Who here is a Excelsior - Business Major?

[durandtheman]

Hey Everyone,
Just checking if there are any current Excelsior Business majors in the forum. I'm in week 4 of 8 for the capstone course - BUS495, my final course. The course is rather demanding, but not impossible. I have a 9-5 job, luckily for me I sit in front of a computer all day, and can pound out the assignments at a decent pace. The case analysis definitely creep up on you, but can be completed in a few dedicated days.

Details

- 40% on performance in the BSG-Online - Business Strategy Game (28% on in-game performance, 12% on other aspects of game) - Team based game, so others in your class will be part of your team, competing against others teams. Decisions are made, and submitted bi-weekly, so 2 rounds of results a week.
- 2 x 15% Case Analysis that are 8pgs of content, 12-15 total. Rough draft for #1 due week 3, final week 5. #2 rough due week 6, Final week 8
- 15% on disussions - 2 topics a week, one on text related material, one on BSG-Online material
- 10% - Final Business Portfolio - 8 pages - 1 for each Program Objective - Reflective document on all you've learned for the course
- 5% Final Exam.


Just a note on the game, after 3 weeks of playing my team is 3rd, with the highest asset value, most revenues and most market share, we are just paying off our loans, so thats why we're in 3rd still. This is the most interesting aspect of the course. If anyone is curious I can go into more detail later on

The reason I am really curious is because the BSG-Online game is new to the capstone course, and has such a big weight on the grade. If there are a lot of EC - Business majors here, I can begin to add track my progress my input since no one else has documented it yet.

[columbia]

I'm enrolled at Excelsior and getting a BS-Business with concentration in human resource management. I Really want to hear more about this course. To fulfill my business policy requirement my book says I need this course, though it doesn't label it as a capstone course.

[durandtheman]

Great to know you're soon to take the course too! How soon until you take it?

Check out the degree/course description, it'll list the course as a capstone. Essentially the only course you NEED to take from Excelsior.

The Business Strategy Game is interesting. It is really a strategy game, more so than a business game. I'll tell a little more about it once I have more experiences to base it on.

[durandtheman]

Quick update on the course.

Case analysis #1 was a dog, but easily can be completed in a weekend.

This is the 1st semester they are trying the game out, so far the results appear to be 4 / 10 teams are actually playing the game, the rest are doing something odd that is giving them failing scores, which will in turn affect their final grades.

This game is really easy once you pick up what changes you need to make. Heavily on analyzing the competition, and knowing where they are heading, and what numbers you need to adjust within (sales forecasts, retail prices, product costs, distribution) to maximize on sales.

The 8 week course is definitely doable to those who have at least 4 hours a week to dedicate without distractions (case analysis took close to 6hrs total to complete). Otherwise, stay with the 15week, since the case load is spread across way more time.

[starrdesigns]

Thanks very much for your input and updates on the capstone course. I am currently taking the 8-week Bus 452 - Business Leadership course, and with all the work req'd I was wondering whether to go with the 8-wk or 15-wk course for the capstone class. I will begin that in the fall, and you have me leaning toward the 15 week! Please continue to update us.

Starr

[durandtheman]

-New Update-

It's the beginning of week 6. only 3 more weeks left, leaving 5 discussions, 4 more BSG year decisions, one BSG powerpoint presentation and the final portfolio. The 2nd case analysis is due this week, and 2 of the last 5 discussion topics.

Since this is the first running of this class with the BSG Game, they are having big issues with teamwork. My team is great, we communicate very strongly, agree with each others ideas. Although, for my team, I'm coming up with most of the strategies, and the rest are following my lead. Other teams aren't so lucky. Several had to separate students from their teams mid-game and give them their own spin-off from the 1st team. These spinoffs occur too if a student becomes inactive in the course. This happened to us, and a very inactive student was given an exact replica of my team (we're #1 by the way). So instead of just deleting them from the game, we went from 6 teams to 11, 5 being spinoffs from other teams. It's annoying especially now because the numbers stay at the default of the previous years decisions, so we'll be playing against ourselves in this spinoff team.

The big tip for this game is to play for the end result, don't just play to win the year. The team who we have overtaken for the lead was in it for the entire game, but my teams strategy had a bigger growth potential, so their are extremely dwarfed to our team now.

That is something they are improving however, so don't be strayed from taking this course.

[durandtheman]

*Another Update*

started week 7 of 8. Turned in the rough draft for the 2nd 15pg case analysis (dbl spaced, includes title page, reference pages). Started the final week of the BSG Game.

Have to make a 15-20 slide powerpoint presentation for the BSG game (team project, so will be split between the 4 in my group). Not so bad though, most of the needed data can be exported to an excel spreadsheet, and any tables easily created.

Anyone taking this course in the future make sure to check the Decision deadlines. Originally the schedule was set up to having Year 11 decision end at 11pm, Sunday and then Year 12 decision end at 12pm. The game takes about 20min for the results to generate, so only 30min would be allowed for 1 decision. Not to mention the times are EST, so you could have to do work @ 11pm on a Sunday.

Just tell the prof - they'll adjust the schedules. I had to have the prof change it again since a presentation was due on sunday for Years 11 - 20, and the decision for Year 20 were also due at 11:59 on sunday.

The class is very doable if you don't have much else going on. Leave weekends open in case you have any last minute paper catchups or discussions to add too, but if you stay on track it's definitely doable Mon-Fri and still being free on the weekend.

[durandtheman]

My last update.

It's week 8 of 8. No more big papers to write. There is a "Integrated Business Portfolio" due by the end of the course worth 10% and a 120 question, multiple choice final worth 5% remaining. Currently I have an 83.5% grade with out the last remaining 15% graded. The portfolio is kind of a joke, just feels like busy work. The final seems daunting, but being worth only 5% of the grade, and having a good idea what I need for an A doesn't make the task seem as difficult.

Overall this is a great course. I completed it while working a 9-5 job and still had some time for fun activities on the weekends. I wasn't completing any other courses or working on any other projects, but was able to complete it in good time. Granted, close to deadlines I always had to cram and freaked out a little, but always sent everything in within the deadlines.

Just focus on completing the discussions on time. For the Business Strategy Game, always focus on positive growth. In the final year, give as much of a dividend as possible. If you give a huge dividend then your ending ROE can jump over 200%. Not every team realized it in my course.

Good luck. If I'm still around I hope to help out any future BUS495 takers.

[columbia]

Thank you for documenting this. It will be a big help when I finally get around to doing the exam.

[crazy]

I need help for the Integrated Business Portfolio, does anybody know who can make it for me? or does anybody already do so I can use as a template? I can pay if necessary