Lots of RA credits, need more UL credits - need help deciding on which school/degree

[Courcelles]

Since I'm sure you all don't get updates too often on your guesses while helping us figure out our degrees, so I wanted to loop back around to give the latest info (and probably ask another question or three).

You all were spot on in wondering about the UL transfer requirements. I had some health stuff come up that I've been dealing with, so I didn't apply to COSC at the time as it seemed like the least feasible. I wish I had so I could compare now, but ordering all the transcripts to all of the schools was a pain lol.

I've updated my spreadsheet with some of the official transcript reviews, plus a couple unofficial ones using TESU's degree planning link.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

1. an actual preliminary review from TESU for a BS in Professional Studies (which I did on a whim as it mentioned being set up for those with lots of credit to transfer in). Due to the lack of UL transfer credits, this was the worst option with 45 credits still to go
   
2. an unofficial TESU plan for a BSBA in General Management. Not sure how accurate their tool is, but I show 30 credits outstanding. This may be the best option as I could get a few done on Study.com before the year is out, then start actual classes in January to hit their residency requirement since I'll have to use financial aid to get to the class minimum vs paying the extra fee. I am most bummed that out of 3 writing classes, only 1 made it in to their writing requirements. A consideration for this option is that since I have to take some classes anyway, I could start on my MBA with them as well doing the bachelor's to master's program, which would be much more motivating for me.
   
3. an unofficial TESU plan for a BALS with a General Management minor. I show 24 credits remaining here, which isn't that far off from option #2 above. It would help save two classes, so if speed were the biggest priority (which it is, but maybe not for just 6 credits), it'd save a little.
   
4. an official review from Excelsior for their Bachelor of Professional Studies in Business Management. It's a little confusing to read their review, but I show I believe 30 (ish) credits remaining. I ran into time-based issues with some of my business classes being over 20 years old, which I believe they won't accept for their other business program. But I show 3 Cornerstone, 6 UL Arts & Sciences, 15 Professional Component (9 of which must/will be UL), 5 any collegiate-level study (which I asked about since I have several classes left over, but I believe these have to be UL since it shows I need 6 UL Additional Credit component, which includes the 1 credit Information Literacy requirement as well). So this is an option too, and I'd be able to start on some Study.com courses here as well, but I don't believe they have the bachelor's to master's acceleration option, which may or may not be necessary.
   
5. an official review from Purdue Global for their BS in Professional Studies. They're on the quarter system, and it shows 45 credits remaining, which translates to about 30 semester-hour credits. I asked them about putting together a degree plan for their actual Business Administration degree since they have all my transcripts, but they came back with a hypothetical one that had me re-taking Marketing, Management, Org Behavior, Human Resources, Managerial Communications, Accounting I, Business Law, and Managerial Economics, which seems a bit off honestly since I've taken all of those, some of them relatively recently).
   

My main concern is getting something done pretty much as soon as possible (though other factors always come into play). So I see above that TESU/Excelsior could be the right option in that area. But, for instance, I've read on here that TESU can take a couple months to actually confer the degree. Do you have any opinions or suggestions on how to get something done sooner? Are one school's classes/finals/projects simpler than others? I am pretty good at taking tests, though papers will take me longer (I do well on them still, they just take more time).

I've even looked into some very random things like Framingham State's Interdisciplinary Bachelor's program (which only requires 8 credits to be taken at their school), but it's hard to get an idea of what their deal is. But if there are any other similar programs that just accept a truckload of credit for a generic degree that would get me down from 30 credits to finish to more like 10-15, I'm all ears. If not, I think one of the above will work. Though again, if you happen to know a tip for a specific degree, or one more school to try (COSC), lmk.

I hope this helps some people in the future! For the record, I could only really get info from Excelsior and a couple from TESU on which WGU classes were UL since the others don't break it down, they just show you what you're still missing. Here's the list from my list of classes that were UL:

Excelsior:

- BNC1 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND LEADERSHIP
- C721 CHANGE MANAGEMENT

TESU:

- VZT1 Marketing Applications (TESU MAR-479)
- C721 Change Management (TESU MAN-415)

A Framingham “course credit” is a class, not a semester hour. So they want eight classes of residency, not eight hours.

[dfrecore]

Evals are more helpful than your breakdown. What did you get for the following from TESU (I need course equivalencies):
MGMT 170: Managerial Communication - Clark University
BNC1: Organizational Behavior and Leadership - WGU
BA105: Introduction To Computers - Stonehill College
MGMT 104: Intro to MIS - Clark University
ST 3050: Quantitative Reasoning - Univ. of Denver UC

C232: Intro to Human Resource Management - WGU
MKTG 301: Fundamentals Of Mktg - U Mass Amherst (should be UL)
MUSC 010: Intro to Music - Clark University
VZT1: Marketing Applications - WGU
EDUC 269: The Skilled Helper - Clark University
BACP 2050: Writing Workshop - Univ. of Denver UC
CA 2011: Discovering Creative Energies - Univ. of Denver UC
CLC1: Reasoning and Problem Solving - WGU

If you give me that info, I can give you the shortest/quickest path to a degree at TESU. They're all going to need some GE's, but the BSBA/GM and BSBA/HRM will work, as will the BALS/Gen Mgmt concentration, and the Org Leadership undergrad cert.

And, don't bother with the MBA there, it's WAY too expensive. Go practically anywhere else.

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For EC, did you ask about TCP1: English Composition II - WGU? What did they say was the reason not to count it as your 2nd Written English requirement?

Any reason why the following wasn't UL? I would definitely ask about these:
MKTG 301: Fundamentals Of Mktg - U Mass Amherst
ST 3050: Quantitative Reasoning - Univ. of Denver UC
VZT1: Marketing Applications - WGU
ST 3050: Quantitative Reasoning - Univ. of Denver UC

I show that you need 28cr more for the BPS, and all are very easy to get. As would the BSL. These would be inexpensive options.

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COSC will work since you have a lot of the requirements like the lab science. Hopefully they'll bring in some additional courses as UL, which would make it easy to create a Psych/Business degree there.

[newlion]

Gotcha, sorry to make it more difficult! I've attached copies of the evals I received as best I could. Let me know if there is a better way to make a PDF to attach here as I just printed the screen from their web interface.

Two of the TESU evals came from a phone call with an academic advisor today. The unofficial one is just printed from their student portal using their dropdown what-if program change tool. The Excelsior PDF is what they sent after the eval was completed on their end.

I'll also try to answer your questions on the class equivalents for TESU. The (parentheses) before are the TESU courses applied in the eval:
(MAN-273) MGMT 170: Managerial Communication - Clark University
(MAN-212) BNC1: Organizational Behavior and Leadership - WGU
(COS-101) BA105: Introduction To Computers - Stonehill College
(CIS-201) MGMT 104: Intro to MIS - Clark University
(MAT-303) ST 3050: Quantitative Reasoning - Univ. of Denver UC
(HRM-231) C232: Intro to Human Resource Management - WGU
(MAR-301) MKTG 301: Fundamentals Of Mktg - U Mass Amherst (should be UL)
(MUS-100) MUSC 010: Intro to Music - Clark University
(MAR-479) VZT1: Marketing Applications - WGU
(EDU-399) EDUC 269: The Skilled Helper - Clark University
(FEL-299) BACP 2050: Writing Workshop - Univ. of Denver UC
(ART-299) CA 2100: Discovering Creative Energies - Univ. of Denver UC
(PHl-130) CLC1: Reasoning and Problem Solving - WGU

As for your other questions, that was probably my bad on the misunderstanding after my wall of text. For Excelsior, they did take the Composition II in transfer. And the other classes you mentioned did come in as UL overall. Hope that helps!

UMPI now has everything in hand on their end, so I hope to hear from them maybe next week with more info. The COSC application process just got started last night. So that'll likely be at least two weeks since WGU takes quite a while to send out transcripts it seems. But I will update when I have more info on those and appreciate the notes here in the meantime. You all are awesome!

[bjcheung77]

LOL, you're the first in a long while that I've seen all the credits going into the BALS-GM... your only course is the "other" field shows English Composition II, and you're missing English Composition I as you've got your WR143 College Comp coming in the wrong field. I would highly recommend you to email TESU and ask to have that switched to English I as Excelsior placed it into the correct fields. You'll only be 12 credits away from a degree for the BALS-GM!

[newlion]

LOL, you're the first in a long while that I've seen all the credits going into the BALS-GM... your only course is the "other" field shows English Composition II, and you're missing English Composition I as you've got your WR143 College Comp coming in the wrong field.  I would highly recommend you to email TESU and ask to have that switched to English I as Excelsior placed it into the correct fields.  You'll only be 12 credits away from a degree for the BALS-GM!

Interesting. Thanks for noticing that! Here's the one thing. The BALS-GM is just me playing around in their student portal. When I did that previously, the #'s of credits still required came in lower than when the academic advisor added the program to my account for some reason. Some additional requirements were added when they added it officially from their end.

So it could be that when I ask them to add the BALS-GM, there could be some extra credits all of a sudden pop up that are required all of a sudden. Though, it may be that I took enough business classes over the years that it happens to fit well into the -GM version of the BALS compared to the one without a concentration? I shall see! Thanks again.

[dfrecore]

For TESU, I'm going to ask that they re-evalutate the WR143: College Composition course and apply it as English Comp 1.

Then for the BSBA/GM, I'm going to ask if
1) MKTG 301: Fundamentals Of Mktg (MAR-301) can be moved down to the AoS so that you can use a LL Marketing course for the core
2) ST 3050: Quantitative Reasoning (MAT-303) can be used towards the Quantitative Skills for Business core requirement

For the BALS/GM, you're good; you just need to do the remaining AoS requirements through Study.com:
BUS 319: Negotiations and Conflict Management (NEG-401)
BUS 323: Organizational Theory (PSY-360)
PSY 301: Industrial/Organizational Psychology (PSY-163)
you'll have to do an add'l UL since ST 3050: Quantitative Reasoning is only 2.67cr (bummer)

For EC's BPS degree, it looks good. You just need to do the following:
2 UL A&S courses
BUS 302: Foundations of Leadership (SDC)
BUS 311: Project Management (SDC)
FIN 301: Corporate Finance (SDC) or FIN-401: Corporate Finance (Davar)
BUS 308: Globalization and International Management (SDC) or MAN-330: International Management (Davar)

At this point, you have 3 good options that are similar in cost for remaining courses and time to finish, so I'm going to go with cost, and EC is $4,031 while TESU is $6,654 - so EC wins.

[AnnaAK]

Be aware: I was specifically told today by a TESU Sr. Advisor that this equivalency does not work:

BUS 319: Negotiations and Conflict Management (NEG-401)

[dfrecore]

Be aware: I was specifically told today by a TESU Sr. Advisor that this equivalency does not work:

BUS 319: Negotiations and Conflict Management (NEG-401)

Does not work for what?

[newlion]

Latest update:

• UMPI degree plan attached. Fewer classes fit into their BABA plan than I'd anticipated (even with basics like College Comp II still being listed as required to be taken, as well as their computers class). My guess is the easiest solution here is to try to get some of the Gen Ed requirements filled in with classes I've taken already (like College Comp II), and then switch to a BLS degree to get the # of credits remaining down.
  
• Also, an updated TESU BALS-GM degree plan is attached. I got the syllabus in for College Comp I, so that has I and II taken care of. I do have a question on this degree plan. Although it shows just 12.99 credits needed, when you go through the list of classes still required, I see the following in red as still needed:
  

1. Oral Communication (3)
   
2. Information Literacy (1)
   
3. Civic Engagement (3)
   
4. Negotiations and Conflict Management (3)
   
5. Org Theory (3)
   
6. Industrial Psychology (3)
   
7. Capstone (3)
   

Which would put me at 19 credits required, correct?

Still waiting on Charter Oak degree plan to compare, and I hope to be figuring it all out in the next week or two to start after Jan 1st.

Considering my priorities are first, being able to pay for things with Financial Aid (meaning taking at least 16 credits at TESU), and then finishing as fast as possible, my current thought is to see how a switch to BLS at UMPI would do for # of credits and possibly go with that option. Because I'd be having to take actual classes at TESU and I can't have THAT crazy of a schedule, it might take a longer amount of time to get through everything. Am I right in my thinking there?

I do have my fingers crossed for Charter Oak. They didn't have any great concentrations for a General Studies degree, but their requirements on the Business Administration side lined up well with what I've taken already. Plus, I'd be able to bang out a few classes at Study.com or similar in the next month or so to get the #'s down here once I'm actually taking classes at COSC.

Plus, Charter Oak gives up to 18 PLA credits for an HRCI certification. I am planning to take the SHRM-CP certification test in the next month or two, which is the other large HR certification group. Assuming I pass, I am wondering if this is something to inquire about towards and HR-related degree? Excelsior gives just three UL credits for the certification, and I didn't see it mentioned specifically on the other sites.

Thanks again for all the help! And I hope the updated degree plans help someone.

[rachel83az]

From what others have been saying recently, a Charter Oak degree is no longer really viable unless it is literally your only option. They're taking forever and they appear to not want to allow you to transfer in credits, even though it's theoretically allowed to do so. UMPI is a better bet for both ease and cost, so I would recommend them.