TESC COSC or Excelsior to complete BA? Comparison?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by rancho1, Aug 2, 2003.

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  1. rancho1

    rancho1 New Member

    I have a AA in General Business from a state community college and somewhere around 60 lower division transferable credits that are around 7 years old.
    I am considering completing a BS/BA in either Business or Liberal Arts via examinations such as CLEP, DANTES etc. and apparently all three schools are viable choices. I am working full time and would like to get the degree completed as quickly as is feasible in my spare time.

    How do you choose between these three popular schools in this situation? I have seen posts recommending each, but I cannot find a good comparison of the three as far as financial costs and ease of navigating through their policies and requirements.
     
  2. Hille

    Hille Active Member

    TESC

    Hello, If you decide to go with TESC I will tell you some shortcuts toward the degree. The biggest is the FEMA EMI credits. These are free to take and transcripted for free. Essentially you have 16 credits toward your free elective category. If you have a base knowledge of some areas take the TECEPS and Cleps. I will be glad to assist you as others will in this group. Have a good Sunday. Hille
     
  3. cmt

    cmt New Member

    TESC

    I believe TESC is the more expensive of the three schools where tuition is concerned. However, when considering TESC accepts FEMA credit for free, I believe the differences are quite small.

    If you are thinking of doing any graduate work later on, you might want to investigate whether a degree from TESC will allow you to meet entrance requirements (GPA) of possible graduate programs. I mention this because TESC does not award letter grades for the most common exams (CLEP and DANTES). However, TESC will factor your AA GPA into your BA/BS degree (although they don't list it on your transcript).

    You could begin taking exams now and then decide on the college after you begin earning some more credit. With as many credits as you have already, you should be there in no time! I have 39 credits from the last 7 weeks and another 12 exams scheduled this month and I still have not decided where to send my credits :D
     
  4. wfready

    wfready New Member

    Is this really an issue? Has anyone actually experienced being denied admission because TESC did not print the GPA on the transcript? Does the graduate school not have calculators? :D

    Seriously, I can't honestly seeing a graduate school not accepting an undergraduate degree for admission because it did not have a GPA computed (don't get me wrong, I am sure there is atleast ONE school that will). How hard is it to see how well a student did by glancing at the transcript a noting the grades earned? Does TESC not put grades on the transcript either (perhaps that would be a problem).

    Just a thought,

    Bill
     
  5. Hille

    Hille Active Member

    Hi, You can get a GPA from TESC. There are quite a few students and graduates attempting alternate route teaching where GPA is a must. Hille
     
  6. c.novick

    c.novick New Member

    NO my transcripts were accepted and

    Yes they have grades on their transcripts.
     
  7. There is no GPA posted to my TESC transcript. This didn't put off the five graduate programs I ultimately applied to (ranging from a DL program at Troy State University to a residential program at the University of Pennsylvania.) All managed to calculate a GPA on their own.

    As a footnote, none seemed to care that my degree was from an incredibly-unprestigious-yet-still-RA school like TESC. They did care that my undergraduate degree was from an RA school, that my upper-division coursework was strong, and that I tested well on the GRE. I tend to believe that any stories of rampant discrimination against DL students (or against grads of "lower tier" schools) in the graduate admissions process are pure urban legend.
     
  8. plcscott

    plcscott New Member

    I believe you are right, but that may be because there are so many more schools offering nontraditional graduate degrees. Thus more supply, less demand, schools want to fill slots.
     
  9. rancho1

    rancho1 New Member

    Re: TESC, Excelsior, COSC

    I'm not sure free electives are going to be an issue. I think I actually have around 70 transferable units and the free electives are probably covered. I think I probably need arts & sciences graduation requirements and specific courses required for the majors rather than "free electives."
    I would need to get credit reviews by each school to see which one will accept the most credit and which ones has the quickest and most simple and least expensive path to completing the degree. I have the impression that costs are close between all these schools, so I will more likely choose the school where I can complete the requirements the fastest and most conveniently even if it is not the cheapest of these 3.
    I was trying to get the degree requirements for the Liberal Arts degree catalog online for Excelsior, but that part of their web site has been down for a long time. I may have to have them mail me a hard copy of the catalog if they don't fix the link to the PDF file soon.
    I have an AA in general Business and I am deciding between geting a BS in Business or a BA in Liberal Arts from one of these 3 schools. One reason I'm considering liberal arts is because the AA had only required 1 semester of some courses such as accounting and economics and, since it has been 7 years since I graduated with the AA, I don't remember enough of those courses to be ready complete or prepare for exams on the second semester levels required to complete a BS now. I don't want to waste time repeating first semester accounting and economics to get back up to speed.
     
  10. cmt

    cmt New Member

    If you reread my post you see I am not making an issue of the fact that TESC does not print a GPA on your transcript. What I said was:

    "I mention this because TESC does not award letter grades for the most common exams (CLEP and DANTES)."

    According to a TESC transcript I will not have a single letter grade for the graduate school to use a calculator on. If TESC gives letter grades for DANTES and CLEP then I am wrong, but when I spoke to them they said they did not award letter grades for CLEP and DANTES. Since every graduate program I have looked at wants, at a minimum, my last 60 credits to be above a 3.XX GPA I can't go with TESC.

    FWIW, I am going to Law School where GPA is put into a matrix with LSAT scores when being considered for admission. They [the schools] have, to a man, told me that a must bring a solid GPA to the table before having a chance. If I am wrong about TESC not awarding letter grades for CLEP/DANTES please tell me - my degree would be much easier and quicker.
     
  11. capper

    capper New Member

    Your correct. There is no letter grade for CLEPS, AND DANTES exams. However, there is letter grades for the online classes, guided study classes, and E-pack courses. I think there is a letter grade for TECEP.

    For the reasons you mentioned I did not take any CLEPS/DANTES to achive my degree. Although, I did get a lot of credits for Navy Nuclear Power School. All other credits were obtained from other colleges and TESC courses. I will have a 3.75 GPA from all my classes at other schools and TESC. I am hoping that that is good enough.
     
  12. wfready

    wfready New Member

    CMT,

    I have reread your post and now I see you were referring to CLEP's and DANTES when you warned of TESC's lack of letter grading (sorry I misread your post). However, I couldn't understand why this would give you no GPA (this is where I assumed [you know what they say about people who assume :D]). I think I understand after reading your latest post:


    Have you completed (will complete) a bachelors at TESC exclusively with DANTES and CLEPS (bain4weeks style)? If so, that would explain why you would not have any grades for your admissions to grad school right?

    It still might not be a problem. Even though, they do not award letter grades for CLEPs and DSST's, I would guess they put a score on it right?

    [CLEP] Intro to Psych (67) .................. Pass

    I think they would just take your scores, (even if TESC didn't display the score, maybe you could show they your CLEP and DANTES transcripts) and match it to a suggested grade and then compute the GPA. As Dennis and C.novick pointed out, TESC degrees are definately eligible for entry into graduate studies. I wouldn't sweat it, personally.

    Hope this helps,

    Bill
     
  13. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I also looked at the three schools for my degree and I went with COSC.

    First, the staff seemed to be very helpful. They were better then the other schools when it came to answering all my questions as a non-student.
    Second, the cost was only $1,000.
    Third, I was able to apply 60 elective credits toward my degree.
    Fourth, they accepted credits that were over 10 years old.
    Fifth, the name is cool, better than Excelsior.
    Sixth, they did give a GPA, most of the CLEP, ECE and DANTES exams were given letter grades.
    Seventh, the outline of exams that fulfill each category were easy to follow from their website. I know what exams to take and would be accepted so I could wait to enroll.

    These are some of the reason I had for picking COSC.
     
  14. plcscott

    plcscott New Member

    I have some courses such as English 101, Gen. Psch, and and College Algebra that are from 1988 will they not be accepted?

    My AS program excepted them later, and they are on those transcripts. Would they accept them that way?

    This is the first I heard about this. I sure do not want to have to test out of these subjects.
     
  15. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    COSC accepted credits from DeVry which I attended in 1986. They also accepted Army credits from 1990. I applied in 2002 to COSC.

    To clarify my second point from a previous post, the Admin fee was only $1,000 which does not include any tests or classes.
     
  16. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Excelsior said their was a time limit on credits (I think 10 years) and I am not sure about TESC
     
  17. DaveHayden

    DaveHayden New Member

    Actually if you had to test out of them it would be simple and easy. I am not sure it is much of a hurdle.
     
  18. cmt

    cmt New Member

    I'm doing the bain14weeks style! All the exams will be CLEP and DANTES, so if I go with TESC I might be shooting myself in the foot for grad school.

    I thought about this, but how does that look when applying to a graduate program? Has anyone ever had to do this...did it work?
     
  19. Not likely.
    None of the programs I applied to-- brick & mortar and DL, ranging from not-particularly-competitive to more-competitive (including the local Ivy) had a problem with it. High GRE scores certainly didn't hurt, but even so, I don't think I was "special."
    Many, and yes, in that order. Do a search for threads.
     
  20. rancho1

    rancho1 New Member

    I have a pretty good GPA from my community college courses and I am slightly concerned about lowering it if I get C's on graded CLEP, DANTE's unless I spend so much time preparing for the tests that I might as well just take full DL courses instead of the exams.

    So far I do not seen any real compelling reason to choose one of these schools over the other in my situation. I may have to apply to all three and just see which school accepts the most credit and has the quickest path to graduation.
    So far I don't see anyone recommending Excelsior over TESC or COSC.
    Is there any advantage Excelsior has that the others do not if I plan to complete the last 60 or so credits for a BA or BS degree in Business or General Studies/Liberal Arts by taking exams?
     

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