Hello, I will be a newly minted TESC degree holder in the next few months (BSAST in Technical studies). I just wanted to know how many of you are holding a TESC degree (with credits from CLEP etc) and have gone on to pursue a masters in BA from a reputed, well-known universities? Has anybody been rejected because part of the credits are from testing out? Thanks.
Congratulations on your soon-to-be accomplishment! Just keep in mind that most M.B.A. programs (especially AACSB) will require you to take some "bridge" courses before officially starting the program. Not because you have a TESC degree, but that it's not a business or management degree.
I'm attending the U. of North Dakota's MBA program. It's not Harvard but it is a tier-1 national university. On top of my degree I did have to take the GMAT. Don't think they really cared about CLEP credits, just that my undergrad was RA.
Those courses are usually called foundation courses and they can be waived if you have undergrad business, statistics and economics courses. Check the school's undergrad CLEP policy and CLEP out of those courses prior to enrolling. Trust me on this one. A coworker of mine is stuck in high cost foundation courses because he didn't CLEP first. The school he is at told him he could CLEP but he had to do it prior to enrolling. That was over 6 months ago and he is still in foundation courses.
I also tested out of almost all my undergraduate credits with CLEP, DSST, etc. got an ok grade, did ok on the GMAT (770), and did an MBA program just fine at UMass. The one caveat is that I think the UMass MBA program is retarded. I don't know where they get their students or instructors, but they sure weren't the brightest. On the other hand, I learned a great deal when I was a student at TESC, and I'm still grateful to them for that.
In some cases, graduate students could be those that are unable or unwilling to find a job after completing a bachelors degree. Take a computer science student for example. One finishes a BS degree and takes a job at EA working on Madden for 2 years while another stays in school and completes a masters degree. Which student learned more in the 2 years after school? Which student was more prepared for high level computer programming after finishing the BS? I guess it depends on the student, the school and the job.
One school I talked to commented that they couldn't find a GPA on my transcript from Thomas Edison, but once I explained it wasn't an issue.
And that is the ongoing doubt and worst-case scenario I am concerned about. Which school waS this? I believe one of this board's moderator did a mba from UF. Are there any others on this forum who have graduated from TESC(with a few cleps) and got admitted to a 1st/2nd tier college?
I was admitted into University of California - DH graduate program as well as UF's graduate program with my COSC undergrad degree (similar to TESC but a cooler name :veryhappy: ) It was not the MBA programs, it was humanities at CSU-DH and a Master of Pharmacy / Risk Management at UF.
I'm not a TESC undergrad, but I did earn my BSBA in a distance program and used credit-by-exam to fulfill nearly half of my degree requirements. I was able to get into several top 50 MBA programs, including two that offered 100% tuition waivers (although I didn't get into every school I applied to). B-schools really do look at the complete package when evaluating an applicant - as long as your degree is legitimate, your GPA, application essays, GMAT score, and letters of recommendation are much more important than the name of the school. Good luck!
Sure, but it's not that interesting. I applied to six MBA programs, got into 4. I was dinged by HBS and Wharton (although Wharton "encouraged me to reapply", but I was bound and determined to start grad school in 2005). I got into Florida (Warrington), Penn State (Smeal), Notre Dame (Mendoza), and Duke (Fuqua). UF and PSU both offered me tuition waivers, plus a stipend for living expenses that I would have to work 10 hours per week to earn. Notre Dame offered me a 50% tuition waiver, and as much as I liked South Bend during my campus visit, I could not justify taking loans to go there when I had a free ride at two other schools. ND and UF offered me admission into their one-year programs, PSU only has a two-year program. I accepted UF's offer, and was set to attend school there starting in June of 2005. I gave my employer six weeks of notice (longer, really, considering that my co-workers and boss had written all my recs), and after working five weeks of notice off, the chairman of the company called me and asked if I would consider deferring school, or maybe attending a local program instead. I told him I was determined to earn my MBA, but agreed to sit down with the CEO and discuss our options the next day. That evening, I spoke to my wife who had already moved down to Gainesville and accepted a job there (she went to UF undergrad and worked in Gainesville for several years after school, so she had really good connections down there who jumped at the chance to hire her), and we talked about what to do. At the time, my wife had just finished her first year of the CCMBA program at Duke, and absolutely loved it. I had wanted to do a full-time program, but she encouraged me to think about Duke. After we hung up, I thought about it for a while, and decided to check out if it was even possible to get into the CCMBA program, since it was well after the normal MBA admissions cycle had ended. I found that the application period was nominally over, but that they were still inviting additional applications on a select basis. The next day, I called in and discussed my situation with the admissions staff, and was told that if I could get my application together quickly, I had a reasonable shot of being admitted into their next class. Then, I took a deep breath, went to my meeting with my boss and asked him to pay for a degree that cost roughly 15 times what his own MBA cost, and to also pay me for the time I spent in class. I told him I knew I was asking a lot, but I was also giving up a lot in the form of a free degree and a living stipend, and that I'd be prepared to commit to remain at the company for two years after I finished the program in return for the investment I was asking him to make. To my utter amazement, all he said to me was, "Great! Tell (our HR person's name) to stop running the ad for your job and go tell your team you aren't going anywhere." I left my boss's office, and rushed through the application to Duke. I interviewed the next day, and was admitted the day after that. I called UF and told them I wasn't coming - which was one of the most difficult phone calls I'd ever made, because I had made several trips to UF and had gotten to know the admissions staff down there really well. Six weeks later, I was on campus at Duke for my first term. I loved every minute of the CCMBA experience, and don't regret giving up the chance to do fulltime study. Ironically enough, I did spend a lot of that first year down in Florida, because my wife stayed on in Gainesville to finish the project she was hired for. After she graduated and got a job back in NC, we were finally under the same roof again. Long story, but you asked for it, Randell! ;-)
I can't imagine quitting a job in order to go to school. Its just not required in this day and age especially for an MBA. In the fast paced software world, losing a year cannot help your career. I think you made the right choice.
Like Randell, I was admitted two two schools (CSUDH and ERAU) simultaneously with my BS from Excelsior College (I did both programs but sequentially). For some programs schools take into account your professional experience as well as your undergraduate degree.
