History Major/Political Science Minor Excelsior??

[All-American]

I'm looking into a History major through Excelsior College with a second major area of focus in Political Science (this would be a minor??). I haven't enrolled or sought advisers help yet, I'd like to get other opinions first. My primary question is whether my calculations are correct or close to being correct. Would this plan work?? Any obvious important changes?? I would really appreciate any advise!!!

Thank you very much and may God bless you with a wonderful day!!

History Major:

General History Requirement:
CLEP U.S History I (3) LL
CLEP U.S. History II (3) LL
CLEP Civilization I (3) LL
CLEP Civilization II (3) LL

U.S. History Requirement:
DSST Civil War and Reconstruction (3) UL *
DSST A History of the Vietnam War (3) LL

European History:
DSST Western Europe Since 1945 (3) LL
DSST Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union (3) UL *

Middle East History:
DSST Introduction to the Modern Middle East (3) UL *

History Electives:
ECE World Conflicts Since 1900 (3) UL *

Required EC History Capstone (3) UL *

Political Science Minor as Second Area of Concentration:
POL 321 Constitutional Law [Charter Oak College] (3) UL *
POL 300 Modern Presidency [Charter Oak College] (3) UL *
CLEP American Government (3) LL
POLX-170 Political Science- [U Excel] (3) LL
DSST Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union (3) LL
DSST Introduction to the Modern Middle East (3) UL *
DSST Western Europe since 1945 (3) LL
DSST Environment and Humanity (3) LL

General Ed requirements:

Written English:
Straighter Line English Composition I (3) LL
Straighter Line English Composition II (3) LL

Humanities:
CLEP Humanities (6) LL
CLEP American Literature (3) LL

Math:
CLEP College Mathematics (6) LL
CLEP College Algebra (3) LL

Science:
DSST Heres to Your Health (3) UL *
DSST Introduction to Computing (3) LL
DSST Information Systems and Computer Applications (3) LL


Prospective Electives:
DSST Drug and Alcohol Abuse/Substance Abuse (3) UL *
DSST Organizational Behavior (3) LL
DSST Criminal Justice (3) LL
DSST Introduction to Law Enforcement (3) LL
CLEP Introduction to Business Law (3) LL
DSST Business Law II (3) UL *
DSST Business Ethics and Society (3) UL
DSST Ethics in America (3) UL?? *
DSST English Literature (3) LL
CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (3) LL
CLEP Introduction to Sociology (3) LL
CLEP Social Sciences & History (6) LL

UL Fulfillment *

[dewisant]

In a word, no. You can sign up on the excelsior website just to have an account with them. You can download documents from their website till your printer runs dry. The main document you need is Credit by Examination to see what is worth what...according to them. Looking through your list my big concern is that you have tests/credits in two or more places. CLEP West Civ II will not work for basic requirements for example and DSST Intro Modern Middle East would be used instead. For the History major you need 15 lower and 18 upper level credits to include a Capstone in History that is 3U credits. Anyway, you need to take a serious look at the Excelsior requirements in general and the History major in specific before stepping out. If you need more help, just ask. I am 22 credits away from a History degree at Excelsior.

[NAP]

Welcome to the forum All-American!

It looks like you are understanding a lot about how this works, but may have mixed old policies and those of different schools.

First, be sure to download the latest Student Guide to Credit by Exam. Check it very carefully against your plan. Right now, you have several UL that are LL and vice versa, 3 credits that are 6, and wrong categories for what EC awards. For instance, all of your list of Science are Applied Professional at EC, so you need 2 science credits.

Consider ALEKS for Math and free NFA credits. Don't forget about Info Lit.

I also have my doubts about the history exams counting toward political science at the same time. You will need to check with EC about those.

Are you going for a BA or a BS?

Let us know if we can help as you continue to make revisions.


--------

Hi Dewisant!

Would you mind posting your plan for the History Major credits? I would really like to see it; I am sure others would, too.

[dewisant]

Completed:
CLEP US History I 3/L
CLEP US History II 3/L
CLEP W Civ I 3/L
CLEP W Civ II 3/L
DSST Intro Modern Middle East 3/L
DSST Civil War and Reconstruction 3/U
DSST Rise & Fall of the Soviet Union 3/U

To Go:

BYU HIS 302 Italian Renaissance 3/U
BYU HIS 340 Traditional China 3/U
LSU HIST 4052 American Revolution 3/U
ECE LA-498HIS History Capstone 3/U

Excelsior, BYU, LSU, Ohio, and others have a lot more history credits to choose from.

[NAP]

Thanks Dewisant! It's nice to see more options for this major.

Several months ago, I made an attempt at creating a plan with as many history exams as possible and posted it here:

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...post108324

I was not aware of good choices for the second part of the World History requirement. Which exam/course did you choose that will fulfill this?

Thanks again.

[dewisant]

Thanks Dewisant! It's nice to see more options for this major.

Several months ago, I made an attempt at creating a plan with as many history exams as possible and posted it here:

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...post108324


I was not aware of good choices for the second part of the World History requirement. Which exam/course did you choose that will fulfill this?

Thanks again.

On Excelsior's old major requirement, you needed 6 US and 6 W Civ for the basics, then 3 US, 3 European, and 3 Non Western. Then you needed to fill in US, European, or Non Western with 9 more classes/tests. This added up to 30 credits. You can look at the requirements on Excelsior for the major today and they've jockeyed around the requirements a bit and added the history capstone. I have used DSST Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union in the Euro slot and plan to use BYU for any other European or Non-Western needs. BYU is re-writing or has pulled their two English history classes.

[NAP]

Thanks Dewisant!

Maybe I am misunderstanding the new World History requirement. When I first read it, I thought it had to be "world" history, but your comments and rereading it make me think it just has to be "non-western" history. If that is true, that is a bit more flexible than I realized.

[All-American]

Thank you so much for the help and advice!!

I'll re-evaluate and will probably be back to ask questions again once that's done!! I hadn't run into the EC exam credit info yet, looked it up now and should be able to figure things out with much less confusion!! Didn't realize how much difference there was between the college board recommendation and EC!!! Several more exams granted 6 credits than I had known!!

The History major requirements are more comprehensive than I thought and I'll have to study them more!

I hadn't heard of the NFA credits; thank you for the referring me to them. They look like they might be something that would be of interest to me!!

I'm particularly interested in a BS...

[dewisant]

Thanks Dewisant!

Maybe I am misunderstanding the new World History requirement. When I first read it, I thought it had to be "world" history, but your comments and rereading it make me think it just has to be "non-western" history. If that is true, that is a bit more flexible than I realized.

The current requirements for the History major at EC under the "Foundational" requirements state: 2 US and 2 World..."one course in Western Civilization may be included provided the other course addresses non-western history."

[All-American]

I think I have this down now but not sure.

Do I need one extra 3-credit history class? Does the capstone count as part of the History credit or is it in addition to my History credits? Would World Conflicts ECE work as a World History requirement? Does the LSU course I listed work as Info Literacy for EC?

I can see that I may be interested in messing around with electives later, but for now I'm just throwing these out there.

According to the EC flyer it is perfectly fine to satisfy a major and second area of concentration (Political Science) with the same credits. Unless I'm reading it wrong? This does have me concerned, as I think you may have a strong point. If they don't like that I may just cancel the Political Science and have my second area of concentration as Criminal Justice- I'd like to take those as electives anyway...

Thank you for the help!!!!

BS ~ History Major:

General History Requirement:
CLEP U.S History I (3) LL
CLEP U.S. History II (3) LL
ECE World Conflicts Since 1900 (3) UL ??
CLEP Western Civilization II (3) LL

U.S. History Requirement:
DSST Civil War and Reconstruction (3) UL
DSST A History of the Vietnam War (3) LL

European History:
DSST Western Europe Since 1945 (3) UL
DSST Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union (3) LL

Non-Western History:
DSST Introduction to the Modern Middle East (3) UL

History Electives:
CLEP Western Civilization I (3) LL

Required EC History Capstone (3) UL

Political Science Minor as Second Area of Concentration:
POL 321 Constitutional Law [Charter Oak College] (3) UL
POL 300 Modern Presidency [Charter Oak College] (3) UL
CLEP American Government (3) LL
POLX-170 Political Science- [U Excel] (3) LL
DSST Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union (3) UL
DSST Introduction to the Modern Middle East (3) LL
DSST Western Europe since 1945 (3) UL
DSST Environment and Humanity (3) LL

General Ed requirements:

Written English:
Straighter Line English Composition I (3) LL
Straighter Line English Composition II (3) LL

Humanities:
CLEP Humanities (6) LL
CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (6) LL

Math:
CLEP College Mathematics (6) LL
CLEP College Algebra (3) LL

Science:
DSST Heres to Your Health (3) UL
CLEP Biology (6) LL

Prospective Electives:
DSST Drug and Alcohol Abuse/Substance Abuse (3) UL
DSST Organizational Behavior (3) LL
DSST Criminal Justice (3) UL
DSST Introduction to Law Enforcement (3) LL
CLEP Introduction to Business Law (3) LL
DSST Business Law II (3) UL
DSST Business Ethics and Society (3) UL
DSST Ethics in America (3) UL
CLEP Social Sciences & History (6) LL

LIS 1001 Info Literacy LSU (1) LL??