How Hard is Excelsior College?

I would like to take courses with them after basic training and earn a B.S. Degree in Business with Excelsior.

How hard will it be to manage two classes at a time with them with a 9-5 job and weekends off?

Thanks!

 

If you thing being part of the infantry is a 9 to 5 job you are sorely mistaken, some days maybe, but the likelihood of being deployed is huge. I was deployed down range for 3 out of my 6 years I was in. This made going to college very difficult. However, to your credit, at least your looking DL which I didn't have the foresight to do while I was on active duty, so good for you.

As for the academics rigor at Excelsior, I have nothing to contribute but good luck in finding out.

 

How much free time on post will I have then, since my recruiters have apparently lied to me compared to your thoughts?

-Thank you for your response!

 

I agree with this. You will find people who say it sucks, but those are usually the same people around here who are negatively biased against most DL programs. On the other hand, there are many on this board who say the Excelsior is a fine school. Most people I have heard from who have actually attended Excelsior say that it is a fine school offering decent academic rigor.

From what I've heard, never having attended, it is about the same as other schools; not impossibly hard but not all that easy either. I would guess that SUNY and Excelsior are probably the same difficulty, maybe SUNY will be a little harder. I'm just guessing here.

infantryexcel, you should do fine, don't worry. However, I would start with one class at a time and see how it works out.

Here's another thought, if you are not sure about deployment, Excelsior might be a better idea than SUNY because I'm guessing that their scheduling will be more flexible. TUI is another school that is extremely military friendly, you might check them out too.

 

Your recruiter did not lie to you, but he or she did not tell you the flaws. Anyway, if you join the Military you have to expect working long hours. Especially standing duty, where you have no rest for more than 24 hours.

If you want to attend College while on active duty, you have to sacrifice a lot in FREE time. Where partying with your friends is not an option. I used to go to work at 5 a.m, and sometimes I did not get home until 7 to 10 P.M. I was able to complete my Bachelor degree within my 4 years in the active duty service.

MOTIVATION IS THE KEY!

 

What!!! a recruiter that lied, well I don't believe it :saevil: j/k

On a serious note, I have been in the Army for three years, I'm currently stationed in Hawaii, and I can tell you for a fact, 9-5 jobs in the Army are few and far between. I'm not in the infantry myself, but have friends that are, and they do not, hear me out, do not have 9-5 jobs. Most of them are either training all the time, which means 12 hr days, 5-6 days a week, it all depends on your unit, and your unit's mission of course. Sundays are pretty much a down day across the Army. Can you do it? Sure you can, however, you have to have discipline and budget your time accordingly.

Good luck with your studies, and thanks for joining. My advice to you, talk to another recruiter, get his or her real perspective of what really is like to be in the infantry. I know there are Army forums out there that you could ask questions from current, and past soldiers. I don't want to scare you, but recruiters DO lie, I mean bend the truth a little bit :naughty:. Their job is to fill the ranks, specially infantry, they are badly needed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. :AR15firing:

:drillsergeant: While at basic, this guy will treat you real good, you will become good battle buddies.

 

Depends on your unit and the mission. Admin positions offer more traditional 9 to 5 schedules, but the infantry is WAY different. You may train from 0600 to 1400 hrs and be force to return for nighttime mannuvers at 1900 hours. Heaven for bid you don't go in as a senior NCO, then you'll find yourself at night on C.Q. and still have to be up early the next morning for training. (Those days were the worst, lol)

That doesn't occur all the time, some days your off by noon, but those days are few and far between.

If your looking for a 9 to 5 gig, stay away from the infantry, fire, medical, and MP fields as those who work in those fields have to put in shift work and its always changing.

And on a final note, YES YOUR RECRUITER LIED, but thats their job and its all part of the game so don't take it out on him/ her, just try to find a more creditable source of information next time.

You may want to consider the reserves as well if school is a true prority, and when I say the reserves I don't mean the Natioanl Guard. Those poor bastards get deployed more often then the active duty units and their always broke so the training sucks.

 

Thank you.

Thanks Norcal.

I guess I want my cake and eat it too

I am enlisted infantry E-3 leaving for OSUT May 17th.

Hopefully I'll get to a unit where somehow I will be able to manage 2 Excelsior classes at a time to get my degree so I can go to OCS. I will not be partying at all and from what other infantry soldiers are telling me, you can do CD ROM courses while deployed. Hopefully. Hopefully. Hopefully.

Wishing myself luck.

 

Hi Infantryexcel, congratulations on choosing the military, it is an awesome lifestyle (in my experience anyway). There are things that suck about it, but the positive (steady paycheck, free medical insurance for you and your family and the educational benefits) far out weight the negative.

As far as taking classes while on active duty, it is possible but like others have said you need motivation. I was active duty for 6 years and National Guard for 6 years and during that time I completed an associates degree, then (while deployed to Iraq) I completed my bachelors degree and I am almost finished with my masters degree, and did all of it without any student loans. Tuition assistance paid for my classes while on active duty and the GI Bill since.

I was an MP so my schedule was always changing. While in garrison, I usually worked 12 hour shifts plus 1 hour PT daily for 4-5 days a week, rotating from day to night shift monthly, so taking regular butt-in-seat classes was not possible. Most of my credit was earned from online classes and CLEP/DSST which meant being a self starter, and being able to watch all my buddies go out and party while I stayed home studying. But, if it is important to you, you will find a way. Don't forget to check out CLEP/DSST tests, the military pays for those tests, you can study at your own pace and take the test on base at your convenience, and Excelsior takes those credits fairly liberally.

Best of luck to you!

 

That's a great point, I completely forgot about the CLEP/DANTES exams. I took one while I was in, military personnel can test for free, normally there around $72 bucks I believe for civilians, so getting them free is an awesome benefit.

Take 1MP4Life's suggestion, my biggest regret was that I didn't CLEP more while I was in.