TESC and academic probation questions

Discussion in 'CLEP, DANTES, and Other Exams for Credit' started by Anon, Feb 27, 2011.

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  1. Anon

    Anon New Member

    Hi all,

    I am in my mid-20's right now and looking to get into law enforcement in NY. I am aware that there is a 60-credit requirement to serve and I am aware of the FEMA/CLEP/DSST exams to get the credits faster than a conventional method. However, my situation is a little bit different and I need some clarification.

    I went to college when i was 19 and lasted a year before I ended up on academic probation. That, in turn, limited my financial assistance and (long story short) I ended up being dismissed from the college. My GPA is somewhere around a 1.7 with 14.5 credits total.

    I am planning on doing as many FEMA tests as possible (41 credits I believe) and then taking the Spanish CLEP tests (I am fluent in Spanish). If any other credits are needed, I will take some DSST tests. I also plan on using TESC's credit bank to turn the exams into credits because it seems like the cheapest option. Now the part I am confused about:


    1) Can I/Do I need to transfer the 14.5 credits over to TESC, and if so, will my GPA also transfer over? Will the NYPD see my previous GPA and require me to bring it up?

    2) Do I need to open the credit bank first, or can I take all the FEMA/CLEP/DSST exams and then open the bank and transfer the credits over.

    3) If the TESC credit bank doesn't have a GPA, does it satisfy the NYPD 2.0 GPA requirement? How does that work?



    I apologize for the long post but I wanted to be crystal clear to anyone that is reading . Any help would be greatly appreciated =)
     
  2. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    Well, I have no experience in transferring to Thomas Edison State College; however, I used TESC for credit banks. I did not have any GPA at TESC from CLEP, DANTES, IT Certifications, and Military Training. All the credits from TESC to Troy University did not show any grades or GPA.

    Therefore I cannot speak for TESC transferred credits. I transferred two courses from Southern Methodist University to Georgetown University with A- and B+; but none of them show grades or GPA at Georgetown University.

    Another story that I transferred 11 courses to Capella University for my Ph.D program, they took only any courses with B and above. In the same token, none of the courses show grades or GPA.

    So, I am not sure if that is the rule that GPA or Grades do not show from the previous institution. If TESC would accept, then I assume only "C" or above for undergraduate level.

    Have you checked out Excelsior College? They do give you grades based on your DANTES and CLEP scores. URL: http://www.excelsior.edu/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=969eaa1d-b672-4eaf-8576-f3afcce7119e&groupId=78666
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 27, 2011
  3. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    IIRC, TESC doesn't assign grades to transfer credit, they just merely note the credit as long as the grade from the course is sufficient (a C or above I believe).

    Best to be honest....just have your transcripts sent to TESC and see what they'll give you. You can also get some feedback on the CLEPS and DANTES exams in this section....pretty much every exam has been covered.
     
  4. Anon

    Anon New Member

    thanks for the replies.

    well after some more searching, i found that TESC only transfers courses higher than a D-, but you are correct in that the letter grade doesn't transfer over. they also do not give letter grades for the FEMA/CLEP/DSST exams (only pass/fail). So now my dilemma is how to satisfy the 2.0 GPA minimum that the NYPD requires. I would have to enroll at TESC and actually take an online course, correct? That would take some time though and it would be more expensive. Is there something I don't know about that would give me that letter grade without enrolling as a student?
     
  5. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    You can take online/correspondence courses from a school with a large selection of courses (Louisiana State, Brigham Young) that issue letter grades....all you need is 60 credits with a 2.0 GPA....you could theoretically have 57 credits with no grade, and one course with an A grade, and you have 60 credits and a 4.0 GPA.
     
  6. Anon

    Anon New Member

    yea i figured I can do that. I think what I am most confused about is the time line in which I have to do this in, and what the cheapest way to do this is.

    step 1) open credit bank at TESC
    step 2) transfer my first college credits to TESC credit bank
    step 3) take FEMA/CLEP/DSST exams for 57 credits and have them forward it to TESC
    step 4) have TESC transfer all the credits to another college (which one would take all of them??)
    step 5) take 1 class at the college and get a GPA over 2.0


    is this correct? and if so, what college would be the cheapest to do this with considering that alot don't take all the FEMA credits?
     
  7. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I would use the credit bank to store credit for CLEP, DANTES, FEMA, and your transfer credits where the grades aren't too good. Then, take whatever credits you need to make it to 60 with online/correspondence courses from a single school with a large selection of courses, then when it comes time to show your 60 credits, have 2 transcripts sent, one from the credit bank and the other from the school where you took the courses. If you have courses transferred to the credit bank, they won't issue a grade.

    Whatever courses you do take, try to keep them to general education (Intro to Psych, Intro to Soc, etc.) so you can use them for a degree plan later. Also be sure to not duplicate any courses you may have already taken, as you'll only get credit once.
     
  8. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef


    Much simpler solution. Don't bring in your previous credits. GPA repair is hard, long,expensive work. Tests DO NOT repair GPA. So, seriously, don't even transfer them in. I know it feels like 14.5 credits is a shame to waste, and some are probably good grades, but seriously, walk away. Start fresh. You can take 1 graded class at TESC for a GPA. The remaining credits will be pass/fail, so you'll essentially use that 1 class as your GPA. Now, the down side to that plan, is that you have to enroll instead of using the credit bank. Any classes you'd transfer in will come in as credit- not a grade, so it doesn't help to take anything anywhere if you need that GPA. It'll have to be in-house. This might be a case where TESC is not the best choice. There are plenty of ACE-friendly schools, and a little archive searching might turn up options that will record all the FEMAs, CLEPs, etc and still have the option of 1 class at a MUCH cheaper rate than TESC's classes+enrollment fee.


    So, with that in mind, my other suggestion is to double check on the GPA requirement. If simply having "pass" credit will fly, then avoid TESC and other colleges all together. You don't need to pay for credit banking either! You can bank your credit with ACE- they take your CLEPs, FEMAs, etc and it'll cost you $20 in all for a single transcript. You can compile a list of 60 or more credits with ACE and you'll be all set. But, again, it will depend on exactly how the GPA issue is handled. It will also depend on if they consider ACE an official transcript. It's worth a shot- because it saves TONS of money ($3000) if you can do it that way.

    *PS There is a foreign language exam- called the New York exam or something (can someone help out here??) that awards more than 12 credits, I thought it was 16 or maybe even 18. Anyway, you should check it out before sitting the CLEP which caps at 12.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 28, 2011
  9. Anon

    Anon New Member

    @Bruce
    I had no idea you could bring in 2 separate transcripts. If so, then that does solve alot of issues since I can probably find a good alternative to TESC.


    @cookderosa
    I will call the NYPD tomorrow and ask if they accept the ACE transcript. However, I'm pretty sure that they do require a 2.0 GPA (states it clearly on the website) so I don't think I will be able to skip out on applying somewhere for at least 1 course. As for TESC, from what I understand, their enrollment fee + class fee is alot for just 1 course so I will take your advice and take a moment to explore my other options.



    thanks for the help so far =)
     
  10. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef


    I wonder if anyone knows of other schools that will award FEMA credit raw? That's the school that you should look at. Anyone?
     
  11. Anon

    Anon New Member

    Well, I called the NYPD recruit number today and that was not a pleasant experience to say the least. Of the 2 people I spoke with, 1 barely understood English, and the other didn't know much about the college credit part of getting in. Anyway, I did manage to get one of them to say that I can indeed bring 2 different transcripts in, as long as they totaled to 60 credits and i had a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or above.

    After doing some research, TESC's credit bank is the cheapest way of transferring all 41 raw FEMA credits. Therefore, I'm going to use TESC to transfer my 9 credits (with no letter grade) from the previous college, the 40 FEMA courses (for 41 credits), and the Spanish CLEP (12 credits) for a total of 62 credits. Now all I need to do is be able to take at least 1 credit and get a GPA above 2.0 somewhere else and I am set with a plan. However, what is the cheapest way to do that? I was under the impression earlier that I could take the Spanish CLEP and bank it at a college where I can get a letter grade from it, but that turned out to be outdated info. It seems like most places don't give letter grades for CLEP anymore. I will keep looking for another solution though...
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 1, 2011
  12. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    I thought, but could be wrong, that you could bring in letter grades on a credit bank transcript since they are not transfer credits???? Call TESC the generic phone answerer folks can answer this one for you.

    If you can't bring in grades, then it doesn't make any sense to use the credit bank! You can do that for $20 with ACE, and they keep it for 20 years- not 1.
     
  13. Anon

    Anon New Member

  14. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    If you really need just 1 credit, then take 2 of these 0.5 credit "Exercise Science" courses from Brigham Young University....not exactly heavy lifting, and you'll have your 1 credit for about $300.

    BYU Independent Study - Online Courses
     

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