COSC - No CLEP/All Online BSBA Degree Transcript

[Idreamofadegree]

Thanks. I even just landed a marketing dept. job at the corporate hq of a large bank chain at a SIGNIFICANT pay increase and more benefits. I start next month. Wouldn't have even been considered without a degree to check the box. So this has turned out to be a very worthy investment that will more than pay for itself in a year.

That's amazing news and so inspiring!  Thank you so much for sharing all of the information you did.  I think this has to be one of the best threads on here.....seriously.  So very happy for you!

[cecilgambe7]

Congratulations, I hope to being able to finish in the same way you do!

As international student my options are a bit more limited.

It is requisite to have a Natural Science with Lab course? Can this be done 100% online?

[allvia]

Congratulations, I hope to being able to finish in the same way you do!

As international student my options are a bit more limited.

It is requisite to have a Natural Science with Lab course? Can this be done 100% online?

COSC does require a science w/lab - and it can be completed completely online. In example: Study.com has a Biology I w/lab option (the lab is virtual)

[cecilgambe7]

Congratulations, I hope to being able to finish in the same way you do!

As international student my options are a bit more limited.

It is requisite to have a Natural Science with Lab course? Can this be done 100% online?

COSC does require a science w/lab - and it can be completed completely online. In example: Study.com has a Biology I w/lab option (the lab is virtual)

Cool, online education never ceases to amaze me.

In the screenshoot numer 3 the document says: Natural Science course with laboratory required

I see now that the term "requierd" refer to the lab, my original interpretation was the a Natuarl Science course with laboratory was required for the BSBA in COSC

[Kriccio]

This is great!  Congrats! Pretty much what I am hoping to do, although I do not necessarily have to do it in less than a year.  Did you finish all these credits BEFORE you registered with COSC or after? Also, I've seen mixed info on how many courses MUST be taken at COSC to earn the degree.  Some say 90, some say none.  Which is correct? 

Kim

[allvia]

This is great!  Congrats! Pretty much what I am hoping to do, although I do not necessarily have to do it in less than a year.  Did you finish all these credits BEFORE you registered with COSC or after? Also, I've seen mixed info on how many courses MUST be taken at COSC to earn the degree.  Some say 90, some say none.  Which is correct? 

Kim

@Kriccio  You may want to look at the wiki pages; here is the link - https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Degree_Forum_Wiki

[topdog98]

... Also, I've seen mixed info on how many courses MUST be taken at COSC to earn the degree.  Some say 90, some say none.  Which is correct? 

Kim

2 courses (6 credits) must be taken at COSC to earn the degree, the Cornerstone and the Capstone.

[ReyMysterioso]

In response to the last few questions
1. A science with a lab is required. In my case, I used Straighterline's Microbiology w/ lab. They don't provide the lab kit. You have to go to a third party supplier and order it from them, but all the worksheets/instructions/grading is through Straighterline. As I recall, I had to do a DNA extraction (mixing up a couple things in a test tube), build simple models. get some Jell-O and items of my choice to represent parts of a cell and build two cell models (one plant one animal), several drawings of cell stages, chloroform extraction with chemical strips (one I'm certain was "stale" or faulty and I noted that in my turn-in paper as to why it didn't seem to give the expected results. They didn't penalize me.), a lot of sorting beads to work out the probability of genetics and one or two other things. I personally hated microbiology. I chose it because it had the cheapest lab out of the Straighterline options. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably pick a different science. Your preference may vary.

2. I took most of my classes BEFORE enrolling in COSC. But not all. There were several I completed while also doing the two semesters of COSC's in-house cornerstone/capstone. They allow you to continuously transfer in courses while you're enrolled. If there's a required slot you're missing, your student advisor will point it out and ask if there's a class on Study.com or Straighterline you want to take to fill it. There is a deadline ahead of graduation after which you cannot transfer anything in. So you couldn't, say transfer in a class 4 days before you graduate. I think it's common sense they need time to process anything you transfer, but not everyone has common sense.

3. You're only required to take one 3 credit cornerstone and one 3 credit capstone. They can't be in the same semester. You have to complete the cornerstone before you are allowed to take the capstone. The cornerstone is a very simple "gatekeeper" course. I would describe it as "how to college." They teach you how to write a research paper. So two semesters at COSC at one class each and you can transfer in literally everything else.

[tjguitar85]

What does your COSC transcript look like? Is there an overall GPA based on all your graded courses applied to the degree, or if it just the courses you took there? How rough was the capstone?

[ReyMysterioso]

What does your COSC transcript look like? Is there an overall GPA based on all your graded courses applied to the degree, or if it just the courses you took there? How rough was the capstone?

This is what the transcript looks like. COSC only calculates your overall GPA based on courses taken AT COSC. I'm going to repeat that because it's confusing. If you only take the cornerstone and capstone at COSC (like I did), your overall GPA will be based solely on those two courses. 
I want to point out a couple distinctions. All grades transferred in via ACE appear on the transcript with "P" for pass/fail. No letter grade. Courses transferred in via NCCRS will show a letter grade (such as Davar courses on this transcript.) Despite this, they do not seem to count toward your career GPA.
Now here's where it gets really confusing. You can submit Straighterline courses via ACE. But you can also submit Straighterline courses via transcript request directly from SL, skipping ACE. In my case, I'd submitted everything via ACE. But after the fact, I hand-picked only the courses I received a grade higher than a C and omitted the courses I made a C in, and put in a direct transfer request from Straighterline of those non-C courses. COSC replaced the courses listed with a "P" with the same courses listed with a letter grade. That's why some of the SL courses show a letter grade, but most don't. Either way, they still didn't count toward career GPA.
That worked at the time, but the policy may since have been changed, as one user reported they weren't allowing hand-picked direct transcripts anymore. Your mileage may vary. 

The fact that letter grades may show up but not affect career GPA may cause confusion when applying to grad school, if they ask for your GPA. Do I put 4.0? I don't know. I have so far on anything that asks, because it's what the transcript says at the bottom. Sure feels like I'm lying but is technically the correct answer as far as I can tell. Putting otherwise might cause more confusion if the GPA listed at the bottom doesn't match what I fill out. I don't know.
--
As for the Capstone, we had to do a solo project and two group projects. I think the solo one was sort of a business analysis of the business of your choosing. The big final project was a full-on business plan for a fictional company offering a product/service in a specific market. If I recall correctly, I think we got to decide what product/service what market. After brainstorming in the forums, my cohort settled on a doggy daycare/dog grooming salon in Manhattan. (Manhattan because we guessed there would be a LOT of available demographics data on NYC.)

It's as challenging as you want it to be. On the group projects, you could either grab the ball, lead, charge forward and do twice as much work as anyone else trying to get an A. Or you could be the person that doesn't really do anything but still gets the A. It's up to you. I put in far more work than I needed to pass. I re-wrote whole sections, fixed the formatting, added citations and put it all together because I thought it might be possible to get a 100. We got the 100.