TAMUC Competency Based Program List

[arbitrarysky]

Update on my progress so far:

I moved from WGU to A&M Commerce due to lack of challenge and definitely received what I wanted. I enrolled in Research Methods, as I felt it was a necessary course for graduate school. Only to find out in week 2 (past the drop date) that it's on the list of courses NOT recommended for acceleration.

The list includes the following:
THE 1310: Introduction to Theatre
PSCI 2306: Texas Government
MATH 1332: Contemporary Math
IS 1315: Integrated Science
CJCB 303: Ethics
CJCB 404: Critical Shift
CJCB 499: Capstone
GSCB 405: Capstone
CID 111: Critical Thinking
CID 225: Record Keeping for Leaders
CID 347: Research Methods
ORGL 4341: Leadership Theory
ORGL 4352: Capstone

Research Methods has few assignments, but also very few materials inside the course shell to help complete the quizzes (which I think may be meant to use as a study guide for the test?). To be fair, it IS a research course but I didn't think I would have to literally research the course content with minimal guidance. On the other hand, the first GSCB course is a 180. Lots of resources and course materials but several assignments. One assignment consisted of an interview with someone in your desired field, so I would plan ahead if you plan to take this class and don't already work in your targeted field. Neither of the courses are particularly difficult, however Research Methods has A LOT of academic jargon. I would not recommend if you're coming from the Sophia/SDC route. GSCB is fine -- feels more like a career coaching course than anything else.

What really threw me off is not realizing how intensive my fiancé's bar prep would be, on top of pressing family issues. I'm still making progress but not as quickly as I had hoped. I *might* be able to add a third course if I can really buckle down over the next week.

The graduation and acceleration policies make it very apparent that this is program is not designed for super accelerators, which makes me even more impressed of those who have completed this in 1 semester/2 terms. Supposedly only 5 courses per term are allowed (not sure if this is a hard rule). CBE students also have the same graduation process as traditional students where you apply to graduate in the first half of the semester. With that, I do not think I will eligible to graduate in August.

In the back of my head, I'm debating switching into Organizational Leadership. It likely wouldn't throw off graduation any further as I'm only two courses in and ORGL requires an extra two anyways. I would actually have a major to list instead of constantly explaining why I'm in a General Studies program. And the courses seem sociology and social psychology based, which I already have exposure to and would be more applicable to my desired field (libraries). On the other hand, I really wanted to avoid having to list my degree as BAAS. Not sure if BGS is any better though.

Something else I wanted to mention is that BGS students are limited to CID and GSCB courses only. You cannot take ORGL courses, or any others in the College of Innovation and Design that do not have the CID/GSCB prefix. Which is a HUGE consideration if you are deciding between UMPI and TAMUC. Definitely wishing I chose UMPI over TAMUC for several reasons. Though, I am going to stick it out at A&M Commerce for the sake of not having another transcript on my grad school application.

[allvia]

Update on my progress so far:

I moved from WGU to A&M Commerce due to lack of challenge and definitely received what I wanted. I enrolled in Research Methods, as I felt it was a necessary course for graduate school. Only to find out in week 2 (past the drop date) that it's on the list of courses NOT recommended for acceleration.

The list includes the following:
THE 1310: Introduction to Theatre
PSCI 2306: Texas Government
MATH 1332: Contemporary Math
IS 1315: Integrated Science
CJCB 303: Ethics
CJCB 404: Critical Shift
CJCB 499: Capstone
GSCB 405: Capstone
CID 111: Critical Thinking
CID 225: Record Keeping for Leaders
CID 347: Research Methods
ORGL 4341: Leadership Theory
ORGL 4352: Capstone

Research Methods has few assignments, but also very few materials inside the course shell to help complete the quizzes (which I think may be meant to use as a study guide for the test?). To be fair, it IS a research course but I didn't think I would have to literally research the course content with minimal guidance. On the other hand, the first GSCB course is a 180. Lots of resources and course materials but several assignments. One assignment consisted of an interview with someone in your desired field, so I would plan ahead if you plan to take this class and don't already work in your targeted field. Neither of the courses are particularly difficult, however Research Methods has A LOT of academic jargon. I would not recommend if you're coming from the Sophia/SDC route. GSCB is fine -- feels more like a career coaching course than anything else.

What really threw me off is not realizing how intensive my fiancé's bar prep would be, on top of pressing family issues. I'm still making progress but not as quickly as I had hoped. I *might* be able to add a third course if I can really buckle down over the next week.

The graduation and acceleration policies make it very apparent that this is program is not designed for super accelerators, which makes me even more impressed of those who have completed this in 1 semester/2 terms. Supposedly only 5 courses per term are allowed (not sure if this is a hard rule). CBE students also have the same graduation process as traditional students where you apply to graduate in the first half of the semester. With that, I do not think I will eligible to graduate in August.

In the back of my head, I'm debating switching into Organizational Leadership. It likely wouldn't throw off graduation any further as I'm only two courses in and ORGL requires an extra two anyways. I would actually have a major to list instead of constantly explaining why I'm in a General Studies program. And the courses seem sociology and social psychology based, which I already have exposure to and would be more applicable to my desired field (libraries). On the other hand, I really wanted to avoid having to list my degree as BAAS. Not sure if BGS is any better though.

Something else I wanted to mention is that BGS students are limited to CID and GSCB courses only. You cannot take ORGL courses, or any others in the College of Innovation and Design that do not have the CID/GSCB prefix. Which is a HUGE consideration if you are deciding between UMPI and TAMUC. Definitely wishing I chose UMPI over TAMUC for several reasons. Though, I am going to stick it out at A&M Commerce for the sake of not having another transcript on my grad school application.

Without knowing your plan after this bachelor, I'm going to vote for you to switch to the BAAS Organizational Leadership. I just think it will read better on a resume than a Bachelor of General Studies (of course depending on your graduate school plan it may not matter what your bachelor is).

Also, as you said the Research Methods will come in handy when it comes to graduate school no matter the path you take, so no effort wasted there.

[arbitrarysky]

Update on my progress so far:

I moved from WGU to A&M Commerce due to lack of challenge and definitely received what I wanted. I enrolled in Research Methods, as I felt it was a necessary course for graduate school. Only to find out in week 2 (past the drop date) that it's on the list of courses NOT recommended for acceleration.

The list includes the following:
THE 1310: Introduction to Theatre
PSCI 2306: Texas Government
MATH 1332: Contemporary Math
IS 1315: Integrated Science
CJCB 303: Ethics
CJCB 404: Critical Shift
CJCB 499: Capstone
GSCB 405: Capstone
CID 111: Critical Thinking
CID 225: Record Keeping for Leaders
CID 347: Research Methods
ORGL 4341: Leadership Theory
ORGL 4352: Capstone

Research Methods has few assignments, but also very few materials inside the course shell to help complete the quizzes (which I think may be meant to use as a study guide for the test?). To be fair, it IS a research course but I didn't think I would have to literally research the course content with minimal guidance. On the other hand, the first GSCB course is a 180. Lots of resources and course materials but several assignments. One assignment consisted of an interview with someone in your desired field, so I would plan ahead if you plan to take this class and don't already work in your targeted field. Neither of the courses are particularly difficult, however Research Methods has A LOT of academic jargon. I would not recommend if you're coming from the Sophia/SDC route. GSCB is fine -- feels more like a career coaching course than anything else.

What really threw me off is not realizing how intensive my fiancé's bar prep would be, on top of pressing family issues. I'm still making progress but not as quickly as I had hoped. I *might* be able to add a third course if I can really buckle down over the next week.

The graduation and acceleration policies make it very apparent that this is program is not designed for super accelerators, which makes me even more impressed of those who have completed this in 1 semester/2 terms. Supposedly only 5 courses per term are allowed (not sure if this is a hard rule). CBE students also have the same graduation process as traditional students where you apply to graduate in the first half of the semester. With that, I do not think I will eligible to graduate in August.

In the back of my head, I'm debating switching into Organizational Leadership. It likely wouldn't throw off graduation any further as I'm only two courses in and ORGL requires an extra two anyways. I would actually have a major to list instead of constantly explaining why I'm in a General Studies program. And the courses seem sociology and social psychology based, which I already have exposure to and would be more applicable to my desired field (libraries). On the other hand, I really wanted to avoid having to list my degree as BAAS. Not sure if BGS is any better though.

Something else I wanted to mention is that BGS students are limited to CID and GSCB courses only. You cannot take ORGL courses, or any others in the College of Innovation and Design that do not have the CID/GSCB prefix. Which is a HUGE consideration if you are deciding between UMPI and TAMUC. Definitely wishing I chose UMPI over TAMUC for several reasons. Though, I am going to stick it out at A&M Commerce for the sake of not having another transcript on my grad school application.

Without knowing your plan after this bachelor, I'm going to vote for you to switch to the BAAS Organizational Leadership. I just think it will read better on a resume than a Bachelor of General Studies (of course depending on your graduate school plan it may not matter what your bachelor is).

Also, as you said the Research Methods will come in handy when it comes to graduate school no matter the path you take, so no effort wasted there.

My background is a mix of childcare and education. Long term goal is a Masters in Library Science. I think I am set on youth libraries after talking to those in the field. I likely won't pursue a MLS for at least another 5-10 years after undergrad due to the low salary not justifying the cost of childcare.

[allvia]

Without knowing your plan after this bachelor, I'm going to vote for you to switch to the BAAS Organizational Leadership. I just think it will read better on a resume than a Bachelor of General Studies (of course depending on your graduate school plan it may not matter what your bachelor is).

Also, as you said the Research Methods will come in handy when it comes to graduate school no matter the path you take, so no effort wasted there.

My background is a mix of childcare and education. Long term goal is a Masters in Library Science. I think I am set on youth libraries after talking to those in the field. I likely won't pursue a MLS for at least another 5-10 years after undergrad due to the low salary not justifying the cost of childcare.

Then I'd stick with my recommendation of the BAAS Organizational Leadership over General Studies. I think it would help you more professionally in the time frame before you pursue a master.

[StoicJ]

FWIW, I applied as well. Sent in 4 college transcripts ($25). Never mentioned Sophia, but admissions wouldn't proceed until I sent in a Sophia via Parchment. Guess they saw Sophia on my most recent uni transcript. So I sent it in ($5).

Sophia's that went in:
History to 1877 - history slot
History of art- creative art slot
College algebra- math slot
Human biology- life science slot
Personal finance- gen ed?. I'm guessing this was Taking Charge Of Your Financial Future.

They took the following Sophia's as Professional Development Electives:
Ancient Greek philosophers
Intro to stats
Intro info tech
Intro web development
Financial accounting
Intro to business
Intro to computers
Applied math (1 credit)

Seems funny to me. They could have filled all the slots with RA credits I had, but they chose to go with Sophia for 37 credits. The Sophia transfers also show letter grades and are included in GPA. When I took Sophia courses I wasn't trying to max out on grades, but I did try to do well. Weighted avg of 89.26% over 53 credits, but of 20 classes completed only 8 were A's. Of the 37 Sophia credits they took 22 were A, 15 were B, so it seems to me the intent was to get the A's on there.

Just throwing this out there in case it might help anyone.

Also, I had some RA credits that were A's that didn't get placed, like some foreign language, finite math (Sophia applied math took precedence   ), and some natural sciences. Not complaining.

I have ACE-recommended stuff other than Sophia but I didn't want to spend the time/money on getting those sent in. Like I said, didn't even want to in Sophia but they insisted and it was only $5.25 so what the heck.

Seriously considering moving forward with TAMUC.

[bjcheung77]

BAAS Health Services Administration https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/health-se...tion-baas/
Catalog: https://coursecatalog.tamuc.edu/undergra...istration/

BAAS Safety & Health https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/safety-health-baas/
Catalog: https://coursecatalog.tamuc.edu/undergra...nd-health/

BAAS Organizational Leadership https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/organizat...baas-orgl/
Catalog: https://coursecatalog.tamuc.edu/undergra...eadership/

BSCJ (CBE) https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/criminal-...eadership/
Catalog: https://coursecatalog.tamuc.edu/undergra...ent-ldshp/

BGS General Studies https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/general-s...ncy-based/
Catalog: https://coursecatalog.tamuc.edu/undergra...l-studies/

BAAS Core Curriculum - 42
Professional Development Electives - 48
Applied Major Courses - 30

BGS Core Curriculum - 42
Advisor-Approved Eletectives - 42
Advanced Electives - 42
Applied Major Courses - 12

BSCJ Core Curriculum - 42
Lower-Level Criminal Justice Required Core - 30
Applied Major Courses - 30
Support Courses - 21
Discrepancy - TAMUC site says 120 credits, I added this to 123 credits total...

[Bsnipedavis]

Update on my progress so far:

I moved from WGU to A&M Commerce due to lack of challenge and definitely received what I wanted. I enrolled in Research Methods, as I felt it was a necessary course for graduate school. Only to find out in week 2 (past the drop date) that it's on the list of courses NOT recommended for acceleration.

The list includes the following:
THE 1310: Introduction to Theatre
PSCI 2306: Texas Government
MATH 1332: Contemporary Math
IS 1315: Integrated Science
CJCB 303: Ethics
CJCB 404: Critical Shift
CJCB 499: Capstone
GSCB 405: Capstone
CID 111: Critical Thinking
CID 225: Record Keeping for Leaders
CID 347: Research Methods
ORGL 4341: Leadership Theory
ORGL 4352: Capstone

Research Methods has few assignments, but also very few materials inside the course shell to help complete the quizzes (which I think may be meant to use as a study guide for the test?). To be fair, it IS a research course but I didn't think I would have to literally research the course content with minimal guidance. On the other hand, the first GSCB course is a 180. Lots of resources and course materials but several assignments. One assignment consisted of an interview with someone in your desired field, so I would plan ahead if you plan to take this class and don't already work in your targeted field. Neither of the courses are particularly difficult, however Research Methods has A LOT of academic jargon. I would not recommend if you're coming from the Sophia/SDC route. GSCB is fine -- feels more like a career coaching course than anything else.

What really threw me off is not realizing how intensive my fiancé's bar prep would be, on top of pressing family issues. I'm still making progress but not as quickly as I had hoped. I *might* be able to add a third course if I can really buckle down over the next week.

The graduation and acceleration policies make it very apparent that this is program is not designed for super accelerators, which makes me even more impressed of those who have completed this in 1 semester/2 terms. Supposedly only 5 courses per term are allowed (not sure if this is a hard rule). CBE students also have the same graduation process as traditional students where you apply to graduate in the first half of the semester. With that, I do not think I will eligible to graduate in August.

In the back of my head, I'm debating switching into Organizational Leadership. It likely wouldn't throw off graduation any further as I'm only two courses in and ORGL requires an extra two anyways. I would actually have a major to list instead of constantly explaining why I'm in a General Studies program. And the courses seem sociology and social psychology based, which I already have exposure to and would be more applicable to my desired field (libraries). On the other hand, I really wanted to avoid having to list my degree as BAAS. Not sure if BGS is any better though.

Something else I wanted to mention is that BGS students are limited to CID and GSCB courses only. You cannot take ORGL courses, or any others in the College of Innovation and Design that do not have the CID/GSCB prefix. Which is a HUGE consideration if you are deciding between UMPI and TAMUC. Definitely wishing I chose UMPI over TAMUC for several reasons. Though, I am going to stick it out at A&M Commerce for the sake of not having another transcript on my grad school application.

Which degree did you end up finishing? Also, what are all the classes you took at TAMUC?

[timetojug78]

I wanted to share my experience with admissions here as this seems to be the most active TAMUC thread.

I discovered TAMUC's competency-based programs last year through this discussion board. I applied for the BAAS in Org Leadership and never received a response either through email or ApplyTexas. I tried following up with admissions and the College of Innovation and Design, but kept getting tossed around and was never able to discuss my admissions status. I assumed I was rejected due to my rough academic history and TAMUC forgot to send out a decision.

I applied again this year for General Studies (though the internal application portal NOT ApplyTexas). I also talked to a transfer advisor (who I felt was a little judgmental about my application). Months passed so I assumed rejection again. I cleaned out my inbox recently and came across an email from TAMUC Admissions. I thought it was just a re-confirmation of my application ("Thank you, we've received your application"). I checked my admissions account and saw I was accepted!

After getting access to the student portal, I realized I was also accepted last year. It definitely seems to be a system error vs staff dropping the ball as the competency-based programs advisor emailed multiple times regarding orientation and registration. I'm very shocked, but not mad or upset. I ended up enrolling at WGU and learned their instructional style is not for me (at least in the Teacher's College). Plus, now I'm not restricted to ORGL classes and will have 6 more electives with the BGS.

Sharing lessons learned for those who may be interested in the BAAS or BGS programs:
1. Apply through the internal application portal (link: https://tamucommerce.force.com/onlineapp...B&swcfpc=1) NOT ApplyTexas or Common App.
2. Check the application portal regularly until you have a definite admissions status.
3. Find your CWID (link: https://appsprod.tamuc.edu/FindCWID/default.aspx) and check your MyLeo portal and TAMUC email regularly.
4. Call TAMUC departments at different times if you can. (ex: call in the AM on Monday, then call in the afternoon on Tuesday) I wasn't able last year to due to my work schedule.

I'm very excited to begin this program. Already have an advising appointment scheduled to set up orientation. All credits transferred perfectly. If same goes for my WGU evaluation, that leaves 6 electives and the 4 courses required for BGS. Hoping to finish in two terms and graduate at the end of summer.

Very last-minute enrollment process in comparison to WGU, but finally enrolled and have everything in order to start on the 15th! Financial aid was lightning fast. I enrolled on Saturday and they finalized my aid package today.

Will start off with the first BGS course (Pathways, Purpose, and Exploration) and Research Methods. Plan is to knock out orientation this week so I can immediately dive into Pathways. Looked over the syllabus and it seems like a lot of busy-work.

Hi. How quickly were you able to finish the BGS program? I'm considering that and UMPI and nog sure which one I can accelerate more in? Can you please share your experiences?

[bjcheung77]

Hi. How quickly were you able to finish the BGS program? I'm considering that and UMPI and nog sure which one I can accelerate more in? Can you please share your experiences?

Welcome to the board, please take some time to review posts, threads, and the WIKI. Various timelines have been completed for both TAMUC/UMPI degrees, in general TAMUC may take you two sessions, UMPI may be two sessions as well. It's great you're trying to gauge how well you do things, but you're comparing other people and how they do things, it's going to be different for you as your variables vary widely. Please take the time to complete the addendum and template here, we can further provide you advice by gauging how well you do things, your budget, commitments, study habits, etc. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works