Excelsior vs TESC vs others, for me

I would appreciate any input on which school I should choose. Seems kind of like a toss up between these Big 2? Should I consider the others that are not Big 3?

In the past, I weighed the options and read a lot and decided that Excelsior was clearly my favorite. The main reason being the credits for subject GRE. Now, because of the grad school I am interested in, I'm probably not going to use a subject GRE to get credit. My other reason for Excelsior was that I liked the email support I received and you hear that TESC often isn't prompt with support. I don't remember how good or bad the other websites are, but I like Excelsior's whole system.

I do think the TESC name would look better. But, most grad programs would know of the Big 3 as being testing out DL schools anyway? I really don't like COSC having general major only. Is there anything else about the TESC transcript that is better or worse than the Excelsior one? I feel this competitive grad school wouldn't like that I've tested out -- which I feel I need to do -- so I am looking for any little things to help the situation.

My plan is still to do lots of ECE, DSST, CLEP. Maybe TECEP. The other ways of obtaining credit basically don't matter to me -- I know TESC isn't as lenient with some of the other ways. I like how I can get letter grades in some but pass/fail in others at Excelsior. It's about the same at TESC right? If I take an ECE and am enrolled in TESC, I still get the same grade?

Also the cost is only a slight factor especially since I would be testing out of basically everything. It is a plus to me if they'd give me the option of taking self-paced courses that I can complete at any time. In case I end up needing more courses or wanting to spend time on them.

I guess I am accustomed to Excelsior and would be happy with them (except for the name) but am wondering if another school would be an overall better choice for any reason. Thanks.

 

I was in the same situation as you on January 2007 and was looking at both Excelsior and TESC. I can only give you my opinion based on my circumstances. with the amount of courses I had left, which was about 60 units for example, I came up with the following fees.

TESC
2520 Initial Enrollment
2180 for subsequent years enrollment
180 per unit out of state tuition

Excelsior
895 Enrollment fee
440 Annual Service Fee
300 per unit tuition

As you noticed the fees above, if I were to take lets saw 30 units at TESC, it would costs 7,920 (5,400 + 2520) and 9,895(9000 + 895) for Excelsior for the first year.

In my situation, I was planning on testing out of some courses and went to a community college in California. For me, the tuition was waived, but also for other courses, I would pay between 20 per unit for most courses, and a few others I completed at Penn Foster and CSU-Pueblo, and my last course at Excelsior which was 900 dollars. By doing it this way, it was so much cheaper for me. Again, you have to weight both options based on what other schools you plan to get your credits and have those sent to Excelsior. If want to take most of your courses at TESC then going to TESC could be cheaper. For me, Excelsior gave much a lot more flexibility, plus my grades from my other schools were counted for my GPA so I can graduate Magna Cum Laude.

 

I don't know if this is a true statement - My guess is that the majority of EC graduates use credit earned at multiple colleges and universities then transfer that credit to EC. I'd be interested to know this information.

When I applied to grad schools I had to provide my EC transcript - it listed all my transferred courses together with grades the school where earned. In my case it included courses from UC Berkeley, UMass Lowell, Cal CCs, CSUDH, Redlands, and UK colleges. Neither grad school questioned the EC transcript.

 

Charter Oak has concentrations - and they are noted on the transcript. I have been working with Charter Oak because my 16 year old plans to complete her AA by combining classes, CLEPs , DSSTs, etc. When a grad school evaluates a transcript - they are going to look at the major/concentration, but also at the courses you completed and yes, the GRE score.

I wouldn't rule out Charter Oak due to concentrations v. majors, but that's my 2 cents.

Shawn

 

Yeah, you're probably right. I've been planning to have only about 3-5 classes (3 being DL) and the rest would be exam credits. Although I am quite interested in self-paced classes where basically you take the exam when you are ready and pretty much like taking an ECE. But then the transcript wouldn't say it was credit by exam.

 

Yeah, well, I won't rule COSC out for that. What would be advantages of COSC though? Obviously, I would have to weigh if the advantages were greater than the advantages Excelsior (or TESC) has over COSC.

Oh yeah, price was one reason I really shied away from TESC. And it's not like I want to waste money, but now I have an opportunity to have my education paid for, so I just want to go to the one that would help my undergrad appear best.

(If I have to, I'll add B&M community college classes and even more. But would rather not.)

 

I agree Ian, the schools would only know if they receive the transcripts. I plan to apply at Florida State University's MSM in Risk Management & Insurance and like many other graduate schools require you to submit transcripts from all colleges you have attended. Of all the courses I have completed, about 5 are from CLEP exams.

 

For us - it was the cost. Cheapest AA where we could transfer a bunch of CLEP and DSST. No sense spending more money, since the goal of the AA is a stepping stone to a BA for my daughter.

Shawn

 

Hm. TESC and COSC appear to not give letter grades for ECE. That is important to me, so most likely I want to go with Excelsior.

I am thinking I should get a 2nd degree too. Like a bachelors from COSC or TESC. But we'll see, maybe it's better to spend the time on different training.