Rethinking TESC, considering Excelsior: Degree Plan: BA Humanities (comm conc.)?

[cabreban]

Ok, so I want to go to grad school (maybe in OT which can be competitive), and I want to make sure I have a GPA to use for entrance (i.e. at least an overall GPA). The only school that gives an Overall GPA is Excelsior...correct? So I changed my major with Excelsior (from Health Sciences) to Humanities with a concentration in Communication. Does this look like a decent degree plan? Do I need more upper level classes...and if so, how many? Any drawbacks to Excelsior? BL220 Legal & Ethical Environment, shouldn't this satisfy the Ethics class requirement?They have been fighting me on transferring credits which is frustrating.

My background is that I was a former Organizational Communication major at another university where I did not complete my degree. Presently I am in Occupational Therapy Assistant school (OCTA) for my Associates in Applied Science. I graduate in June 2016.

Written English 6
English Composition CLEP 6

Humanities 9
Analyzing Lit CLEP 3 A
Art (transfer) 3 A
Principles of Human Communication (transfer) 3 B

Social Science and History 9
Intro to Sociology 3 CLEP
Gen. Psychology 3 (transfer) C
American Govt 3 (transfer) A

Natural Sciences and Mathematics 9
Anatomy and Physiology I 3 (transfer) B
College Algebra 3 (transfer) A
Intro to Computing 3 DSST

Depth I
Engl World Lit 3 (transfer) B
Technical Writing 3 DSST
Anatomy and Physiology II 3 (transfer) A
US History since 1865 3 (transfer) C

Depth II
OCTA Physical Dysfunctions 4 (transfer) B
OCTA Analysis of Human Movement 4 (transfer) A
OCTA Pediatric Issues 4 (transfer) A

Core Requirements (6 hours UL once taken DSST and Capstone)
A. Intro World Civilization 3 (transfer) B
B. Philosophy Critical Thinking 3 (transfer) B
C. [COLOR="#FF0000"]Ethics TAKE UL 3 DSST
D. Research and Writing in the Liberal Arts TAKE EC
E. Humanities Capstone TAKE[/COLOR] (UL) EC

Communication Classes (18 hours of UL)
Principles of Public Speaking 3 DSST
Interpersonal Communication 3 UL (transfer) A
Communication Training in Organizations 3 UL (transfer) A
Cont Issues in Org Comm 3 UL (transfer) B
Communication Directed Studies 3 UL (transfer) A
Integrated Communication Management 3 UL (transfer) A

Extra Credits
HIS252 U.S. Hist Since 1865.....3.33 (transfer) C
OCTA1020 Growth and Development... 3.00 (transfer) A
PSYC2250 Abnormal Psychology...... 3.00 (transfer) A
BIO2114 Anatomy and Physiology II 3.00 (transfer) A
OCTA2130 Therapeutic Adaptations.. 3.00 (transfer) A
OCTA1030 Developmental Tasks...... 3.00 (transfer) A
OCTA1040 Conditions in Occup Thera 3.00 (transfer) A
OCTA1010 Intro to Occupational The 3.00 (transfer) A
HPS1000 Fitness for Living....... 3.00 (transfer) C
BL220 Legal & Ethical Environme 3.33 (transfer) B
MKT370 Principles of Marketing 3.33 (transfer) A
ALHS1090 MedTerm Allied Health Sci 2.00 (transfer) A
BIOL2113L Anatomy and Physiology Lab 1.00 (transfer) B
BIOL2114L Anatomy and Physiology La 1.00 (transfer) B

[JohnnyHeck]

My suggestion to prepare for eventual application to OT grad school: Find the most selective and prestigious program. Research their specific requirements. You will probably see that there is no way that you can make any kind of Total GPA (i.e. all college courses attempted). But don't despair. List all the specific courses that are prerequisites and get those for letter grades, striving for B+/A- GPA. Repeat any courses as necessary. Then when you take your TESU Capstone, do paper or project worthy of publication in your field and get it in the literature of your trade association. Now work like hell to score in the 85% in the appropriate GRE or MCAT. Now with this GRE and your 4.0 from TESU you will not be automatically screened out. With your published paper and your most recent GPA in core courses you should be able to get an interview. Then you should be able to make your case personally of why you are an excellent candidate to make your Grad School look good. This is really all they are looking for. Have you got the smarts, discipline, and savvy to graduate from our school? Your way behind past and undergrad pedigree do not have to be impediments as long as you find a way to get past any computer screening that keeps you from the interview Your TESU 4.0 and Graded core classes on your latest transcripts should pass this screen. Upon follow up requests you can send in all your transcripts, but you will already have the admission's counselor pushing for you. Good luck! P.s. This plan might be overkill, but it's full proof for most grad schools unless they will automatically screen you out for your undergrad pedigree. But then upon your rejection letter, appeal and point out that you are already a published author in the field. You will get a second look and a chance.

[cookderosa]

Like Johnny suggested, you have to work backwards.

First- all colleges give GPA assuming you take classes with them. At all 3 of the big 3, you'll be required to take at least 1 class, so you'll have a GPA no matter what.

Second- competitive grad schools probably have already published something on their website to help you position yourself for admissions. Anything they say that asks for "graded credit" means you can't use testing credit. So, a phrase like "GPA of 3.0 on your last 60 graded credits" means you'll need a GPA on your last 60 graded credits- tests are excluded from that pile.

Finally, if I can just be blunt- make the things you learn here work for you, don't reshape your whole future to fit into a degree plan you're finding here just because it saves a few thousand or can be completed in less time. Seriously, you get one life, choose wisely. Your undergrad degree MAY NOT BE a simple check-the-box degree, so don't take the people doing that path and try to make it fit in your prepare-for-my-grad-school-and-career path.

[cabreban]

Do you think the Business Legal and Ethics class should count for an ethics class at either TESU or Excelsior?

[JohnnyHeck]

In another thread Sanantone has convinced us that the Bus. Ethics CBE or SL class will TE to TESU as a Philosophy equivalent and be accepted for your Gen-Ed Ethics req. However, the DSST Ethics CBE has an 85+ percent civilian pass rate and will TE to any school that accepts ACE for a Gen-Ed LA course. Why switch?

I have re-looked at your initial thread question above. Are you actually currently enrolled at EC? Or, is that plan just a "blue sky" to sort out where to apply? And most importantly, is your OT work being taken at regionally accredited school such as a CC. If your OT is from just an OT accredited trade school, none of these OCTA credits will TE to either TESC or EC. With the senior license that follows after OCTA -Your OT field has this, yes?- you will have other options (probably at TESC) that may pave a better path to OT grad school.

If all of your current shown grades come from regionally accredited schools your current GPA looks great. Almost all grad schools will recalculate your application GPA from all your transcripts based on their own rules which may include a minimum some number of graded credits, often 60 which it looks like you have already.

[Life Long Learning]

No drawbacks to any of the Big 3. All have regional accreditation. I am applying to all three to see who fits me better.

[sanantone]

In another thread Sanantone has convinced us that the Bus. Ethics CBE or SL class will TE to TESU as a Philosophy equivalent and be accepted for your Gen-Ed Ethics req. However, the DSST Ethics CBE has an 85+ percent civilian pass rate and will TE to any school that accepts ACE for a Gen-Ed LA course. Why switch?

I have re-looked at your initial thread question above. Are you actually currently enrolled at EC? Or, is that plan just a "blue sky" to sort out where to apply? And most importantly, is your OT work being taken at regionally accredited school such as a CC. If your OT is from just an OT accredited trade school, none of these OCTA credits will TE to either TESC or EC. With the senior license that follows after OCTA -Your OT field has this, yes?- you will have other options (probably at TESC) that may pave a better path to OT grad school.

If all of your current shown grades come from regionally accredited schools your current GPA looks great. Almost all grad schools will recalculate your application GPA from all your transcripts based on their own rules which may include a minimum some number of graded credits, often 60 which it looks like you have already.

Someone just received confirmation from TESC that SL Business Ethics and DSST Business Ethics and Society are now PHI-384. They'll both fulfill the ethics requirement.
http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...post198524

[Leherself]

For competitive grad schools, especially in medical fields, they will often calculate your GPA for you - they don't rely on the GPA that might or might not be on your graduating transcript. I'm not terribly familiar with the admissions process for OT, but I am very familiar with the one for PT, and I can't imagine they're terribly different. For the vast majority of PT schools you submit your transcripts via PTCAS (there's also an OTCAS, which I assume operates similarly - from this link it seems very similar https://portal.otcas.org/applicants2013/...gpas.shtml). PTCAS requires you to enter every single college course that you've ever taken that appears on any college transcript anywhere, and they generate your overall and pre-requisite GPAs from that information. This means that everyone's GPA is created using a standardized formula, and includes all of your college credit. So if you retook classes to get a better grade? Both of those grades now apply to your GPA, regardless of the original school's policies. You transferred to a new school and a lot of old, bad credit didn't transfer so your current GPA is much higher? Sorry, that old, bad credit is going to come back to bite you.

So, in other words, it doesn't matter what big three school you go to. You're probably going to have to submit all of your individual transcripts from wherever you got your credits originally in order to apply anyway. It's important to have a good number of graded credits in general, and you need to have excellent pre-requisite grades. Also consider that you probably need to get a very solid scientific background under your belt (physics, biology, chemistry, anatomy & physiology, etc.), and many schools prefer that those classes be taken in person, with live labs, at a B&M school (I know several PT schools that specify that science labs cannot be tested out of, and cannot be from online courses).

My advise? Get your degree wherever, because it doesn't really matter where most OT schools are concerned. Your major doesn't matter. You need a degree to check that particular box, and that's it.

What *does* matter is making your GPA as amazing as you possibly can. Not your school GPA - your overall undergraduate GPA including every college class you've ever taken in your life. When I was still looking into PT, my desired school had a minimum overall GPA requirement of 3.25... but their actual admitted average GPA? 3.89. OT is an equally competitive field. Also make sure that you get a very good background in the specific courses that schools are looking at for pre-requisites. Pre-requisite courses are often calculated as a separate gpa, and you want that to be as close to a 4.0 as possible. An option you might want to look into is to finish your bachelors and then enroll in a pre-med post-bacc program.

You should probably do a survey of ten or so prospective OT schools and find out what their admissions requirements are. What are the pre-requisite course requirements? What are the GPA requirements? Do they use OTCAS? How many volunteer hours do they need in an OT clinic? How many letters of reference? Etc. etc. That'll all give you a much better idea of the specific things you need to do to prepare for that sort of admissions process.

---------

As far as your actual degree plan goes, it looks like you've got some odd things?

A depth is 12 credits in one academic discipline - your first depth proposed is just a bunch of random classes. Also, for a BA at Excelsior both depths have to be in an Arts and Sciences area - I'm pretty sure your proposed second depth doesn't work either, because those will probably be considered applied technical credits.

Principles of Public Speaking DSST is not an upper level exam.

Honestly, if you're already in a degree program at TESU, stay there. TESU's humanities program is very flexible, and doesn't require that many upper division credits. Excelsior's requirements for their humanities degree are more strenuous, and in a way that's not going to get you any closer to your goals.