Excelsior Communications Degree - Please critique

[operalady]

My daughter has been working diligently towards a Communications degree from TESC. With possible changes ahead for TESC students I thought it would be wise to map out an Excelsior plan. Can anyone give me a critique or any suggestions for what courses to take next? Do I have everything in the right spot? Is my math really bad or does this add up to more than 130?
Any help is appreciated.

Pink = Planning

Excelsior College--Communications Degree Plan BA W/Major Option

General Education Requirements--12CR in two areas and 9CR in one area

Social Sciences & History, 12 Credits Done!!
-CLEP American Government (3)
-CLEP Social Sciences and History (6)
-CLEP Introductory Sociology (3)

Natural Sciences & Mathematics, 9 Credits, at least 2 of which must be college-level math or statistics
DSST Astronomy 3
Aleks Beginning Algebra 3
Aleks Intermediate Algebra 3

Humanities, 12 Credits Done!!
-CLEP Humanities (6)
-CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (6)

ALSO

English Composition Requirement--3CR Written English
_______________________________________3

Information Literacy--1CR Required
Information Literacy 1

Depth Requirement #1--Major Option, 30 credits in a single discipline, 12 at the upper level, plus 3 credit Communications capstone

I. Core Requirements (9 credits)
[COLOR="magenta"]A. Introduction to Communication BYU Independent Study- COMMS 101 — Mass Communication and Society
B. Interpersonal Communications--LSU Independent Study CMST 2010 – Interpersonal Communication
C. Public Speaking and the Art of Persuasion--DSST Public Speaking[/COLOR]

II.Intermediate & Upper Level Courses. All Three Courses Required (9 Credits)
[COLOR="magenta"]A. Ethics and Communication BYU Independent Study
COMMS 300 — Media Ethics, Law, and Responsibility or COMMS 480 — Media Ethics and Moral Reasoning
B. Social Science Research Methods-?
C. A Fundamentals course from any of the five areas of specialization (Organizational Communication, Journalism, Public Relations, Strategic Communication, and/or Media Studies) BYU Independent Study- M COM 320 — Communication in Organizational Settings[/COLOR]

III. Electives (12 credits from at least 3 different areas of specialization)
[COLOR="magenta"]LSU Independent Study-CMST 2063 – Argumentation and Debate
DSST Technical Writing?
FEMA Effective Communication
OHIO U exam JOUR 311 History of American Journalism 2.68 UL
OHIO U exam JOUR 411 Communication Law 2UL
BYU Independent Study-COMMS 230 — Introduction to Advertising[/COLOR]

IV. Capstone (3 Credits)

[COLOR="Magenta"]OHIO exams: Courses A-L
LSU Independent and Distance Learning
BYU Independent Study - Courses - Management Communications - M COM 320 — Communication in Organizational Settings[/COLOR]


Depth Requirement #2- History-12 CR in a single discipline, 3 at upper level Depth #2 Done!!
-CLEP Western Civilization 1 (3)
-CLEP US History 1 (3)
-CLEP US History 2 (3)
-DSST Civil War and Reconstruction (3UL)

You will need 9 lower level & 3 more upper level elective credits in the Arts & Sciences Done!!
-CLEP Western Civilization 2 (3)
-DSST Art of the Western World (3)
-CLEP English Literature (6)

Additional Upper Level Credits, you need nine--These can be Applied Professional/Free Elective or Arts & Sciences Need 9 here
DSST Rise & Fall of the Soviet Union 3UL
DSST Management Information Systems 3UL
DSST Business Ethics 3UL

Additional Arts & Sciences/Applied Professional/Free Electives--up to 30 Credits - She has 35
-CLEP Humanities (6)
-CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (6)
-DSST Introduction to Computing (3)
-DSST Principles of Supervision (3)
-CLEP Principles of Management (3)
-CLEP Information Systems and Computer Applications (3)
-DSST Introduction to Business (3)
-FEMAs – (8)

[alissaroot]

This looks really good so far. It does add up to about 130 credits, but some of these credits will fulfill more than one area. For example, the courses you have listed for a depth in history will simultaneously satisfy the Social Sciences & History General Education requirements, so you could list those twice. The credits she earns toward her Communications major will simultaneously satisfy her Humanities General Education Requirements, so you could move CLEP Humanities and A & I lit to arts & sciences electives.

Suggestions on what to take next:
Info Lit
UEXCEL College Writing
DSST Public Speaking
Any college-level math class or exam
any science exam
Then all she will need is one more math or science, the credits for her major plus 12 more upper level credits, nine of which can be Applied Professional/Free Elective.

DSST Rise & Fall of the Soviet Union and DSST Money & Banking will be six upper level credits in Arts & Sciences, then any other two DSSTs that EC considers upper level will do the job of getting enough upper level in addition to her upper level communications credits.

Hope that helps!

[Edit to add] CLEP Social Sciences & History doesn't count toward a depth in history at EC, but she does have enough credits in history for the depth. Just swap it out for the two U.S. History exams and put SS & H as fulfilling her gen ed in Social Sciences & History.

Also, if she gets upper level credit that is Applied Professional/Free Elective, you won't need those femas. [End Edit]

[TMW2010]

Just remember that EC's Communication degrees require 33 credits in the major. (There's a 3 credit Capstone course required.) And that looks to be true for all of the Communications major options (Generalist, Journalism Specialization, Media Relations, & Public Relations.)

[alissaroot]

Just remember that EC's Communication degrees require 33 credits in the major. (There's a 3 credit Capstone course required.) And that looks to be true for all of the Communications major options (Generalist, Journalism Specialization, Media Relations, & Public Relations.)

I haven't read the catalog in a long time. I forgot about this!

One less Applied Professional upper level exam from my earlier suggestions, please.

[operalady]

Thanks a million for the help!! I was hoping you two would weigh in.

I really appreciate the course suggestions. She's working on DSST Astronomy right now and was planning on taking DSST Technical writing and Public speaking soon, in addition to Aleks Beginning Algebra and Intermediate Algebra. Should she switch to Statistics?

Let me go back and tweak my original post after I put another child to bed. You all are amazing! This forum is such a blessing.

[operalady]

Ok, little one in bed. Back to work.

What about this section? Does it look right?

You will need 9 lower level & 3 more upper level elective credits in the Arts & Sciences
-CLEP Western Civilization 2 (3)
-DSST Art of the Western World (3)
_______________________________________3
DSST Ethics in America ?? 3UL

She has too many free electives, if I'm understanding all this, and she's missing three here. Can I scoot her English Lit up here? She took so many Humanities and History courses. I hope we haven't wasted too much time.

[alissaroot]

Thanks a million for the help!! I was hoping you two would weigh in.

I really appreciate the course suggestions. She's working on DSST Astronomy right now and was planning on taking DSST Technical writing and Public speaking soon, in addition to Aleks Beginning Algebra and Intermediate Algebra. Should she switch to Statistics?

Let me go back and tweak my original post after I put another child to bed. You all are amazing! This forum is such a blessing.

I'm pretty sure EC will accept both the Aleks algebras, so no reason to switch to stats unless she would just prefer it. I'll let an Aleks expert weigh in on this, though, since I never used Aleks for a degree and I don't know a whole lot about how it counts for credit.

I think DSST Ethics in America is lower level at EC, but the new DSST Business Ethics is upper-level. DSST Business Law, MIS, Substance Abuse, and Principles of Finance are also upper-level Applied Professional options.

Ok, little one in bed. Back to work.

What about this section? Does it look right?

You will need 9 lower level & 3 more upper level elective credits in the Arts & Sciences
-CLEP Western Civilization 2 (3)
-DSST Art of the Western World (3)
_______________________________________3
DSST Ethics in America ?? 3UL

She has too many free electives, if I'm understanding all this, and she's missing three here. Can I scoot her English Lit up here? She took so many Humanities and History courses. I hope we haven't wasted too much time.

Yes. you can use English lit here, but she won't need the extra 3 upper level in any arts & sciences because she will get those 3 upper level credits in her major, since it requires 33, not 30 credits.

[operalady]

Yes. you can use English lit here, but she won't need the extra 3 upper level in any arts & sciences because she will get those 3 upper level credits in her major, since it requires 33, not 30 credits.

Could you explain the last sentence. Forgive me. I'm a bit bleary eyed. Did she need the DSST Civil war?

How does the plan look now? To me it looks like she is almost down to her major and without much waste. She did the FEMAs over her spring break, so no big loss if she does not need them. At the rate she's going we may have the first college grad in our family by Christmas. :-)

[alissaroot]

Could you explain the last sentence. Forgive me. I'm a bit bleary eyed. Did she need the DSST Civil war?

How does the plan look now? To me it looks like she is almost down to her major and without much waste. She did the FEMAs over her spring break, so no big loss if she does not need them. At the rate she's going we may have the first college grad in our family by Christmas. :-)

Yes, she needs it for her depth in history and also for the upper-level.

I went and looked over EC's catalog to be sure of the requirements for a Communications major, and I'm so sorry! It looks like she only need fifteen upper level including the capstone. I had mistakenly assumed the capstone would be in addition to fifteen upper level within the major.

It should be:
Major=15 upper-level
2nd depth= 3 upper level (CW & Reconstruction)
[B]3 Arts & Science +9 upper -level electives[/B] upper level electives
Total=30 upper level

I'm so sorry I told you the wrong thing about not needing the extra upper-level in the Arts & Sciences. I should have checked before I posted.

The plan looks very good! You are doing a great job!

Edit to Add: It might be worth it to use a fema credit if she did the Effective Communication one. It does count as an Arts & Sciences (Humanities) credit, and in this case it might just be a credit toward her major. It could come in handy later if she ends up taking a communications course worth an odd number of credits, or one that is quarter hours instead of semester hours, such as Communication Law or History of Journalism exams from Ohio State.

[operalady]

It looks like she only need fifteen upper level including the capstone. I had mistakenly assumed the capstone would be in addition to fifteen upper level within the major.

I'm so sorry I told you the wrong thing about not needing the extra upper-level in the Arts & Sciences. I should have checked before I posted.

The plan looks very good! You are doing a great job!

No problem about the upper level requirements. I'm just hoping to see if Excelsior makes sense and if a degree is possible without much waste.

She's been working so hard. I've just been plotting and planning. :-)

I tweaked everything again and it feels like we are closer than ever.