Forgive me if this has been covered, but I need to be absolutely clear on a few things regarding Excelsior's BS\CIS degree program; 1. I went to a community college about 10 years ago. I wound up with a few passing grades, but I also have a lot of incompletes, which resulted in a few F's. Should I use that transcript to get credit at Excelsior for classes that I did complete successfully such as English Comp, Ethics, and Sociology. 2. Can I enroll at Excelsior with no college credit at all? I called a counselour there today, and she was very confusing. She made it sound to me like I should go back to a community college at finish all of my lower level classes, and then come back and enroll at Excelsior. I was under the impression I could enroll there with no credit and test my way towards a degree. Could someone clarify this for me. Any help would be appreciated.
1) Yes. Absolutely use that transcript. I had a transcript with several incompletes and F's from when I dropped out of college 10 years ago. The F's and incompletes won't how up on your Excelsior trancript. I ended up with a 4.0 GPA on my Excelsior transcript (and graduated with honors) despite the fact that my true undergraduate GPA is closer to 3.1. Laundering my GPA was a nice side effect of enrolling at Excelsior (though to be fair, most graduate programs insist on seeing the undergraduate transcript with the F's). 2) No idea. However, it may make sense to take some of your courses before enrolling to minimize your Excelsior costs. For example, you could take some CLEPs before enrolling so your annual renewal clock starts as late as possible. You might save some money this way. The downside is you don't get advising until you actually enroll. If you have less than 60 credits, I would enroll in an Excelsior associate's degree program rather than a bachelor's program anyway. That way, you get a degree of some sort more quickly a well as protect yourself if you eventually find you don't have the time (or money) to complete your bachelor's.
Andrew, The Excelsior advisor MAY have been suggesting that you take some Comm College credits THEN enroll when you have a good amount of credits. This way, you will avoid spending tons of money in reenrollment fees, each year you didn't have enough credits to graduate. That's what I would plan to do if I were to enroll in Excelsior again. Take all the classes I know that would apply to the degree. When you get enough that you feel you can complete the degree in the least amount of time, then enroll. Just a guess! Best Regards, Bill
You will save yourself much time and grief in taking the clep (or comparable) tests for these credits and forgetting you ever attended this college. The possible exception, if you are applying to a college in the same state for grad school, sometimes they share information. Like others have stated, you can enroll whenever you wish. It will most likely be advantageous to you if you enroll when you know you can complete your degree within a year. Of course, you are taking some slight risks with this approach, such as: Gre subject test discontinued (still can probably get credit for it), pricing scheme changes, credit per exam changes (the analyzing and interpreting literature is now only worth 3 credits at cosc, instead of 6), et cetera. Good luck, Tony
Excelsior BS-CIS My suggestion to you is to find out before you enroll in Excelsior what exams are available to fulfill the requirments you have left to complete your degree. You may find out that there are some requirements for which there is no test available. So you would be required to take courses at an accredited school to fulfill these requirements. So if you enroll in Excelsior first, then start working on your degree, you will have to pay Excelsior while your taking courses elsewhere. Also, it appears to me that in many cases the only exam available to fulfull some of Excelsior's BS-CIS requirements are ICCP exams which are mostly outdated and do not necessarily cover or focus on the topics you would cover in a traditional CS course. Another exam which Excelsior uses to fulfull the Computer Architecture requirement is Ohio Uni ETCH 236A. This exam covers the Intel 8088/8086 microprocessor and is also outdated. This may be a problem for you but this depends on your reasons for getting a degree. I think it takes a lot of discipline to get a degree via exam only. If you haven't done so, you might want to try taking a few exams before you start down this path. For example, you could complete some of the Microsoft exams before you enroll in Excelsior.
Excelsior BS\CIS Thanks to alll of you for response. Just to add a few more comments... I have an MCSE in both Windows NT and 2000. I know those can be counted towards the degree in question, I forget the exact amount of credit. I was hoping I could complete the degree in about a year. Do any of you think that is possible? Am I correct in assuming that I can take the CLEP's without being enrolled at Excelsior, and then apply my CLEP results towards an Excelsior degree? Thansks again.....
It is. For people who color within the lines anyway. I ve always wondered what people do who may have taken a course or two from say 20 or 30 Universities? Do you really send a transcript from each university at a cost of $5 to $20 per transcript?
Dave, Thanks for the reply. I don't know if any college does a "vetting" of their students to determine these things but the withholding of info from a degree school could possibly deny graduation. I've wondered the same about those multiple transcripts. Excelsior, and others, do at least allow for the consolidation of records through their Credit Bank.
Actually, no. The credit bank transcript is not accept by any of the RA Universities I know of. They all still require you to send each individual transcript.
Pretty much. Unfortunately, federal law requires a signature for a transcript request so unversities can't simply allow an online request. They've been making things easier with providing forms online, but it's still a lot of paper to mail or fax for every application.
Actually, no. The credit bank transcript is not accept by any of the RA Universities I know of. They all still require you to send each individual transcript. Bummer. Think we can talk Dr. Bear into founding a clearinghouse for these things?
