TESU "special topics"

[vaticidalprophet]

I've been looking around the wiki and TESU's website, and have had trouble finding much about classes which transfer in as Special Topics. I'm aware this is a generalized term for 'things that TESU can't categorize well on their end', and that some subjects are known to transfer in as it. However, I've had trouble finding specific statements on a few things:

• Do Special Topics stack? If you take two 3cr classes that both transfer as, say, PSY-299 Special Topics in Psychology, do you get 6cr for two classes, or are you unable to transfer in the second one for credit?
  
• Do they ever count for specific required credits that don't require specific classes, e.g. the diversity class requirement? I've seen things that have made me think either way.
  

If there's any other information about them, that would also be great -- it's very tricky to figure out much more than the fact they're a generic term for a fairly diverse group of subjects.

[rachel83az]

As long as the credits are from different sources, the special topics will "stack". They are the only ones that don't overlap even if the numbers match. Multiple students have shown transcripts with matching "special topics" numbers and no overlap.

Example: You transfer in a course on literature of the Middle Ages from your local university and TESU brings it in as ENG-299 for whatever reason. You may then take English 310: Short Stories from Study.com and get another ENG-299 on your transcript.

However, with TESU's change to using 4-digit numbers, there will probably be less chance of overlap in the future. The local university might be brought in as ENG-2991 and perhaps SDC eventually gets brought in as ENG-2992 or something along those lines. It's even possible that "special topics" will be phased out entirely as more subjects get their own separate number.

[bjcheung77]

@vaticidalprophet, are you looking for those courses to go into your general education or free electives? If that's the case, sure, why not, that will work just fine. However, it's going to be hard to make sure it goes into the AOS/Major. You generally don't want to take a special topics course for the major and it's harder to find that specific course. I would review what is on the WIKI and go for the cheap, easy, fast option and not seek special topics unless it's going into the gen eds/electives.

[AllThose299s]

[Edit: Preview Post you deceived me... The question marks were candle emojis, but it is funnier as question marks]
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It seems that someone has summoned me...

While I'm not an expert in special topics.... I do happen to have quite a few... at least over twenty.

“Do they ever count for a specific required credits that don't require specific classes, e.g. the diversity class requirement?”  - Sometimes, it depends really.... There's still some sort of requirement that still has to be met depending on what degree a student is pursuing, e.g. SOC-101 Introduction to Sociology (Students pursuing a BA in Sociology should select a different course to satisfy the Diversity requirement.)

It is possible that they are expecting a student to have taken a course that could be considered on pair with a SOC-101 course, but perhaps if you were majoring in Sociology they might accept the SOC-199...

You would have better luck if the the requirement is more than a 3-credit bucket, such as Section C. Knowledge of Human Cultures or Section D. Scientific Knowledge - I've had COS-199 & ART-299 fall into those buckets.

“Do Special Topics stack?” - They can... For example when I had ART-299 used in the example above, I also had a course that came in as ART-299 also fall into GE Electives and the main AOS when I was a Liberal Studies major. So Special Topics can fall into section requirements (sometimes), they can also fall into your General Electives or even your area of study requirements (UL or LL) but it really depends...

Are you worried about what you have taken in the past coming in as a special topic and where it might fall into? If so, send your transcript over and find out. Now, if you are thinking of taking a bunch of courses that literally are considered "Special Topics in..." well that is more of a gray area without more details.

An important thing to note is: In my case, most of my Special Topic courses were not "Special Topics in ..." so the Source Course numbers were not XYZ-299, etc. In fact, some of the courses were literally just a second class as part of whatever the subject matter was and even then the logic is questionable.

(CS141) Obj Oriented Prog I => CAP-238, (CS142) Obj Orient Prog II => CAP-299. Okay Sure...
(OATN296) Desktop Publish I => CAP-256, (OATN297) Desktop Publish II => ART-299. I'm sorry, wut?

Now a few of my "Special topics in..." did come in with the source course matching what would be the TESU Transfer Equivalency and they also happened to be ACE credits, so I can't be more helpful there...

[dfrecore]

[*]Do they ever count for specific required credits that don't require specific classes, e.g. the diversity class requirement? I've seen things that have made me think either way.

[*]

Here's what is accepted for the different areas in the GE: https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/j...-and-after

So if you want to know what will work as a Diversity course, go to diversity to get an idea.  If you have a course that's exactly the same name, you should be fine.  If you need to take a course for it, just know that for Sophia, only Sociology will work; at SDC, you can take several different options: SOC 101: Intro to Sociology; GEO 101: Human & Cultural Geography; POLS 103: Comparative Politics; COM 301: Diversity & Intercultural Communications; BUS 308: Globalization and International Management; etc.

[rachel83az]

Sophia's Sociology no longer works for diversity at TESU. Another student recently posted this.

[P226mem]

[*]

Here's what is accepted for the different areas in the GE: https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/j...-and-after

So if you want to know what will work as a Diversity course, go to diversity to get an idea.  If you have a course that's exactly the same name, you should be fine.  If you need to take a course for it, just know that for Sophia, only Sociology will work; at SDC, you can take several different options: SOC 101: Intro to Sociology; GEO 101: Human & Cultural Geography; POLS 103: Comparative Politics; COM 301: Diversity & Intercultural Communications; BUS 308: Globalization and International Management; etc.

[*]

It is is helpful to anyone, here is the recent report rachel83az was referring to where Sophia's sociology does not meet diversity anymore at tesu
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Evaluation