My Degree Plan for BLS at Excelsior College

Okay, I spent the whole day researching how to earn credits (and thanks to all the great people here I learned about CLEP, DANTE, ACE, GRE, and so many other great resources). Using the template that Excelsior gives for it's BLS requirements, I came up with the following plan that will allow me to earn a degree completely by testing. And for under $2,000 dollars! I hope to finish up my testing by March/April and hopefully graduate in May. I'm so glad I found this college, there is no other way I could of got a degree for as little money and as quickly while using my preferred ways of learning (research, self-study, and testing).

I welcome any comments or suggestions on my plan

English:
1. English I (Completed at B&M)

Humanities:
1. Intro to Humanities (Completed at B&M)
2. World Religions (Completed at B&M)
3. Intro to Ethics (Completed at B&M)

Social Science/History
1. Problems of Substance Abuse in Society (Completed at B&M)
2. HMS 101 Introduction to Human Services (Completed at B&M)
3. HMS 210 Crisis Intervention (Completed at B&M)

Natural Science/Math
1. Biology I (Completed at B&M)
2. College Stats (DANTE)

Depth #1 Psychology
(All same discipline, one upper)
1. Psych GRE L1 (Subject GRE)
2. Psych GRE L2 (Subject GRE)
3. Psych GRE L3 (Subject GRE)
4. Psych GRE U1 (Subject GRE)

Depth #2 American Lit
(All same discipline, one upper)
1. Lit GRE L1 (Subject GRE)
2. Lit GRE L2 (Subject GRE)
3. Lit GRE L3 (Subject GRE)
4. Lit GRE U1 (Subject GRE)

Arts & Sciences Upper Level
1. Psych GRE U2 (Subject GRE)
2. Psych GRE U3 (Subject GRE)
3. Lit GRE U2 (Subject GRE)
4. Lit GRE U3 (Subject GRE)
5. Lit GRE U4 (Subject GRE)

Applied Professional or Arts & Sciences Upper Level
1. Psych GRE U4 (or DANTE)
2. Psych GRE U5 (or DANTE)
3. Psych GRE U6 (or DANTE)

Applied Professional or Arts & Sciences Lower Level
1. English II (Completed at B&M)
2. Intro to Speech Communications (Completed at B&M)
3. Interpersonal Communication (Completed at B&M)
4. Creative Writing (Completed at B&M)
5. Psych GRE L4 (Subject GRE)
6. Lit GRE L4 (Subject GRE)
7. Lit GRE U5 (Subject GRE)
8. Lit GRE U6 (Subject GRE)
9. Alcohol and Drug Abuse Examination (Completed by ACE)
10. Social Science & History 1 (CLEP)
11. Social Science & History 2 (CLEP)
12. Introduction to Sociology (CLEP)
13. Intro to Computers (DANTE)
14. Research Methods (ECE)


Information Literacy:
1. Information Literacy (Excelsior online class, 1 credit)**


COSTS:
GRE Testing Costs: (2) x ($130.00): $260
DANTE Testing Costs: (2) x ($70.00): $140.00
CLEP Testing Costs: (3) x ($75.00 ): $225.00
Total Test Costs: $625.00

ECE Test (1) x ($190): $190.00
Excelsior App Fee: $75.00
Excelsior Grad Fee: $495.00
Excelsior Info Lit Cost: $285.00
Total Excelsior Costs: $1045.00

Total Cost: $1670.00

(**is there anyway to fufill this requirement without taking the class from EC?)

 

Looks good!

I did my research methods at University of Alaska - Fairbanks D/L course (CHEAPER that ECE).

How about loading up on some easy/breezy FEMA courses (1 credit each) for your applied professionals? They take around 1-2 hours to complete (or less).

Great info on this and many-many other CLEP/DANTES subjects can be found at www.instantcertonline.com/forums .

GOOD LUCK!!

 

I thought FEMA classed didn't transfer or it was hard to get them to transfer? I'm kind of confused on them... I'm worried if I don't take the 3 Social Sciences CLEP's that I won't be able to get in a MSW program because at IUN (the one nearest me) you have to have at least 6 hours of Social Sciences (I wish I knew if they'd count all the hours from my Psych GRE, then I would totally skip them and take the free FEMA classes).

Can you explain the FEMA classes to me a little more and why everyone seems to say differen't things about getting them approved? What course of study do they fall under?

Thanks for all your help, I will check out that Research Methods class right away You've been such a great help!

~Marie

 

Some of the other costs you might to factor is the tuition fee of $995 for the first year at Excelsior, and other fees for transcript requests for tests and classes you have already taken. Also the fees involved in test administration for the GRE, CLEP, and ECE.
Looks like a good plan.

 

Yes, FEMA credits are transferable to EC; I transfered 7.

You can either have your credits registered through the FEMA sponsored college (Frederick Community College) who thens sends an "official transcript" to EC -or- use the TESC credit bank.

The FCC way is $60.00 per credit hour and the TESC credit bank is a one time $250.00 fee for as many as you can squeeze in there.

 

"Some of the other costs you might to factor is the tuition fee of $995 for the first year at Excelsior"

Someone mentioned earlier that if you have all your credits already when you go to apply at Excelsior, you only have to pay the application fee not the enrollment fee, I'm crossing my fingers that's the case!

"use the TESC credit bank"

What's a credit bank? Can you add other classes (like CEU's) to the bank or only FEMA credits?

 

TESC, an RA school has a credit bank (a kind of RA credit savings account) that you can use to collect your acquired credits into and "deposit" somewhere else - like Excelsior.

 

I do believe that's the opposite. Everyone pays the enrollment fee - you're not required to go through the application if you have your material together...

 

I was thinking about taking Social Science Research Methods there, but the prerequisites scared me because I'm a math phobe. Was that course very hard or math intensive? Were there projects and assignments? I assume the tests were proctored?

 

I am the king of math phobes and there was NO MATH AT ALL.

Several assignments - ongoing project and yes proctored exams.