Newbie question -- Transferring AAS to BA at TESC

[cathgrl]

Hello,

I've been lurking for several weeks and am now trying to come up with a degree plan for a BA in History. I have an AAS in Graphic Design from a CC.

My question is this: I see in this thread that the courses in a concentration for an AAS would be free electives. Would that be the case if several of these courses appear in the PLA database with the ART designation? At the CC, (except for the drawing courses I took), they were not coded ART.

TIA.

[sanantone]

That's not exactly correct. An AAS in criminal justice would definitely transfer well into a BA in criminal justice. An AAS in information technology would transfer well into a BSAST in information technology. With graphic design, it really does depend on whether or not TESC will count the courses as art courses that would fall into the humanities category. However, since you're going for a BA in History, it doesn't really matter. Humanities courses would either end up in general education or free electives. There is a chance that they would be considered too applied professional to be counted as humanities. In that case, they would only be free electives. It's really all about applied professional vs liberal arts (at TESC this is mathematics, computer science, natural science, and social science) and your major. Your general education courses should transfer, but since you completed an AAS, you might be lacking in some areas. It's no big deal. This could even happen with an AA or AS since TESC does not do block transfers and has some unique general education requirements.

[cathgrl]

I've calculated whether they're accepted as art courses or not. There is a difference of 9 credit hours (because of overflow in free electives). But then, I suppose that's only 3 more CLEP/DSST tests ...

[cookderosa]

I've calculated whether they're accepted as art courses or not. There is a difference of 9 credit hours (because of overflow in free electives). But then, I suppose that's only 3 more CLEP/DSST tests ...

How many gen eds did you do? The typical amount is only about 15. That will be your 3 or 6 credits of English (unless your department created their own English course which some do), your 3 credits of math (again, unless created by your department) and then anything that has a non-departmental code. For instance, if you look at your transcript, all your courses should look like this:
ABC123, 3 credits
ABC124, 3 credits
ABC125, 3 credits
ABC126, 3 credits

and then you'll notice other codes, like this:

ENG101, 3 credits
MAT101, 3 credits
XYZ101, 3 credits

The group that made up the majority of your credits in graphic design will be free electives (unless you can figure out how to get them counted as ART/humanities as you said). The other courses have potential for being used in some other way, essentially your 100/200 level gen eds.

If they fall into free electives, don't worry too much, you can still use them. It is highly likely that you'll have 15+ credits that may not count in the history degree, try not to let that discourage you too much and focus on how to complete the requirements as they are outlined. If you spent much time here reading about AAS degrees, you may have found my own posts about how I spend WAY-TOO-MUCH-TIME and energy trying to get my AOS (same as AAS) degree inside a bachelor's degree at TESC. End result- it was faster and cheaper just to test out then force round pegs in square holes. In other words, through testing, you can accumulate 60+ credits in the time it takes someone else to complete a traditional 3 credit course.

[sanantone]

Didn't your difficulty in transferring credits have more to do with the degree being in culinary arts than being an AOS?