Degree course to pursue MA in Human Rights

[Doodlebabe]

Thank you so much everyone for your replies! I'll respond to each of you individually as I see some great questions and info has been brought up. Looking forward to getting this degree DONE!!

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It all depends on how the schools will look at things. Excelsior offers a major in social science. TESU stupidly got rid of its major in social science thinking that a liberal studies degree with a concentration in social science was a needed and equally valuable substitute. The graduate school could either look at your transcript and see that you completed the equivalent of a major in social science, or they could go to TESU's website and see that their stupid and nearly worthless BALS with a concentration in Social Science only requires 18 credits in social science.

Your other option would be to complete a degree in psychology at TESU, EC, COSC, or Patten.

Thanks for letting me know that! In all the hussle of taking in as much info as possible I didn't grasp that TESU's degree would look fairly weak comparatively. I did hear back from Excelsior today - they mostly answered my questions (carefully avoiding the financial questions though, ugh) and were very cautious in spilling the secrets on testing out hah! I'm hesitant with Excelsior now that I've learned they changed from letter grades to P/F for testing plus the finances but I'd rather have a major than a concentration for MA admissions purposes.

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There is a difference between Capstone and Cornerstone, either way, the Big 3 require you to complete the Capstone at the school you want to graduate from, you can't transfer that final course.  In the case of COSC, both Cornerstone and Capstone must be taken at the college.  

First off, you need to decide on the degree of choice, review the Big 3 and see what degree you would like, a BALS, BSPS, or even a BSBA.  Some schools just require a degree in any field, others have minor prerequisites for their Masters program.  

Second, find the program you want and their prerequisites.  I read your post and it seems most European degrees require 90 credits in a Social Science.  You want to verify that with your top 5 choices. Here's a list of 25 schools for the Masters, they vary by length of program and location. https://www.masterstudies.com/Masters-De...an-Rights/

Finally, where are you from? Which city or state? Why must it be an European degree and not a US degree? I read there are a few FREE and low cost Masters in Europe, is that the reason? If so, you may want to re-evaluate, tuition maybe free, but living expenses may be more costly than a US online Masters.

I'm in the Portland, Oregon area. I'm mainly focused on Europe because a lot of the human rights organizations I'm interested in working for have a larger presence there. Much easier to get hired and create a working network if my feet are already on the ground there, doing research alongside these organizations through school. My family also has absolutely no intention of staying in the US, we've always dreamed of the ex-pat life so having a degree from the EU feels like a more globally conscious decision as far as marketability goes.  (Though free tuition doesn't hurt when living expenses there are so high!)
I'll take a browse through that list you sent! I see some of the schools I'm considering on there so this is a great comparison list!

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90cr in SocSci is a lot considering that you need 60cr in Gen Ed's.  But I guess you could just really load up on SocSci courses in the Gen Ed area.

Also, if you need 90 graded credits, you're going to have a hard time with the test-out method, as you don't get grades for tests.  So you want to check to make sure that the schools are actually ok with 60 graded credits (your 55cr plus a capstone, which will get a grade).

A BALS is definitely not a degree in SocSci, so TESU may not be your best option.  I would go to EC for this if that's what you want.

Also, make sure you know what a SocSci course is - your suggestion of possibly an English degree makes me say this - because English isn't a SocSci, it's a Humanities degree.

Here are some options with a lot of (but not all) test-out options:

TESU - Sociology, CJ, History, Psych
EC - History, Psych, SocSci
COSC - Soc, Psych, CJ, PoliSci

The ones most discussed here on the forum are TESU's Psych & History, and they are almost completely test-out-able.  But EC's SocSci degree looks very flexible to me, and a lot of the courses can be had through CSU-Global (esp Human Services courses) or CSU-Pueblo IS.

I would look at all of these degrees, see what interests you, and delve deeper.  Then see what you can come up with for courses with some help here on the forum.

The one school I found that required 90 SoSci mentioned nothing about graded credits, just that I needed them. Nor a specific GPA, just that a C average based on their scale (which is different from the US and I had a hard time finding info on how they determine it). The large majority of European schools, ones I'm considering and not, only seem to care that I have a BA in a related field, with a heavier emphasis being on my recommendation letters - which can come from teachers, employers, volunteer coordinators, etc so lots of flexibility - any experience I may already have working in the field - check - and my letter of intent. But having an actual SoSci degree, as opposed to the concentration TESU seems to offer, definitely is a more lucrative choice. English is a consideration mainly because I know soooooo many (possibly too many?) people who majored in English and went into law from there. Same goes for History too, and I'm sitting here going, "I love to write and to read! Cake!" Obviously not my first choice in getting attention from my desired MA programs, but testing out is preferable to taking courses so I wanted to throw the idea out here to see everyone's thoughts. 
Question on EC's SoSci degree: are there options to get the courses elsewhere? I'll be taking a more in depth look at the degree and courses needed, but I just glanced at CSU Global and oof!! That cost!