Excelsior Degree Plan

He said thanks!

He knocked out another CLEP test today. This one was CLEP Principles of Microeconomics. He's now basically half way through his sophomore year with 45 college credit hours. He's still just a sophomore in high school.

We've mapped out a plan that if we implement it, he'll graduate from college the same time he graduates from high school which would be crazy cool.

With 13 cleps out of the way, we only have a few more CLEPs to take until we move on to the DSST's.

Here's our current map. If anyone has any experience with Excelsior that could check out the map to make sure we are doing it right that would be super.

Here's the map.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CJEW10sjVQQ-VbTFfkhv_LIiicULMyJxIXm8YODpQmA/edit?usp=sharing

 

We've mapped out a plan that if we implement it, he'll graduate from college the same time he graduates from high school which would be crazy cool.

You should contact your local news organizations (TV, newspaper, etc.). I'd say they would love to do a story on him around the time he graduates. People love human interest stories like that.

Hey, you may not believe this, but I think we're Facebook friends. Seriously. You guys have a celebration at Qdoba every time he passes a CLEP, right? I'll send you a message through Facebook to introduce myself.

 

Not too long ago, I found this story about this 14 year old kid that graduated from college. It did get a lot of media attention. We always laugh at this story because when the mom interviewed, it was kind of like, wow we don't how it happened but we woke up and he was graduating from college. Not exactly but it was funny nonetheless. We decided that if he follows through and that would happen, we'd say the same thing lol.

That's crazy that we are friends on Facebook. I'll hit you up over there.

But yes, we always go to Qdoba after every test to celebrate. We don't need much of an excuse to go there but whenever my wife and I finished a semester in college, we'd sell our books and go to White Castle so I started the Qdoba thing lol.

Here's the vid of the 14 year old and his mom:

 

Another CLEP completed. This time it was CLEP Information Systems. Up to 48 hours and almost done with out CLEP portion of the degree plan.

As always we are super stoked he's completed another one!

Next up is Business Law I think.

 

Getting close to the half-way point!

 

I know. It'll be great to get to 60. He and I were talking about that today!

 

Just note that Excelsior will make him complete both Composition courses in-house, as well as the Capstone Course. (There's also a 1-credit Information Literacy Course that is self-paced and easily knocked out.) These are all required despite any exam scores, unless he's taken and passed Comp I & II in another accredited college already. I strongly advise you plan those three out in advance, as they won't let your son take the Capstone before he gets both the Comp courses out of the way. Also, it may be a smart idea to find a way to slip in that one extra upper level course, just in case the school doesn't quite accept all the ones currently on the list.

All told, this sort of plan (including the exams) took me just over two relatively easy semesters to complete, but this will be on top of his school. That being said, I would plan to take plenty of time on weekends to knock these three (or four) courses out of the park.

 

Good job!

 

All good advice. I did look at the school of business catalog and it does say the AP English Examination will fulfill the written english requirement for a bachelor's degree. The problem I see is that he's not scheduled to take AP English Language and Composition until his senior year and we are looking to enroll before his senior year. According to the business catalog, the written english requirement must be one of the first 13 credit hours you take.

He's been working me to take the Excelsior exam instead of AP English.

I believe this course exam he could take is ENGx111. I read on the Excelsior website this was an Excelsior College exam as opposed to the UExcel exam. Are these exams the same kind of exams that he can take at our local testing center? Or does the Excelsior College exam have to be taken at Excelsior?

Did you graduate from Excelsior? If so when and what's your degree? Did you take this english ENGx111 exam? If so how was it?

Thanks for the input. I'm trying to make sure he does everything right by only reading the website since we won't be enrolling for awhile yet.

 

I went for the 12 credit option at Excelsior and partner pricing. It allowed me access to student aid, I was running out of money. With this option I wasn't charged the multi source fee.

I took success seminar 120 for the information literacy. So glad I did worth every penny of the $1220.

Yeah, I could have saved about $2k just taking the capstone and one credit information literacy, but for me it was worth the extra money.

 

My son crossed another CLEP off the list. This time it was CLEP Introductory Business Law. He's up to 51 hours.

He's actually about done with the CLEP portion of the plan. Only two more of those to go.

Next up: Analyzing and Interpreting Literature!

 

That's an easy one. Seriously, I passed it without even studying. All it involves is reading a few short passages and then answering some questions about what you just read. Easy peasy.

 

Glad to hear that confirmed. He wasn't going to study for that one. Taking it on Saturday.

I've heard that this one is sometimes 6 credits? But we are only expecting 3 in our plan.

Do you know how many credits Excelsior counts it as?

 

According to this chart by The College Board, Excelsior awards six credit hours for Analyzing and Interpreting Literature...

https://clep.collegeboard.org/college-credit/excelsior-college

 

Wow that's generous.

Great link too.

They have one for DSST's like that?

I meant to tell you that after he passed the test today, he asked what I thought Marcus Aurelius would say lol.

 

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

~ Marcus Aurelius

 

Yes, here's a link. You have to click on the guide at the bottom of the page (it opens in a new browser tab).

https://www.dantestestprep.com/excelsior-college

 

Don't forget about Saylor.com great way to pick up credits. Intro to business, macro and micro economics were great classes.

For clep and dsst InstantCert flash cards are great study tools.

 

I'll check out saylor. I should mention that for all the cleps to this point, we both have used speedyprep along with REA practice tests.

Both of them are great.

I had him do all the available CLEP courses he could do with Speedyprep. Now that he has done all he can with speedyprep, I am cancelling that service and moving over to Instantcert.

 

You were right. He passed the CLEP Analyzing & Interpreting Literature one just fine with no study. If it's 6 credit hours, that satisfies his elective credit hour component and puts him at 57 credit hours, 3 shy of being a junior!

Next up is CLEP Financial Accounting!