TESC has decided that because of demand by students, employers and other colleges that they need to calculate a GPAs for all. This link has further info on the "new" program. Kind of cool if you ask me! http://multimedia.tesc.edu/newsletters/insights/issues/aug_2008/feature.html
This is a good move on the part of Thomas Edison State College. Though I have to wonder why they will not retroactively access GPAs on transcripts since it should be an automated process with well-defined rules as to credit source and type that are eligible for inclusion in the GPA calculation.
My wife graduated from TESC with a BS in International Business last year and she was glad to see this development as well.
That bit is interesting, so if you have some class with a bad grade, and aren't going to apply towards your degree, they will still lower your GPA anyways.
>> This is hard to say. I think in the past, you could ask TESC to remove unused credit. I also think they are unusual in that regard- many colleges would never dream of allowing you to remove a bad grade.
Removing low grades Hello, I am not sure of the current situation at TESC. My husband got his second BA to get a higher GPA for teaching. He had a course expunged after retaking it through TECEP. This was very helpful. He does teach now after taking Alternate Route courses. Hille
Expunging a lower grade in favor of a higher one in an irregular practice, no? I did not know colleges and universities could do that? Wow, you learn something everyday...
>> I think replacing grades is pretty common- but as to actually removing unwanted credit is another question.
I would say it's pretty common. The school I attended to get my undergraduate degree was a B&M school that practiced grade replacement. They would allow students to replace up to 6 grades. Transcripts showed both grades [one course indicated as the replacement grade]; but, the overall GPA was not affected by the replaced grade. I say why not. If the student takes a course a second time and earns a better grade, then the student understood the material better the second time, had a better professor, or a combination of both. I took a course in which I earned an F the first time simply because the math was new to me and I didn't grasp the material. The second time I took the course [F replacement], I earned an A. I had been exposed to the material and it made sense to me.
Things you can do with your grades at Excelsior and elsewhere. KREDITE-DO - OR - "The Finding of the Way Through the Art of Credit Rationalization" At the Big Three, no failing grade will be accepted or transcribed, and that policy has far-reaching consequences. It means of course, no failing grade can appear on your academic record. Certainly good news for some of us. Additionally, you may selectively suppress any course credit you happen to bring with you or that you earn subsequent to enrollment. That is, you can discard poor grades at your discretion. It means you can bide your time, complete degree requirements, then looking at all your results, cherry pick which credit you want to appear in your final transcript. The effect of these rules (no failing grades, option to discard graded passes) is that with judicious application, they can do wonders for your GPA. You will need to have suitable alternate credit before you can dump the poor stuff, but excess duplicate credit is not at all uncommon, if you have earned college credit prior to enrollment, or taken GRE subject exams which may duplicate some credit earned in a related discipline. Finally, straight pass credit (that is, credit without banded grades – usually letters, A, B, C) is simply ignored when calculating GPA. The three main assessment colleges have different policies regarding letter grading. Thomas Edison State College (TESC) does not assign letter grades to proficiency exams, only “pass”, Charter Oak does so selectively, and Excelsior College does in many cases. These differences can become important if, say, you find yourself with lousy exam grades across the board. You can choose to enroll in TESC, receive the standard “pass” credit, and never expose any of those pesky “C”s to the light of day; ever. Regretfully, that means there will be no ready way decision makers can calculate your less than stellar 2.0 grade point average (which, of course, is the point). There are other useful permutations and important caveats detailed in the first few chapters of this work [BA in 4 Weeks]. I recommend you take time to go over them thoroughly before you commit to any action. Things you can do with your test scores One other related factoid; test results are usually sent from exam provider to college, direct (it's required). The exam providers (excepting ETS - subject GRE ) will suppress the transmission of any individual test result or collection of test results upon request (your request). This is useful if you have occasion to send the results to, say, a more traditional college or university. You might prefer them to consider your good grades but you may not want them to have to bother with those poor scores that are, after all, aberrations, and not indicative of your true academic worth. The thoughtful student then, might opt to render overworked college admissions officers such assistance, by suppressing these. .
Hi Lawrie How come you stopped updating your website bain4weeks. This is such a huge source of inspiration to so many people. Myself include this is what gave me the courage to go back to scjool and finish my degree. Any plans to update the info or the links to colleges etc..? Thank you
>> I just want to add that bain4weeks was a HUGE inspiration to me as well. On another note, I wonder with the new GPA system will prompt them to start to awarding Latin honors?
Yes - I need to update that and indeed the entire site. I had been out of commission for a while, then back to the grunt work of research of graduate programs for the master's degree book which has now stretched into years and years and countless dollars . . . and I wish I'd never ever started it (well, they may not be countless dollars, but they’re MY dollars and I had feelings for every one of them). I badly need the discipline of an editor. It's current incarnation is as: "Guide to the Fastest-Easiest-Cheapest Accredited Online Graduate degrees". Used to be " Guide to the yada yada. . . Master's Degrees", but so many really splendid doctoral programs are coming on line that I just could no leave them out or leave well alone. The doctoral scene is getting interesting, both in terms of research degrees (PhD) and trade degrees (D.Sc., Ed.D., DCS, DM, DBA, Psy.D., et al). Most, have a residency requirements, but they are seldom prohibitively onerous. The clinical doctorates requiring state licensure PsyD (and PhD) have significant residency, practicum, internship and postdoc requirements of course, and the specialist counseling Ed.Ds vary, This is not a catalog or listing of offerings - I spend time in the actual programs as an enrolled student assessing the efficiency of the admissions process, to include federal aid application processes from submission of the SAR through to the award letter, sampling courses and course work, and they way the systems handle "exceptions". On the student's reviews web sites you'll read again and again, instances where everything is going fine until . . . an unexpected or exceptional event occurs and the students often get screwed and can find themselves in (what for them is) crushing debt with nothing to show for it, because the institution cannot deal with the anomaly or wont deal with it (in the best interests of their customer (the student)). I look for the weak spots in the various subsystems comprising the "organism" (complex institutions do really mimic “life” sometimes ) and exploit them by generating an "exception". How well the institution handles the event is an important measure of its quality. Often the best choice is not the most prestigious school, or the cheapest, or the quickest, or the easiest, but the one that will give you a break and will work with you when something goes wrong (“wrong” either through your fault or their fault or when sh*t just happens). There are two types of schools that characterize opposite poles of this attribute and the space between, those that are institutionally oriented, and those that are customer oriented (obviously). This research is of necessity something of a stealth operation since few would want to admit me if they knew part of the process required that I poke them in the eye with a burnt stick just to see how they react and to measure their response. Thank you for the feedback and the kind words about BA in 4 Weeks. I always value and consider the testimonies of actual “users” above all others and all else. It was written for them and only for them. Best wishes and look out for the listing update on the master’s section of the site – the book will be along . . . later.
1. That is good to know Jennifer, thank you. 2. I take it you are talking about the TESC GPA system - I do not know what their plans are but it would seem to follow that they would. I seem to recall Nat King Cole sang about this. Perhaps you could send them the CD by way of delivering the request. Now let's see, how did it go: "Let there be wind, An occasional rain. Summa cum laude, Sparkling champagne" Or perhaps not.
>> Hey, I just received my official degree in the mail today along with a student copy of my transcript. I am happy to confirm first hand that TESC is now including grade point averages ON THE TRANSCRIPT!! Another cool thing, is that while they don't have Latin honors like Excelsior, they are using your grade point average toward the calculation of the Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society award. I can't seem to copy and paste the info direct (Thomas Edison State College see publications, see college catalog) but if you earn a minimum 3.3 GPA, they give this award to the top 10% of those students. I was surprised to see that I had earned one of these, so that was nice, BUT I still would like to see TESC go with the Latin system. Other observations: My transfer classes DO NOT have grades listed even though I did earn grades in them from other colleges. This means that the grades I earned at other colleges ARE NOT part of my grade point average. This might be very helpful to those of you worried about transferring in lower grades from years back. All of my transfer classes are absolutely listed as "CR" which means "credit." Finally, I took one of TESC's proficiency exams called "TECEP" this exam is NOT listed with my other tests under "Assessment Credits", it is listed with my TESC classes under "Institutional Credits." So while the TECEP is an exam, it actually don't look a lot like test credit where they have it listed. Overall, I like the way the transcript presents my information. I think it looks fine. It looks every bit as good as my other college transcripts. I know some people are worried about the use of the words "online" or "test" on their transcript- but if you want to see my transcript, just let me know and I will try and figure out how to scan it in.
