COSC Questions Answered Here :)

[burbuja0512]

In response to the question "Why don't I just try to use the current credits for a degree" is because none of them are upper lever courses. All of them are lower lever. So I figure since I can transfer upper level business courses from LOMA exams I have taken, I can CLEP out of the rest. I have lower level credits in just about everything you can imagine from French, to spanish, to business, to music, to computer science, etc. Needless to say, I had a problem choosing a major. Thanks for your help!

Ohhhh... that's what I was afraid of And here I was hoping that we could just wrap up those credits in a neat little package, get you your piece of paper, and see you happily off to graduate school. Oh well, it's ok and you CAN be done quickly even if you don't have UL credits yet.

Here are a few questions that might help:

1) Do you have a specific major in mind that interests you the most?
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?
3) What is more important to you: speed or 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?
5) Do you have a preference for COSC, or would any of the Big 3 work if the school met your goals?


Anything else you want to add? I'd love to hear a little bit more! I think it could help a little

[burbuja0512]

Let me first apologize for the length of this response. I felt certain comments could be taken the wrong way without definition. Plus, if you haven't noticed before, I'm a talker.

If you want a quick test out degree I would definitely pursue liberal arts. In my professional experience when you mention a liberal arts degree there are no implied expectations. Unless you've been in hiring committee meetings or behind closed doors with leadership this will be hard to explain and is the reason most say any degree is ok if only to check a box, or, if you are going for your masters.

Yes, I guess by looking over a few of the templates on this forum you could test out of a BSBA but personally, I would not do it. First, you have no true writing or communication experience. Second, no GPA (and I am not referring to one basket weaving course); those of us who have work experience do not include GPA on resumes but it is requested on applications. Third and most important, to me anyway, it would be quite embarrassing to have a lot of test knowledge but no practical experience, learned or otherwise, to link those shortcuts to. The business world, at least in my industry, is ruthless; the interview process alone can make the ill prepared sick.

IMHO, you should take some courses at a community college, tesc, or any other school. It's not an easy program by any means. I've got 15+ yrs bus exp, 30 tesc crs, 21 cc crs, and at present 100+ testing/alternate course crs. I mention all that to say, I am currently studying for the tecep (test date Thursday) and am a ball of nerves.

I sure hope God smiles on me the day of the test.

You'll have to let us know how the TECEP goes! I didn't ever take one due to the prohibitive cost for non-TESC students so I am very curious.

I agree with you on the Liberal Arts degree and also about how cruel the business world can be. Ha ha and I'm in sales, so I deal with the worst of the worst in the business world. UGH...

Anyhow.. one other comment on Liberal Arts, but it can be said for any other non-specific degree. Be prepared to do a little bit more. Yes, you can get your Liberal Arts degree quicker than some others, but it doesn't show that you're prepared for any single profession. It shows that you are well-rounded and possibly that you can adapt to many learning situations, but that's about it. If you want to go down a career path, expect to add one or more of the following:
-graduate degree
-professional certificates
-lots of experience in your ideal field
-volunteer work and/or internship in your ideal field

I'm not knocking the Liberal Arts degree and like I said, any degree that isn't specialized need a bit more. The great thing about a testing degree is that you can hurry up and get past the undergraduate part of it. After all, the undergrad is what is usually the most time-consuming and expensive and you'll be WAY ahead of the pack if you can finish in less time and without a ton of college debt.

[wannagraduate]

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!

[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!

[bricabrac]

Hi Wannagraduate:

So basically all you need is to check a box; in that case any Liberal Arts program would suffice. Although I would think about matching whatever degree you choose to future aspirations.

I don't have any knowledge of the LOMA program, but below is what is listed under business certificates. It seems TESC will accept up to 26 credits from this program. I do know TESC awards both LL & UL credit for the CPS exam (IAAP) so the same may hold true for LOMA.

Designation: The Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI). Insurance Education Program: Awarded by LOMA, Credit recommendation by the National PONSI Program up to 26
Undergraduate Ways to Earn Credit - Thomas Edison State College - acalog ACMSâ„¢

I'm sure you will do well in whatever program you choose. Good luck!

[agent6488]

1) Do you have any specific graduate program in mind? If so, you'll want to make sure that you meet the pre-requisites for the program

2) Don't feel like you're "fooling" people with a transcript full of CLEP/DSST.

3) I don't know how TESC and EC grade CLEP/DSST,


Good luck and let us know if you have questions on the degree planning,

I will definitely check into grad programs first, although I'll probably risk limiting my options just to get the BA done fast.

I initially thought the Excelsior grading of tests was to create the illusion of a normal transcript, but now I see it's more for continuing education.

I will probably stick with CLEP since they're cheap.

Question (hopefully not too off-topic): Does anyone know if "Must include at least two subject areas" applies to the lines above or below here?:
Thomas Edison State College | BA in Liberal Studies Credit Distribution

[bricabrac]

Question (hopefully not too off-topic): Does anyone know if "Must include at least two subject areas" applies to the lines above or below here?:
Thomas Edison State College | BA in Liberal Studies Credit Distribution

Hi agent6488,

Two or more different subject areas refer to the details below, use examples 1, 2, and 3 for a general guide.

There are a good amount of dantes exams available that you can use to help fiil the 18 UL crs req in area of study including MIS301, REL405, ECO332, SOS305, PSY361 & COU262* and HiS +3.

*include fundamentals of counseling because it transfers in as PSY331

Undergraduate Ways to Earn Credit - Thomas Edison State College - acalog ACMSâ„¢

[wannagraduate]

Thanks for all the wonderful information. Still a few more questions.

I just found out what Straighterline was today. It seems to me that if I can complete a few courses from them within one month it may be cheaper than taking the CLEP exams. Anyways, the website states that "In addition to the application fee, students pay the Charter Oak State College annual credit registry fee of $300 ($405 for non-Connecticut residents) which covers all coursework submitted during a 1 year period." Does this apply to matriculated students. It just seems odd that they would charge you for Straighterline but not for CLEP.

Thanks for all of your help!

[burbuja0512]

Thanks for all the wonderful information. Still a few more questions.

I just found out what Straighterline was today. It seems to me that if I can complete a few courses from them within one month it may be cheaper than taking the CLEP exams. Anyways, the website states that "In addition to the application fee, students pay the Charter Oak State College annual credit registry fee of $300 ($405 for non-Connecticut residents) which covers all coursework submitted during a 1 year period." Does this apply to matriculated students. It just seems odd that they would charge you for Straighterline but not for CLEP.

Thanks for all of your help!

Not a problem. I didn't pay any additional fee for my Straighterline courses. I think that they might be talking about people who want to put SL courses on a COSC transcript and then transfer them to a school that wouldn't normally accept SL. If this is the case, FHSU in Kansas will do it for $35 bucks, so COSC would be an expensive way to "launder" SL credits. (**giving Cookderosa full credit for coming up with the hilarious 'laundering' term)

For matriculated COSC students, SL is very easy. You just tell your SL advisor to send the credits to COSC and a week or two later, they're on your transcript. It's very easy.

I liked SL, and it is a cheap way to get credits, but of course it's not easy, and not quite as simple as I thought it would be, but if you've got the time, you can really get a great deal on credits. SL is self-paced and at least for the classes I took, the only grades were for tests and the assignments were not-for-credit, so in other words, optional. If you do SL, you WILL need the book, but you don't have to buy the current 2011 $200 copy of the book. In all cases, I bought an older copy of the same text and spent less than $15.

HTH!

[burbuja0512]

I will definitely check into grad programs first, although I'll probably risk limiting my options just to get the BA done fast.

I initially thought the Excelsior grading of tests was to create the illusion of a normal transcript, but now I see it's more for continuing education.

I will probably stick with CLEP since they're cheap.

If you're not picky about grad programs, don't even worry. You WILL find something easily. I totally agree with getting the BA done as quickly as possible, especially if you don't have a specific idea on the masters.

Also wanted to mention that depending on the credits that you already have, you may need to do more than Clep and Dantes. I couldn't have completed all of the UL credits I needed without some help from ECE. TECEP is totally, ridiculously expensive for a non-TESC student. Seriously... it was going to cost me like 700 bucks to take it. However, the ECE is only around $250 and you can take that through a Pearson Vue testing center... check their website to see if there's one near you. If you can finish up with only CLEP/DSST, that is best for cost, but don't rule out ECE and of course, you may want to also use other cheap credits such as Straighterline, FEMA, and ALEKS.