Can Master's level courses be transferred DOWN to a Bachelor's?

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by Maniac Craniac, Oct 1, 2017.

Loading...
  1. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I know what you're thinking- why would you EVER do that????

    Well, here's the truth. I'm still considering getting another degree. Yep, after all this time :D I'd like to try 1 or 2 Master's-level courses to see if I have it in me to keep up with the pace of the program with my already busy schedule and if I'd like studying the particular subject.

    If it turns out that I'd completely hate it, or I couldn't keep up, I wouldn't torture myself at great financial expense by trying to finish. It would be nice if at that point I could use those credits towards something that would then take less of a time and money commitment to complete- another Bachelor's in a different major.
     
  2. nyvrem

    nyvrem Active Member

    I believe someone mentioned before that Masters level courses are considered UL at TESU
     
  3. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I used a masters-level statistics course for my BSBA, but TESU made it a 200-level course. Whether or not a course comes in as UL depends on which course it matches. My security studies courses didn't have matches, so they were all given generic, UL codes such as AOJ-499 and HLS-499. I didn't use those courses toward my second degree, though.
     
  4. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Yes for sure, I've mentioned that here and for exactly the reason Maniac is considering doing it. I took grad courses at HES that weren't locked into a degree. I decided not to pursue the ALM at HES and my target grad school did not accept any transfer credit, so I had these loose credits sitting there. TESU's catalog has a statement about it, but in a nutshell they come in as upper level.

    TESU also is sticky about second degrees, so you have to be sure the second degree isn't in ANYTHING close to your Social Science degree. Possibly can dump them into Humanities or Science if you stick with liberal arts, otherwise business is an easy option since it's a different college within the college.

    Lastly, TESU wants new credit (I forget the amount, I think it's high 20's or low 30's) earned after your first degree was awarded. So your grad credit would be in there, your old gen eds are all good, you just need new major classes or such.

    In my case, my new BA was going to be in Biology or Natural Sciences. I am 6 credits shy, but it was going to be expensive - so even though you can use them, you'd still have to shell out more money for the second BA. My advice is that you're underestimating yourself- you can do a masters. ;)
     
  5. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Thanks for your experience and wisdom.

    Indeed, business is exactly what I was thinking. My plan was to actually have a BA and BS by the time I was finished with TESU 4 years ago, but this and that happened and I only finished the BA, but with a lot of business credits already taken care of.

    Business isn't my field nor my passion, per se, but it applies to everything work-related and I found a lot of what I learned to be very, very interesting. It greatly overlaps with mathematics, psychology, sociology, economics, communication, law, etc. etc. etc. so a person like me, who just can't pick one thing ever, just might like the variety of content in a business program.

    Anyway, so, yes, if I can't finish either an MBA or an interdisciplinary Masters with Business as a concentration, I'd like to transfer down and finish the BS in Business using those credits at TESU.

    It's like you read my mind. :hypnotized:
     
  6. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    As someone who completed a BA in Social Science and a BSBA, this is a very expensive way of completing the degree. I weighed getting an MBA or BSBA and made a commitment to one. I don't really need a business degree, and the MBA would have required more work and cost. I also wouldn't have had the flexibility to stop and go like I would with testing out of an undergraduate degree, so I opted for the BSBA.

    If you don't already have a master's degree, then I recommend getting an MBA and sticking with it. There are plenty of cheap, competency-based programs, but they get more expensive the slower you go. If you're not confident you can finish, then go with the BSBA. Using expensive MBA credits for an undergraduate degree just doesn't make sense to me, especially when undergraduate business credits are available cheaply in so many formats.

    I should note that I had a master's-level statistics course and a doctoral-level linear regression course evaluated as lower level credits. If I had transferred to one of TESU's master's programs, then I would have received graduate- level credit. Since TESU doesn't code anything at the graduate level for undergraduate students, then your graduate credits will come in as the closest match, which can be UL or LL.

    I graduated with my BSBA just a couple of weeks ago, so this is current information.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 2, 2017
  7. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    The master's courses would certainly be more expensive than the various ways I could get BS credits, by far. However, in any case, I'm considering taking just a course or two just to see if the master's really is for me. If it isn't, and I decided not to continue, I'd have already paid the money and it would be a sunk cost at that point.

    To apply the master's courses to the BS would be a way to get at least some use out of the stranded credits. Better than not getting anything out of them at all.

    Lastly, I might not even go through with the BS. I could try one master's course, decide to not continue, then decide to just accept the sunk cost as a lesson learned via trial and error.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 2, 2017
  8. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I don't know which concentration you're aiming for, but if you can, take a master's-level course that has the same name as an UL course that could go in the area of study. If you take something like managerial accounting or financial accounting, they're likely to transfer in as LL credits. Even if they were to count them as UL, they would still go in the business core where UL credits aren't required.
     
  9. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Sananton's assessment conflicts with what I understand to be the TESU policy. I've opened tickets no less than 3 times over the past 10 years with them about transferring graduate credit into undergraduate degrees, and every time they've told me it will always come in as upper level. I've never found it in any of their written publications, but they are always quick to reply. It might be best for you to send a ticket and ask directly so you have a written record.
     
  10. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    If it is a policy, then it has to be written somewhere. I'm not lying when I say that master's-level and doctoral-level statistics courses transferred in as 200-level courses. I never asked for them to be re-evaluated because it wasn't necessary. I didn't need an UL statistics course. If you try to transfer in financial accounting from a master's program, you won't need that to be UL either because it won't count toward your UL requirement. It's kind of a moot point.

    You won't get an accurate answer unless you're enrolled. Only enrolled students have access to academic advisors, deans, and assistant deans. Admissions counselors will answer your questions, and they're often wrong. As a matter of fact, there have been threads on the other forum showing emails from admissions and advisors conflicting each other. Only what the academic advisors and deans say matter.
     
  11. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    In case anyone saw it, I briefly had a post on this thread that I deleted because it was based upon a big mis-reading of some information I was looking at. Not being able to read is a bad sign for someone who's thinking of doing a graduate degree program :pat:
     

Share This Page