COSC Questions Answered Here :)

[WanderingTeacher]

Hello Everyone! I am SOOO thankful to have found this forum!!! Right now I am in the process of having my transcripts from two previous colleges sent over to COSC for credit transfer. This will give me a total of 12 credit hours so far. I am planning on doing a concentration in Sociology. Has anyone completed this concentration at COSC? I am hoping to be able to completely test out with CLEP and DANTES exams, and taking some Straighterline and FEMA courses to fill in any gaps if necessary. Hopefully I can speak with an adviser within the next week and get some more clarity on how/if this would work. I wanted to go ahead and start a FEMA course or two since they are free and I have a lot of free time at the moment, but I didn't want to take a course that wouldn't help me finish my degree quicker. Also to throw in some spice to the mix, I will be taking all of these exams while working in China for the next two years! From what I have research, there does not seem to be a CLEP or DSST testing center in Mainland China, so I will be having to study up, and catch a flight over to Japan and take 2-3 (or more if possible) tests at a time to do this. Thankfully though there is a GRE testing center not too far from where I will be, so that will be very helpful in obtaining a good chunk of credit hours. My apologies for this scattered post, I am just so excited to have found a way to complete my degree and a resourceful forum such as this to help me along the way! WOOHOO! Merry Christmas everyone!

[sanantone]

There is no GRE Subject Test for sociology. Aside from Social Psychology, I don't think any other psychology courses will count toward the concentration. Of course you have to take the cornerstone and capstone at COSC, but I think there will be a few other courses you will have to take at COSC or another college. There aren't very many test or Straighterline options in sociology, especially at the UL. You have a few options for Intro to Sociology (Uexcel, Straighterline, and CLEP). TESC offers the Marriage and Family TECEP which is LL. For Uexcels (formerly ECEs), there is World Population (LL), Juvenile Delinquency (UL), Cultural Diversity (UL), and Social Psychology (UL). I do not know if COSC will let you use Research Methods in Psychology (UL) for the Methodology of Social Research requirement. You're more than likely going to have to take the Sociological Theory course. I don't know if they would count the Social Sciences and History CLEP toward the sociology electives. I don't know if they would count the Substance Abuse DSST either.
http://www.charteroak.edu/current/academ...r-list.pdf
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?...utput=html

COSC uses this list to grant credits for FEMA courses.
Printable Course List

[WanderingTeacher]

Thank you for replying Sanantone! Yeah it seems like Sociology may involve a little bit more than I imagined. I chose it simply because I like learning about people, but I have other interests like science, health, and political science. Honestly, it really doesn't matter what I get my degree in, I just need to complete a bachelor's. From your experience, which concentration(s) do you believe would be better suited to accomplish this goal with the least amount of classes having to be taken at a college? Currently I have the following credits completed: Intro to Philosophy (3), Intro to Political Science (3), Public Speaking (3), Tai Chi (1), Healthy Cooking (1). So that's a total of 15 hours, but I'm not sure if they would accept the Tai Chi and Healthy Cooking electives.

Thank you so much for any help/advice you can provide!

[sanantone]

I'm not as familiar with COSC as TESC, but business administration, psychology, history, individualized studies, and liberal studies should be some of the easiest degrees to test out of at COSC. COSC accepts the GRE tests for psychology, biology, chemistry, mathematics, literature, and physics. Computer science was discontinued by ETS. With liberal studies, you can use all of the liberal arts subjects that fall into the categories of math, science, social science, and humanities. With individualized, you can pair a liberal arts subject with an applied subject such as business, health, engineering, etc.

You can completely test out of the BSBA in General Management at TESC. With the exception of the capstone, you can test out of natural science/mathematics, social science, humanities, liberal studies, and psychology. You can almost test out of history.

[Tedium]

Don't forget about the Intro. to Sociology CLEP. I don't think there are really enough sociology credits to make it worth your while. Unless that's a degree you really have a passion for.

Psychology would be a better bet for COSC. You can take the GRE, there are a ton of tests available, AND you get to learn about people.

[WanderingTeacher]

Thank Tedium and Sanatone! I think Psychology would be the next logical step. I have previous exposure to the subject as I took an intro class in high school, and the AP Psychology class in high school as well, however, I never took the AP exam because I wasn't planning on going to college at that point. (I was a "rebel" moving to the beat of my own drum lol). I always liked Psychology but when I got to college Sociology piqued my interests so I thought I would go with that. I'm looking over the degree requirements at COSC, and I was wondering if one of you could explain to me the difference between the Applied Behavior Science - Psychology track and the General Studies - Psychology concentration track? The reason I am asking is because it says that the GRE test will satisfy most of the degree requirements for the applied behavior science - psychology degree ( Charter Oak State College - Applied Behavioral Science - Psychology Focus ), but for General Studies - Psychology, it says the GRE will not satisfy the subject requirements but can count towards elective credits. ( Psychology - Charter Oak State College Catalog ). This leads me to lean more towards the applied science degree, but I just wanted to get some insight from you all so to how this would affect me as far as testing out. Thank so much!

[Old Rusty Pipe]

I think you are misunderstanding how the GRE Psychology test would be applied to each of the concentrations. The Psychology concentration would apply the entire 18 credits to the electives portion of the degree. The Applied Behavior- Psychology would apply 9 credits to the electives portion of the degree. The other 9 credits would be applied to the TOTAL number of credits you need to earn the degree. Looking over the requirements, the Psychology concentration appears to lend itself well to testing. Between the GRE Psychology and various CLEP/DSST/UExcel exams you can test out of everything but the Cornerstone and Capstone. Those you have to take with COSC.

I happened upon this plan someone laid out on a Home School website:
Design Your Plan 2 - HC USA

"Students can go about meeting these requirements in a variety of ways. First, there's the Psychology GRE exam. This exam could be used to cover 18 of the 21 elective credits needed. If the idea of taking a graduate-level exam is overwhelming, there are other options.

Going back to consult the COSC master exam list, we can come up with a plan for the individual requirements.

1. Research Methods or Experimental Design: ECE Research Methods (3 upper-level credits)
2. Theory: DSST Lifespan Developmental Psychology (3 credits), and CLEP Introduction to Educational Psychology (3 credits)
3. Applied: ECE Social Psychology (3 upper-level credits)
4. Electives: Psychology GRE (3 upper-level credits, 15 lower-level credits) and ECE Abnormal Psychology (3 upper-level credits)
5. Capstone: Taken online through COSC (3 upper-level credits)

Now we have all the area of concentration requirements met, along with 15 upper-level credits. Because this is psychology, we also have 36 liberal arts credits."

As far as GRE Subject Tests go, the Psychology one seems to be the one most often taken by users on this forum. There are some good examples and info floating around. Good luck.

[Devanna]

Is it possible to complete a minor at COSC?

[rebel100]

Is it possible to complete a minor at COSC?

they don't call what they offer "majors" so there are no minors. It is possible to complete a dual concentration. I did this with 18 UL credits in organizational leadership and 9 in health care, that left 3 UL electives.

So yes, but the actual degree is still general studies with a dual concentration.

[Devanna]

they don't call what they offer "majors" so there are no minors. It is possible to complete a dual concentration. I did this with 18 UL credits in organizational leadership and 9 in health care, that left 3 UL electives.

So yes, but the actual degree is still general studies with a dual concentration.

Alright, thanks for the info.