Excelsior BSB Degree Plan

[Andrée]

Hello guys,

I would really appreciate it if I could get some guidance here. I am looking for the best degree plan for Excelsior Bachelor of Science in Business Degree ( fastest & cheapest)
I prefer taking exams rather than writing papers. I am also a native French speaker, perhaps that could get me some foreign language credits?
I was able to transfer 21 credits from my previous college.
The below was sent from Excelsior admission office. ( I have not been able to find Organizational Behavior on either Sophia or Study)

Thank you so much



Credits Needed
CORNERSTONE REQUIREMENT Needed
Cornerstone course 3.0
ARTS AND SCIENCES COMPONENT (60 CREDITS) TO INCLUDE: Needed
Written English Requirement 3.0
Humanities Requirement 3.0
Ethics 3.0
Social Sciences/History Requirement 0.0
Organizational Behavior 3.0
Macroeconomics 3.0
Microeconomics 3.0
Natural Science/Math Requirement Needed
Mathematics Requirement (College Algebra or above) 0.0
Statistics Requirement 0.0
Natural Science requirement 3.0
Business Data Analysis (formerly Quantitative Analysis) 3.0
Remaining Arts and Sciences Requirement 15.0
Total Arts and Sciences Component 39.0
ADDITIONAL CREDIT COMPONENT (9 CREDITS) TO INCLUDE: Needed
Any Collegiate-level Study 5.0
Information Literacy 1.0
Total Additional Credit Component 9.0

BUSINESS COMPONENT (51 CREDITS of

which 21 must be upper level) TO INCLUDE:

Needed

Financial Accounting 3.0

Managerial Accounting 3.0

Introduction to United States Business Law 3.0

Business Communication 3.0

Computers 3.0

Principles of Management 3.0

Principles of Marketing 3.0

Financial Management 3.0

International Business 3.0

Strategic Management Capstone 3.0

Additional Business Credit 21.0

Upper Level Credits Needed


Upper-level Business Credit (these upper level credits will come from the business
component and/or additional business credits)
21.0

[Insert Name]

I’ll be the first to say it, but not be upset if someone else corrects me. SOPHIA FOR THE WIN! I’m seeing at least 7 on the list that can be knocked out in under a month total through Sophia, https://excelsior.sophia.org/ . Probably more like 13. English, macro, micro, environmental science, humanities, maybe ethics (EC wouldn’t accept Sophia for ethics for me, but I think they said they do for other degrees), at least one if not more of those business classes, the free electives, and probably something I’ve missed.

Could use your French to knock out the free electives through ACTFL tests. https://www.actfl.org/assessment-researc...ssessments

Once you are done with Sophia (and ACTFL, if you chose to go that route), from what I’ve read here you could use study dot com to knock out business and upper level courses. I haven’t used study (yet), but that seems to be the direction that people get pointed for UL credits. https://study.com/

---

Ok. Now that I’ve done the generic “Sophia, ACTFL, Study” response, let me see if I can practice my “degree plan” for the others to critique. I just started a 12 hour night shift. It will give me something to do. ?

[bjcheung77]

@ Andrée - Mon ami! Oui! I agree with the Sophia.org, ACTFL, and Study.com for the Upper Level requirements. You really need to follow this template as it will give us more details on what courses you have taken so we don't recommend duplicates. Moreover, it will tell us a bit more about your situation and we can see if Excelsior or another university would be a better fit for you. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

[Insert Name]

Alright, how did I do. I know I missed something. I also know it isn't pretty, but I wanted to knock it out quickly.

Basically, it looks like Sophia and Study could get you there, but ACTFL and Modern States free CLEPs may be a route you want to look into since you said you prefer tests. I am not sure where to find the Business Data Analysis, but I did find the Organizational Behavior on study. I am also curious if the free Clackamas Library 101 would work for the Informational Literacy requirement? I think I might try it, and see what happens. It's free, right? And self paced. 

In short, take a look at the excel I am attaching. Verify everything yourself, but it may help. I'm not sure I know exactly what I would recommend, but I think I know how I would go about it:
Maybe: 
-Decide if you want to try to ACTFL route or not, if so knock out the ones that would be helpful.
-Decide if you want to CLEP anything, and adjust the rest of this accordingly
-Decide if you want to do the Clackamas class, and knock that out if you do
-One round of Sophia that includes; English 1, a Humanities, Macro and Micro, Environmental Science, Intro to Accounting, Intro to Business Law, and Principals of Management. If you have time left on your month of subscription, knock out anything that looks easy. 
-Jump to Study and go through all of the Business classes that are left, including the upper level requirements (someone correct me if I'm wrong, but 300 and above should be UL)
-Plan for another round of Sophia to fill in any of the elective credits that didn't get covered. Stick with the easier stuff; Philosophers, Building Teams, anything without a Touchstone, etc. 
-If you found yourself in need of 3 free credits, maybe JSU would help, but if you are planning Sophia I don't think you'll need it. 

I would send my transcripts after each phase I did, so I could see for sure how it all lands. Like, does the Sophia Principals of Management come in as UL, or does the ACTFL cover the Arts and Science 15 other credits or just free electives? 


Some links to help (there are links in the excel as well)
https://modernstates.org/course/ 

https://libguides.clackamas.edu/lib101info 

https://study.com/academy/course/organizational-behavior-course.html 

https://study.com/college/online-college-courses.html

https://www.actfl.org/resources/actfl-pr...012/french

https://excelsior.sophia.org/#courses

https://www.jsu.edu/tryit/

[Insert Name]

Thought I'd wrap back, because I think I found the answer to my own question. I believe the Information Literacy class has to be taken at Excelsior, meaning the answer to the question I had about the Clackamas course would be NO.

[Andrée]

Thank you so much guys for the fast reply and really really valuable advices.
Added the template below for any additional recommendation.

Thank you

Your Location: Pennsylvania, United States. 
Your Age: 27
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor of Science in BA/Finance or Economics
Current Regional Accredited Credits: Regional

Budget: I have a max of $7K.  I'd like to go the cheapest route possible, but will consider spending more for easy and fast.  
Commitments: I currently work full time and can work on my studies part time and in the evenings/weekends.
Dedicated time to study: As much as needed during the evenings, nights or weekends .
Timeline: Finishing the courses required for the degree as fast as possible would be ideal.  


Credits Applied

Term Title Grade Credits Distribution Level
SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
2002/SP ENGL*101 COMPOSITION I                       A 3.00 
2002/SP MATH*101 COLLEGE MATHEMATICS    C 3.00 
2002/SP HIST*101 NATIONAL HISTORY                B 3.00 
2002/SP MATH*104 BASIC STATISTICS                 B 3.00 
2002/FA ECON*203 SURVEY OF ECONOMICS     C 3.00 
2002/FA MATH*203 CALCULUS I                           A 3.00 
2002/FA PHIL*202 PRACTICAL REASONING       B 3.00 
 Total Credits Completed 21.00


Credits Needed
CORNERSTONE REQUIREMENT Needed
Cornerstone course 3.0
ARTS AND SCIENCES COMPONENT (60 CREDITS) TO INCLUDE: Needed
Written English Requirement 3.0
Humanities Requirement 3.0
Ethics 3.0
Social Sciences/History Requirement 0.0
Organizational Behavior 3.0
Macroeconomics 3.0
Microeconomics 3.0
Natural Science/Math Requirement Needed
Mathematics Requirement (College Algebra or above) 0.0
Statistics Requirement 0.0
Natural Science requirement 3.0
Business Data Analysis (formerly Quantitative Analysis) 3.0
Remaining Arts and Sciences Requirement 15.0
Total Arts and Sciences Component 39.0
ADDITIONAL CREDIT COMPONENT (9 CREDITS) TO INCLUDE: Needed
Any Collegiate-level Study 5.0
Information Literacy 1.0
Total Additional Credit Component 9.0

BUSINESS COMPONENT (51 CREDITS of

which 21 must be upper level) TO INCLUDE:

Needed

Financial Accounting 3.0

Managerial Accounting 3.0

Introduction to United States Business Law 3.0

Business Communication 3.0

Computers 3.0

Principles of Management 3.0

Principles of Marketing 3.0

Financial Management 3.0

International Business 3.0

Strategic Management Capstone 3.0

Additional Business Credit 21.0

Upper Level Credits Needed


Upper-level Business Credit (these upper level credits will come from the business
component and/or additional business credits)
21.0


Any certifications or military experience? None

[dfrecore]

So, the first thing you must do is register for the BUSx437: Quantitative Analysis UExcel exam; the last day to register is 6/30, and you have to take it by 8/21. Otherwise, you will have to take this as a course at EC, which is way too expensive. Since you've taken Stats and Calc, I think you'll find it pretty easy to study for.

Second, I know that everything else you need can be done through Study.com - but you can also opt for courses through Sophia, or Coopersmith or Davar. The only thing I don't know is how EC brings in some of those courses, and you want to make sure you have the UL courses needed.

Here are the Study.com UL options for some of the required courses:
BUS 307: Leadership and Organizational Behavior - UL (Study.com)
FIN 301: Corporate Finance - UL (Study.com)
BUS 308: Globalization and International Management - UL (Study.com)

They have tons of options for the concentration coursework as well.

For English Composition II, you can do Study.com (ENGL 205: English Composition II) or Sophia, but you can't do the CLEP exam. I'm guessing they won't take other exams either (like DSST or Coopersmith), although I do think they take the TECEP.

Make sure you don't take things as LL that you need as UL, like Sophia's Principles of Finance (LL) instead of Study.com's Corp Finance, since they won't give credit for both.

[Andrée]

Thank you again everyone for all the help !

[bjcheung77]

Excelsior is a great option... With a $7K budget, TESU is within range, I would keep my options open... But if you want cheap, easy, fast, another option you should look into is the UMPI BABA, but it doesn't have the concentrations you're look at.

[Insert Name]

I’m sure that bj and others know the answer to this. Does EC give a discount for Study members? They do a 20% discount for people who have taken at least (I think it’s 2, but it may be 3) classes through Sophia. So, once you know which classes you are taking through Study for UL, it makes financial sense to take a few of the others through Sophia. For round numbers, if you pay a month of Sophia we’ll call that cost $100. 20% of $500 means that saves you $100 for each unit you take at EC from then on.