Does anyone have Excelsior College Psychology Roadmap?

[jeanmanalo]

Hello there! I finally finished my BS in Business last month with Excelsior College. Now, I am thinking of taking a second Bachelor's degree in Psychology with Excelsior again as I wanted to take Masters in Psychology in a university after a few years. I asked for an unofficial evaluation and Excelsior said 

"Under our second degree policy, you are required to complete 30.00 new credits post your first degree. Within these 30.00 credits you need all the requirements of the psychology major (27 credits) with the exception of Introduction to/General Psychology and Statistics." 

I live in the Philippines so going to testing centers for CLEP/DSST etc is not available for me especially because of this pandemic. Is it possible to fulfill my requirements (except for the capstone of course) through Coopersmith/Study.com/Straighterline or any other platform without taking a test outside?

Thank you!

[ss20ts]

I was going to complete a second bachelor's degree at Excelsior and was told by my advisor that I would need to complete an additional 30 upper level credits for the second bachelor's degree. It's not just 30 credits, but 30 UPPER level credits. You need to make sure that EC will give you upper level credit wherever you take courses. You may want to look at TESU instead for a second bachelor's degree. Might be easier as transferring courses from alternative credit providers is easier at TESU than EC.

[OldManOfTheSea]

Hello there! I finally finished my BS in Business last month with Excelsior College. Now, I am thinking of taking a second Bachelor's degree in Psychology with Excelsior again as I wanted to take Masters in Psychology in a university after a few years. I asked for an unofficial evaluation and Excelsior said 

"Under our second degree policy, you are required to complete 30.00 new credits post your first degree. Within these 30.00 credits you need all the requirements of the psychology major (27 credits) with the exception of Introduction to/General Psychology and Statistics." 

I live in the Philippines so going to testing centers for CLEP/DSST etc is not available for me especially because of this pandemic. Is it possible to fulfill my requirements (except for the capstone of course) through Coopersmith/Study.com/Straighterline or any other platform without taking a test outside?

Thank you!

Hello jeanmanalo!

I am also interested in the BS in Psychology at Excelsior. TESU is a BA and COSC requires 24 RA credits. 

From Excelsior's website and undergraduate catalog,
https://www.excelsior.edu/program/online...gy-degree/
http://publications.excelsior.edu/progra...e_Catalog/ (pages 120 - 122)
The BS in Psychology requires:

PSY-101 Intro Psychology
MAT-201 Statistics
PSY-300 Research/Investigative Methods for Psychology
PSY-330 Educational Psychology or PSY-340 Psychology of Learning
PSY-360 Social Psychology
PSY-380 Biopsychology
PSY-235 Lifespan Developmental Psychology
PSY-440 History & Systems
PSY-280 Abnormal Psychology
???-??? Psychology Electives
PSY-498 Excelsior Psychology Capstone

In looking at the Coopersmith & Study.com websites, I see:

CCC:
PSY-101 Intro Psychology
PSY-105 Intro to Coaching
PSY-201 Research Methods in Psychology
PSY-203 Human Growth & Development
PSY-204 Educational Psychology
PSY-230 Child Development
PSY-235 Medical Marijuana
PSY-302 Abnormal Psychology                       UL
PSY-303 Physiological Psychology                   UL   
PSY-304 History & Systems
PSY-305 Drugs, Society & Human Behavior      UL
PSY-306 Family Therapy                                UL
PSY-307 Group Counseling                             UL
PSY-308 Jewish Rabbinical Counseling             UL
PSY-310 Foundations of Stress Management    UL
PSY-312 Therapeutic Interviewing                   UL
PSY-315 Social Psychology
PSY-320 Substance Abuse Counseling             UL
PSY-325 Career Counseling                            UL
PSY-330 Gerontology
PSY-340 Sport & Exercise Psychology      

SDC:
PSY-101 Intro Psychology                              LL (Social Science)
PSY-102 Educational Psychology                     LL (Social Science Psych Elective)
PSY-103 Human Growth & Development          LL (Social Science Psych Elective)
PSY-104 Social Psychology                             LL (Social Science)
PSY-105 Research Methods in Psychology        LL (Social Science)
PSY-106 Abnormal Psychology                        LL (Social Science)
PSY-107 Lifespan Developmental Psychology    LL (Social Science)
PSY-108 Psychology of Adulthood & Aging       LL (Social Science Psych Elective)
PSY-301 Industrial Organizational Psychology   LL (Social Science Psych Elective)
PSY-302 Cognitive Psychology                         LL (Social Science Psych Elective)
PSY-306 Advanced Abnormal Psychology          LL (Social Science)
PSY-310 Psychology of Personality                   LL (Social Science Psych Elective)
PSY-311 Physiological Psychology                    UL (Social Science)
PSY-312 History & Systems                             LL (Social Science)
PSY-315 Psychology of Motivation                    LL (Social Science)
PSY-316 Advanced Social Psychology               UL (Social Science)

Study.com lists how their courses will transfer into Excelsior. Coopersmith does not.

*UPDATE* from the following post it looks like a number of courses from Coopersmith were recently accepted at Excelsior as Upper Level credit:

https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-Excelsior

I will update the Coopersmith listing above to reflect the information from the post.


OldManOfTheSea

[OldManOfTheSea]

Hello all!

If the information in my previous post is correct, then my degree plan might be:

PSY-101 Intro Psychology                                                              LL (already completed from SOPHIA)
MAT-201 Statistics                                                                        LL (already completed from ALEKS)
PSY-300 Research/Investigative Methods for Psychology                   LL (SDC) PSY-105 Research Methods in Psychology
PSY-330 Educational Psychology or PSY-340 Psychology of Learning   LL CCC) PSY-204 Educational Psychology
PSY-360 Social Psychology                                                             LL (CCC) PSY-315 Social Psychology - could end up being Upper Level
PSY-380 Biopsychology                                                                  UL (SDC) PSY-311 Physiological Psychology
PSY-235 Lifespan Developmental Psychology                                    LL (CCC) PSY-330 Gerontology - could end up being Upper Level
PSY-440 History & Systems                                                            LL (CCC) PSY-304 History & Systems -could end up being Upper Level
PSY-280 Abnormal Psychology                                                        UL (CCC) PSY-302 Abnormal Psychology 
PSY-498 Psychology Capstone                                                        UL (Excelsior) PSY-498 Psychology Capstone

The number of electives would be dependent on whether any of the Coopersmith courses I have listed as Lower Level end up coming in as Upper Level.

Psychology Elective                                                                       UL (SDC) PSY-316 Advanced Social Psychology
Psychology Elective                                                                       UL (CCC) PSY-305 Drugs, Society & Human Behavior   
Psychology Elective                                                                       UL (CCC) PSY-306 Family Therapy
Psychology Elective                                                                       UL (CCC) PSY-307 Group Counseling
Psychology Elective                                                                       UL (CCC) PSY-310 Foundations of Stress Management 
Psychology Elective                                                                       UL (CCC) PSY-312 Therapeutic Interviewing 
Psychology Elective                                                                       UL (CCC) PSY-320 Substance Abuse Counseling
Psychology Elective                                                                       UL (CCC) PSY-325 Career Counseling

Comments, questions or suggestions?

Thanks!
OldManOfTheSea

[dfrecore]

Hello jeanmanalo!

I am also interested in the BS in Psychology at Excelsior. TESU is a BA... 

The difference between a BA and BS is that one has more math/science and the other has more humanities/socsci's in the GE area.  Nobody is going to care whether you have a BA or BS.  There is just no difference.

[OldManOfTheSea]

The difference between a BA and BS is that one has more math/science and the other has more humanities/socsci's in the GE area.  Nobody is going to care whether you have a BA or BS.  There is just no difference.

Hello dfrecore!

My employer requires that you have a BS in order to be promoted past a certain level. So I guess somebody cares.

OldManOfTheSea

[ctcarl]

Hello there! I finally finished my BS in Business last month with Excelsior College. Now, I am thinking of taking a second Bachelor's degree in Psychology with Excelsior again as I wanted to take Masters in Psychology in a university after a few years. I asked for an unofficial evaluation and Excelsior said 

"Under our second degree policy, you are required to complete 30.00 new credits post your first degree. Within these 30.00 credits you need all the requirements of the psychology major (27 credits) with the exception of Introduction to/General Psychology and Statistics." 

I live in the Philippines so going to testing centers for CLEP/DSST etc is not available for me especially because of this pandemic. Is it possible to fulfill my requirements (except for the capstone of course) through Coopersmith/Study.com/Straighterline or any other platform without taking a test outside?

Thank you!

For whatever it may be worth, I am highly satisfied with my experience at Coopersmith, other than the fact that they insist students use ProctorFU rather than RPNow.  I've attached a list of how my Coopersmith courses, all of which were UL, transcripted in to Excelsior.

YMMV!

[dfrecore]

The difference between a BA and BS is that one has more math/science and the other has more humanities/socsci's in the GE area.  Nobody is going to care whether you have a BA or BS.  There is just no difference.

Hello dfrecore!

My employer requires that you have a BS in order to be promoted past a certain level. So I guess somebody cares.

OldManOfTheSea

That's strange.  I imagine someone who didn't understand this put the policy into place.  Many schools don't have BS's at all, but their Psych degree would line up with virtually ANY psych major in the country.

If I was to put a policy in place, I would say that you had to have a certain GPA in the major, or take a certain number of Psych courses, or a certain level of UL psych courses.  Just saying BA or BS is meaningless.

[OldManOfTheSea]

For whatever it may be worth, I am highly satisfied with my experience at Coopersmith, other than the fact that they insist students use ProctorFU rather than RPNow.  I've attached a list of how my Coopersmith courses, all of which were UL, transcripted in to Excelsior.

YMMV!

Hey ctcarl!

Any tips or suggestions for Coopersmith? I've never taken a course there and I'm wondering what it's like.

Thanks!
OldManOfTheSea

[ctcarl]

Hey ctcarl!

Any tips or suggestions for Coopersmith? I've never taken a course there and I'm wondering what it's like.

Thanks!
OldManOfTheSea

I think there are a few posts scattered about the forum detailing various members' experience with them.  Coopersmith doesn't have what I would consider to be a formal "content delivery system" or "learning platform", like, say, Sophia, SDC, SL, OD, ASU EA, et al.  There isn't any hand-holding or instruction.  They use more of an independent study model.  They provide, at a minimum, a study guide, usually (but not always) in the form of a Power Point deck, and a recommended textbook.  I generally like to have a textbook, but many folks will tell you that you don't need one, since the study guides are highly targeted.

In my experience, most of the textbooks are available cheaply on eBay or Amazon, particularly if you don't mind an older edition.  More expensive books can usually be rented from Amazon at reasonable cost.

For some courses, other study materials are provided, in the form of additional Power Point decks or free online textbooks, for example, from the SUNY Open Textbook Service.  Davar's courses are presented in a very similar way to Coopersmith's (they were partnered at one time), and occasionally include a YouTube video.  Nothing fancy, usually just a narrated walk-through of the study guide, but I liked them since I could listen while I worked on other tasks.

What I liked most about Davar and Coopersmith was that they were completely self-paced, and there were no papers, assignments, or nasty surprises.  If you study the material carefully, you should do well on the exam.  Davar CIS315 was tough for me, and I have an IT background.  But it was 3 UL IT credits, so I didn't expect a walk in the park.

The Davar and Coopersmith exams I took were mostly a combination of multiple choice and "short answer" essay questions, which I usually answered with two or three sentences.  Coopersmith offers at least two that are multiple choice only; Foundations of Stress Management and Therapeutic Interviewing.  For exam proctoring, Davar offers students the choice of either RPNow or ProctorFU; for Coopersmith, you're stuck with ProctorFU, which I loathe.

In terms of cost, Davar offers two (mostly business related) courses per month for $99.  Coopersmith is $149 per course, but they a have wider focus.  I took mostly psych and counseling courses from them.

Hope this helps!