Excelsior Help

[entwive]

I hate to impose, but I am very frustrated. I have worked very hard to complete my BS with COSC. Unfortunately, as we came to the wire, they could not or would not answer my question on how I could complete my concentration requirements when they were not offering the necessary classes. So, after 2 weeks of frustration, I have applied to Excelsior. This means further delay as I have had to request all of my transcripts, again. I have given up any thought of a business degree and am looking at Liberal Arts. I am confused with the Depth Requirements. I am not sure how they define a depth, how many total UL level credits and what subjects can be applied? If any of you can assist, I would truly appreciate some eyes. I would love to continue testing while the transcripts are under review but I have no idea how to interpret the *depth* requirements. Any help is very greatly appreciated! So far, I am nearing 99 completed credits as follows:

AI Literature CLEP 6 L
IS Computer Applications CLEP 3 L
Introductory Business Law CLEP 3 L
Introductory Sociology CLEP 3 L
Principles of Management CLEP 3 L
Principles of Marketing CLEP 3 L
Principles of Microeconomics CLEP 3 L
Introductory Psychology CLEP 3 L
Biology CLEP 6 L
Social Science and History CLEP 6 L
Environment and Humanity DSST 3 L
Here’s To Your Health DSST 3 U
Principles of Public Speaking DSST ?? L awaiting result
Substance Abuse DSST 3 U
Criminal Justice DSST 3 U
Ethics in America DSST 3 U
Payroll Accounting CPP 3 L
Principles of Accounting CPP 2 L
Business Math CPP 1 L
Information Systems CPP 2 L
Business Law CPP 1 U
Taxation CPP 3 U
General Management CPP 3 U
Writing I Loyola 3 L
American Politics Loyola 3 L
Psych Fnds of Education NEIU 3 L
Edu/Individual Differences NEIU 3 L
Composition I SL 3 L
College Algebra SL 3 L
Accounting 101 SL 3 L
Macroeconomics SL 3 L
Behavioral Statistics Aleks In Progress
93
Pending (Speech and Statistics) 6

Total 99

[marianne202]

Hi! I'm sorry about your issues with COSC. I just graduated from EC with my AS in liberal arts and am working on my BS in Health Sciences with them. I would recommend you look in their catalog at the credit by exam section there you will see list of which exams they accept and how they apply them. I will tell you that your Substance abuse and Here's to your health are considered applied professional. The catalog for liberal arts will have have a breakdown showing how the credits need to be distributed and it will show which are UL and LL. It will also show in the breakdown which specific classes / types of classes you need for the depth requirement. I believe it is just a set number in say your area of depth ie: psych. The catalog is online and you can view it. You may have to register, but it is free and easy to register to access it. It will be a large PDF file, but you can open it and view it. The index will direct you to the few pages you need to find to view this info. EC does have a business degree so you may want to look at that instead of abandoning it if you really want it. I hope this info helps. I'm sorry about the frustration you are feeling. Good luck!

[lolojapan]

It all depends on if you want a Major or an "area of focus". You will have to take at least one EC online class, in addition to any credits that don't transfer. Other than the one class, you can complete a liberal studies degree by testing out of everything else. You can always use grad school credits to work on your specialization. You will need to listen closely to your advisors from EC.

[entwive]

Thanks very much Marianne and lolojapan. I have been reading charts until my eyes will bug out. I am pretty much stuck until they get my transcripts.......

[alissaroot]

Plan for a BSLS at EC

Social Science & History 6 or 9 CR
Social Science and History CLEP 6 L
American Politics Loyola 3 L

Natural Science/Mathematics 6 or 9CR
Biology CLEP 6 L
College Algebra SL 3 L

Humanities 6 or 9
AI Literature CLEP 6 L
Ethics in America DSST 3 L

Written English 3CR
Composition I SL 3 L
Writing I Loyola 3 L

Information Literacy 1CR
Penn Foster Info Lit.

Depth Requirement #1, History
At least 12 credits in a single discipline, 3 at the upper level
[COLOR="Purple"]CLEP U.S. History I
CLEP U.S. History II
DSST Rise & Fall of the Soviet Union
DSST Civil War and Reconstruction[/COLOR]

Depth Requirement #2, Psychology
At least 12 credits in a single discipline, 3 at upper level
Introductory Psychology CLEP 3 L
Psych Fnds of Education NEIU 3 L
[COLOR="Purple"]ECE Lifespan Developmental Psychology 3UL
ECE Research Methods in Psychology 3UL[/COLOR]

Additional Arts and Sciences/Free electives
Macroeconomics SL 3 L
Introductory Sociology CLEP 3 L
Principles of Microeconomics CLEP 3 L
Edu/Individual Differences NEIU 3 L
Environment and Humanity DSST 3 L
Behavioral Statistics Aleks In Progress
Principles of Public Speaking DSST ?? L awaiting result

Applied Professional, up to 60CR
Business Law CPP 1 U
IS Computer Applications CLEP 3 L
Substance Abuse DSST 3 U
Criminal Justice DSST 3 L
Here’s To Your Health DSST 3 L
Payroll Accounting CPP 3 L
Principles of Accounting CPP 2 L
Information Systems CPP 2 L
Taxation CPP 3 U
Accounting 101 SL 3 L
Business Math CPP 1 L
General Management CPP 3 U
Principles of Management CLEP 3 L
Introductory Business Law CLEP 3 L
Principles of Marketing CLEP 3 L

You will need at least an additional 9 credits at the upper level in the Arts and Sciences
[COLOR="Purple"]DSST Money & Banking
ECE American Dream [/COLOR]

I have no idea if this is how it will pan out, this is just an general idea, with the credits you still need colored in purple. Your evaluation might be very different, but I do know you need more upper level credits in the Arts and Sciences if you plan to switch over to a Liberal Studies degree.



How many credits would you need to finish your COSC degree? Do you just need some help finding some upper level business courses? LSU Independent study has three upper level management courses available, as well as some in human resources and finance and they are about $250 each: LSU Independent and Distance Learning

Hope that helps a little!

[entwive]

Alissa, you are brilliant! Thanks for the analysis. I am probably closer at COSC, but I have not matriculated and I think this is why I cannot get general questions answered. I emailed my advisor telling him that I was ready to matriculate but had concerns about meeting the requirements(Organizational Management). I asked for advice, very general advice, and did not receive an answer. After 10 days, I emailed again and received a very brief reply of a suggestion for another concentration(Organizational Leadership). COSC still does not offer the classes for either suggested concentration. I applied at Excelsior so that I would have options...but they all make my head hurt. Thanks so much for the purple, you should write their guides!

[malcs]

Alissa, you are brilliant! Thanks for the analysis. I am probably closer at COSC, but I have not matriculated and I think this is why I cannot get general questions answered. I emailed my advisor telling him that I was ready to matriculate but had concerns about meeting the requirements(Organizational Management). I asked for advice, very general advice, and did not receive an answer. After 10 days, I emailed again and received a very brief reply of a suggestion for another concentration(Organizational Leadership). COSC still does not offer the classes for either suggested concentration. I applied at Excelsior so that I would have options...but they all make my head hurt. Thanks so much for the purple, you should write their guides!

Two things here:
1) The colleges could care less about you until you formally enroll. They give you general non-answers to your questions. At EC they went from being unresponsive while I was "accepted" status, to being very responsive once I formally enrolled. I could not formally enroll before they completed my initial assessment, which was very frustrating. In fact, the EC evaluation done during the acceptance process is one sheet of paper with no real details other than a rough guess.

2) If you are going to enroll in EC, and may end up graduating at COSC when the chips fall, use the POAG discount to defer your fees. Search the forums for information, but it will allow you to enroll for $150. The stipulation is that you take 12 credits of EC courses, or you owe the money back at graduation. If you end up not graduating from EC, you can just walk away with no more than $150 spent on your enrollment, and $20 for POAG.

[entwive]

Thanks, Malcs, that is a great tip on POAG. I have finally accepted that asking questions of the big three before matriculation is a waste of time. I truly appreciate the help from the members here. I think I would have walked away and given up without this support!

[malcs]

Thanks, Malcs, that is a great tip on POAG. I have finally accepted that asking questions of the big three before matriculation is a waste of time. I truly appreciate the help from the members here. I think I would have walked away and given up without this support!

You are running a risk by not matriculating. EC's degree requirements are always changing, and you have no protection unless you are enrolled. I would enroll using the discount just to get things in the works. It can also take a while for them to do your formal evaluation, so you may want to consider that.