Writing about Academic Expectations

The discussion of how you’re addressing ESC Area of Study Guidelines and other academic expectations is one of the most important in the rationale essay, as it presents your evidence, backed up by research, to show that your individually-designed degree is academically valid. Above all, think of this section as your logical argument for the validity of your degree choices. Provide enough specific evidence so that your readers (members of an academic review committee) will be convinced that you’ve

  1. done your research,
  2. understood your research, and
  3. addressed Empire State College and overall academic expectations thoughtfully and thoroughly.

As you start writing about academic expectations, make sure to name your area of study and concentration (if you have a degree with a concentration) so that there’s a clear relationship between the focus of your degree and your discussion of ESC guidelines.

Writing about Guidelines

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  • Name of your area of study and concentration (if you have a degree with a concentration).
  • Include a summary or paraphrase, or even a list of the appropriate Empire State College Area of Study guidelines, to show that you understand the college’s general academic expectations for your type of degree.  If you are using a guideline that has both a general discussion of expected skills and knowledge areas, plus a specific discussion of expected skills and knowledge for a specific concentration, you need to include a discussion of both the general and specific guidelines.
  • Document by citing the pages.
  • Analyze the contents of your own degree/concentration by explaining courses, PLA areas, and/or experience that you have (but did not pursue for PLA) that address the college-level knowledge expectation for each of the main items in the guideline/s.

examples

Business, Management, and Economics

One of the ESC general guidelines for Business, Management, and Economics states this college-level knowledge expectation:

Ethical and social responsibility: demonstration of an understanding of and appreciation for ethical and social issues facing organizations and their environments

You may be planning to pursue credit through prior learning assessment in human resource management, and a good portion of your learning may have been about ethical issues within organizations, so you explain this briefly in this section of your rationale essay.  Or you may plan to address this guideline by taking a course in Business Ethics.  Or you may be doing a business degree focused on information technology, and plan on doing a course in Social and Ethical Issues in IT.  There’s no one way to address this particular guideline; you just need to analyze the knowledge you already have or intend to gain through a course, in order to address this guideline and prove that you have this type of knowledge, in some way.

 

Community and Human Services

One of the ESC general guidelines for degrees in Community and Human Services states this college-level knowledge expectation:

Knowledge of human behavior: Students should identify and demonstrate an understanding of human behavior within the context of various social, developmental, global, economic, political, biological and/or environmental systems. These studies should cover theory, historical and developmental perspectives.

For example, studies could include human development, fire-related human behavior, child development, deviant behavior, stress in families, or cognitive psychology.

This guideline provides some ideas for courses or PLA areas; there are others as well, such as Introduction to Psychology, Child Development, and more.  There is no one way to address this guideline.

 

Cultural Studies

One of the ESC specific concentration guidelines for a concentration in Communications states this college-level knowledge expectation:

History: a knowledge of the history and associated politics of media institutions/industries in a culture; knowledge of the role of media in culture/society, democracy and the development of digital identity

You may be planning to show that you have some historical knowledge of communications through a course in History and Theory of New Media, The American Cinema, The Decline of Journalism, or any of many other possibilities. Again, there is no one way to address this guideline.

Writing about General Education Requirements

Writing about general education requirements can be quite brief; a paragraph can suffice.  SUNY requires at least 30 credits in 7 of 10 general education areas. (Two required general education areas are math and basic communication; the other 5 are your choice).  Explain the areas you’ve included and give one example of a course that fulfills general education fully for each area.

Writing about Additional Academic Expectations

Did you summarize your research into other colleges (if needed) to show that you understand the general academic expectations for your type of degree?  Have you found through your research that most degrees in your field include a course in X, even though the ESC guidelines do not explicitly state that area?  Include a summary of your research into other colleges, as appropriate, if you needed to look at multiple programs to get a better sense of how to structure your own, and explain how your research translated into coursework for your degree.

Writing about Concentration Design (as appropriate)

In addition to your discussion of guidelines, your writing about academic or educational expectations may explain the overall pattern of your degree. Do you have courses that link with one another and fit into an overall framework? If appropriate, explain how you designed your concentration to move from introductory- to advanced-level studies, to include supportive studies that the guidelines do not mention but that are important to your individual goals, and/or to address the reasons why you designed your concentration in a particular, unique way.  Some degrees do not need full, or any, explanation of concentration design, particularly if they follow a traditional, disciplinary route.  Other degrees, such as degrees in the Interdisciplinary Area of Study, always need explanation of concentration design, because they allow so much flexibility.  Academic review committee members need to understand why these degrees have been designed in certain ways, to include certain courses in certain patterns and sequences.

Answer the following questions to help address degree structure and design in your rationale essay:

  • Does learning, especially in your concentration, show progression from introductory to advanced (in a bachelor’s degree concentration)?
  • Do you have certain groups of courses that link with each other, for a particular purpose?
  • Do you have certain courses that support and/or enhance one another (e.g., do some pieces of the general learning relate to and enhance studies in the concentration)?