Just put my application in to TESC!

After a bit of going back and forth between TESC and Excelsior, I put my application in at TESC for my ASAST in Electronics engineering technology! I want a real degree and I'm going for it. Now I shouldn't get too excited yet, I won't actually enroll for a few months till I get all my CLEP exams credits but I'm on my way. My question is what happens now that my application is in? Do they call me? I have to get my transcripts from Penn Foster to them right for evaluation? Do i just request that from PF? How does all this work? Thanks for the help, I'm super excited.

 

I'm not sure about this, but I think you have to have the Penn Foster courses on an ACE transcript. TESC will not accept Penn Foster courses that aren't ACE-approved. I think you still have to send your Penn Foster transcript, though, even if TESC is not going to give you any transfer credits. You said you completed the career diploma? That might cause some issues with getting credit for the individually ACE-approved electronics courses. Did Penn Foster give you 18 credits toward their associates program? You might have to do that first to get the individual courses transcribed. From what I see, the career diploma has instructional sets instead of individually-labeled courses.

After you apply, TESC will take 6-8 weeks to evaluate your credits. They give up to 2 evaluations before you enroll.

 

Congratulations on your decision! TESC is a good school and I don't think you will regret your decision. I don't know the procedure for those particular schools, but I would assume that they operate like most schools. In almost every case, you have your transcripts sent directly from your previous school to your new school. Your new school will identify them and place them in your file and you should have to do no more. I have never had to do more than that and I expect the same in your case.

As far as the calling goes, I would be surprised if you didn't hear from them in a few days. If you don't, then give them a call just to give you some peace of mind.

 

Thanks SurfDoctor, I'm so excited! I just had to take the plunge, and I did it. Thanks again.

 

My program is ACE reviewed, and all I know is the ET program gives you 18 credits toward PF's Electronics AS degree. I'm getting a bit nervous now, I thought you just get 18 credits for the program no matter what.

 

I graduated from TESC. I don't remember getting a phone call, just an email with how to set up my accounts.

You will have to send your Penn Foster transcript because TESC will require a transcript from every post-secondary school attended. To actually get credit for those courses, I don't know if TESC has to see them on an ACE transcript. The whole program is not approved, just individual courses that might be in the program. How does your PF transcript look? Did they already transcribe the 18 credits as individual courses? You can check to see if a course is currently approved by going to this link.

http://www2.acenet.edu/credit/?fuseaction=browse.getOrganizationDetail&FICE=191627

 

OK, I found a ton of PF courses on the ACE website, and ones that i took, but its not one big lumped in "Electronics technician" program. Its a lot of individual lessons in my program that i see on there.
Oh i have my transcripts and it just lists all my exams, ALL 52 and the grade I received. I'm a bit more at ease but still a bit nervous.

 

Congratulations - do not stress over this. You will have plenty of time for that later :wink:

 

Randell1234, I will try not to. I'm super excited at the moment so I'll try not to stress.

 

Congratulations on your decision! I attended TESC for my associates degree and transferred a bunch of Penn Foster credits into the program. They will not accept the Penn Foster transcript in direct transfer. You're going to have to order a transcript from ACE which will list each of the ACE reviewed courses you took (and passed) from Penn Foster. TESC will then "book" these into your new degree program. It's easy, and it doesn't make a lot of sense, but you'll have to do it this way.

On another note, if the ASAST program with TESC allows for any open electives, take a look at the FEMA Independent Study courses. As you may already know, they are free, can be done in an evening, and TESC will accept them in direct transfer. It will save you a ton of time and cash.

 

Pugbelly2, thank you very much. How do I order the ACE transcripts? Great info thank you, is something you pay for or its a service ACE provides? Please at some point let me know how your overall experience was at TESC.

Yes my program has 9 free electives, it says A. computer programming-3 and 6-free electives but both are under "free electives". I talked to them and they said they might accept my OSHA safety training, if not I know about the free FEMA credits you can earn. By the way that free FEMA credits thing is really cool and its EXTREMELY cool TESC accepts them.

 

I believe ACE charges $40 for the service. That includes one transcript. Additional transcripts are $15 each. You can access the ACE transcript portal here: https://www2.acenet.edu/credit/?fuseaction=transcripts.main

My TESC experience was very brief, but great. I didn't take a single course from them. I picked the degree I wanted and then took all of the required courses from Penn Foster, LSU, Eugene Bible College, a local community college, FEMA, etc. When I was one or two courses away from completing the degree requirements, I enrolled at TESC and transferred in everything I had earned to date. I consulted with them to make sure the last couple of courses I needed and wanted to take from from Penn Foster would satisfy the TESC requirement, took those and transferred them over as well, then graduated. I think it was only a few months from the time I enrolled to the time I graduated.

If it's not too late, I would suggest that you follow a similar path. Make sure you can graduate within a year from enrollment or the enrollment fees really stack up. Once you have enrolled and you know exactly which courses you still need, take them from the least expensive regionally accredited school you can find, or make sure the course is ACE reviewed (if not regionally accredited) and that TESC will accept it as meeting its requirement. For example, just because a college math class is ACE reviewed doesn't mean that TESC will accept it as meeting the math requirement for graduation. I took Math for Business and Finance from Penn Foster. TESC accepted the credits as an elective, but not as math. I ended up taking College Algebra from PF to satisfy the requirement. (As an item of note, I don't think College Algebra is offered by PF anymore, or if it is, I don't think it is ACE reviewed anymore).

Pug

 

I was just at that link you sent me to this morning, and I registered but they did not have any records of me taking any ACE reviewed courses. That makes me a bit nervous? I thought all along my ET program was ACE reviewed, should I be nervous?

 

If the courses you took appear on the ACE website under Penn Foster, no, don't be nervous. You need to contact PF and have your transcripts sent to ACE.

 

This is more of a pain in the butt than I thought i'd be. I thought I'd just send in the transcripts from PF to TESC and it would all be taken care of. I'm not thrilled with this process and I didn't even start it yet. If my credits are not accepted I will not proceed. My dream of having a real degree from a state school will end there. I'll probably end up going to CIE-WC for electronics or staying at Penn Foster, neither are what I really want.

 

If I remember correctly, there is an option to add courses to your transcript. ACE will then need to receive confirmation electronically or through mail from Penn Foster that you took the course. This could take a few days to a couple of weeks depending on which method PF uses to send your transcript. I used ACE to transcribe an ALEKS course and it didn't take long because ALEKS sent confirmation electronically. ACE is closed until January 2.

TESC requires that the PF courses be on an ACE transcript so that they have proof the course was ACE-approved when you took it. This does make sense and it's really not that much of a hassle. You just have to be able to sit back and wait for all of this stuff to be sent.

 

Some one on the other forums completed a degree program (associates) with Penn Foster, and transferred the courses to ACE. It is a easy process my friend, just sign up pay a one time free I believe $40 and have it sent out to TESC. If the courses are ACE approved like you mention, you will have no worries.

 

I will get on it on Wednesday, I will try tomorrow but i suppose everything will be closed for the holiday. I need to talk to Penn Foster and ACE.
If I'm screwed here and the credits won't transfer what do you think of Electronics programs at CIE, Cleveland institute of electronics? I heard good things, but what have you heard? They are DETC too so I'd be stuck in that vortex of DETC.

 

There are always other options. What program did you take at PF?

 

Excelsior might take some Penn Foster courses that aren't ACE-approved. The problem is that your transcript needs to have the individual courses listed in credit hours, not the test scores for each unit passed.