Excelsior College made a huge mistake....

Re: Re: Re: Charter Oak Rocks!

I agree with you 100% here - I had an instance where credit previously earned was actually taken away as duplicative during one of these updates. However, as I had an e-mail from another advisor assuring me I would get credit it was overturned and the credit returned.

My advice to anyone going the Excelsior route is simple - learn which credit applies to which requirement, get approval in writing, and should there be a change 6 months later be ready to stick to your guns. As many programs can change over the course of degree progression you are usually grandfathered into the one that was current upon matriculation.

Cheers,
Mark

P.S. - ditto regarding CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature. Assuming you have a basic understanding of literary terms and are somewhat literate in the English language it's hard to fail this one...and it provides 6 credits. My suggestion would be to get the Official CLEP Guide and take the sample exam. If you get more than half right, run to your nearest CLEP center and get it done. Although this book is overkill for your needs (it has samples for all CLEPs) should you want to add an extra exam you can leverage it for others.

Short of taking the DSST "Here's To Your Health" this may well be the easiest exam for credit you can find.

 

Hello,

I thought I'd give you all a little update. (This message is copied and modified from another thread):

After much debate, I tried taking the Lit CLEP...failed it (after a week of study and getting 3 mock scores that were passing...test anxiety). I'm working with "Beholdweb" on the Computer Applications CLEP. (He actually helped me to prepare for the Lit exam too. I was just tense...not my fortay). If I fail the Comp CLEP by June 26...I'll take a summer course at Portland Sate. But EC will still let me walk in the July ceremony. When I pass the CLEP (if that happens first) or the Summer course (after failing the CLEP), then EC will confer my degree.

Am I happy? No. But my choices otherwise suck too.

- Shawn

 

FEMA Credit

Hello all,

Here's another update on my transcript situation. I only needed 2.26 semester credits (3 rounded). "Beholdweb" was kind enough to offer this idea to me. I am completing 3 credits in FEMA courses for free! FEMA has 1 credit courses for free, and after passing an open book/open note test (super easy format), you send an application to Frederick CC in Maryland and they convert the courses to academic credit. As many courses as you want (with one minor catch...see below).

Excelsior approved the courses already for me that I wanted to take. Each course (start to finish) takes about 6-7 hours to complete, and the exam is done online. You can take it as many times as you need to, in order to pass (25 questions each exam...75% pass percentage required - graded as P/F) - FREE!

Frederick however, charges $60.00 per course to transcript the coursework (they offer a degree in Emergency Management apparently, which is why this can be done). They will send the transcript to the school you designate. The application can be downloaded in PDF form, as can the course materials you select from the FEMA website. They will confirm with FEMA that the courses were passed, when you submit the application for processing.

I'm so happy...I'm going to my graduation! No more CLEP study for me!

Here is the link for FEMA's course site:

http://www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/crslist.asp

Here is the link for Frederick CC (RA accredited - Middle States):

http://www.frederick.edu/Contact/index.cfm?DocumentID=74


- Shawn

 

Re: FEMA Credit

Hi Shawn,

I'm glad that you found an option that will work for you. The FEMA credits have been discussed ad naseum on this forum. However, why no one (including myself!) suggested it to you previously is beyond me (perhaps early senility on my part). Anyway, I recall reading a post here from an Excelsior student that he did not have to "credit bank" the FEMA credits through Frederick CC. He basically talked Excelsior into seeing his way. I forget the details, but you will likely be able to find the post via the search function.

Anyway, congrats on your pending graduation!

- Tom

 

Congrats!

Hope this isn't too early or too tacky, but where there is a will, there is a way! Congratulations on your impending graduation!

 

Re: Congrats!

Mighty_Tiki,

I noticed in your signature that you are pursuing a B.S. in Psychology via Peru State College. I am looking at this very same program. I would be very interested in learning how you like the program. Also, how many courses do you think one could take per 8-week term while still holding down a full-time job. I'm looking to finish up my degree ASAP! PM me if you prefer. I don't wish to hijack Shawn's thread (and great news!).

Cheers,
Tom

 

Re: Excelsior College made a huge mistake.... /FEMA Credit

Hello,

I have completed the three courses in FEMA credit. I received the Email confirmations today - all were successfully passed.

IS-240 Leadership & Influence - Professional Development Series: 1.0 Semester Credit

IS-241 Decision Making and Problem Solving - Professional Development Series: 1.0 Semester Credit

IS-242 Effective Communication - Professional Development: 1.0 Semester Credit


I faxed the application for credit to Frederick CC, and now I wait for them to forward that transcript they'll create to Excelsior College.

When I know more about the official notification of my degree being completed, I will let you all know - in a new, more positive thread.


Lets hope this time, they get it right! Gggggrrr.

- Shawn

 

Re: Excelsior College /IT GETS WORSE!!!

Hey gang,

You're not going to believe this one. I am so angry I could scream!

I was just looking over my Excelsior College Transcript (Status Report - one from this past January, and one from this past April...the last of which I just downloaded). The current transcript (April) shows that I have 117.74 credits. On both transcripts for Excelsior College, they missed (failed to post) 4 semesters credits I received from Fresno City College in 1992 in Spanish! All of the other work I did there was posted to my EC transcript, but NOT the Spanish course.

Even if they did remove the duplicated Psychology course recently at an 11th hour decision and made me think I was not done, I still would now have 121.74 credits - IF they had looked closely enough and posted the Spanish course to my transcript! Ya know, you expect they will watch and look over stuff well enough to avoid this mess...but no.

So now, after having spent $60.00 for a CLEP test I failed, plus $180.00 on FEMA credits - just to replace the credit they took away out of duplication, to say nothing of the emotional exhaustion I feel over this issue...I'm left with the realization that I have gone through the worst academic hell I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED SINCE HIGH SCHOOL!!!

In effect, I've been done with my degree since March! I've gone through all this extra hell...because once again, they were not paying attention to what they were doing!! Double Injustice!

Who in the world is running things at Excelsior College?!!!!!

I simply cannot believe the level of incompetance I am going through right now. I am just at a loss for words....

They will be hearing from me...and it will not be pretty!

- Shawn

 

Re: Re: Excelsior College /IT GETS WORSE!!!

Because I faxed the credit application for the FEMA credits on a Friday so as to replace the duplicated credit Excelsior College took away (not knowing the Spanish course credit was never posted), I now have credits I don't need...and can't stop the process in time to get a refund.

Does ANYONE have any suggestions here? I could really use some perspective.

- Shawn

 

You have recently taken courses in: Leadership & Influence, Decision Making and Problem Solving, and Effective Communication. You should be able to apply all of these lessons to the situation at hand.

And, as your refer to yourself as "Reverend", behave accordingly, applying the maxim, taught by the One to whom you presumably give allegiance, to forgive "seven times seventy". I assure you this will be laughed about in time, probably five minutes after commencement.

 

Hello,

The problem has been resolved, but at the time I felt the need to let others know of the situation.

Oh, by the way...(and I won't argue this point with you), I was angry and had every right to be. But you are correct, I am well over it now. Also, the three courses above were never used...the credits were rectified elsewhere. But in truth EC has been known to be impersonal and sloppy from time to time. That is what led me to post as I did.

And I'm still human (as are we all - institutions are not however, which is where my frustration was found).

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Have a nice day.

 

My following comment is meant especially for DL freshmen who may not know all the ins and outs. This experience should clearly show everyone working on any degree at any college how important it is take complete responsibility for your degree plan.

I was just reviewing my Excelsior evaluation and matching against my transcripts from various places; transfer of a 3 hour B in Intermediate German is missing! Wonder if they have a problem with languages?

In fairness -- I have 181.99 hours on that evaluation by Excelsior. Missing one 3 hour class isn't really that big of a mistake (1.5%) but if I needed that credit as our OP did...

My point, make sure you check and double check everything. Little errors can have a huge impact.

Now, if they'd just grade an ECE with essay a bit faster...

 

Nahh, I don't wanna argue points with you, I agree you had a right to be angry and others had a right to know about your dilemma for informational purposes if nothing else. But I kinda thought you'd get over it after the dust settled. You probably don't even miss the $240. We probably waste that much on trifles every month.

Ah, but they were used. If they weren't, that's not EC's fault. You learned something--in theory, at least--that's how they were used.

This is a sticking point I occasionally have with my college students. It's not all about whether this credit will apply here or there, it's not all about "what do I gotta do to get outta here with as much efficiency as possible, not taking one more credit than absolutely necessary or doing one more thing than is necessary to get an 'A' or a 'B'"--or whatever it is they're after. I had a student who got very angry at me a couple years ago. She had done a research paper in an attempt to raise her final grade. The points for the extra credit paper just weren't enough to lift her grade, though. I'd told students they might be able to boost their grade through such a paper, but of course there were no guarantees. She angrily wrote me an email saying she'd wasted all that time, all this work and no bump from "C" to "B". I wrote back that she hadn't wasted her time at all, so long as she'd learned something. I asked her what college was about if it isn't about knowledge. How's that a waste of time? She never responded.

And you have one also.

 

"faus":

Hello there,

I never used the FEMA courses for credit (i.e. converted them into credit)...so no cost out of pocket. But the apathy on the part of the school was what really angered me.

In terms of that student you had (I'm assuming you are a college instructor of some sort), I know that in my mind after seven years of ploding through my program - getting out was all I cared about.

Thats what crazy about this...so much of what you take in college (requirements/electives) oftem seems to have little value in the real world. Shakespeare for example. Tell me how that will help me get a job? Because in the end, at my age (with this being my first degree), I'm far more concerned about being able to get employed with a degree (the true end goal in the world of work) than I am with useless algebraic formulas or reading Henry V. And the number of attempts you make at passing a course well ("B" average or above in my terms) - while fighting against the subjectivity of instructors like yourself who grade students, is also a factor in the amount of work it takes for a student to get a degree.

The number of challenges I had with instructors who were seemingly arrogant enough to think I only existed to glorify their ego because they were teaching happened more than once for me. And if you had been my instructor in that situation, and I had put in that much effort into a paper (with grades being so subjective and in favor of the professors who give them), and had recieved that grade...I would have responded to your message. And showed up in your office for a talk...with your department dean, the Dean of Academic Affairs and the Ombudsman. Don't misunderstand me, I hold nothing against you, because you've done nothing to me. But in terms of how profs interact with students (sometimes like we're scum on the bottom of a profs' shoes), its no wonder feelings get hurt or students file complaints.

In 20 years you will have forgotten that student, but their grade from you follows them for the rest of their life! Thats one thing you profs don't get, and its the one thing that has always frustrated me and other students. Students struggle for success (and they should not have to - school does not have be so hard). And they get kicked in the head by profs who think their only job is to hand out grades based on whatever subjective scheme they've devised.

Maybe you can have a bit more compassion in your grading...learn to see effort when it is given. Students don't have forever to go through school and get a strong GPA, ya know. LOL.

Have a great day.

- Shawn

 

I sense a hint of bitterness in that post.

Let me be blunt with you: I do not think, based on my experience, that the bulk of students do all that much work at all, at least vis-a-vis the academies of a generation or two ago. Mind you, I've had some very good students who worked very hard, and I recently gave one of them glowing praise in a recommendation for graduate school at a major university. She deserved it.

But when a student--my angry student--blows off her final exam (with a tidy 57%) because she thinks she can just skate by and get a grade boost by doing a paper and all will be covered, I'm sorry, I'm not inclined to boost her grade. A 77% ( that includes the extra credit points for the paper) is a "C" in my class, it is not a "B". I'd have been very glad to sit down with my dean and student and have a good long talk. I cannot imagine he'd have done anything but look at her and ask what about her performance warranted more than a mediocre grade. Telling her that college was about learning, and that if you learn something, irregardless of the grade, it was not a waste of time, was precisely what she needed to hear.

As for Shakespeare, have you ever considered that reading good literature may improve your reading and writing skills? It has benefitted mine a great deal, and I'm still learning. These skills are about as important as any other single factor to success in the business world. So yes, I'd say absolutely, taking a course on the works of the Bard is very important.

Remember, grades are not a right. You get the grade you earn in my classes. I do not kick students in the head, and I often give students the benefit of the doubt. But the modern student has developed such a sense of entitlement that they fool themselves all through undergrad ("$#@% professors, they just don't understand") until they finally are given a semi-gift degree--not suggesting at all that yours fits this category--and turned out into the world, where they face a sales manager, supervisor, line leader, drill sergeant, etc. who doesn't give one rip about their sense of entitlement or their feelings. And it is a rude awakening.

I am in an MBA online program: UMass. My first semester, I was in a project group with a student who was--brace yourself--taking five classes during the shortened summer semester while working full time for a major pharma corp. You think she had any time to contribute to the final project? No, she mailed it in completely, her contribution was a joke. That final project we worked on dropped my grade from a 97.6% (an easy "A") to an 89.93% (what UMass then called an A/B). My work on the final project was solid, got good reviews from all. Do you think the prof bumped my grade up to an "A" since I was so exquisitely close? Not a chance. And after one email inquiry to him, which was quickly rebuffed (you got a "C" on your final team project, buddy"), I wrote back and told him he was right, I deserved the grade drop. You see, it was my responsibility to ensure that if there were weak links in the team, that they were compensated for. That's the way it works in the real world, you're on a team, you better produce solid work, and sometimes that entails late nights and covering for weak links. That's life.

Anyway, have a good day and congratulations,

LF

 

One more thing, Shawn, I can understand why you'd bristle at me, after reading my original post to you, I do think I was being pretty sanctimonious.

 

Hello Professor(?)

No...I was not attacking you. I hope you did not feel so. I was however, giving you feedback on your post through my filter of experience - (which you rightly concluded held some bitterness - but toward my experience, not you. Though I will admit, your comments were an emotional trigger for me). I've actually had profs who, after my blood, sweat, and tears, gave me a C- or a C in a course. My overall point here, is that grades are indeed subjective...and if it were me as the prof, I'd stick with multiple choice exams and attendence points for most non-writing specific courses (courses outside the English department). Takes the instructor out of the equation in grading for the most part.

Of course having said that, I know a difference exists between being able to convey material in a coherent format (writing), and recalling abstract facts and bubbling in the answer on a form (multiple choice exams). But when dealing with subjectivity, grades should be given without bias...but rather with compassion for the circumstances of the student during the quarter or semester.

Writing papers (while they serve a purpose...admittedly as does Skakespeare I'm sure), cannot be graded objectively as "right/wrong" outcomes in the learning process. They are more interpretive in nature. I had one Philosophy professor, who could not understand the nature of my writing in one of the course papers, and yet the guy spoke with the same stylistic tone in his own lectures! Talk about frustrating.

I agree that perhaps most students think they can just coast (the younger ones anyway). But I saw many students in the library on Saturday nights on the campus I attended studying for exams and so forth, while the latest beer keg party was happening 3 blocks away. The ones that tend to think as you suggest, are no doubt young and misdirected. Older students like myself however, don't usually fit this description.

In the end, I'm sure my courses will come in handy in the working world. Maybe I can find some way to relate material from Henry V to some social problem I might find myself trying to solve...lol.


Oh, as to my academic standing....National Dean's List (1999-2005, consecutive); Psi Beta; and Phi Theyta Kappa. Plus a 3.06 GPA in my major (according to Excelsior).

Take care.

- Shawn

 

---> Phi Theta Kappa....

Must have pride in the proper spelling of honor societies.

- Shawn

 

Don't wory, I can tell the difference between someone who bumped "t" and "y" simultaneously and someone who can't spell. You fit into the first category. You write just fine, and writing competently is not to be taken for granted in a college student anymore.

All grading is subjective to a point, but it is what it is, and you know that a fair bit of that subjectivity exists in the working world as well. I always have a mix of essays and multiple choice in my tests, that way no one is going to gain any undue advantage by dint of being clever at either writing under pressure or cracking multiple choice problems.

I'm a college instructor, not yet full time. Next semester, I'll teach three and develop one for online format, so that's nearly full time--albeit just as an adjunct. I'm trying to pick up some additional courses, pestering area deans. I'm not yet a professor, at least not full time and tenure track. Just a working stiff who aspires to professorhood. We'll see.