COSC Questions Answered Here :)

[burbuja0512]

Thanks for the quick reply. To answer the above questions:

1) Do you have a specific major in mind that interests you the most?
Any major will really do. I just want the piece of paper, because most of the job postings at my work just indicate "Bachelor's Degree and x years work experience"
2) Where are you in your career and what type of work do you do? Or, if you're just starting off or want to switch careers, what do you want to be in your ideal world?
I work for an insurance company. At my place of employment, we have jobs in every field you can think of.
3) What is more important to you: speed or price?
Both are relatively important. But if I had to choose, it would be price
4) Do you prefer to test out of as many remaining classes as possible, or do you want to take a few more classes?
I prefer to test out of as many courses as possible. I have pretty good experience at test taking.
5) Do you have a preference for COSC, or would any of the Big 3 work if the school met your goals?
Any of the three would work

There is a program in my industry called LOMA (Life Office Management Association). I have completed just about all of their courses withing the past two years which Charter Oak said they would accept as transfer credits (Equivalencies can be found at LOMA: College Credit Recommendations: National CCRS. I completed most of my general studies requirements at a four year college and several lower level business courses. Only thing is, the lower level business courses do not correspond to the lower level courses listed in the handbook. But looking at the lower level business courses in COSCs manual, they can mainly be tested out of.

Thanks for your insight!

It sounds like COSC is a pretty good option for you and could end up being the cheapest, but you will still want to evaluate other options too.

The pros you'll have with COSC is that their advisors are awesome (COSC is generally regarded as having the best customer service of the three, but of course this is a matter of opinion) and will help you use your existing credits to create a degree plan that fits and make sense for your career. Also, you can test out of all of COSC's business requirements other than the 499 Strategic Management course and Accounting II, which you can very cheaply/easily take through Straighterline. I've taken their Management Capstone and can say that it was interesting and went by very quickly. I took the eight week version, though I think they also offer a 15-week, but I don't see the need to stretch it out. I personally think that a Business Administration Concentration would work well for Insurance, however, as you mention, any piece of paper would do.

The cons are that COSC requires a total of 30 upper level (UL) credits, which means 15 in your major and 15 'other.' This may be easy or difficult to get. I am pretty sure that there are plenty of testing opportunities for UL credit and you shouldn't have any problem. Keep in mind that you will get 3 UL credits for the capstone. The other major cons are that you do HAVE to take both the Cornerstone and the Capstone, whereas at TESC, you don't have to take either, and at EC you only have to take the Capstone.

Regardless of what you choose, with the number of credits you have, it sounds like you just need to get a good degree plan put together and start testing out of your UL credit! You should be done very quickly, maybe even in just a few months or so depending on the major.

If you have more COSC questions, keep 'em coming, or PM me and I'm happy to help! If you're evaluating TESC and EC, you may want to create a new thread or do a forum search to get the maximum number of responses.

I can't wait to hear what you decide!