COSC to TESC

[J_T]

Hey guys,

This might sound like a dumb question but could I use COSC's Cornerstone course as a free elective at TESC? I'm asking because I just completed my associate's at COSC (last week of cornerstone!) and want to start planning my B.S. in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness from TESC. I'm missing a 3 credit elective, so I'm thinking that maybe I could use that. Another option would be to score high enough on the UExcel Spanish to get the 12 credits (instead of 6), in which case I wouldn't need to use Cornerstone.

Could someone go over the degree plan I came up with and let me know if everything looks ok?

Black = Completed
Red = Need to take

[table="width: 750, class: grid, align: left"]
[tr]
[td]REQUIREMENTS[/td]
[td]CREDITS[/td]
[td]SOURCE[/td]
[td]COURSE[/td]
[td]CREDITS[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]English Comp I[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]English Comp I[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]English Comp II[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]English Comp II[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]College Math[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]College Algebra[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Electives in Intel. and Pract. Skills[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Intro to Communications[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Electives in Intel. and Pract. Skills[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]Luna C.C.[/td]
[td]Intro to Comp. Science[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Critical Think. for Homeland Sec.[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]TESC[/td]
[td]Critical Think. for Homeland Sec.[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Natural Sciences[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Biology w/ Lab[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Hum./Soc. Sciences/Math or Interdisc. Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Intro to Religion[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Hum./Soc. Sciences/Math or Interdisc. Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Chemistry w/ Lab[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Hum./Soc. Sciences/Math or Interdisc. Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]PF[/td]
[td]Art Appreciation[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Cultural Diversity in the U.S.[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]TESC[/td]
[td]Cultural Diversity in the U.S.[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Diversity/Global Lit.[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Cultural Anthropology[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Resp. Ethical Leadership[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Business Ethics[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Ethics or Diversity Elective[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Intro to Sociology[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Gen. Ed. Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]U.S. Hist. I[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Gen. Ed. Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]U.S. Hist. II[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Gen. Ed. Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Western Civ. I[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Gen. Ed. Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Western Civ. II[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Gen. Ed. Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Intro to Business[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Gen. Ed. Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Macroeconomics[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Area of Study[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]TESC[/td]
[td]Terrorism[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Area of Study[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]TESC[/td]
[td]Counterterrorism[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Area of Study[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]TESC[/td]
[td]Homeland Sec.[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Area of Study[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]TESC[/td]
[td]Protecting the Homeland[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Area of Study[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]TESC[/td]
[td]Research Methods[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Area of Study[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]TESC[/td]
[td]Capstone[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Area of Study Electives[/td]
[td]15[/td]
[td]FEMA[/td]
[td]FEMA Courses[/td]
[td]15[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Free Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]American Gov.[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Free Electives[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[td]SL[/td]
[td]Microbiology w/ Lab[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Free Electives[/td]
[td]6[/td]
[td]UEXCEL[/td]
[td]Spanish Language[/td]
[td]6[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Free Electives[/td]
[td]12[/td]
[td]FEMA[/td]
[td]FEMA Courses[/td]
[td]12[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Free Electives[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]COSC[/td]
[td]Cornerstone ?[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

[rebel100]

Have you considered taking the courses at TESC (or elsewhere if you can find them) and just transferring them back to COSC for degree completion with a concentration in Homeland Security/Emergency Preparedness? Thats esentially what I did, though my concentration was Org. Leadership.

Just a thought

And congrats on finishing up the Associates!!!

[rebel100]

Are you a resident of Connecticut? If so this would be cheap and you could add a certificate in PS/EM to your resume Public Safety Administration Certificates - Charter Oak State College

[sanantone]

Have you considered taking the courses at TESC (or elsewhere if you can find them) and just transferring them back to COSC for degree completion with a concentration in Homeland Security/Emergency Preparedness? Thats esentially what I did, though my concentration was Org. Leadership.

Just a thought

And congrats on finishing up the Associates!!!

Ahem, I'm going to have to slightly disagree with you here...at least with your wording. I think it should be made clear that you can't just create a concentration and have it be official. The official concentration would be individualized studies. I'd advise the OP to consider the concentration for public safety administration. If that is not appealing, the OP should decide if he or she wants to continuously explain the concentration in individualized studies or go to a school that offers homeland security.

If the cornerstone is not accepted, then its easy and cheap enough to knockout 3 more credits with FEMA, TEEX, or NFA.

[publius2k4]

I agree with sanantone. Staying at COSC would be the most cost effective way for you to complete your studies (because you're a CT resident). Your concentration could be in Criminal Justice or Public Safety Admin and complete your courses pretty quickly. Alternatively, you could choose the Business Admin concentration and graduate even more quickly by testing out of most of the courses.

But to answer your original question, I don't think TESC will accept the cornerstone for credit. Although it is possible, I feel that since the cornerstone is an institutional course, it's unlikely that it will transfer.

[sanantone]

TESC gave me credit for one of those intro to university studies type of courses from Colorado Technical University.

The Uexcel for Spanish is only 6 credit hours. You can earn up to 12 with the CLEP.

[PendragonG]

I am also planning to transfer to TESC latter this year after completing my Associates at COSC. I wandered what the Cornerstone Class would transfer in as. Presumably it would transfer in as a free elective at minimum. It would probably to be to hopeful that it would count under general education credits.

[J_T]

Thanks for all the input!!! My goal is to enter the field of emergency management after I graduate... so I don't think public safety or criminal justice would be a good fit. I might be wrong, but I think public safety and criminal justice tend to be focused on law enforcement. I really wanted to find a school that offered a BA/BS in Emergency Management but there are very few schools that do. I couldn't find any that are affordable enough and that accept non traditional credits. The only other option I was considering was American Public University (APU). The problem is that their tuition is kind of expensive. I think TESC's BS in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness would be a better option for me.

As for staying at COSC (or transferring back to COSC).. there might be a few problems with that. First, like some of you pointed out, they don't offer that concentration. It's bad enough there are no majors, so it will be even worse getting a BA/BS with a concentration in individualized studies and having to explain to people that the sub-concentration (is that what it would be called?) was in emergency management/preparedness. Another problem might be transferring the FEMA credits to COSC. I doubt they would accept the 27 FEMA credits I plan on using at TESC.

I think the fastest and most affordable option for me would be TESC - I would only need 24 credits at $9k. To fill the missing 3 credits in free electives (in case they don't accept Cornerstone) I might just take ALEKS' Intro to Statistics.

[rebel100]

I had no trouble landing an Emergency Management job with a BS from COSC, granted I had demonstrable experience in police/fire/ems. But the degree with a concentration hasn't, to my knowledge, been an impediment in any way. As you mentioned there aren't even that many Baccalaureate programs in EM....so what sort of background do you think folks in the field have?

As for the concentration vs. major issue I really feel there is way to much emphases placed on this. I get the argument, I just don't buy it. My resume reads "BS COSC with concentrations in Organizational Leadership and Health Care". Sometimes I will omit the health care part, I cater the resume and cover letter to the job applied for. To me, a "general" concentration is perhaps a more utilitarian than a specific degree. Let's say you get in a car wreck and cannot work in EM anymore, having a specific degree in that field may hurt your chances of other employment in other business sectors...you can argue this either way, in the end you only need the confidence to sell yourself and your accomplishments. I've been on several interviews, been offered a number of jobs, I'm currently being recruited by an organization halfway across the country for more money than I've ever made, my COSC degree checks a box and it's more than sufficient. Sananton'e point is taken, I choose to look at it differently (and I suspect we are BOTH 99% right).

I can walk through my hospital and see dozens of degrees, very few articulate the major. The parent company, a collection of hospitals that ranks among the top systems in the state doesn't even pull your transcripts. In my experience this argument on major vs concentration is absolutely a moot point.

COSC accepts FEMA on the bases of the Frederick CC assessment, anything labelled "college credit" on the IS website should transfer, to my knowledge there is no upper limit on FEMA credit, they should in fact accept more than TESC. Both schools accept FEMA free of charge. the trick to having these accepted is to articulate their inclusion on your CPS.

I suspect business/criminal justice/safety/ and nursing are the three most common Bachelors of folks in EM. I have over 500 linked in contacts, most of them related to EM and Public Safety...I can't even name a single person who has a bachelors in EM (not scientific in any way...just that I notice things like that yet haven't seen them).

[rebel100]

Have you scoured the FEMA list for a school? The College List

I am particularly curious about the offering from Auburn University. The courses are only $400 each, taught in a 4 week format the rub is this:

"Credit Participants will be awarded CEUs and certificates for successfully completed courses and will receive program certification after successful completion of the series. Students interested in academic credit should contact their department."

So it is taught and offered as a CEU format, yet it indicates that there is a possibility of receiving academic credit...if this has been done there is a very good chance one could convince TESC or COSC to accept them, for about $4000 you could potentially knock out the UL courses required for a Bachelors. http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/cgs/train...erview.htm

Not saying it would work, just that if it could be it would be quite a find.