Charter Oak State College - New Degree in B.S. Business Administration

[KittenMittens]

As an update, starting July 2015, Charter Oak State College will be offering a full B.S. in Business Administration. Previously, Charter Oak State College only offered a B.S. or B.A. in "General Studies" with a "concentration" in business administration which did not look as good as having an actual major in Business Administration.

The only differences between this B.S. in Business Administration diploma and the "General Studies w/ business concentration" diploma is that the former requires you to take a course/exam in Business Law, and a course/exam in Business Statistics. Both the CLEPS Introduction To Business Law exam and ALEKS Business Statistics exams can fulfill these requirements for the "B.S. in Business Administration" degree, with the former having test prep material from instantcert.com . Considering that both of these requirements can be easily met with the CLEP Intro. To Business Law exam and ALEKS Business Statistics exam/mini-course (about ~$20), I strongly recommend that students pursue this degree over the generalized one.

As discussed previously: I mentioned reasons as to why a Charter Oak State College degree in Business Administration may be a better option for many compared to TESC or Excelsior.

This new introduction of the B.S. in Business Administration can make Charter Oak State College an even more attractive option for many especially since COSC's B.S. in Business Administration only requires 48 credits in business credits, with only 15 credits for the business degree being UL , 3 of which are satisfied by the UL Capstone course (30 UL total needed, so the remaining 15 UL credits could be satisfied through any subjects i.e. non-business)

if we include microeconomics, macroeconomics, and other similar courses then comparing the other 2 colleges:

TESC requiring 15 UL credits in business which includes a capstone (33 UL total needed) with a total of about 63 business credits

and

Excelsior requiring 24 UL credits in business courses which includes the capstone and a total of about 51-54 credits in business courses if we include micro and macroecon .

This would mean that COSC's B.S. in Business Administration would likely be the "easiest" degree to obtain a B.S. in Business Administration since it appears to have the most lax requirements. TESC has you take about 63 credits in business courses (63 credits = 54 credits in business credits + 9 credits from microecon, macroecon, and business statistics, etc), 15 of which are UL (including capstone) for a total of 33 UL credits, and Excelsior has you take about 45-54 business credits with 24 upper level business electives (including capstone). Although Excelsior has the least amount of total UL credits (with 24 UL credits), they must all be in business credits which is a lot harder to fill compared to Charter Oak and TESC's 15 UL credits in business credits, and remaining 15 UL and 18 UL credits in any subject respectively. Excelsior also tends to be the most expensive as well.

COSC, on the other hand, only needs about 48 business credits, and only 15 upper level credits in business courses and with a total of 30 UL credits altogether to get the degree!!!

At the time, the degree would have only been a "General Studies" degree. Now, however, the option for a full major in Business Administration is available. This change has not reflected on the website yet, but will show in the next few months and will go into effect on July 1, 2015.

[ajs1976]

Where did you find that info? Is the major increasing from 36 to 42 credits or these 6 requirements replacing 6 of the 12 elective requirements in the current concentration?

Business Administration - Charter Oak State College

[KittenMittens]

It's not on the website yet, but it will be there shortly - I spoke to the college and they told me it's going into effect on July 1, 2015.

Go here: https://acorn.charteroak.edu/ICS/icsfs/C...b81f0f5de9

Should that link not work, I've attached a copy of the "Change of Degree" form at the bottom of this post, and you can also go to: https://acorn.charteroak.edu/ICS/ click on the "Students" tab, on the left column click on "Forms", and you'll find the "Change of Degree Form.pdf" in the list of documents.

You can see that they are now offering a B.S. in Business Administration Major and on the 3rd page of the pdf, you can declare your major as B.S. in Business Administration (not a concentration but as a major).

Those two courses (Business Law and Business Statistics) don't fulfill the 12 credits of elective requirements which need to be at the upper level. If you check out the degreeforum wikia for COSC , you can find exams that fulfill those 4 course (12 credit) requirements. UExcel Human Resource Management, DSST Business Ethics, and UExcel Labor Relations all have instantcert materials, practice exams, and ample forum advice. I chose the Penn Foster Employee Benefits course as the 4th elective because I couldn't find any other straightforward upper level exams from UExcel with high pass rates for business electives (i.e. minimal prep time, ease, and ample prep materials), and this course is very easy and cheap ($237).

This may end up making the COSC degree more straightforward to complete than one from TESC as it will have the least number of business degree related requirements for getting a B.S. in Business Administration degree. Now only if they got rid of the cornerstone required course, then I can say that they would definitely be the best option of them all.


  Less than 1 minute ago">COSC Change of Degree Form.pdf (Size: 120.13 KB / Downloads: 3)

[Prloko]

I think this is pretty awesome news. More options are always better. :coolgleam:

[ajs1976]

Looks like the new BSBA will be similar to the BSBA program at TESC with a major in BSBA with a concentration (Small Business Management, Human Resources, Organizational Management, Project Management, or Individual).

The new Psych major and concentrations also shows on the form.

I don't think cornerstone is going away. If you look around on the website, you can find a copy of the 5 year plan that includes information on why they created it, issues they have had with it, and how they are working to change it. Its non-pass rate (can't remember the term they use) is twice that of the other courses.

[KittenMittens]

Looks like the new BSBA will be similar to the BSBA program at TESC with a major in BSBA with a concentration (Small Business Management, Human Resources, Organizational Management, Project Management, or Individual).

The one I was told most people would go for would be the "Individual" concentration. Employers and graduate schools don't care so much about "concentrations" – they care about what your degree's major is in and I remember COSC college graduates posting about this issue before & just saying they had a B.S. in Bus. Admin. which wasn't exactly true since they had a degree in "General Studies". I'm not sure how important this matters, but this distinction may be important in jobs that have strict degree requirements, and it's definitely better than having to explain you have a degree in general studies since most college graduates complete a degree with a major in something.

The COSC and TESC degrees are now very comparable in that they are almost the same i.e. COSC has a public speaking requirement, TESC has a "business communications" requirement (but the exams that satisfy COSC's requirement don't for TESC, so this requirement isn't exactly the same. COSC's requirement is in "Public Speaking" and TESC's is in "Business Communications."). They both require a course in statistics. Both COSC & TESC have a Principles of Finance requirement that can be fulfilled with a DSST in Finance or much better a Penn Foster Financial Management course (which is way easier). They both require a business law, a business ethics course, and a computer technology course (DSST MIS can satisfy both college's requirements for this area). They both require a course in Financial and Managerial Accounting, etc.

The one distinction though is that I think that the TESC B.S. in Business Administration in "General Management" is "harder" to complete than Charter Oak's new B.S. in Business Administration because TESC would have you also take an additional course in College Algebra, and required to take 6 courses/18 credits in 3 different subject areas from accounting, management, finance, and marketing, as well as take an additional 9 credits in business electives. See this: Sanantone's BSBA General Management - Degree Forum Wiki for comparison.

Whereas with COSC, you can take UL business electives in anything to fulfill 4 courses/12 credits upper level electives i.e. fulfilling requirements with exams that are covered by instantcert, TESC would require you to take at least 6 courses/18 credits, with 4 courses/12 credits upper level as well as an additional 9 credits in random business electives. Of TESC's 18 credit requirement, you'd have to probably take an advanced course in accounting (yuck!), and/or finance (double yuck!!). The UExcel exams in Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior, and Labor Relations covered by instantcert.com would satisfy the "Management" area for TESC, but you'd still have to take some courses in advanced accounting OR finance, and probably marketing. Of these 3 remaining subjects (accounting, finance, and marketing), a student looking for a degree would probably pick 1 course in marketing as it's the easiest of the 3, and then an advanced course in accounting OR finance.

With this thought process in mind, a COSC B.S. in Business Administration would be more straightforward to obtain as it only requires 12 UL electives, and doesn't have to cover any specific areas of study whereas TESC does and would require you to take an additional 6 courses/18 credits to finish the degree. For the savvy TESC student, however, 6 of those 18 additional credits through TESC could be easily completed by doing the free TEEX Cybersecurity online credits, so it would be more like having to do an additional 4 courses/exams/12 credits.

I don't think cornerstone is going away. If you look around on the website, you can find a copy of the 5 year plan that includes information on why they created it, issues they have had with it, and how they are working to change it. Its non-pass rate (can't remember the term they use) is twice that of the other courses.

Yes, the IDS101 cornerstone course won't be going away, at least, anytime soon. I've begrudgingly taken IDS 101 Cornerstone Seminar, and it's a waste of time & $$$ for anyone who's taken plenty of college courses and knows how to write essays, and cite papers. I don't know exactly why the non-pass rate is double that of other courses, but I think it's because it's a required course to matriculate into the college, and many students who do this course are not really qualified for college, serious about it or about school in general, plus they're more reliant on federal loans so don't care as much about the debt; compare that to students who take other courses through the college, they've already taken IDS 101 Cornerstone Seminar, passed it, and are probably more serious and motivated about school especially if they're paying out of pocket ($1333.00) for the course, and not using federal loans to pay for the courses.

IDS 101 "Cornerstone Seminar" is basically a simpler Intro to English course which you do over 8 weeks (not over 16 weeks as in a traditional semester) and you basically plan your degree, figure out what you want to do/how you're going to fulfill the degree, and you read a book on Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers", discuss it, and answer some questions about that book. It's not a hard course, has an easy and interesting book to read, some weekly assignments, and should be an easy A with a decent instructor.

Since practically no other college has this requirement, and it doesn't help that the course can't be waived or "tested" out, I think it's a money maker for the college. I guess I don't mind it too much since their degree was still cheaper than TESC's or Excelsior's if I had followed a similar degree plan. TESC is convenient in that you don't have to do their strategic management course, but I don't really mind it too much that COSC requires this "Strategic Management" final course (MGT 499) through the college; they have to make their money somehow, and TESC does it either through their "enrolled degree" program or their "per credit" program.

[ajs1976]

It's basically a simpler Intro to English course, and you basically plan your degree, figure out what you want to do/how you're going to fulfill the degree, and you read a book on Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers", discuss it, and answer some questions about that book. It's not a hard course, has an easy and interesting book to read, some weekly assignments, and should be an easy A with a decent instructor like the one I had, Instructor Katie Filbeck.

When did you take the course? I had it in the fall and my adviser told me that it had been revised over the summer. It didn't include any of the degree planning / resume writing things that are listed in some of the course descriptions. Outliers was an interesting read, but it seemed like I had a lot more busy work that took away from the research writing part of the course, that would have been more helpful.

[KittenMittens]

I took it this semester, and finished basically all the degree requirements as described in the degreeforum wikia this semester. There wasn't really much degree planning and no resume training in my version of IDS 101; I think it was the first assignment where you were supposed to detail what you wanted to get out of the college, and talking about yourself and that was it. I'm just waiting to take the MGT 499 course this Summer, and then I'm done. The timing is impeccable because I didn't know about this new degree coming out until today once the college pointed out I should change the major (since I already had Business Law and ALEKS Business Statistics completed); before, I assumed I was just going to get a B.S. in General Studies with a Concentration in Business Administration. I feel kinda bad for anyone who got their degree a few months before (either in December 2014, or May 2015), as this new degree really doesn't have any more extensive requirements - just two easy lower level courses/exams. In any case, this is great news for those graduating after July 1, 2015.

[cookderosa]

Related but maybe not especially relevant, David and Goliath is Gladwell's most recent book - thumbs up! Chapter on relative deprivation especially good.

[JTP]

The COSC and TESC degrees are now very comparable in that they are almost the same i.e. COSC has a public speaking requirement, TESC has a "business communications" requirement (but the exams that satisfy COSC's requirement don't for TESC, so this requirement isn't exactly the same. COSC's requirement is in "Public Speaking" and TESC's is in "Business Communications.").

One nice thing about the speaking requirement is that you can fill out a waiver if you have any speaking experience. Granted you will not get 3 credits towards degree completion they just waive the class.
I recently was granted my waiver request for this and outlined the paperwork in this thread: http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...aiver.html

I'm also in week three of the cornerstone right now. It's an interesting class...but I don't really see a point of it if you are required to take English Comp 1 & 2. I can definitely understand why it has such a high drop rate with all of the busy work and repeat English class content.