Great site! I had lost hope of ever getting a degree, but I happened across this site, which lead me to bain4weeks.com. Now, for the first time in my life (I'm 29), I'm excited about my education. I'm planning to start and follow the bain4weeks degree manual to get an Excelsior BS degree in General Business. Hopefully, that will lead me to an MBA eventually. I don't plan on completing the plan in 4 weeks, but I definately want to finish within a year from the time I enroll at Excelsior (I want to avoid paying for a second year). I'm an intelligent guy, and a great test-taker, but, damn, after taking the practice CLEP for Humanities, I seem to not remember a whole lot. So, I'm going to take my time, study hard, and hopefully score all A's (well, at least on tests that a letter grade is given). Okay--here are my questions: 1. I went to a community college some years back, flaked out, and managed to score a couple of bad grades. Do I have to transfer those grades/credits to Excelsior? I would really love to just start from scratch with a clean slate, if possible. I'm not interested in having any past credits or life experiences looked at, assessed, or anything like that. 2. Has anyone followed the bain4weeks plan for general business? If so, please, please, tell me your experiences. 3. Is there anything else that I need to know about Excelsior, bain4weeks, or anything else before I get started? Thanks for your input. Jered By the way, I've been reading through a bunch of posts, and it's sure nice to see a message board without any flaming--I've seen only mature people being generous with their knowledge.
[Originally posted by joikd 1. went to a community college . . . , flaked out, Do I have to transfer those grades/credits to Excelsior? No, you get to choose which credits appear on your transcript. It goes further than that - new credit you earn and have transcripted by Excelsior, you can have removed from consideration at any time, before degree conferral. If you are carrying a required course credit with a "B" grade, and later you earn an "A" in an acceptable substitute course, you can throw out the "B" course and replace it with the course carrying the grade "A". Should do wonders for your GPA. All of this is discussed in the "Fundamentals" section of BA in 4 Weeks. I am hurt that you did not read it. Originally posted by joikd 2. Has anyone followed the bain4weeks plan for general business? If so, please, please, tell me your experiences.Yes, I have. My experiences are detailed in BA in 4 Weeks. There are many other Business degree graduates who have used the system in whole or in part. I think you may find some detail from one or two of them in the BA in 4 Weeks guestbook. keep meaning to solicit graduates stories for publication on the web site. I agree it would be useful to have a number of examples and role models from which to choose. Must stop dragging my feet. Hate asking though. Still you don't ask you don't git. Originally posted by joikd 3. Is there anything else that I need to know about Excelsior, bain4weeks, or anything else before I get started?Yes, life rewards doing. Get started. While your're planning the grand strategy, keep accumulating. I'd say, do not wait till all your ducks are lined up in a row. Pick of whatever components of the degree, circumstances send your way. If you postpone action until everything is in place, you will likely never start. You will fell frustrated. It will drive you quackers. Originally posted by joikd By the way, I've been reading through a bunch of posts, and it's sure nice to see a message board without any flaming--I've seen only mature people being generous with their knowledge. [/QUOTE]Oh, absolutely. No flaming here. We all try to look at things from the other chaps point of view. And maturity, yes very mature. Lawrie Miller http://bain4weeks.com
Re: Re: Must transfer bad grades? Lawrie Miller wrote: I lost my internet connection, at this point in the last post. To clarify - 1. Do not take your pick of degree components (you need them all) - instead pick off components, opportunistically. while designing you grand plan. 2. We all feel like felling when we are frustrated, however, this does not mean you will or should. Lawrie
Jered, There was a class in a B&M school I attended where a professor and I didn't jive and it was too late in the semester to drop the class. Due to our difference in opinion, I just quit going to his class (yes, I know, not the wisest decision I've ever made). The professor game me an "F" for the class. Excelsior gave me the option to not have that grade recorded on my transcript. To this day that "F" does not appear anywhere on my Excelsior transcript nor was it calculated in my GPA. Lawrie's site is an excellent resourse for developing an action plan for Excelsior. I wish I had such a valuable tool when I was pursuing my Excelsior degree. I have to agree with Lawrie's advice about getting started. Don't put this off. Just jump in there and get started. It's totally possible to complete a BA in a very short period of time Cy
Excelsior wants all undergraduate transcripts, but they will not put any "F" grades on your Excelsior transcript (and possibly "D" grades???). I flunked out of college completely many years back and have something like 15 hours of F, but my official laundered Excelsior transcript shows a 4.0 GPA. Of course there are situations where you might have to produce original transcripts (such as when applying to graduate school), but if you show recent academic excellence, things that happened in the past shouldn't be a deciding factor.
Hmm, if this is true about Excelsior allowing you to drop grades that you don't like from your transcript, am I the only one who sees a pretty major way in which such a service can be exploited?
Exploit? I don't know about that... Excelsior policy (paraphrased) is to show what is only relevant. I really, really don't have a problem with that. I have an F in a materials science course. This was taught at a state B & M by a foreign grad student who could muster about 14 coherent words in English. Class count dropped from 24 to 8, with me tring to hold out till the end. He only lasted two terms. My F lasts forever on the transcript and is not relevant to a business degree. I also have a couple of F's from another term. Too many relatives died after the official drop date and I just couldn't recover from the time lost. There was a time when schools didn't show it as "withdrawn while failing", just as "failing". The point is Excelsior shows what you feel is relevant and that's fine by me.
Hi Jered: Get going! Best of luck to you! Lawrie's advice is on the mark. Hi others: I agree that F grades ought to vanish. After all, what was learned? Likely not much. My undergrad college dropped 'em from transcripts on the premise that there was no point in recording credit that was NOT earned--whether from flunking or from not taking the course at all! IIRC, I got an F in a counseling course taken in my first year in seminary--I walked out when we had to smear each others' hands with vaseline in some sort of empathy exercise. (That school is not affiliated with my church body--just to make that crystal--or should I say crisco--clear.) This F did me no subsequent harm, possibly because it appeared out of sync with my general grade patterns.
Don't most graduate schools require transcripts from all colleges and universities attended? Has this been a problem for anyone who has cleaned-up their record at one of the Big Three?
I would of guessed no.. The reason (atleast my impression) undergrad schools ask for ALL your transcripts is for transfer reasons. Your not transferring anything into a grad program from an undergraduate degree. Essentially, your are showing them you have the required degree and a minimum GPA for admission. Best Regards, Bill
