help with degree plan

[janegoestocollege]

Location: California Age: 19
Degrees Awarded: AS Computer Information Systems, AA-TRANSFER Communications Studies
Degree Desire BA in Communications or Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Communications or similar 
RA Credits: 88, all from community college, so no upper levels
Course, No., Title, Type, Credits
CIS 111, Computer Information Systems, RA, 3
CIS 132, Spreadsheet – Excel for Windows, RA, 4
CIS 142, Database – Access for Windows, RA, 3
CIS 150, Microsoft Office Applications, RA, 3
CIS 170, Intro to Data Analytics, RA, 3
CIS 211, Intro to Programming, RA, 3
CIS 250, Word Processing, RA, 2
ACCT 101, Financial Accounting, RA, 5
BUS 111, Business Communications, RA, 3
COUN 140, Educational Planning, RA, 1
ENGL 100, College Writing, RA, 4
HIST 171, US History 2, RA, 3
MATH 120, Intro Probability Statistics, RA, 4
MUS 101, Music Fundamentals, RA, 3
MUS 113, Jazz History, RA, 3
PE 235, First Aid, CPR & Safety Educ, RA, 3
PE239, Open Water Scuba Diving, RA, 3
PE 121, Walking for Fitness, RA, 1
PE 243, Stress Management, RA, 3
AJ 100, Intro to Criminal Justice, RA, 3
ASTR 116, Intro to Astronomy, RA, 3
ASTR 117, Astronomy Lab, RA, 1
COMM 100, Public Speaking, RA, 3
COMM 105, Interpersonal Communication, RA, 3
COMM 120, Intercultural Communication, RA, 3
COMM 124, Small Group Communication, RA, 3
COMM 135, Argument & Critical Thinking, RA, 3
JOUR 110, Mass Media Survey, RA, 3
ANTHR 118, Forensic Anthropology, RA, 3
POLT 101, American Government, RA, 3
 

POSSIBLE PLANNED COURSES:

Study.com:
Course, No., Title, Grade, Credits
BUS 305, Leadership Communication, 3 UL
BUS 313, Organizational Communication, 3 UL
BUS 324, Managerial Communication, 3 UL
ENGL305, Advanced Technical Writing, 3 UL
 
RA Credits: UL university credits and/or LL community college credits
Course, No., Title, Type, Credits
HCOM 304, Intro to Comm Theory, RA, 3 UL
HCOM 305, Digital Media Literacy, RA, 3 UL
COMM 110, Mediated Oral Comm, RA, 3 LL
JOUR 140, Public Relations, RA, 3 LL
 
  
Future
Current community college (credits left)
1.    Take last 2 COMM & JOUR classes available (see above)
state university (applied for spring transfer)
1.    Can get upper level units, but need 2 years, starting spring to graduate from this school
 
TESU? BA communications OR BA liberal studies concentration in communications
COSC? BA General Studies w/ custom emphasis in Communications
LUO: BA in Interdisciplinary Studies, custom?
OTHER OPTIONS ???



Budget: Max $5K, open to scholarships

Commitments: part-time work in machine shop, freelance photographer.

Dedicated time to study: fulltime-ish. (especially if it gets me through by next summer)

Timeline: Finish bachelor’s degree by May 2023?

Assistance: small pell grant eligible, some grant money for any california school – but don’t want to take 2 1/2 more years to finish which would happen at a CA public university

[rachel83az]

Have you recently turned 19 or are you going to turn 20 in a couple of months? If you're almost 20, you might want to consider this degree from UMPI: https://online.umpi.edu/degrees/undergra...ournalism/

You can read more about UMPI on the wiki: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Un...esque_Isle

You would have to take 30 credits at UMPI, so you may be pretty close to the transfer limit. You've got a physical lab science, so you'd want to take Human Biology from Sophia, as well as Spanish. But, despite being close to the transfer limit, it's possible that you've got a lot of classes that might not fit neatly into the UMPI degree. I recommend creating a spreadsheet to better compare what you have with what you still need.

[janegoestocollege]

Have you recently turned 19 or are you going to turn 20 in a couple of months? If you're almost 20, you might want to consider this degree from UMPI: https://online.umpi.edu/degrees/undergra...ournalism/

You can read more about UMPI on the wiki: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Un...esque_Isle

You would have to take 30 credits at UMPI, so you may be pretty close to the transfer limit. You've got a physical lab science, so you'd want to take Human Biology from Sophia, as well as Spanish. But, despite being close to the transfer limit, it's possible that you've got a lot of classes that might not fit neatly into the UMPI degree. I recommend creating a spreadsheet to better compare what you have with what you still need.

Thanks! Just turned 19, so UMPI is off-limits for now. Trying to figure out how my units transfer to TESU or COSC. I didn't plan ahead. And will COSC do a General Studies degree with an emphasis in Communications because they don't offer a Communications degree?

[rachel83az]

COSC is kind of off-limits these days now because of the ridiculous restrictions they have placed on the alternate credit sources they accept. I wouldn't recommend them to most students now. Check out this thread: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...rse-Grades They do not accept the SDC courses you want to take (they now only have 3 UL courses they accept from SDC), and they require an 80% or better score to get credit.

Unfortunately, TESU isn't much better. For their Lib Studies w/ Communications concentration degree, they want very specific courses. I was hoping it'd just be X number of Communications credits, but that's not the case. You can see the required courses here: https://tesu.smartcatalogiq.com/Current/...centration

The BA Communications is similar. These courses are required. As far as we're aware, they're only available at TESU.
COM-100 Communication Theory
COM-120 Mass Communications I
COM-121 Mass Communications II
COM-265 Communication in the Digital Age - Coopersmith's "Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology" might work for this requirement, but probably not. You'd have to check with an advisor.
COM-330 Interpersonal Communication
COM-335 Intercultural Communication

You have LL Interpersonal Communication & Intercultural Communication already, but those might not work here. If they transfer like the LL SDC courses of the same name, they'll probably be COM-199 and COM-131. They could work in the AOS electives. For the AOS, you would need 15 UL credits + capstone for a total of 18 UL credits.

SDC has exactly 1 UL course that TESU considers to be in Communications: Business 313: Organizational Communication. "Technical Writing" is ENG and doesn't count as a Communications class. Fortunately, the AOS does have 12 credits of Humanities electives, where the English course could go. You'd just need 6 more UL credits. Your HCOM 304, Intro to Comm Theory and HCOM 305, Digital Media Literacy should work here.

If your budget were higher, you could do 2 flat-rate terms to take the required TESU courses + capstone & cornerstone. However, that'd be almost 2x what your stated budget is.

Another consideration is how long the degree(s) will take. TESU would be at least another 3-6 months, depending on exactly which degree you went with and how long it takes you to finish your remaining classes. TESU only graduates students 4x per year, too, so that'd be even more time before you get your degree: https://www.tesu.edu/academics/undergrad-calendar Even though you only recently turned 19, it's possible that UMPI would award your degree more quickly than you'd be able to get a degree from TESU.

[carrythenothing]

SDC has exactly 1 UL course that TESU considers to be in Communications: Business 313: Organizational Communication. "Technical Writing" is ENG and doesn't count as a Communications class. Fortunately, the AOS does have 12 credits of Humanities electives, where the English course could go. You'd just need 6 more UL credits. Your HCOM 304, Intro to Comm Theory and HCOM 305, Digital Media Literacy should work here.

For the BA in Communications: If you can get 12 UL credits in humanities (art, English, film, foreign languages, history, journalism, literature, managerial/leadership/marketing communications, philosophy, religion) electives, you'd actually only need 3 more UL credits (must be communications) and the liberal arts capstone. The other classes could all be LL COM classes for the AOS. But yes, I don't know of any alternative sources for the core classes.

TECEP exams are available for Managerial Communications and Marketing Communications (both UL). I think ONU has classes that transfer in as UL religion and Coopersmith has UL history (someone else can correct me if I'm wrong).

[bjcheung77]

Hmm... There are a few options, if you're not in a rush, you can complete the degree at TESU by doing the flat term rate for under $5K. OR, You can get a BSLA since you mentioned a Liberal Arts Studies and add some communications courses to the degree, finish it off at Excelsior for roughly $4000 in fees for 7 credits at Excelsior (In addition to what's remaining). What's your end goal? Planning on a Masters after a few years?

[dfrecore]

TESU allows more than just COMM courses in the COMM ELectives - I have an old degree plan I made for someone, and they accepted the following for the UL AoS courses (all from SDC):
BUS 305: Leadership Communication (MAN-376)
BUS 313: Organizational Communication (COM-391)
BUS 324: Managerial Communication (MAN-373)
ENGL 305: Advanced Technical Writing (ENG-306)
BUS 319: Negotiations and Conflict Management (NEG-401)

Not sure if that's changed, it may not have.

They will bring in your courses as LL, but they'll still check the box requirement-wise:
COMM 105, Interpersonal Communication, RA, 3
COMM 120, Intercultural Communication, RA, 3

Plus your other COMM courses:
COMM 100, Public Speaking, RA, 3
COMM 124, Small Group Communication, RA, 3
COMM 135, Argument & Critical Thinking, RA, 3
BUS 111, Business Communications, RA, 3

And the Humanities electives:
MUS 101, Music Fundamentals, RA, 3
MUS 113, Jazz History, RA, 3
JOUR 110, Mass Media Survey, RA, 3
So you'd need 1 more.

The main issue I see with the degree is that COM-120 is a pre-req for COM-121, which means that they may not let you take them both at the same time. So your best bet is to find a Mass Comm I course somewhere cheap if possible, get that done while you're working on everything else, and then do the single 16cr term with Mass Comm 2, Communication Theory, the cornerstone & the capstone at the same time.

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https://search.cvc.edu/ (search by keyword, and get the specific ones "communication theory" and "mass communication"

I checked the CVC website, and they have both Communication Theory and Mass Communication at MANY schools; this would be a great way to get these requirements completed cheaply.

they have some other courses if you just look at Communication Studies, but I've heard that TESU is rather picky, and will want the course names to match. So here's what else you may see:
Mass Communication and Society
Principles of Human Communication
Communications Media Survey
Process of Communication

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Your best bet in all of this is to just apply at TESU, send in all of your transcripts, and then ask about the UL courses from Study.com as well as the CC courses you might want to take. Better to know up front than take things that may not work.

[janegoestocollege]

Y'all are seriously awesome! Thanks for all the extra ideas. This is super helpful.

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TESU allows more than just COMM courses in the COMM ELectives - I have an old degree plan I made for someone, and they accepted the following for the UL AoS courses (all from SDC):
BUS 305: Leadership Communication (MAN-376)
BUS 313: Organizational Communication (COM-391)
BUS 324: Managerial Communication (MAN-373)
ENGL 305: Advanced Technical Writing (ENG-306)
BUS 319: Negotiations and Conflict Management (NEG-401)

Not sure if that's changed, it may not have.

They will bring in your courses as LL, but they'll still check the box requirement-wise:
COMM 105, Interpersonal Communication, RA, 3
COMM 120, Intercultural Communication, RA, 3

Plus your other COMM courses:
COMM 100, Public Speaking, RA, 3
COMM 124, Small Group Communication, RA, 3
COMM 135, Argument & Critical Thinking, RA, 3
BUS 111, Business Communications, RA, 3

And the Humanities electives:
MUS 101, Music Fundamentals, RA, 3
MUS 113, Jazz History, RA, 3
JOUR 110, Mass Media Survey, RA, 3
So you'd need 1 more.

The main issue I see with the degree is that COM-120 is a pre-req for COM-121, which means that they may not let you take them both at the same time.  So your best bet is to find a Mass Comm I course somewhere cheap if possible, get that done while you're working on everything else, and then do the single 16cr term with Mass Comm 2, Communication Theory, the cornerstone & the capstone at the same time.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://search.cvc.edu/ (search by keyword, and get the specific ones "communication theory" and "mass communication"

I checked the CVC website, and they have both Communication Theory and Mass Communication at MANY schools; this would be a great way to get these requirements completed cheaply.

they have some other courses if you just look at Communication Studies, but I've heard that TESU is rather picky, and will want the course names to match.  So here's what else you may see:
Mass Communication and Society
Principles of Human Communication
Communications Media Survey
Process of Communication

--------------------------------

Your best bet in all of this is to just apply at TESU, send in all of your transcripts, and then ask about the UL courses from Study.com as well as the CC courses you might want to take.  Better to know up front than take things that may not work.

so helpful!!! Thanks for getting into the nitty gritty and all the details! I was looking at the CVC website, too, but was unsure what my goal was other than looking for a class with "mass" in the title - so you've given me a little insight. I did the TESU application yesterday and sent all my transcripts, so you are confirming I'm on the right track. So, basically I need to get admitted then ask an advisor/counselor if the specific CVC and SDC classes will transfer, right? I'm new at this since I've never had a college counselor help me. (I took classes in high school and they don't allow us access to counselors.)

[rachel83az]

The phrasing you should use is something like "I would like to have X class from Y provider preplanned for my degree." You don't ask "if" it will work, because they may well just automatically tell you no. Saying you want it preplanned forces them to actually look up where the class goes.

[bjcheung77]

Further to that, I would refrain from using academic advising until you really need changes done on your student degree plan, otherwise, create a spreadsheet to plan, reference, track your progress. Decide if you really want to go to TESU and get the BA Comm or if it's acceptable to get a BALS. If an Excelsior BSLA will work for you, then get another different plan setup with your spreadsheet, it just takes a little work to create a second sheet with a new plan...