Business Required Courses? Am I reading this right?

[Arkhos]

Hi all,

This is my first post here. I've been looking at getting a Bachelor of Science in General Business from Excelsior college and after reading the Excelsior Business Catalog I have a question in regards to what courses are actually required.

On page 28: Business Component

The business component includes a core requirement that helps you gain basic knowledge in business administration and the underlying discipline of decision making. Many of the required core courses are offered by community colleges, while some may be available at four-year institutions. Courses meeting core requirements are not classified as advanced even if they are offered by a four-year college or university at the junior/senior level.

Credit in the business component of your degree is earned from core courses, lower-level and advanced business elective courses, and concentration subjects (if you choose a concentration). A grade of C or better is required for applicable credit.

On page 28: Business Component Core Requirements

Listed below are typical course titles and descriptions for the required business core courses. In general, a course or exam worth three credits will satisfy each core requirement.

It then goes on to list: Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Introduction to Business Law, Computers, Principles of Management, Principles of Marketing, Financial Management, Production/Operations Management, and Business Policy.

I read the last quote to mean that these are "typical courses" and not required. And that any combination of Business courses worth 3 credits will satisfy the Business core requirements.

The only required courses in Business I've seen are:

• Business Strategy
  
• Organizational Behavior (could be used in Arts & Science instead)
  
• Ethics (could be used in Arts & Science instead)
  

So does this mean that I can take a Computer course (test) in place of Operations Management? Or are they listing required subjects, and you have to take a course in each required Business subject: Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting,...?

Just want to ensure I've got this right, although after writing this out it's starting to become clearer and I'm pretty sure what the answer will be.

Thank you

btw. This forum is a wonderful resource, and I'm really grateful to those who have contributed.

[barcotta]

Well, if you think the answer is that those courses listed as Business core are required, you're right. Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, etc. are all required. FYI, Business Policy and Business Strategy are the same thing and you now have to take that course through Excelsior I believe. Ethics and Org Beh are courses that are required AND can also (read simultaneously) fulfill upper-level business elective requirements (you need 12 credits in those--so if you take EC exams for Ethics and Org Behavior, then you just need two more. I chose DSST MIS and ECE HRM.)

I had many of the same questions when I first tried to sort all this out. Do a search for degree plans here and that'll help too. Also, make sure you use the Student's Guide to Credit by Exam on the EC site if you plan on testing out of anything.

Welcome to the board and good luck!