TESU "special topics"

[AllThose299s]

[Edit: Preview Post you deceived me... The question marks were candle emojis, but it is funnier as question marks]
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It seems that someone has summoned me...

While I'm not an expert in special topics.... I do happen to have quite a few... at least over twenty.

“Do they ever count for a specific required credits that don't require specific classes, e.g. the diversity class requirement?”  - Sometimes, it depends really.... There's still some sort of requirement that still has to be met depending on what degree a student is pursuing, e.g. SOC-101 Introduction to Sociology (Students pursuing a BA in Sociology should select a different course to satisfy the Diversity requirement.)

It is possible that they are expecting a student to have taken a course that could be considered on pair with a SOC-101 course, but perhaps if you were majoring in Sociology they might accept the SOC-199...

You would have better luck if the the requirement is more than a 3-credit bucket, such as Section C. Knowledge of Human Cultures or Section D. Scientific Knowledge - I've had COS-199 & ART-299 fall into those buckets.

“Do Special Topics stack?” - They can... For example when I had ART-299 used in the example above, I also had a course that came in as ART-299 also fall into GE Electives and the main AOS when I was a Liberal Studies major. So Special Topics can fall into section requirements (sometimes), they can also fall into your General Electives or even your area of study requirements (UL or LL) but it really depends...

Are you worried about what you have taken in the past coming in as a special topic and where it might fall into? If so, send your transcript over and find out. Now, if you are thinking of taking a bunch of courses that literally are considered "Special Topics in..." well that is more of a gray area without more details.

An important thing to note is: In my case, most of my Special Topic courses were not "Special Topics in ..." so the Source Course numbers were not XYZ-299, etc. In fact, some of the courses were literally just a second class as part of whatever the subject matter was and even then the logic is questionable.

(CS141) Obj Oriented Prog I => CAP-238, (CS142) Obj Orient Prog II => CAP-299. Okay Sure...
(OATN296) Desktop Publish I => CAP-256, (OATN297) Desktop Publish II => ART-299. I'm sorry, wut?

Now a few of my "Special topics in..." did come in with the source course matching what would be the TESU Transfer Equivalency and they also happened to be ACE credits, so I can't be more helpful there...