Charter Oak has an actual Major

[Prloko]

I checked the forum and hadn't seen a discussion on this yet, but COSC lauched a major in healthcare administration. This is not the normal Bachelor in GS with a concentration in healthcare, it is an actual major. I wonder if they are going to start offering more in the future?

Charter Oak State College - Health Information Management Bachelor's Degree Program

[Tedium]

They have a major in Health Care Administration, too. I think they are planning on shifting more toward majors. I know I read something, by Ed Klonoski I think, but I can't remember what or where.

[Prloko]

They have a major in Health Care Administration, too. I think they are planning on shifting more toward majors. I know I read something, by Ed Klonoski I think, but I can't remember what or where.

This was normally the "big" turn-off for COSC. If they switch to majors, you may see COSC overtake TESC as the primary Big 3 member, especially since their online program is ranked well.

[sanantone]

One of those majors has been around for awhile. I don't think the major issue is the reason why COSC is the smallest of the Big 3. EC is the largest, not TESC. TESC was popular because it gave UL credits for CC courses and did not require a capstone, but those are no longer the case. TESC is still the most test out friendly and offers the widest variety of degree programs; although, it does not offer all of the required courses for all of those degree programs. Besides the huge enrollment fee, TESC is the cheapest. TESC is also expanding its brick and mortar campus.

Those online degree rankings are completely worthless. The last thing I would do is tell an employer that my online degree at a school that is unranked overall is ranked towards the top among online degrees. That's setting yourself up for embarrassment. I've used this comparison a lot, but a degree from Rutgers will always look better than a degree from an online school. It doesn't matter if COSC's online degrees are ranked higher than Rutgers' based on technology and customer service. The Rutgers degree won't even say it was earned online. Everyone knows that Rutgers is a nationally ranked school and that's what employers will really be paying attention to.

I think TESC has the potential to build a good reputation in nursing. It is not ranked very high, but it's the only one of the Big 3 that has managed to get anything ranked among traditional programs. COSC also lacks programmatic accreditation for anything, IIRC.

[burbuja0512]

For what it's worth, I have never had an issue not having a major. Neither has my younger brother, who got his COSC degree in 2006 and has since gone on to complete his masters and begun work on a PhD. I simply list my degree as "Bachelor of Science, Business Administration" on my resume. Do I need to specify that it's a major or a concentration? Why would I? I never see people with majors listing their degrees as such. If someone wants to get specific on a background check or something, at that point, I would probably let them know that it's a concentration rather than a major, but I can't think of a single situation where this would make a serious difference unless I'm applying for a job where college transcript is being closely scrutinized, in which case, my CLEP's would probably be more detrimental than a concentration vs. major question. Remember, you can't lie on a resume, but you also don't have to give every minute detail. Based on the number of resumes I have seen, I don't think that there is one standardized format for listing out education. Almost every resume is slightly different in this aspect -when and if they want specific details beyond what you have, they'll let you know.

Overall, I chose COSC for several reasons, but I really liked doing a concentration rather than a major as it allowed more flexibility in my coursework. Business made the most sense for my career and helped pave the way for the MBA, but I'm really happy that I didn't get the BSBA from TESC or EC based on the requirements at the time. I was much more interested in what I studied with COSC.

[Prloko]

One of those majors has been around for awhile. I don't think the major issue is the reason why COSC is the smallest of the Big 3. EC is the largest, not TESC. TESC was popular because it gave UL credits for CC courses and did not require a capstone, but those are no longer the case. TESC is still the most test out friendly and offers the widest variety of degree programs; although, it does not offer all of the required courses for all of those degree programs. Besides the huge enrollment fee, TESC is the cheapest. TESC is also expanding its brick and mortar campus.

Those online degree rankings are completely worthless. The last thing I would do is tell an employer that my online degree at a school that is unranked overall is ranked towards the top among online degrees. That's setting yourself up for embarrassment. I've used this comparison a lot, but a degree from Rutgers will always look better than a degree from an online school. It doesn't matter if COSC's online degrees are ranked higher than Rutgers' based on technology and customer service. The Rutgers degree won't even say it was earned online. Everyone knows that Rutgers is a nationally ranked school and that's what employers will really be paying attention to.

I think TESC has the potential to build a good reputation in nursing. It is not ranked very high, but it's the only one of the Big 3 that has managed to get anything ranked among traditional programs. COSC also lacks programmatic accreditation for anything, IIRC.

You must be a green.

[sanantone]

You must be a green.

I would say the same if TESC was ranked highly on that completely useless, online degree list. Mentioning that your school is ranked high for online degrees would be dumb. Chances are that the employer wouldn't even ask or ponder on whether you attended school online. Why bring it up unless you have to? Let's be honest, there is still a bias against online schooling. Most people have never heard of COSC or the other two. If they happened to look up COSC and saw that it was only ranked for online degrees, they would not be impressed. Anyone who is completely honest with oneself will realize that these rankings do not make COSC more impressive than University of Florida, George Washington University, Arizona State University, and all of the other well-known universities ranked lower than COSC on that asinine list. University of Phoenix and its sister school, Western International University, are ranked higher than Rutgers. How can anyone take that list seriously? I attended WIU and that school is awful. I'm sure its sister school, UoP, is even worse. I have personal experience with UoP's misleading admissions salespeople -- I mean counselors. These rankings will do absolutely nothing for UoP's horrible reputation.

[DrJohn]

If you are going into a field where specific program accreditation is beneficial, then a school that offers a major will likely be your only true fit. When it comes to concentration vs majors, the waters are muddied a bit in that some schools like Harvard list all their undergrad degrees as concentrations. Now I am not suggesting that a COSC degree and Harvard degree are equals in the field of education, only a fool would believe otherwise. They simply both list their degrees as such, although COSC makes the further distinction that the major is actually General Studies. That being said, I am not going to list on my resume "Bachelor of Science, Charter Oak State College, General Studies concentrating in Business / Organizational Leadership. I have never in my life seen a need to specify what your major is in versus what you studied in college. It simply says Bachelor of Science, Charter Oak State College, Business Administration.

COSC may start moving towards majors, it isn't going to change anything, but that isn't really a bad thing either, I support it. It will not cause COSC to suddenly overtake any of the other Big 3 schools. However it is the first step in being able to offer accreditation for a specific program, say business, accounting, architecture, psychology, ect. Once COSC starts to offer a verity of graduate programs you may then see an increase in enrollment at COSC. COSC has come a long ways over the the years. I am sure many of you can remember when COSC didn't offer any courses, you had to complete any course work at another university and transfer it in, COSC would simply award the degree once you had the required classes / hours met. They have a come leaps and bounds since that time period. They are the only one of the Big 3 to require both a Cornerstone and Capstone course and to require Eng 101 has a prereq to admission or the taking of a COSC English prereq course prior to the Cornerstone course. If I am not mistaken, I believe the residency requirement at COSC is higher then the other two schools, that isn't necessarily a bad thing unless your goal is completely test of a degree, which no school will offer that option now. These are just my opinions, based on my own thoughts and beliefs.

[sanantone]

Actually, TESC does still have degrees that don't require some kind of capstone that has to be taken in residence. Isn't there a test that COSC offers so you don't have to worry about the English prerequisite if you pass?

COSC's lack of majors had nothing to do with my decision to drop them for TESC. I would have happily finished my degree there if it weren't for the UL requirements that were too difficult for me to meet within a reasonable amount of time. I seriously considered a second degree at COSC in order to save money on the enrollment fees, but the cornerstone and capstone are a HUGE turnoff. I would also still have difficulties meeting the UL requirements. I'm thinking about the Per Credit Tuition option for the BSBA at TESC because

1. There is no real capstone for the BSBA. You can test out of Strategic Management or take Strategic Business Management at Penn Foster.
2. The Per Credit Tuition Plan will be cheaper than attending COSC or EC.

I especially do not care about the master's programs offered at the Big 3. They are way too expensive for what they have to offer.

[DrJohn]

I am not all that familiar with the programs offered by TESC, while I think they are a great school the initial enrollment price turned me away. While looking at other schools, I decided to go with COSC. The goal was simply to earn a RA bachelors degree and then go find a good graduate program so I can get to earning a Ph.D in the least amount of time. I would love to hear more about Texas State's Ph.D program in CJ that you are pursuing, I live in Austin Texas which isn't that far from Texas State University. Like you mentioned, I am not that interested in any of the Big 3s graduate programs either, there are cheaper, better programs out there.

I am not sure if COSC offers a test for the english prereq, I think it is a course only but I may be mistaken. That is a new requirement from when I enrolled.