should absolutey look at Dr. Steve Levicoff's posts and website. (Even if you don't go to TESC check out Dr. Steve's site it is thouroughly entertaining).

    I had 29 credits from a Community College going into this and managed to test out the rest of the way in less than a year. That was with some pretty big gaps between exams ( I took 7 months off at one stretch). I spent at most 3 days study per test and usually took 2 to 3 test per sitting.

    With the credits you already have and the wealth of information available on this forum you should be able to knock it out in no time.
     
  6. rnfjr6950

    rnfjr6950 New Member

    Thanks John, I'll still keep the book!
     
  7. rnfjr6950

    rnfjr6950 New Member

    Lawrie,

    Thanks for the advice and excellent posts. I'm going to apply to both Excelsior and TESC, just to see how much credit I get through portfolio analysis. I going to take my first CLEP exam (US History from 1877). Thanks for the encouragement.
     
  8. rnfjr6950

    rnfjr6950 New Member

    Slappy,

    I've tried to find Dr. Steve Levicoff's posts and website, but I keep getting bad links. I've used the advanced search at yahoo.com and they list several references, but the all end up at a site with the "c ya" message. Set me straight with the correct address. Thanks for your help!
     
  9. DaveHayden

    DaveHayden New Member

    Hi Rnf

    Steve was involved with some fun events with the wacky degree mill folks at MIGS. I think to deescalate things he took down his web pages and plans on putting the TESC page back up. Perhaps other people here have some more detailed info.

    Best Regards,
    Dave Hayden
     
  10. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    Actually, the taking down of both the MIGS site and my personal site had nothing to do with deescalation. (My rationale is discussed under the "Civility 101" thread here on the forum.)

    Nonethelss, the TESC portfolio documents are still up - I simply do not reference them on an index page (trying to cut down on incoming e-mail). There are three related documents, all of which can be accessed through http://levicoff.tripod.com/tesc.htm
     
  11. mlomker

    mlomker New Member

    Actually, Excelsior will let you apply those credits to ANY of their degree programs. They are considered free elective credits outside of the CIS program; I'm using some 22 credits toward my General Business degree.
     
  12. Lawrie Miller

    Lawrie Miller New Member

    Indeed, but the point was not that the ICCP exams provided free elective credit, but that it is possible that that they *might* apply to the Management Information Systems concentration directly, not just as free electives, but in fulfilling the requirements of that particular specialization. If so, it may well add another Business degree (BS Management Information Systems) that could be completed almost entirely, by examination. The need for a "project/seminar or internship" would seem to preclude fulfilling the requirement entirely by examination.

    Looking at the requirements for this degree, it seems to me unarguable that if the ICCP exams fulfill the requirements of the CIS degree as detailed in the Technology catalog, they also clearly fulfill the requirements for the MIS degree as detailed in the Excelsior Business catalog, excepting the project/seminar. No doubt about it. For reasons of consistency and equity across degree programs, I do not think it possible the Business Program faculty could refuse granting credit, within the MIS specialization, for ICCP exams.
     
  13. Lawrie Miller

    Lawrie Miller New Member

    A closer reading of the catalog text in question leads me to believe that the "project/seminar or internship", as it relates to the MIS degree, is a suggestion rather than a requirement. If true, and if individual ICCP exam passes are accepted as fulfilling elements of the MIS specialization requirement, then there are sufficient ICCP exam subjects of the requisite kind (exams in the right sub disciplines) to fulfill MIS specialization requirements.

    Put simply, it may be that the BS MIS could now be earned entirely by examination, given the BS CIS precedent. That would certainly be my argument based on any reasonable interpretation on the written rules and requirements, and on the notes of guidance provided in the Excelsior Business Program catalog.
     

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