Suggestions for coursework while I'm awaiting COSC/Excelsior credit reviews?

[studyingfortests]

Hi, again folks.

While I am awaiting an evaluation of my previous coursework from COSC and Excelsior, I'm wondering if people have suggestions for coursework (or exams or other sources of credit) that I could start on to move things along while making final decisions.

I'm not dead set on major yet, but leaning in the direction of liberal studies, possibly with human services/applied behavioral sciences concentration. The Excelsior BS in Social Sciences was appealing, but it sounds like most MSW admission committees won't consider it enough of an advantage over Liberal Studies to make it worth the extra effort to get all the specific credits required.

So with that said, for example, I know that at either school, I'll need research methods. I'm assuming the UExcel is the easiest (though not easy) route to that.
Statistics, though not required, would probably be beneficial to my MSW application.
COSC will require a bunch of specific coursework (which is why I'm leaning toward Excelsior at the moment)

Based on the above, does anyone have suggestions for relatively easy credits that will likely be required at either school, and will contribute to my degree goals, while I'm awaiting formal responses from the schools?

I'm thinking Sophia, Study.com, ONU, Davar Academy, Straighterline and perhaps more CLEPs as potential sources.  Single-exam-for-credit are not my favorites, but I've done well with the CLEPs I did.

Thanks in advance!

My list-o-credits.  All are RA schools.  

(Quarter credits)
DAPR 226        Microcomputers                                         4    
DAPR 106        Principles of Data Processing                       3    
MUSC 134        Recording System Service I                         3        
MUSC 198        Seminar & Project: Multichannel Recording    3    
MUSC 135        Recording System Service II                        3    
MUSC 198        Seminar & Project: Advanced Mixdown Tech  3    
MUSC 198        Seminar and Project: Multichannel Recording 4    
MUSC 227        Multichannel Recording Tech                        3    
MUSC 227        Multichannel Recording Tech                        3    
MUSC 229        Advanced Recording Tech                            3    
MUSC 228        Editing and Mixdown Techinques                  3    
 
GMU (1985)
HEAL 205        Principles of Accident Causation & Prevention 3    
HEAL 402        Driver Education Instruction                         3


OC (1987-89)
THEA 117        Production Techinques: Lighting                   2
THEA 118        Production Techniques: Sound                      2
PSYC 100        Study of Behavior                                        4
LRNS 102        Mastering Skills of Fast Readin                      1
GEOL 118        Planets/Moons/Meteorites                            2
MATH 995        Private Reading: Approach to Statistics         1
PSYC 995        Private Reading: Adolescence                       1
ENG 104         Writing Papers                                             2
PSYC 216        Developmental Psych                                  3
EXCO 037        Therapeutic Massage Techniques                 3
PSYC 219        Memory and Cognition                                3
CHEM 163        Applied Biochemistry: Cancer                      3
PSYC 995        Private Reading: Children and Peer Status     3
PSYC 503        Research Assistant                                      2

MJC (2015)
HUMSR 101       Intro to Human Services                            3


ARC (2015-2018)
Geron 304/HSER 310  Ethical Issues & Client Rights             3
HSER 340/PSYC 400   Intro to Chem Dependency                3
HSER 330/PSYC 365   Psych: Issues of Diverse Populations   3
HSER 360        Techniques for Interviewing and Counseling   3
PSYC 481        Honors Abnormal Behavior                           3
HSER 362        Practices in Human Services                         3
HSER 365        Techniques for Group Counseling                  3
HSER 498        Work Experience in Human Services (Internship)  2
HSER 498        Work Experience in Human Services (Internship)  2
HSER 341        Physiology & Pharmacology of Alcohol and Drugs  3

PVC (2016-2017)
ADS 102         Physiology and Pharmacology of Addiction       3
ADS 103            Case Management and Documentation         3
ADS 105            Co-Occurring Disorders                               3
ADS 108            Codependency and Family Systems              3
SOC 101            Introduction to Sociology                            3


Non-traditional credit:

CSMLearn (2019)    CSM Course (Quantitative)            
CLEP (2021)       Analyzing & Interpreting Lit
CLEP (2021)       College Composition w/ essay

[rachel83az]

You have a lot of credits but there don't appear to be a lot of gen ed credits. I would suggest Sophia for Ethics and Public Speaking, at the very least. Take Greek Philosophers before Ethics if you want to avoid hair-pulling. You could also check out Sophia's algebra to see how that works for you if you choose to go with COSC.

[dfrecore]

Assuming ARC is American River College, a CC who uses a kooky course numbering system where 300-to-400 numbered courses are their regular courses:
English Comp I & II (if you go to EC)
Another math course maybe (if you go to EC)
Speech (if you go to COSC)
US History/Gov (if you go to COSC)
Global Understanding (if you go to COSC)
Lab science ( (if you go to COSC)
Lots of UL courses - you don't have enough, and not enough in GE areas (SocSci, Hum, NatSci, etc.).

[rachel83az]

BTW, if you do choose EC, "English 204: English Composition I" and "English 205: English Composition II" at Study.com are supposed to count as English Comp there.

[dfrecore]

BTW, if you do choose EC, "English 204: English Composition I" and "English 205: English Composition II" at Study.com are supposed to count as English Comp there.

These courses DO work there, 100% certain of it.  Sophia's English Comp I & II work as well.

[studyingfortests]

BTW, if you do choose EC, "English 204: English Composition I" and "English 205: English Composition II" at Study.com are supposed to count as English Comp there.

These courses DO work there, 100% certain of it.  Sophia's English Comp I & II work as well.

How easy are these, relatively speaking? Is one faster than the other? I'm a pretty fast writer, and I did quite well on the two CLEPs (Analyzing Lit and Eng Comp w/essay), but would like to avoid a ton of reading/work if possible. I also did not read the traditional high schoolliterature most students did, as my high school did all "relevance to life" English, which was popular at the time. (non-fiction popular books and the like).

[rachel83az]

BTW, if you do choose EC, "English 204: English Composition I" and "English 205: English Composition II" at Study.com are supposed to count as English Comp there.

These courses DO work there, 100% certain of it.  Sophia's English Comp I & II work as well.

How easy are these, relatively speaking? Is one faster than the other? I'm a pretty fast writer, and I did quite well on the two CLEPs (Analyzing Lit and Eng Comp w/essay), but would like to avoid a ton of reading/work if possible.  I also did not read the traditional high schoolliterature most students did, as my high school did all "relevance to life" English, which was popular at the time. (non-fiction popular books and the like).

Sophia's is certainly cheaper. But students here have had mixed results, at best, with their papers being graded. Sophia's English Comp I has 5 papers and II has 7 papers. Most of the grade for English Comp II rests on those papers and if the grader isn't doing his or her job correctly then you're going to have a difficult time passing. I had my final paper for English Comp I returned with a 0 because "Jessica" had supposedly submitted a blank paper. I am not Jessica and my paper was not blank.

SDC's "English 204: English Composition I" has 5 assignments. These are worth 70% of your grade. 20% is the final exam. 10% to the quizzes. "English 205: English Composition II" has 6 assignments. The breakdown is the same as for 204. Generally speaking, SDC does a very fair job with grading. From what I have heard on the forum here, they seem to be much more responsive to various issues than Sophia is. 

Most of Sophia's classes are great and do their jobs at least adequately. This is not really true of their English Comp offerings. If you've already got a subscription for other things, it doesn't hurt to try out an English Comp class for yourself while you're doing the other courses. But I certainly would not recommend subscribing to Sophia just for English Comp. The TECEPs or SDC are better choices.

[studyingfortests]

Most of Sophia's classes are great and do their jobs at least adequately. This is not really true of their English Comp offerings. If you've already got a subscription for other things, it doesn't hurt to try out an English Comp class for yourself while you're doing the other courses. But I certainly would not recommend subscribing to Sophia just for English Comp. The TECEPs or SDC are better choices.

--------------------------
Super helpful info! It sounds like SDC is a better bet than the hassle of dealing with sophia on this. I looked at their syllabus, and it's incredibly thin on details. Can you give me an idea of what the assignments are like? As in, how many words or subject materials they're looking for? If they're short, they're something I could probably bang out super quickly and be done with it.  

Thank you!

[rachel83az]

English Comp I assignments:

1. Analyze an essay. They have a short list to choose from or you can select your own. 500 word minimum. 
   
2. Finding and paraphrasing sources. Find 3 sources and write at least 1 paragraph about each.  No minimum word count, but needs to be at least 3 paragraphs.
   
3. Thesis development. No minimum word count here. Draft a thesis statement and create an outline of your final paper.
   
4. Research essay. "For this assignment, you will write a 4000-word minimum, research-based, argumentative research paper. "For this assignment, you will write a 4000-word minimum, research-based, argumentative research paper." and "You'll use your work from assignment #2 and #3 in this research paper."
   
5. "Present the argument from the research paper you submitted for Assignment #4 in a visual format to an online audience. You can choose to create your visual presentation using a PowerPoint, Prezi, or photo essay format. Your presentation should keep text to a minimum and instead use visuals to emphasize the impact of your speech. The presentation should clearly relay the message of your research-based essay." Minimum of 5 minutes for your presentation.
   

English Comp II assignments:

1. This page is missing. I've already submitted a report to SDC about it. The title is "Topic and Research Question" so I think that it will be similar to assignment 3 above.
   
2. Annotated Bibliography. Similar to assignment 2 above. Find 4 sources and write a minimum of 300 words about each source.
   
3. Research essay rough draft. Using the first 2 assignments, create an outline and then a rough draft of your paper. No minimum word count but it should probably be of similar length to the final essay.
   
4. Research essay. Turn your rough draft into a final draft. 2000 word minimum.
   
5. Workplace proposal. Write a proposal based on your essay. 750 word minimum.
   
6. Presentation. Just like assignment 5 from English Comp I. 5 minutes minimum. 
   

So, basically, you only have to write a single paper for each course.

[studyingfortests]

Wow, thanks for the detailed explanation. the SDC English doesn't sound like a whole lot of effort... but definitely more than taking an exam.

So I guess much will depend on which school I end up attending.

It looks like Charter Oak will accept CLEP english comp w/essay, which I have already done... AND they will take my 30 credits from massage training. But I'm going to have to trade that off against all of the specific distribution requirements they require which Excelsior does not. I guess I just need to wait and see what each of the schools come back with as far as how my credits will apply.

It seems like in any case, I'll need UL courses, so perhaps in the meantime, I'll look at options for UL credits while waiting to decide on the other issues.