No more BA in Social Sciences at TESU!

[sanantone]

Almost every employer that asked me for proof of a degree asked for a transcript. It's not just the name that's changed; the requirements have changed. You no longer have a major in social science or humanities; you have a concentration. I assume you can take more than the required 18 credits, but the degree name still tells employers that you have the equivalent of a general studies degree. I've actually seen many jobs ask for a social science degree. I rarely see a job ad ask for a liberal arts or liberal studies degree.

This was totally unnecessary. How many liberal studies majors wanted concentrations in these broad areas of study? How many social science and humanities majors would rather have a liberal studies degree? Those two programs were already flexible enough.

[Mamasaphire]

Almost every employer that asked me for proof of a degree asked for a transcript. It's not just the name that's changed; the requirements have changed. You no longer have a major in social science or humanities; you have a concentration. I assume you can take more than the required 18 credits, but the degree name still tells employers that you have the equivalent of a general studies degree. I've actually seen many jobs ask for a social science degree. I rarely see a job ad ask for a liberal arts or liberal studies degree.

This was totally unnecessary. How many liberal studies majors wanted concentrations in these broad areas of study? How many social science and humanities majors would rather have a liberal studies degree? Those two programs were already flexible enough.

You have a very good perspective. Thank you for explaining it all!

[Lindagerr]

Hi Tara welcome back. Yes I am on and off to. I finally sold my house in new jersey just a year ago. We had to lower our price 15% which hurt. Did you stay in NJ or move out to Penn?

@ OP You could just put something like "BA 2010 TESC math/science" that is just saying you have a BA from TESC conferred in 2010 Math/science is ambiguous but once they look at the transcript they see I have something like 50 math/science credits that is all they look for as far as I know. No one ever questioned me about degree not even why I have a BA and not a BS with that many credits.

Even back in 2006 when I started TESC did not offer Majors it was just with a concentration in_________

[cookderosa]

So if you visit TESU's website, this link shows the new concentrations listed under Liberal Arts but if you follow the links, they take you back to the old distribution. My guess is that it just hasn't been fully updated. Thomas Edison State University: Bachelor of Arts

[Mamasaphire]

So if you visit TESU's website, this link shows the new concentrations listed under Liberal Arts but if you follow the links, they take you back to the old distribution. My guess is that it just hasn't been fully updated. Thomas Edison State University: Bachelor of Arts

I'm confused about "Students have the flexibility to pursue a specific liberal arts concentration, or may select one of the following areas"... as in, what is the point?

It almost seems like they are just blanketing them all under "Bachelor of Arts", but then trying to make the students feel like they still have a choice in what they take, even though it won't matter.

[cookderosa]

I'm confused about "Students have the flexibility to pursue a specific liberal arts concentration, or may select one of the following areas"... as in, what is the point?

It almost seems like they are just blanketing them all under "Bachelor of Arts", but then trying to make the students feel like they still have a choice in what they take, even though it won't matter.

I read that to mean that you can choose one of the liberal arts areas of concentration (Humanities, Natural Sciences/Mathematics, Social Sciences, or Liberal Studies) which is to say X credits come from one liberal arts concentration -or- a specific area of the liberal arts within a concentration (inside humanities you can choose from just art, or just communication, just English, etc) but we'll have to wait until they post the new distributions and see how it looks. I'm going to copy/paste the current one for comparison once they pull it from their website.

BA in Social Sciences Credit Distribution

Subject Category Credits
I. General Education Requirements 60
A. Intellectual and Practical Skills 15
Written Communication
(6)
Oral Communication
(3)
Quantitative Literacy
(3)
Information Literacy
(3)
B. Civic and Global Learning 9
Diversity
(3)
Ethics
(3)
Civic Engagement
(3)
C. Knowledge of Human Cultures 12
D. Understanding the Physical and Natural World 4-7
E. General Education Electives 17-20
II. Area of Study: Social Sciences 33
A. REQUIREMENTS
Students complete 33 credits in the social sciences concentration.
At least three different subjects must be included which provide for breadth of knowledge in the social sciences. Also, students must earn at least 12 credits in one subject area. A maximum of 18 credits can be earned in any one subject area in order to have a balanced interdisciplinary concentration.
Courses transferred to Thomas Edison State University are equated to the following levels: 100, 200, 300 or 400. A maximum of two college- level courses equating to the 100 level can be applied toward the area of concentration. A minimum of 18 credits equating to 300 or 400 Thomas Edison State University courses are required.
LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone is required

[TrailRunr]

Almost every employer that asked me for proof of a degree asked for a transcript. It's not just the name that's changed; the requirements have changed. You no longer have a major in social science or humanities; you have a concentration. I assume you can take more than the required 18 credits, but the degree name still tells employers that you have the equivalent of a general studies degree. I've actually seen many jobs ask for a social science degree. I rarely see a job ad ask for a liberal arts or liberal studies degree.

This was totally unnecessary. How many liberal studies majors wanted concentrations in these broad areas of study? How many social science and humanities majors would rather have a liberal studies degree? Those two programs were already flexible enough.

I talked to one of the advisers about this issue of "degree concentrations" in general at Heavin rather than about BA.SS. The Bachelor of Arts diplomas don't state the area of study. The adviser also told me that every AOS in the arts side at TESU is just a concentration. In response, I told the advisor that I've only showed car dealerships my diploma from my first BA. Every employer that wanted to verify my education wanted my transcript instead, which will list the major(s). That's why some of the advisers don't see any point in pursuing two areas of studies or a second BA. But employers generally don't know or don't care about the difference between a full blown major and a concentration as long as you don't call it a minor.

That being said, I agree BA.LS.SS is worse than BA.SS.

[TrailRunr]

I'm bringing up an old thread on purpose.

Has anyone graduated with one of the new concentration options? If so, what does the official transcript say as far as the area of study or major program or whatever it's called on the transcript? If the concentration looks like it's part of a separate undergraduate certificate on the transcript, the concentration won't be useful to get past HR. It'll be like a minor, which is just as useless for getting past HR.