Big Three and Business Degrees

[alleycat]

I have a question to ask business majors. Which one of the Big Three is the quickest school to obtain a business degree?

I am helping a young girl plan her college degree. She has very limited funds and no support from her family at all to go to college. So the path that lends it self to her being successful would be the best. She was not the best student in high school probably due to her home life. But she has matured alot lately and is ready to set sail. So any help or advice on which one of the 3 would be great.

[MISin08]

I only have experience with Excelsior, but they have been exemplary to work with. More importantly, perhaps, the materials on their site gave me a good idea of what I would need to do to well before I transferred in, which saved me money and put me in control. Curious -- why business? Not a bad choice, but other choices may be good too for a young person.

Phillip

[alleycat]

She said that she always was interested in business when she was in high school. I think a business degree is very handy. She can always get another degree done in a subject that she is interested in later.

Thank you

[MISin08]

That's cool. In my case, if I could step into a time machine and go advise my younger self I would say 'get the bachelors in something you love and take MBA prereqs as electives' but everyone is different.

Quantitative skills are always in demand and well paid. If she had a cruddy school experience she may not know whether she likes math or has a knack for it. A lot of us on the forum try to get by with as little math as we can get away with, but if your friend can warm up to quantitative, it's usually a good career strategy.

Phillip

[alleycat]

I am just happy this young person is thinking and making herself available to take the next step in her life. She is working three not so fun jobs to survive. She now wants something more to hang her hat on.

I am just trying to help her decide which school would work the best for her.

[t1maay]

I am a BSBA major at Thomas Edison right now. I would think that a person with solid motivation and capabilities could get a degree pretty quick with Thomas Edison. At least in the marketing focus there are a few classes that are not online courses they are the TECEP exams. That combined with CLEP's and DSST's make a BSBA very achievable. But again, its going to come down to motivation and ability.

[alleycat]

Thank you for your imput. I really do appreciate it. So you think marketing? I know one of her local CC has alot of marketing classes, I wonder if she could get some done there.

Thanks

[skyfall123]

Hi Allison,

Advantages of Excelsior include – much better customer service, ability to pay over time (payment plan) and you can test out of most courses. You have to take the Business Policy course from them, and I strongly recommend taking Operations Management from CSU Pueblo for $450. Math prerequisite can be met with Algebra.

TESC offers more concentrations, but also requires more prerequisites. With the new DSST exam you can now test out of Business in Society. They do also require a Managerial Communications course as a prerequisite which can be taken through them or Penn Foster. They also require PreCalculus as a prerequisite.

I would say that if she is happy with a General Business Degree then Excelsior may have the edge. If she wants a BSBA with a concentration then TESC may be a better fit.

Another advantage of TESC is that they will take more ACE approved business credits from Penn Foster. If she was completely cash strapped, she could theoretically complete a certificate from PF and knock off 30 ACE credits toward her degree. An example is here Certificate in Business Management - Outline | Penn Foster Career School and here Accounting Certificate Outline | Penn Foster Career School

Now both of those PF programs offer a payment plan and the certificate may give her a goal and sense of accomplishment along the way. Penn Foster courses are usually devoid of fluff and relatively easy to breeze through. I'm not pushing PF, but for certain people it may be an option that makes sense for part of her plan.

InstaCert is excellent for the entire business program, so if she has the "gift of desperation, i.e. highly motivated" then testing out of all but two or three courses is very, very doable with either Excelsior or TESC.

I would see what mix works for her...if she just wants a BS Business asap, then I would say use IC to test out of most of the degree.

If she wants a concentration that TESC offers, then that may be the way to go.

If she wants to mix it up a bit, then maybe TESC via PF and testing out.

The good news is that she has options and the knowledge that many, many people have tested out of degrees using IC and the forum advice.

Now just as important is finding out what she wants to do with her degree afterwards. Something a HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend is to apply for Government Procurement (Contracting) positions. Information here Federal Acquisition Intern Coalition

Most of the nations procurement officers are entering retirement age. There is a huge demand for younger qualified (business degree) graduates. Jobs are available throughout the US and Overseas. As a government employee you are set. Contract specialist jobs are available in every single government agency. To give you an idea, all of the Simulators and AI development for all of the armed services is done on the UCF campus in Orlando. At this site alone there are 145 Contracting Specialists making a very good salary, with excellent benefits, retirement plan, every conceivable holiday off etc... Check out the compensation Federal Acquisition Intern Coalition
Contracting specialist jobs are everywhere at the Federal, State and local level.

Also check out this site
USAJOBS - Why Work for America

OK enough of the rant

[alleycat]

Thank you Geezer for such a detailed description of options for her. She is doing some gen eds right now, and has been working on fema credits also. She was going to take a class or two at her local cc this summer to get back into the school mod. Which I think is an excellent idea. Also, there is so much overlap in business classes that taking a few really helps with testing later.

Thank you once again for your brillant summary.

[skyfall123]

OK...let's get to the nitty gritty...

The common business courses to Excelsior and TESC are (as of March 2010):

Common core:

Business Law (3) CLEP Intro to Business Law
Introduction to Computers/ (3) CLEP Information Systems and Computer Applications or DSST Introduction to Computers
Principles of Financial Accounting (3) CLEP Financial Accounting
Principles of Managerial Accounting (3) No test available...Take Straighterline or Penn Foster self paced course.
Business Finance (3) DSST Principles of Finance
Principles of Management (3) CLEP Principles of Management
Introduction to Marketing (3) CLEP Principles of Marketing
Business Policy (3) Excelsior must take course from them / TESC either take course or you can test out with TECEP Business Policy

TESC additional core requirement
Business in Society or International Management (3) DSST NEW Business Ethics & Society

EXCELSIOR additional core requirement
Operations Management (3) Take course from CSU Pueblo (highly recommended) TECEP for TESC (I did it and passed, not recommended, tough test and too easy to fail, for same price take CSU course)
Ethics (3) CLEP
Organizational Behavior (3) DSST

Also other Business prerequisites for both:
Macroeconomics (3) CLEP Principles of Macroeconomics
Microeconomics (3) CLEP Principler of Microeconomics
Statistics (3) DSST Principles of Statistics
Precalc (3) ALEKS or Straighterline

Additional Business prerequisite for TESC:
Managerial Communications (3) TESC or Penn Foster course

Note: I just looked at the Excelsior Business Degree template and they now appear to require PreCalc like TESC. Someone clarify if this is not true.

The backup plan for many (not all) courses is Penn Foster (almost all except Business Policy, Intl Mgmt), or Straighterline (Macro, Micro, Acct I, Acct II, PreCalc, Statistics), ALEKS (Stats, PreCalc)

A sensible approach is to take the easier Marketing and Management CLEP's first. It is also a good idea to take Macroeconomics and Microeconomics in the early part of the program.

The courses that will cause the most anxiety will be Acct I, Acct II, Business Finance, and maybe Statistics/PreCalc. Try and take Acct I, Acct II, and Business Finance in order.

When she goes for the CLEP or DSST Intro to Computers exam, I would also have her study and take the DSST MIS exam. It ties into Business, is relatively easy and is UL credit.

InstaCert is excellent for business courses, supplement concepts here NetMBA Business Knowledge Center

The business degree looks a little exhausting at first. This is a degree that requires a bit of endurance. It is absolutley doable, with the help from this forum. There are backups for nearly everything.

Good luck!!!