Just wanted to ask everyone how they presently rate their overall experience with Excelsior. I am trying to work my way into Excelsior's door and need sound advice on what I need to look for (got the "just arrived" in New York feeling) as I move along in my pusuit of higher education. I guess I will enter into their BS General Business program here soon and work from there. Just curious to see how they will evaluate all my prior education (work experience) and how this will sll apply towards my degree. The biggest question I had is whether to hold off enrolling (credit bank) and CLEP like crazy then enroll - or enroll and start CLEPs then. What's your advice on this issue? Lastly, does Excelsior have a "matriculation fee"? I know COSC does and didn't see this in Excelsior's fee schedule. Thanks kindly m-golf (MG)
Also confused I have sent my appliation to Excelsior and am waiting to hear back. Like you I am unsure whether to enroll now or later. I have talked to their admissions office and they, of course, suggested enrolling as they felt that an advisor could help me find more credits for job experience, thereby cutting the number of upper level credits I needed. The admissions office is helpful to a certain extent but will tell you to talk to advising. Once I get the unoffical audit of my credits, I'll let you know.
Enroll now. No, I don't work for Excelsior, and I don't get a cut. But we did make some bad choices because we delayed enrolling my wife. Only an advisor can give you the offical info to help you avoid duplicative credit. And it was on Jan. 1 of this year that Excelsior added its "Information Literacy" requirement. Requirements are only going to increase as time goes on. Once you enroll, you will be grandfathered with the Academic Policy Date of your enrollment. Go ahead with the CLEP exams, though, while Excelsior processes your enrollment.
MarkIsrael & Deb Thanks for the info. Sad to see a new requirement on Excelsior's part - wonder what prompted that? Does anyone know how many credits this course is? I see the benefits of enrolling now, since more requirements might be added in the distant future but I'm worried the annual fees will be counting up as well (catch 22). I guess I'm going to have to set aside a target date for enrolling this year (perhaps Fall 2004), leading up to that date I'll be taking CLEPS left and right to help minimize the fees. Hope this is the right strategy! Thanks again! m-golf
The information literacy requirement gives you 1 credit (so it must be relatively simple). I enrolled at the end of Oct, so I didn't have to meet this requirement. I agree with Mark - it's safer to do it sooner than later, with a couple of thoughts: If your degree plan has you graduating with a mid-year offset (i.e. in 1.5, 2.5 or 3.5 years) then you may be better waiting for a half year to save the extra year's fee ($600). However, there is certainly risk with this approach, likely more risk as the year progresses (i.e. more in Oct than in Feb) as these requirements seem to take effect 1/1. This is an observation and not a guarantee - until enrollment anything's subject to change. Also, certain exams are continually getting added or dropped - for example, Business Policy and Strategy will no longer be available after 9/30. Last year, Production/Ops Mgt was dropped on 9/30. Both of these are core business program requirements, so you'll either need to take a course or other exam - harder to fulfill and makes ECEs no longer a "one stop shop" for upper level credit. Cheers, Mark
Guitarmark Thanks again for your reply. It's a tough call I agree but with changes being made (almost) by the school year, waiting is a risky game indeed. Just curious to see if they replace the ECEs or are they totally gone and have to take classes instead to complete. Geez, who ever said life was simple. Maybe I'll check with TESC and see what's cooking over there. Last I heard you could still test out on some courses. I wonder if I enroll in Excelsior then switch over to TESC after a while, if TESC would accept the credits I gathered at Excelsior. That's why I was thinking of credit banking instead of enrolling (pick a degree plan and start collecting credits. Hmmmm. Thanks again, always appreciate the help and advice, m-golf
Transfering credits Has anyone here transfered credits to Excelsior and had them not transfer some? I got the unoffical recap today and they say I still need 27 credits, which means they didn't transfer 8 from UT, nor the additional 5 for two CLEP test that UT had already shorted me. The report is very brief. I was hoping it would show what transfered and what didn't but all it says is how many credits you need in lower and upper levels. When I talked to the admissions office on the phone the other day they said I only needed 17 credits, all upper level, which matched my figures. Oh, and that 1 credit literacy thing, which I was hoping to get out of since I've been a DBA for years. Of course, I can't find out what didn't transfer unless I pony up and enroll. At this rate, I might be better off just sloughing through where I'm at. Sign me frustrated $60.
so do you think its not worth getting the evaluation done ? They dont tell you which requirements your credits fulfilled ? I mean do they tell you that you need more such and such credits in Arts, Science Computer Science etc ? I am waiting for it to be done. That means I will be wasting my $60 as well.?
Depends. You can do your own "self- evaluation" using Excelsior materials and get just as much information. I guess the questions you need to answer are these: how valuable is your time? (If too valuable, let them do it!) And how much do you like being in charge of your own education? (If a lot, do the self-evalation and be well-informed on your own. It is empowering.) Yes - they do. But even if you're enrolled, Excelsior can and does make mistakes. For example, well into my second year of ernrollment and they still had not given me proper credit for work I'd done at the University of Utah worth 12 semester credits! Finally, while on the phone with an advisor, she caught the problem; still I sent for duplicate transcripts from Utah, and only an up-dated Excelsior script a couple week later proved to me that it was corre ced! Ultimately, that's your call. --Orson
What the $60 gets you What I got back was a letter stating that I need: General Ed (Arts and Sciences Requirement**) 17 semester hours at upper level *** Depth Requirements A second depth in any academic area, including appliced professional / electives Applied Professional Credits or Additional Arts and Science 1 semester hour lower level in any academic area 9 semester hours upper level in ay academic area Information literacy Requirement So, yes, they tell you what you need but only in the vaguest of terms. I did the self-evalutation and it didn't match what they came up with at all. I am going to try calling them today to see what is going on.
Re: What the $60 gets you You are told the basic requirements in this regard so that you can choose your own courses. If you want specific recommendations just ask your advisor and they can point you in the right direction. Good luck. John
Missing credits I understand that I will now have to get with a counselor and decide what classes to take. My frustration is from not knowing which credits didn't transfer and why. I can't find out anything until I enroll.
Re: Missing credits When I did the $60 "unofficial eval", I got a copy of the same form used for the self eval, only filled out by Excelsior. It did show what was transferred. I also got a summary, like you are describing. Did they change something since August? I also agree with the poster who said that they do make mistakes. When they did my official eval, they dropped off one class and one certificate that was on the unofficial. After emailing them, they added them back.
New system I seem to have had the bad luck of them changing the system. They now do "automated" evaluations. You only get the hand-done one after you enroll. All you get is totals, no details. The rub is that I can't find out anything else until I enroll. All three of the people I talked to today kept insisting that "as soon as you enroll..." everything will become clear. And the first lady was downright rude. No one had told her about the system change so she keep telling me to look in the right hand column - only there wasn't one. I gave up on her and called back later. So, how do I know I want to enroll if I can't tell what transfered? I do have a call into Charter to see if they provide more information on their evaluation. I really don't mind planning my own tests and classes, I just want to know where they think I stand is really where I stand.
I had all my credits transferred over from my universities, community colleges, They took them all except 2! - one was a university course, a "hello, welcome to college course" - and one community college course in math...it was a foundation math class. took them all.......now I am four classes from graduation......
Not sure why I should have 101 or 103 credits to transfer. Only 4 are upper level, so figuring that you have to have 21 upper level, I should only need 17 upper level. For some reason they only took 94 credits. And I have no idea why or which ones. While I know most B&M schools won't do an evaluation until you enroll, their enrollement is a lot cheaper at $200 than Excelsior at $975. I thought Excelsior might offer more for the $60, and be a little less pushy on selling the enrollment. I am still considering Excelsior, especially because of the number of credits they give on the GRE but Charter Oak was much nicer on my first set of questions.
Charter is going to charge you 175.00 for an official evaluation. BUT, you will get a complete evaluation that will explain what they took, where they put it, and what you lack where. It's very well done and you will have no question about it when you get it. Also, you will have a person there to talk with you and answer questions and won't be telling you to pay up to get more information. However, you will have definate and more diverse areas you will have to meet in their criteria than EC. You must meet the following in the general education areas: Aesthetic Dimensions - that's art, literature, etc. Citizenship/Ethical Dimensions English - Written Communications Global Society Historical Development Inter-relationship to groups Quantitative and analytic Research Scientific Process Western Civilization This makes it more like good old college, got to have all those areas covered, more than EC requires. Now, I sent them my syllabi from my psych classes to confirm I had written several research papers, therefore, I didn't have to take a class or test labelled "Research". So that was good. I also sent them my math syllabus to prove I'd had the equivalent of the CLEP College Mathematics, but they disagreed and wouldn't take my math for a core requirement, thus leaving me hanging for the math (my most hated subject) which was bad, and even though I've had cross-cultural content out the wazoo with nursing classes for two solid years, they wouldn't accept that either because it was learned within a professional context. If any of your classes have the word "applied" anywhere in the description be prepared to have them give you credit for it but not where you might like. Hope this helps. I like COSC but right now I'm waiting for EC to do an evaluation to see if they will take my math. If EC takes my math and I do well on the Psych GRE, then the obvious choice for me is EC, even though I hate the name. The goal for me is to get it done and over so I can go on to other things.
