Roadmap for BSLA thru Excelsior

[trueblue]

OK - so I'll be 49 in 3 months ... and starting from scratch for a bachelor's degree.  and figured the LA would be easiest/quickest to achieve. I've put together a plan (attached) but thought it would be good to get some feedback from others who have more experience.

Couple of questions ...

1- I read somewhere on the boards here that it was someone's opinion (don't know who) that TESU was more cost effective than Excelsior. Why would that be? Or would it vary depending on how you go about it? From what I've looked at, Excelsior will be less for me than TESU, but maybe I'm missing something.

2- I haven't applied to them yet (will next week), but does anyone know if Excelsior will accept ACE credits from SDC for courses that aren't explicitly listed on Excelsior's transfer page on the SDC site? (The courses on that page are drastically pared down from the courses listed on SDC's ACE page.) 

3- Does anyone know if Excelsior will view the SDC Physical Geology as overlap from the CLEP Natural Sciences?

4- Does anyone have any experience with Excelsior accepting the UL SDC Psychology courses? (specifically 'Psychology of Personality' [310] and 'Psychology of Motivation' [315])
I'm worried they won't accept the 'Psychology of Personality' along with the 'Intro to Psychology' because they have their own courses by those same names - although they list their 'Psychology of Personality' with only a 220 course number. Do the course numbers across the schools truly reflect the course depth, regardless of their similar/same names?
Also, under the 'Psychology of Personality' listing in their catalog, they say:
      "Suggested prerequisite: PSY 101 Introduction to Psychology or equivalent"
OK - that seems all fine & dandy ... but then they go on to say:
      "This  course  duplicates  PSYx101:  Introduction  to  Psychology. Credit for only one of these will be applied toward graduation."
Huh? So why do they suggest a prerequisite, then say it duplicates that very prerequisite!??!

I know, I'll get my answers when I actually apply, but if anyone has prior experience with this maybe I can tweak it before I actually put in the application.

Thanks in advance!

[dfrecore]

I definitely don't know how EC brings things in so can't help there.

But I do know that COSC is by far the cheapest of the Big 3. EC is 2nd, TESU is 3rd.

Here are the things I see wrong:
1) EC won't take the CLEP for College Comp last I heard (you can take the UExcel for this instead but it's expensive)
2) World Religions is a Humanities course (at least it is at TESU & COSC)
3) I don't think College Comp counts towards your English depth
4) Short Stories (Eng 310) is not UL
5) Literacy Instruction in the Elementary School UExcel is expensive

[trueblue]

Thanks! All that kind of what's what stuff is exactly what I need to know so I can work it out.

I'll go and look more closely into COSC. I originally looked at them early on, then dismissed them but I don't remember why.

1- Do you know if COSC takes the College Comp CLEP?
2- Thanks for the heads up - trying to figure out what goes where is a bear sometimes.
3 & 4-If what you say is true about the College Comp & Short Stories, I'll probably switch my area of focus over to history by adding in another history course. When I was playing around with my lineup, I had another one on there, then took it off. Looks like I'll put it back on and do some shuffling.
5- *Sigh* I know. It's expensive. That's the one I was going to 'splurge' on 'cause it sounds really interesting, and it IS 6 credits, not just 3. There's another one (TECEP The Story of Human Language [Com 339]) that also sounds really good, but it's only the 3 credits, making it even more expensive.

Off to get some plants in the ground before it gets too hot outside - then back to shuffle my list around and check out COSC. Thanks again!

[quigongene]

https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/curre...m-list.pdf

The do take the CLEP.

[dfrecore]

COSC does take the CLEP, or you can use Adv Tech Writing (from Study.com) as your Written Comp II requirement - and get some UL credit in there to boot.

Study.com has some UL (and LL) Education courses, although not the exact one you're looking at. Coopersmith also has some UL and LL ECE courses that might sound interesting, and I think they are all $150.

[trueblue]

Thanks for the link - I checked that out.

... or you can use Adv Tech Writing (from Study.com) as your Written Comp II requirement - and get some UL credit in there to boot.

I really like the sound of that one!

Study.com has some UL (and LL) Education courses, although not the exact one you're looking at. Coopersmith also has some UL and LL ECE courses that might sound interesting, and I think they are all $150.

I haven't checked Coopersmith out ... I'll have to do that!

So COSC requires that you have 9 credits prior to applying ... I couldn't find that Excelsior has something similar but I could have missed it. Does anyone know if they do? (And before someone points it out, no, I don't have a GED or equivalent. Somehow I think they'd frown on a homeschool diploma from the 80's - even if my parents had given me one.)

Which leads to my next question ... when you apply with a 'plan' such as I have, will they give a yea or nay to the projected courses? If nays are given, will they help you come up with something similar, or is that up to you, and then do you have to apply again? That part is all kind of fuzzy for me.

[dfrecore]

Thanks for the link - I checked that out.

... or you can use Adv Tech Writing (from Study.com) as your Written Comp II requirement - and get some UL credit in there to boot.

I really like the sound of that one!

Study.com has some UL (and LL) Education courses, although not the exact one you're looking at.  Coopersmith also has some UL and LL ECE courses that might sound interesting, and I think they are all $150.

I haven't checked Coopersmith out ... I'll have to do that!

So COSC requires that you have 9 credits prior to applying ... I couldn't find that Excelsior has something similar but I could have missed it. Does anyone know if they do? (And before someone points it out, no, I don't have a GED or equivalent. Somehow I think they'd frown on a homeschool diploma from the 80's - even if my parents had given me one.)

Which leads to my next question ... when you apply with a 'plan' such as I have, will they give a yea or nay to the projected courses? If nays are given, will they help you come up with something similar, or is that up to you, and then do you have to apply again? That part is all kind of fuzzy for me.

First, if you have a high school diploma (even if it's homeschool), that's valid and a better than a GED.  It's as valid as a high school diploma from any public school in the country.  Many times, there is no way they can differentiate between a homeschool diploma or any other kind.

Second, I don't know that you submit a plan to someone.  Mostly here on this forum, we just choose a plan and get started.  For COSC and EC, most people submit their transcripts when they're at 114-120 credits and are looking to take the cornerstone (COSC) and/or capstone (both).  For TESU, most people apply at some point and submit transcripts to lock in their catalog - because TESU makes the most changes so you really do need to do that.  COSC and EC charge fees for being enrolled, so it's better to wait.

[trueblue]

OK - that all makes sense. So I guess the best thing would be to hold off on doing any courses which I might question if EC would accept as credit for what I'm going for.

[suzycupcake]

I just applied to EC last week for the BSLA so I can share my evaluation when I get it back!