Downside of alternative credit?

Hi. Can anyone tell me if there are any negatives to pursuing alternative credits to complete a bachelor degree that I may not be thinking of? My online school offers various ways to earn credits toward classes as part of my major besides taking their course (competency based exams, Straighterline classes, CLEP, DSST, etc).

I understand that these won't count toward my GPA, but from a future employment perspective could this harm me? Do employers regularly look at college transcripts (I'm mid-career, not entry level)? Any other cons to doing this? I would love to save a little money by obtaining some credits this way but not if I will regret it later.

Thanks!

 

I have never had an employer ask for transcripts. Beyond that, I'd have to say that I actually learn more/better by taking a course than by the "cram and test" method of CLEP credits.

 

There are very specific situations (generally civil service) where I have seen employers request transcripts. This is generally to ascertain whether you have a certain number of credits in a certain field. I recall a handful of state jobs that required 18 credits (graduate or undergrad) in accounting. You were required to submit transcripts with your application to show that you met this requirement. The idea, I imagine, was to prevent someone with a B.S.B.A. In a decidedly non-accounting field from walking in acting like they knew their butt from a balance sheet and sweet talking their way into a job for which they are not even remotely qualified.

That aside, I cannot imagine an employer ever even asking for your transcripts. If they do, it would be to verify your degree not review your credits line by line. It's just not a thing properly run HR departments would ever want to spend time doing.

 

The v only downside I really see is of you don't finish at that school. Another college may or may not accept alternate credit like straighterline. CLEP is more Universal....but possibility another school might not take it still exists.

All that said, most employers care about the degree not the way you earned the credit

 

I'm with Kizmet on this one. In my 20+ years of working, I have yet come across an employer that wanted to see my transcripts. Midway through the hiring process, my prospective (current) employer wanted to see what writing courses I took at Chatham. I told them the courses, and I also told them that I could request transcripts so they could verify. The lady doing the interview asked for a writing sample and portfolio, which I had, and she said it was not necessary. Apparently HR had already verified my degrees prior to the interview (It was my third interview). They verified my degrees, and certificates, but no transcripts. However, YMMV. Good luck!

 

I have never been asked for transcripts except at teaching jobs.

 

Not much can go wrong

The only thing to lose is the cost of the exams. Exams don't hurt your transcripts and grad schools probably won't care, as long as you have professors to write your recommendations. You could write the dept. chairs of grad schools that interest you and see how they feel. I doubt employers will care either way, and might even see you as savvy and practical if they do happen to ask about your transcripts.

 

About 1/2 my undergraduate degree was earned via testing out. Brought the total cost down to under $10k all in, and from 0 credits to graduation in only 18 months. If you're already at a college that allows this option, you'd be foolish not to use as much as your degree allows. That said, I can think of some things you'd want to consider- they may not all apply to you.

1) some graduate school pre-reqs may need to be graded credit, since exam credit isn't GRADED, you could get pinched in red tape. Worry level: low to none

2) I believe the CPA exam requires graded credit in some of your credit and they specifically do NOT allow CLEP exam for those classes. If CPA is your goal- be sure to check.

3) health and science occupations don't accept CLEP sciences in most cases. They want classroom experiences with labs, CLEP sciences are generally for non-science majors. So, if you want to go to med school, don't CLEP biology/physics/chemistry.

4) Some schools award grades for Straighterline classes- be sure you know if your school does so your "pass" doesn't come over as a "C" and tank your GPA

Just for fun, I'd like to send 1000 employers a college transcript just to see if they can make heads or tails of it. I'll give you a quarter for each one of them that knows the difference between a CLEP and a hole in the ground. You overestimate your audience's sophistication.

People just are not informed, and if they are, it's only because they've used those methods themselves -which is a positive thing- or they worked in student services for a college (or they are one of the edu-nerds here). The appearance of a transcript? No, the worry level here is zero. The course number will appear "PSY101" the course name next to it "Intro to Psychology" followed by the number of credits "3" and for grade it will say "CR" or "credit"

Signed, proud edu-nerd

 

I agree completely. :biggthumpup: oh, by the way, I'm so stealing your edu-nerd monicker. I'm definitely an edu-nerd. Edu-nerds unite :headbang::headbang:

 

I have had many employers ask for my transcripts, and most of them were not civil service or teaching jobs. I don't even think employers will know what they're looking at when they see Straighterline, Uexcel, CLEP, DSST, etc. They only ask for transcripts to verify your education. What I have never had an employer ask for is a college diploma. Usually, they accept an unofficial transcript when applying and will ask for official transcripts to be sent directly from the school once you get further in the hiring process.

 

At the undergrad level, I did 33 credits by testing out (CLEP & DANTES), another 9 through portfolio, and 4 for completing Army basic training (how they arrived at 4 instead of 3 or 6 is beyond me). I've never been questioned or otherwise had a problem with any graduate program to which I've applied, it seems that they were quite satisfied that I had an RA Bachelor's degree.

 

When you have graduated with an accredited degree, the fact that you graduated demonstrates that your school has already done the heavy lifting. That's why people get degrees, to bundle their learning. I expect that an official transcript may be requested instead of a diploma because a diploma is easy to fake.

 

The only employers who’ve ever required transcripts from me: K-12 Public schools and Municipal /local governmental agencies. To date, I’ve never had private industry request college transcripts.

 

(Post deleted)

J.

 

Completed 54 credits (CLEP, DANTES, ECE tests) in 6 weeks to finish off my BS degree. Never had an issue.

 

@SteveFoerster
May i specifically request your assistance on tests for credit and certification credits since you are a COSC BS Info Sys alumni and have moved on to achieve Masters ?

@ all degree Gurus
I am an IT professional who worked his way up the ranks from programmer to senior management over the past 15 years but now the lack of degree is a hurdle to more senior positions - so time to take the plunge to BS then Masters. I am busy with the study plan, and I am now considering a fast-track to BS with COSC towards the goal of achieving a Master's in leadership or business strategy soon thereafter. It would seem to me that the most effective path to achieve this would to pursue the dual concentration BS Information Studies / Organizational Leadership with a selective choice of courses. Due to my continual learning ethic and work experience and I estimate that 90+% of the credits can be completed within 6 months with just a refresher prep for each exam and I am not shy of the math / science / writing subjects.

However, while researching relevant exams for subject credit I am now concerned that testing-in will affect my GPA and hence impact enrollment options for Master's after achieving the BS. Therefore, should i rather consider flexpath "all-you-can-learn" alternatives to guarantee credit with scoring to GPA since I have only achieved IT certifications but no college credits / credit exams ?

I must say that it totally awesome how helpful everyone is on this forum and I thank all of you who have contributed posts because you have certainly given me the hope to proceed on this journey !!!

Looking forward to ANY assistance so hopefully I can contribute to others in the future.

 

You can generally pursue a Masters in OL with any undergraduate degree. Check the admission requirements for a program or two (just to think two steps ahead). If they have "foundation courses" that need to be satisfied with a non-OL undergrad then you might be able to beat them to the punch with the minor. Otherwise, you may not need to fill up your undergraduate course load with any organizational leadership courses.

The other thing to consider is where you intend to get that Masters. GPA fluctuation might impact you if you are applying to a highly competitive program. Otherwise, if your GPA is above the minimum (commonly 3.0, which is rather generous) you're going to get in. If you apply for a Masters program at one of the big three (or, big two, as it were since I don't believe COSC offers grad degrees) then I think you'll run into even fewer obstacles.

Flexpath learning is fine for some people but a colossal pain for others. Yeah, you might be able to test through things pretty quickly. But why? You've already taken tests for those certifications. If COSC, Excelsior and TESC are willing to give you credit for them, I'd go that route.

 

I hope COSC offers a program in keeping with their mission, so to speak.

I like TESC but I cannot imagine why I would pursue a graduate degree with them. They accept very few transfer credits (unlike their undergrad programs) and they are fairly expensive. While Excelsior is also pretty pricey at least they are generous with credit transfers (I could potentially cobble together all of the credits for an MPA elsewhere and half of the MALS).

So, I look forward to COSC taking that step.

But there are also other schools who are generally friendly toward alternative credit (and who offer graduate degrees). The first two that come to mind are Empire Stage College and Franklin University.