Excelsior to Penn State, etc

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by wgumcd, Jan 22, 2005.

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  1. wgumcd

    wgumcd New Member

    Is it possible to transfer credits obtained from a Excelsior degree to Penn State or another such school. These credits of course would have been Clep credits. Example I clep a BS at Excelsior and want to get a BS at Penn State. Penn State only allow 30 credits via Clep tests. But how would they know the Excelsior credits are Clep credits if they give letter grades? It would be nice to only need to take 30 credits via Penn State and receive a BS is this possible?
     
  2. alarmingidea

    alarmingidea New Member

    So you want to deceive Penn State into giving you a degree by hiding the nature of your credits?

    They'll know the credits are exam credits because the people who handle their transfer credit aren't stupid and know what's what in higher education. If you try to trick them, I hope they catch you and nail you for academic dishonesty.
     
  3. avia93

    avia93 New Member

    Instersting question

    After getting my BS from Excelsior, I not to long ago want to pick up second degree from a very well respected school in my hometown. However, the school after looking over my transcripts from Excelsior refused to take almost half of my CLEP grades. The reason they gave was that at there college they only allow students to take two CLEP exams for credit. So, thus that ended my pursuit of a second degree. There was no way in Hell!!! I was going to let them make me retake classes I had already passed with a CLEP exam all so they could get money from me.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 22, 2005
  4. ybfjax

    ybfjax New Member

    wgumcd,

    Every school sets its own transfer credit policies. Just because your credits are approved at one regionally accredited school, does NOT guarantee that they will be accepted at another.

    Alarmingidea is right. At least about the transfer credit part. They will review your transcripts thoroughly and only transfer credits in accordance with their established policies.

    There is no way to "trick" them. In fact, colleges usually encourage you to do an official credit review as a condition of acceptance into their school. This is to avoid confusion as to what applies to your degree plan later on.

    If you REALLY want that second degree, use the dantes catalog to review regionally accredited schools that have low residency requirements:

    http://www.dantescatalogs.com/DEDC/DEDCNav.asp

    Narrow down your selection to 2 or 3 and have an official transcript review done for those you are serious about.

    I was thinking about getting a second BS in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle. But I think I made the wiser choice of moving upward in my educational studies (Masters) vs. horizontally loading my resume with degrees on the same level.

    Personally, I would suggest you do the same (start looking upwards i.e. Masters programs).

    BTW alarmingidea,

    What was your second language(s) in?
     
  5. wgumcd

    wgumcd New Member

    Does anyone have any suggestions/past experience with other recognized schools such as a Penn State Villanova etc... with regards to low residency requirements. My goal would be to obtain a BS from one of the big 3 and then obtain another BS from a recognized school in the least amount of time possible without deceiving anyone if possible.
     
  6. avia93

    avia93 New Member

    Why?!!!


    Why are you tryn so hard to get one degree off online and another from a tradational college?:confused: Anyway, could it be that for your own very personal reasons you might be slightly tryn to please outsiders to online learning or that you feel you just need and extra degree from a tradational school?(Just my thoughts here) Look if your goal is to try and truly cut down the amount of time at a traditional college I can understand somewhat.. But you have to realize that the suposed short cut your thinking about in using a BS from one school to short the route of another might not be so easy. Why don't you just complete your BS online in a short time period and look into getting a Masters at a tradational college. For example, you can get your masters at Penn State using an online degree. Believe this can be done I know someone who went that route my cousin.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 22, 2005
  7. alarmingidea

    alarmingidea New Member

    me and my languages

    The usual response from a linguist when you ask how many languages they know is 1.7. :)

    Linguistics is the study of the structure and function of language, and while I did extensive work in a couple of African languages (Kimeru and Setswana, which I did learn to speak somewhat), learning a foreign language is usually not a part of studying linguistics.

    I have studied a number of languages as a lanugage student, though, including Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese, Hebrew, Portuguese, and French. I've also done bits of Chinese, Arabic, and Romanian, though little came of it. Oh, and Esperanto, which I thought was boring. (I'm gonna get in trouble with the Esperantists over that comment! :))

    This spring I'm continuing in French, brushing up on my Spanish (I'm seeing a guy from Chile) and starting Swahili, which I'm really excited about.

    After that, Kinyarwanda and maybe some Dinka. Then I'm done.

    Wow, that's a lot when I put it all together.
     
  8. ybfjax

    ybfjax New Member

    Thought you already had the bachelors....

    I re-read your first post and your reply. Most of my original post answers most of it. But I will tweak the plan a little for your senario.

    1) Decide which major you want (for this example, business or management)

    2) Find out which schools (big three and brand name) you want to attend. Dantes catalog <http://www.dantescatalogs.com/DEDC/DEDCNav.asp> and my BS Introduction <http://www.123collegedegree.com/bsintro.html> are appropriate resources.

    3) Find out the degree requirements for each of the degree plans.

    The trick will be to select which Big Three school will accept the most transfer credit towards your major and be accepted at the brand name school.

    4) The brand name school will probably have a residency requirement. So kill 2 birds with one stone. Whatever you cannot 'test out', make sure you are taking that course at the brand name school. This way, your fullfilling the residency, and degree requirements (for one or both degrees) at the same time. For example, if you could not test out of organizational behavior DSST, make sure you take an 'organizational behavior' class @ the Brand Name school.

    Don't take it from the big three schools if possible. Why? Because the big three school will probably accept the brand name credits of organizational behavior, but the brand name school will cap the maximum number of outside credits. So by taking the course at the brand name school, that's 3 more credits freed up that you can 'test out' of or transfer.

    5) once requirements are complete, prepare for graduation.

    **Note: when getting 2 degrees at the same level, they typically must be in a seperate major. So for example, if one is in business management, the second one must be in a different field, like psychology or physics or [whatever's different from business]. For the second major, the trick will be to select one that will accept the most credits to carry over, such as psychology or liberal arts.


    Honestly, like I said in my original reply, I thought of the exact same thing that you were (getting a second degree on the same level from a more 'Brand Name' school). But, in my opinion, the better move ultimately is (after getting the bachelors) to concentrate your money and efforts towards a regionally accredited Master's degree. That's what I did and I don't regret one day of it.

    And just another side note: I really think there comes a point where the school name thing gets out of control. I think we're approaching this point again, as in some other threads that I've read. Some other posts you may want to consider looking at:

    http://www.degreeinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16533

    http://www.degreeinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16463&perpage=30&pagenumber=2


    BTW avia93, I was typing this as you posted your 'why?!' post. I agree almost totally.
     
  9. avia93

    avia93 New Member

    Re: me and my languages



    Your taking online courses at Harvard University? also Is your major entirely online? I notice you graduated from the same school as me Excelsior which I find wonderful.
     
  10. ybfjax

    ybfjax New Member

    Re: me and my languages

    alarmingidea,

    I've decided after my Masters to NOT immediately pursue a Doctorates. Instead, I want to pick back up Spanish. (dropped it in high school due to laziness; wanted to skate out my junior/senior year). One thing I've learned in going on detatchments in the military is that I'd rather be more well-rounded and be able to communicate with other people in their language. You can understand their thoughts and feelings a lot better. Not to mention that it's a heck of a lot easier to get your point across :D

    I'd rather have a Master's with a second language fluently than a doctorates with a more narrow academic focus on a particular subject area. The second language would make me FAR more competitive and versitile both professionally and in my personal life. Not that having a doctorate is a bad thing by any means. Just my opinion.

    - So my question is, what is the best way to go about DL spanish? What are the best distance learning courses or tapes/CDs/DVDs?

    - Also curious to know if that harvard degree really is 100% DL. How long is it? How would you rate the curriculum's difficulty? How hard was it to get in (admissions)? etc.
     
  11. wgumcd

    wgumcd New Member

    Why don't you just complete your BS online in a short time period and look into getting a Masters at a tradational college. For example, you can get your masters at Penn State using an online degree. Believe this can be done I know someone who went that route my cousin.

    If this could be done that would be great. So you are saying that I can my BS from one of the Big 3, and that Penn State will let me take class to get a Master. I thought that the problem would be that they would allow the BS credits to count towards a Master's. Is this correct? Also does anyone have a list of low residency colleges such as 33% or maybe 25%. I have already completed one class from Penn State and I'm working on Macroeconomics there also, so thats why I'm using them as an example. However I would really love to hear actual experiences from people about other's experiences with other NAMED schools. Thanks to everyone for being helpful, and not flaming me too bad for trying to get the most for the least time.
     
  12. alarmingidea

    alarmingidea New Member

    I apologize for the tone of my first post, though not the content. There's nothing wrong with wanting to get the most possible in the least time. There's everything wrong with doing it in a dishonest manner, and if you were to present a set of credits as being something they are not, that would be academic dishonesty.

    Good luck. I hope you accomplish your goal.
     
  13. avia93

    avia93 New Member


    Yes, it can be done. I know of alot of people who got there Bachelor completely online using one of the big three and then applied at a big name state school graduate program and got accpeted. I think if you just want to cut down on the time working on your Bachelor do the online route;) Then if I was you and still want to obtain a traditional degree from a college you admired I'd try and get accepted. It can be done! Like I said my cousin Melissa did it she got her Bachelor online then applied to Brown University grad program and was accepted.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 22, 2005
  14. avia93

    avia93 New Member

    Hmmm..


    Have you done alot of research on distance learning? If not and this message board is the closes you've come to doing it I suggest getting the book Bears' guide to earning degrees by distance learning or The Guide to Distance Learning. This site even has a list some where on it I think that displays accreditated colleges. Also, I never heard of any college using credits earned from a BS degree to count toward a Master's degree.:confused: Heck! there is no way that undergraduate courses can be used to supplement grad classes. Anyway, as long as you get your BS from a CHEA accreditate online university and maintain a high GPA you should have no trouble getting into a local Big name state university grad program. I hope I was helpful
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 22, 2005
  15. wgumcd

    wgumcd New Member

    I think I need to be more specific. Giving the following which of the "NAMED" such schools as a Penn State etc. would accept me with the least amount of credits needed to be taken.

    1. I would test out to obtain ALL credit for a BS at one of the big three.

    2. I have no limit on $$$ in reason $30,000 tops to obtain a Masters after getting a BS at one of the Big three.

    I know that many schools require a prereq. of a Bach. I assume that many WOULD care if it was obtained soley by testing out wouldn't they???? I would like real world experience examples of different colleges that people have dealt with. I have researched many schools but I would also prefer real world experience. I would like to test out for a Big three BS, and then obtain a Masters within 1 year to 15 months.
     
  16. avia93

    avia93 New Member

    Okay!

    As for as the testing out thing the university would more or less care more about the GPA you earned from the university then if you took a bunch of CLEP exams. Most colleges look at the GPA you earned in your undergrade degree and at your GRE or GMAT score to determine if you get into there masters program. So, if I was you I'd stop focusing so much attention on how many exams I tested out of to obtain my degree but more attention on the GPA I earned which is more important to grad pragams. Below is a much more clear list to help you understand what I mean:

    What GRAD school care about-

    1. GPA from Bachelor is more important then how many test you took to get the degree.
    2.GRE or Gmat score is more important then how many test you took to get the degree
    3. Personal statement is more important then how many test you took to get degree.
    In short, foucs on GPA,GRE and personal statement for getting into PENN STATE and don't worry about test exams you used to get a Bachelor degree. Okay!
     

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