Hey everyone. I'm new here and had a couple of Q's about Excelsior College. I have 107 credit hours...5 advanced business courses included in that. I can't find Excelsior's BS in Liberal Studies degree that everyone seems to be talking about. Do they still offer it? I don't want to take the BS Liberal ARTS degree route because then I would have to take 7 advanced arts & sciences courses. And all of these "depths" and "area of focus" stuff is confusing!
I'm not sure how this degree works, but I was thinking my "area of focus" would be covered in the business department...and then I have 4 lower-level history courses that could be a "depth". Then, I could take one adv. history course to fulfill the adv. 3 hour requirement. I'll have to CLEP out of art for the core requirements, and then I'll have to take some filler courses to complete the 120 hour requirement. I'm afraid I'm figuring this incorrectly? Help please? Any advice?
The degree to which you refer is offered through the School of Liberal Arts, and is called a Bachelor of Science, a description of which is copied from the Excelsior catalog below. The Area of Focus can be useful if the credits you have do not fit with a degree/credits mix offered by Excelsior. Bachelor of Science The Bachelor of Science degree requires a total of 120 semester hours. Within that total, at least 60 semester hours must be earned in the arts and sciences with at least 21 of those 60 semester hours earned at the upper or advanced level. The remaining 60 semester hours, of which at least 9 must be earned at the upper or advanced level, may be earned in applied professional courses, additional arts and science courses, or a combination of both. https://www.excelsior.edu//School_of_Liberal_Arts/Bachelors_Degrees_in_Liberal_Arts
If you have 107 credit hours and 5 upper division business courses, you should look at Excelsior's BS in General Business.
Agreed. You would have to take their capstone course but it's certainly worth a look. Here is how the credits need to be laid out (taken from their latest catalog). If you want, map your existing credits against them and post back where you think you're short. Arts & Sciences Component - 60 credits Written English Requirement - 3 cr Humanities (in addition to WER) - 9 cr Social Sciences/History (must include micro/macroeconomics + 9 cr) - 15cr Natural Sciences/Math (must include Precalc or above and Statistics) - 6cr Remaining Arts and Sciences - up to 27 Business Core Component - 45 credits Financial Accounting Managerial Accounting Introduction to Business Law Computers Principles of Management Principles of Marketing Financial Management Production/Operations Management Business Policy (must complete Bus 495 at Excelsior) Org Behavior Requirement - Organizational Behavior Ethics Requirement - Ethics Advanced-level business credit - minimum of 12 cr Additional Component Credit - 15 credits Any collegiate-level study (excluding phys ed) Information Literacy - 1 cr Hope this helps. Cheers, Mark
Final course must be completed at Excelsior. Either way, it was less expensive for me compared to other schools because I did most of my classes at the local community college in Sacramento, CA and a few CLEP/DSST's.
Correct. The ECE version was phased out in 2004, and they won't accept any other exam now. However, if you can CLEP/DANTES/ECE/TECEP out the rest it's not a big deal along with their 1-credit info literacy course. Also, should the OP eventually want to go for a MBA all of the pre-reqs should have been met.
Thanks everyone for your input, time, and advice! I thought about the BS in General Business, but surprisingly I think the BSLS would be the quickest and most flexible route for me. Also, I'd like to avoid taking a capstone course. This Information Literacy course...will BCIS 1301 (Business Computer Information Systems) be sufficient in fulfilling that requirement? Or does everyone have to take the Info. Lit. course through Excelsior?
Maybe this is going to happen but there is nothing about it in the current catalog or on the EC website. And if it applies to the liberal arts degree will it also apply to the liberal studies option (I assume it would)? But EC tends to be slow in getting information out. I'm still waiting for detailed info on their BPS degree requirements.
Wow, I feel stupid. I just realized that the BSBL requires 21 advanced credits in arts & sciences. I was misreading it as 21 advanced hours in arts & sciences or applied professional (must have been my wishful thinking). Since I don't have any adv. arts & sciences courses, then I'd be better off taking 10 courses at my local uni. Argh, sorry everyone. Didn't mean to waste your time. I'm just new to all of this stuff.
Some of the DSST exams result in UD credit - but check with Excelsior to make sure. DSST - GetCollegeCredit.com
Attached is a copy of Exelsior's Exam Guidebook. It will tell you which exams count for upper level credit. EDIT: or maybe it isn't attached I will search for the link... EDIT 2: https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/Publications/Student_Guide_and_Assessment_Catalog.pdf