TESC, ACE, and Poli Sci

[ACKROMAN]

Hi guys. Wanted to say thanks for the forum and the Wiki, its been a huge help in trying to outline a plan.

I'm looking to start from scratch to get a Poli Sci degree (Not a popular one, I know), and with the lack of popularity, I've been looking around on my own to fill area of study requirements.

I found several classes at Saylor, but they were not on the specific list of ACE recommended courses, so would I be correct in saying that TESC would not give these classes credit if I were to bring these to them?

I know World Campus has a fairly robust program, and they do accept some transfer credits, so I might end up working there, but it would be a lot quicker and cheaper if I could work with TESC instead.

If anybody has any knowledge on Saylor, or where I can find some Poli Sci specific classes to work with, I would be really grateful. I thought I hit the jackpot with Saylor, but after looking over the list, I'm not so sure anymore.

Thanks in advance.

[sanantone]

TESC only accepts the Saylor courses that have been ACE or NCCRS-approved. You can use the other Saylor courses along with their final exams to provide documentation for a prior learning assessment. TESC does offer four political science courses.
Thomas Edison State College: Undergrad Course Offerings

There are two political science TECEPs.
Thomas Edison State College: All TECEPÂ Tests

Another option would be to complete a BA in social science where you can mix political science, history, economics, etc.
Sanantone's BA in Social Science - Degree Forum Wiki

[dfrecore]

There aren't that many Poli Sci courses that you have to take for the degree, you may be able to find a lot of those courses at your local community college, and also search the inexpensive online schools that someone listed on this forum a while ago. Univ of Idaho Independent Study, U of Arkansas Global Campus, AZ Western U, etc - almost all colleges have Poli Sci courses, and for a lot less than TESC offers them for. If you find a school with Poli Sci as a major, they'll have even more courses available.

Good luck!

[Photog]

Penn Foster have two upper level courses.

Courts/ The Judicial System (POS-387)
International Relations/ International Relations I (POS-315)

I am also considering doing a Social Science BA (not decided yet) and PF have a few good options for Psych, Sociology, and Poli Sci.

There is an excellent list here from KayV:
http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...ncies.html

[KayV]

Here's one way you could finish a BA in Poli Sci:

I. Area of Study: Political Science
A. Required Courses 18, 9UL
1. CLEP or Straighterline American Government POS-110 3
2. LSU Intro to Political Theory (LSU POLI 2060) 3
3. TECEP Intro to Comparative Politics POS-282 3
4. Penn Foster International Relations POS-315 3UL
5. Saylor Business Statistics OPM-351 3UL
6. Need LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone LIB-495 3UL
B. Electives 15, 9UL
1. TECEP Intro to Political Science POS-101 3
2. Saylor Intro to Western Political Thought POS-299 3
3. Penn Foster Courts/ The Judicial System POS-317 3UL
4. Rechstaffen (NCCRS) Politics of Anti-Semitism in the US (RIJS POLI 350) 3UL
5. LSU Public Policy Making (LSU POLI 2070) (all Public Policy courses at TESC seem to be UL) 3UL

Whichever classes you decide to take, make sure to get your advisor's approval first. Good luck, OP.

[mattack91]

Here's one way you could finish a BA in Poli Sci:

I. Area of Study: Political Science
A. Required Courses 18, 9UL
1. CLEP or Straighterline American Government POS-110 3
2. LSU Intro to Political Theory (LSU POLI 2060) 3
3. TECEP Intro to Comparative Politics POS-282 3
4. Penn Foster International Relations POS-315 3UL
5. Saylor Business Statistics OPM-351 3UL
6. Need LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone LIB-495 3UL
B. Electives 15, 9UL
1. TECEP Intro to Political Science POS-101 3
2. Saylor Intro to Western Political Thought POS-299 3
3. Penn Foster Courts/ The Judicial System POS-317 3UL
4. Rechstaffen (NCCRS) Politics of Anti-Semitism in the US (RIJS POLI 350) 3UL
5. LSU Public Policy Making (LSU POLI 2070) (all Public Policy courses at TESC seem to be UL) 3UL

Whichever classes you decide to take, make sure to get your advisor's approval first. Good luck, OP.

Thank you to everybody, and specifically to you, Kay. I had no idea about LSUs independent study, and it looks like it is right up my alley. And the NCCRS webpage has a wealth of information as well.

Thanks again to all. It has picked up my confidence on my pathway.

[KayV]

Another source of freshman- and sophomore-level credit is BYU. When I ran the courses through the PLA search, the classes that were upper level at BYU turned out to be sophomore level at TESC (bummer, that hardly ever happens). Anyway, here they are:

POLI 110: AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS (POS-110)
POLI 170: INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL POLITICS (POS-299)
POLI 201: WESTERN POLITICAL HERITAGE 1 (POS-299)
POLI 202: WESTERN POLITICAL HERITAGE 2 (POS-299)
POLI 316: AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES (POS-272)
POLI 321: THE MEDIA IN AMERICAN POLITICS (POS-251)

[mattack91]

Hi guys,

Sorry to bother you again, but since we last spoke, I've knocked down 42 credits via CLEPs (Man, I love testing out!). I've been focusing on the General Education requirements so I can focus later on Poli Sci specifically.

Anyways, I was looking around Penn Foster to get an idea of how much it was going to cost and how long it would take, but I can't find "International Relations" or "Courts" anywhere in their course catalog.

Kay, any chance you have a link for the Penn Foster courses? I must be missing something though, because ACE has a huge list of courses, and I'm only seeing a tiny fraction of them on PF's website. Anyways, I'm going to call PF when I get home, but I figured I'd ask to see where I was going wrong.

Thanks.

[bricabrac]

Another source of freshman- and sophomore-level credit is BYU. When I ran the courses through the PLA search, the classes that were upper level at BYU turned out to be sophomore level at TESC (bummer, that hardly ever happens). Anyway, here they are:

POLI 110: AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS (POS-110)
POLI 170: INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL POLITICS (POS-299)
POLI 201: WESTERN POLITICAL HERITAGE 1 (POS-299)
POLI 202: WESTERN POLITICAL HERITAGE 2 (POS-299)
POLI 316: AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES (POS-272)
POLI 321: THE MEDIA IN AMERICAN POLITICS (POS-251)

Something I've noticed with TESC, when an UL course is transferred they code it as UL, even if they end up using their generic code (ex 399, 499). So using your two UL courses as an example -

POLI 316: AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES - POS-399
POLI 321: THE MEDIA IN AMERICAN POLITICS - POS-399

I've also seen them use the same code more than once using the catch-all course description "spec studies..." can't remember the exact verbiage.

[mattack91]

So, I've been cutting through the PF website in conjunction with the the ACE website, and it seems that some adjustments have been made.

ACE now counts International Relations as CJS-217 and Courts as CJS-123, both Criminal Justice courses, and both LL.

I think I'm going to send an email out to TESC to see if they are going to follow ACE's classification, but if so, I'm going to have to find a different avenue.

I've started reading through TESC's PLA program, as it was brought up earlier in the thread, and it sounds interesting, but I was wondering if anybody has any experience with using PLA on Saylor courses. Since TESC only offers 4 Poli Sci courses, will the maximum I can get from PLA be 12 credits worth? And if no, does TESC award UL credits from PLA?

I imagine I'm going to have to call TESC about this, but I wanted to ask to see if anybody had any experience with this.

Thanks