Charter Oak State College - New Degree in B.S. Business Administration

[KittenMittens]

I am about to graduate with my BA concentration in English. So, the BSBA would be my second Bachelors. I am literally 6 credits away from the BA in English, the Capstone and one more COSC course, and while I could just stop in my tracks and pursue the BSBA I want the BA in English for personal reasons. It's been 7 years in the making and it would feel awful to abandon it now. Since that's the case, I'm having to wait until graduation (Dec. 31st) to start testing out of my BSBA in earnest. And I'll also have to work within the restrictions of getting a second Bachelors at COSC, meaning I have to earn 30 cr(15UL) after the graduation date of my first degree (Dec. 31st).

So, that means that timing and planning for this are everything. I need to be able to leave 30cr(15UL) for completion after Dec 31st. That's why I left the Organizational Behavior blank in my list above, because that's 3 UL credits I can save for after Dec. 31st. What I can do before Dec. 31st is test out of the 18 credits extra that the major will require, most of those being LL credits.

I'm sorry my situation wasn't clear before. I have a bad habit of assuming people are following my exact thought process when they sometimes lack all of the relevant information. That's a bad habit I'm trying to break and it seems even worse when people are trying to help me.

My plan:

Before Dec. 31st
Financial Accounting - CLEP - 3cr
Managerial Accounting - UExcel - 3cr
Macroeconomics - CLEP - 3cr
Microeconomics - CLEP - 3cr
Information Technology - CLEP - 3cr
Principles of Finance - UExcel - 3cr
Total - 18cr
After Dec. 31st
Business Stats. - ALEKS - 3cr
Business Law - CLEP - 3cr
***
(12 UL Business credits)
Business Ethics(If there is no duplication with Ethics already taken) - UExcel - 3cr UL
Human Resource Management - UExcel - 3cr UL
Labor Relations - UExcel - 3cr UL
COSC Course - 3cr UL
***
Organizational Behavior - UEXcel - 3cr UL
Capstone - 3cr UL

Ah I see when you said BA I thought you meant Business Administration. BA in English then. Ok, so I think I see what you’re saying. The problem is that you feel like you can’t start working on the new 30 credits (15 of which are upper level) until you graduate. Can you explain your situation to the advisor, registrar, and/or Provost? I don’t think you should be forbidden from doing the new credits that are completely unrelated to the BA in English. They’re generally pretty good about making exceptions if you explain your situation. Considering that these business electives have absolutely nothing to do with the BA in English, I think you stand a reasonable chance of being able to do it.

Plus, can’t you make the argument that you “earned a minimum of 30 semester credits subsequent to the award of the initial degree; 15 of which must be upper level in the new major” once you transferred the credits in after December 31st?

I don’t see why the college would deny those credits if you explain it to them properly. Why should you be precluded from taking the credits whenever you want?

I’ll give you a hint about COSC - they don’t know or carefully follow every requirement from the website’s rules and policies. They didn’t want to transfer my English in from India, but because English is an official language of India, I was able to argue successfully that I could transfer them in. When I showed them the proof from the website (which they begrudgingly conceded), they did it. Also, my old financial accounting course from 20 years ago, I was able to convince them to make an exception.

In any case, if I were in your position, I would very clearly and resolutely push to be able to take as many exams whenever you want - all 48 credits even before December 31st (I get that you’re saying you can do 18 credits right now because the remaining 30 credits will be fresh after December 31st). Talk to your advisor, and possibly even the Proovst. I would hammer that point through email (GET IT IN WRITING), because that’s a silly/absurd requirement. I believe you can argue the technicality that you “did” any exams after you transfer them in after December 31st. For example, you took UExcel Human Resource Management on November 30th 2015, but you didn’t transfer it into the college until January 2, 2016 or something.

I would be shocked if they denied you the ability to get a 2nd degree simply because you got the credits before then. I mean what if you just had completed a lot of general business electives say like 24 credits like principles of marketing, management, financial accounting, managerial accounting, and microeconomics, and macroeconomics, finance, organizational behavior, and business law 10 years ago. Are they really going to deny those being a part of the new major considering they're needed for the degree? I highly doubt it.

Actually, the more I read into it, I think the reason why they mention a “subsequent” 15 UL and 30 Credits overall is because any new major/concentration would have you do 15 UL credits (12 credits in UL concentration/major electives and the 3 credit capstone which is upper level). Most students in your position are not able to start on a 2nd degree while working on the first as it’s assumed you don’t have the time, energy, or motivation, etc. to be working on the 2nd one.

Whatever the case, I think it’s worth explaining, and I think your chances are good. As long as you get written (e-mail) confirmation that you’re ok to start working on as many requirements before December 31st, 2015 (i.e. more than 18 credits and as much/many needed i.e. 48 credits), you’ll be fine to do as many credits you please before December 31st.

Besides the question of when you can take the courses, your degree plan for the BS in Business Administration looks fine. Don't forget that you want to include Principles of Marketing and Management as well.