Can anyone give me infomation on Excelsior College? I am thinking about applying there, but I would like to hear from someone that knows more about the college.
Excelsior College has been discussed here thoroughly. Just do a search on Excelsior College on this forum and you will hundreds of posts relevant to your question. Good Luck
Normally, the responses you get are in proportion with the amount of information you provide in your question. Thus: Did it. Loved it. (Perhaps you can give us your impressions, ask your questions, tell us what your goals are for the degree and beyond, etc. This would help people be more responsive, and also not dread re-hashing the same old stuff. The advice given to explore the many threads on the subject is really good, too.)
Hate It The administration staff at the college is dreadful. I attended back in the early 90's - I had my Masters 80% completed before they would issue me my degree - I had to fight with them on a regular basis on just the smallest of issues.... Looking back - I hated the process, the lack of caring. I felt like a hostage.... My Masters degree program worked with me on a class my class process. It took about 13 months to clear up the mess. - Yes I won the battle !!!! STAY AWAY WOULD BE MY ADVICE
I wouldn't listen to HR PRO. There are 100,000 Excelsior Alumni. The College is well respected in academia. The Big 3 DL institutions and pioneers that brought accredited assessment to the mainstream are Excelsior (the oldest) and Thomas Edison and Charter Oak. John
Re: Hate It I had a very different experience.....I found them to be very helpful. Without Excelsior I would not have a PhD. They allowed me to use a part of my transcript from my early college years (anyone else party more than study) and grades from more mature years, which Liberty accepted as meeting the GPA requirements. After that, I completed the PhD. The process is not fast, but I found that the more information I gave them up front the faster the reply.
not sure about 80% I too am concerned about what the 80% completed? Did you mean your masters was 80% completed before the BS degree was formally awarded? This would be the first time I have heard of a Masters degree being awarded before all the requirements for the masters were finished. all the best!
I received my AS in Liberal Studies from Excelsior in February, and my Bachelors in the same today (Apr 19). My experience with Excelsior was quite pleasing. In fact, I liked it so much that my wife, who was no so hot on the idea of DL is now enrolled there to get her Bachelors. The advisors were helpful, my evaluations were done in a timely manner, and all of my email questions were answered in 3 days or less.
not sure about the whole process The system with Excelsior and COSC appears to be to charge a large "assessment" fee up front. I just had a friend who paid for an Excelsior assessment. He sent off transcripts to Excelsior. They did not want any information about jobs, ceu's, etc. which might be used in determining whether a portfolio would make sense. He has an associates degree (61 credits) plus 12 semester hours. The letter he got back said he would be a sophmore at Excelsior. He called up to try and find out what credits they did not accept. He was told that Excelsior accepted all his credits but he could not get an answer why he would be considered a sophmore. He was told he would have to pay another assessement fee to have a college plan developed. He gave and is working with COSC. COSC also seems to have a similar "pay up front" for assessment sort of deal. I told him to look at the required credits needed for a BS/BA. If it is 120 then he needs a minimum of 47 semester hours. I told him to look at the credits required in a major (probably 36) and he will need additional course work in the major field to equal that number. I told him to look at the requirements for a minor (probably 18) and he will need enough new credits to equal a minor. Finally to look at any distribution hours needed. Bottom line, this "unofficial" tally suggests he needs 47 more credits, 27 in a new major, 6 in his associates major to make a "dual" major, 6 in liberal arts for distribution and 8 elective. I don't know why Excelsior couldn't give him better answers for the money he paid. All the best!
Re: not sure about the whole process Hmmm... Excelsior provides a low cost credit review assessment before enrolling for $175 for liberal arts students at http://www.excelsior.edu/cred_rev.htm If the student decides to enroll after the review a portion of this is then applied to their enrollment fee. Both Charter Oak and Excelsior are assessment institutions hence the costs cover the administrative handling and support students need. Earning a degree with 120 sem. hrs. is not just accumulating 120 sem. hrs. of credit. The credit must have an appropriate beadth and depth to achieve the degree and a concentration in an area (i.e. major) and these schools do not offer minors. Charter Oak provides a good explanation of this at http://www.cosc.edu/prospective/summary_conc_req.htm If all 72 credits are considered lower division there would need to have enough courses at upper levels to meet degree requirements. This may have been the rational for the sophmore designation. You mentioned an he needed 6 in his associates major it would be closer to 15 since the associates credits are lower level + electives. If another concentration was pursued the 30 credits with the appropriate distribution is that major would also be required. John
how come you know stuff and excelsior staff doesn't Thanks for a nice post. I hope you are able to train the excelsior staff. You made some guesses and assumptions about what the Excelsior staff might have been thinking. I think that is part of the problem, were they thinking. My friend is of the opinion they just weren't thinking. The upper division/lower division angle might have been something Excelsior could have discussed. They also might have used the angle that they don't accept all college credits. They might have talked about distribution. They might have talked about course clusters. There were many things the staff could have presented. In my friends case he had about 21 upper division credits from a state run 4 year college as well as the associates degree (from a state run community college) My analysis matches what COSC came up with. COSC placed him as a 2nd semester Jr. (which makes little differnce as a part-time student). COSC was able to give him credit for his english class, but wants him to take a higher level english class. They even had a rational which makes sense. This is just one's person experience. However, it is consistent with the comments that it is hard to get good advice in distant learning. All the best!
Re: how come you know stuff and excelsior staff doesn't Typically the response from the Excelsior staff is first rate. Maybe someone was having an off day. The botom line is that they lost a student in this case. John
Also, the Excelsior materials, which they will mail to you free, point out what is needed in each area. With a little effort you can determine what you need in the way of lower/upper level credits, major credits, etc. I'm with Dr. W. maybe the person was having a bad day, can't relate to this from my experiences with Excelsior.
I too had a bad experience, I requested to speak with another person, and in a few minutes everything was settled, it has also happened to me in matters completely unrelated to learning, you basically have to request to talk to a supervisor or to somebody else. Yes Excelsior has some not too smart people working there, but most of the staff is very proffessional, and no they don't have a monopoly on either end of the staffing spectrum.
