Both Programs are similar, and accepted as Business Degrees with Information Systems specialization.

Both Programs require 120 credits, lets look at the similarities and differences.

• Excelsior requires 60 credits in Arts and Sciences (Gen Ed)
• TESC requires 48 credits in Gen Ed
• Excelsior requires 45 credits in the Business Requirement
• TESC requires 54 credits in the Business Requirement
• Excelsior requires 15 elective credits (1 being Information Literacy)
• TESC Requires 18 elective credits

Breakdown of Credits:

General Education:

English Requirement:

• Excelsior requires 3 credits in Written English Requirement
• TESC requires 6 credits in English Composition

Humanities Requirement:

• Excelsior requires 9 credits in Humanities, which may include Ethics, in addition to credit for the Written English Requirement
• TESC requires 12 credits in Humanities, including Managerial or Business Communications

Social Sciences / History Requirement:

• Excelsior requires 15 credits in SS/H, including Microeconomics and Macroeconomics, and may include Organizational Behavior
• TESC requires 12 credits in SS, including Microeconomics and Macroeconomics

Natural Sciences / Mathematics Requirement:

• Excelsior requires 6 credits in NS/M including a math course at the level of Precalculus and above, and Statistics
• TESC requires 9 credits in NS/M including Precalculus Mathematics or Quantitative Analysis and Statistics

Gen Ed Elective:

• Excelsior requires an additional 27 credits in Arts and Sciences
• TESC requires an additional 9 credits in Gen Ed electives

Business Component:

Both Schools require the following courses:

• Financial Accounting (Principles of Financial Accounting)
• Managerial Accounting (Principles of Managerial Accounting)
• Introduction to Business Law (United States Business Law)
• Computers (Computer Concepts and Applications/Introduction to Computers/CIS)
• Principles of Management
• Principles of Marketing (Introduction to Marketing)
• Financial Management (Business Finance)***
• Business Policy

Excelsior requires the following additional Business courses:

• Production/Operations Management
• Organizational Behavior (Can be used toward Business or Arts and Sciences)
• Ethics (Can be used toward Business or Arts and Sciences)

TESC requires the following additional Business courses:

• Business in Society or International Management
• (Ethics is STRONGLY recommended, but NOT required)

Business Electives:

• For Excelsior, if Organizational Behavior and Ethics are used toward Arts and Sciences, then an additional 6 elective credits in Business must be fulfilled, if they are used toward Business, no additional elective credits are required. Additionally 3 advanced level business credits must be achieved
• For TESC, an additional 9 business electives are required
• Please Note: IS Courses MAY be utilized toward business electives for both colleges, please consult your advisor

IS Concentration Requirement:

Excelsior requires 18 credits in the following subjects, of which 9 credits are to be in the advanced level

• Business Programming Language
• Database Management
• Data Communications or Telecommunications or Networking
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Other MIS Electives
• Please note, the first 4 requirements can be fulfilled by 2 credit courses

TESC requires the 18 credits following subjects

• Programming Language (3 credits)
• Systems Analysis and Design (3 credits)
• Other MIS Electives (please refer to hyperlink)

Free Electives:

• Excelsior requires 15 elective credits, including 1 credit in Information Literacy (courses from Physical Education are excluded)
• TESC requires 18 free elective credits

***I believe these 2 would be derived from the same courses

Here are my references:

Excelsior BMI Requirements - Attachment
Excelsior MIS Description - Attachment
TESC Credit Distribution - Thomas Edison State College | BSBA in Computer Information Systems Credit Distribution

As always, please consult your advisor/counselor before pursuing your degree.

Attached Files

	Excelsior BMI Requirements.doc (116.0 KB, 27 views)
	Excelsior MIS Description.doc (107.0 KB, 29 views)

Great comparison.

You note that the 4 requirements can be fulfilled by 2 credit classes. I had asked my advisor at EC regarding the 1 credit class for Database Management at Champlain College and got approval that it would satisfy the requirement.

edit: My advisor was incorrect and it does require the courses to be atleast 2 credits

Nice! Even Better!

I also noticed that Excelsior gives 3 credits for Penn Foster Systems Design while TESC gives 1 credit. I've been wondering if I could take it, submit it to Excelsior, and if I decide to go with TESC, then possibly Credit Bank it and send it to TESC.

For anyone wondering, Penn Foster offers a Structured Systems Analysis course and a Systems Design course. CbrChris and I believe they are based off the same textbook. I'll be getting my textbook in the mail shortly to confirm.

Both courses count as 3 LL credit courses at Excelsior.

Structured Systems Analysis counts as 2 UL at TESC
Systems Design counts as 1 UL at TESC

TESC requires 3 credits in the Systems Analysis requirement, which the combination of these 2 courses would fulfill.


I encourage ANYONE pursuing MIS through Excelsior or CIS through TESC to participate in this thread with their experiences and questions.

__________________
MCDBA, MCSE+Security, MCTS

I sent an email to TESC to see if this Software Design course from my local community college will meet the SA requirement. It's available over the web. Of course it may not be the least expensive option for those who do not reside in Oregon.

I finally have an official comparison of my transcripts between Excelsior and TESC.

Excelsior allowed 61 credits to transfer in:

31 credits remain for General Education including:

18 UL credits in Arts and Science (including Ethics)
3 UL credits in Social Science (including Organizational Behavior)
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
Statistics
13 credits in Electives (including Information Literacy)

28 credits remain for Business including:

Financial Accounting
Managerial Accounting
Business Law
Managerial Finance or Finance Management
Introduction to Management
Introduction to Marketing
Production/Operations Management
Business Policy
--
A Business Programming Language
Database Management
Systems Analysis and Design


TESC allowed 75 credits to transfer in:

12 credits remain in General Education including:

Managerial Communications or Business Communications
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
Statistics

33 credits remain in Business including:

Financial Accounting
Managerial Accounting
Business Law
Business Finance
Principles of Management
Introduction to Marketing
a Business in Society/International Management based course
Business Policy
--
Intro to Computing
Business Programming Language
Systems Analysis and Design



Excelsior would have been higher except they require 21 UL credits in General Education.

With the exception of Programming and Systems Analysis, I fulfilled 21 of the 24 credits required for CIS, so I left the easiest, Intro to Computers to finish off. So that will be a gimme!


If I were to go with Excelsior, I'd need to complete 27 courses.
If I were to go with TESC, I'd need to complete 15 courses.

__________________
MCDBA, MCSE+Security, MCTS

Turns out that the 2 credit courses requirment is the rule. My advisor had approved the Champlain College 1 credit course. I completed the course and was then informed by my advisor that she had mistakenly approved it. They have offered to apply my course fee that I paid to Champlain College towards an EC course, graduation fee, or the Student Service Annual Fee.

@cbrchris: this is off topic but I was wondering if you had the chance to progress through your VB course, I'm still interested in the outcome at Excelsior.

@BMWGuinness: have you found other interesting ways of fulfilling the concentration requirements besides ICCPs?

__________________
Excelsior BS - MIS (107 credits in the bank)

Courses in progress:
Penn Foster English Composition, Financial Management

I am still treading thru the VB course. I have two final projects left. The first contains 3 projects(programs) and the second contains 2.

I know some of the concentrations can also be filled with TECEP exams in addition to the ICCP's.

PF does offer both courses. Turns out that the current version for System Design is only recomended for 1 credit by ACE. The requirements need to be 2 credit courses. I did have prior approval from EC for the course again and was made in mistake. They are currently looking at different options for me, and may try to get the credits added by using their Non-Regionally Accredited process.

For anyone considering the 2 courses I would go with System Analysis which is currently recommended for 2 credits by ACE and would be less trouble.


I completed the VB course awhile ago and have been waiting for my Status Report to be updated. My original transcript was lost and they had to resend. They have given me 3 credits for the course and it fulfilled the Programming requirement. Originally they listed the grade as PASS, but I asked about a letter grade and after they did some research they are able to assign a letter grade to it. My advisor did not specify what research was done.