CLEP, DANTES et al. sans enrollment

Discussion in 'CLEP, DANTES, and Other Exams for Credit' started by Reed, Jan 6, 2004.

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  1. Reed

    Reed New Member

    May I start taking Dantes or Cleps without actually being enrolled at Charter, Excelsior, etc? I seem to recall that they (Clep/Dantes, et. al) send your official scores "somewhere," so if you don't technically have a school to send them to, what will they do? Will they hold onto them until you give the word on when and where?

    I'd rather beef up the units before officially paying out the money to be a "matriculated" student.

    Thanks for the advice,
    Reed
     
  2. etech

    etech New Member

    yes you can start taking exams. I know with CLEP you can leave that option and they will hold your record. You can later ask them to send the transcript to whatever college you want for a fee. I think same is true for DANTES.
     
  3. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I would just told them not to send the results anywhere. When you are ready to enroll, just order your transcripts like it was anyother school and have them sent to COSC (my choice) :D

    That is what I did.
     
  4. Reed

    Reed New Member

    Thanks much!
     
  5. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    Reed wrote:

    > I'd rather beef up the units before officially paying out the
    > money to be a "matriculated" student.


    That's dangerous. My wife is taking a lot longer to get a degree than we expected it to take, because instead of enrolling her, we made plans based on the Websites and on Bears' Guide. When she eventually did officially apply, she was told "We don't accept those credits", "Bears' Guide is incorrect", "Our Website is out of date"... :(
     
  6. cmt

    cmt New Member

    Ditto. I came very close to making mistakes and my degree has been slightly delayed because I had to change my plan around due to policy changes.
     
  7. RKanarek

    RKanarek Member

    Dear Mr. Israel:

    I recently had to drive my motorcycle home, in freezing weather, despite my gloves having disappeared. That was dangerous. Taking a CLEP/DANTE DSST/other exam on the mere chance that it might prove useful is not. <g>

    In the case of your wife, what dangers befell her? She knows a little more than she needed to (TV can easily erase her surplus knowledge: that's its job!), and she spent a trifling amount more than she needed to. Perhaps I'm just cold hearted (as well as cold fingered <g>), but I don't think I'll be including your wife in my prayers, no offense.

    If one wishes to be cheap, and take the various exams before matriculating as a student, that is perfectly okay. What isn't okay is complaining about it later. There is a reason why gambling is called gambling, and not investing.

    Further, one of Ohio University external degree program's many byzantine rules is that they will not accept CLEP credit once one becomes a student, even if only a non-matriculated student. So there are "dangers" in not taking CLEP/etc. tests early, too.

    I might add that Charter Oak State College (www.cosc.edu) does not charge for accepting credits, they only charge a yearly matriculation fee. If the OP is adverse to gambling, he might wish to consider COSC.


    Cordially,
    Richard Kanarek
     
  8. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    RKanarek wrote:

    > In the case of your wife, what dangers befell her? [...]
    > she spent a trifling amount more than she needed to.


    In 1999, we enrolled her in some non-essential courses, because I thought, based on Bears' Guide, that it would be "easy" to make up the remaining credits with her COTE, her fluency in Spanish, the apperently easy-credit GRE, portfolioing her arts & crafts, etc. We expected the Bachelor's degree to take 2 years, but for various reasons, it's taken 4. The salary loss is not "a trifling amount".

    > What isn't okay is complaining about it later.

    Am I allowed to advise people based on our negative example?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 7, 2004
  9. Reed

    Reed New Member

    <<If one wishes to be cheap, and take the various exams before matriculating as a student,>>

    Wow, that's a bit insulting considering you have no idea what my RL circumstances are, or anyone else's that might be (or have been) in my shoes. Ouch...

    It is not a matter of being cheap. After spending the last 10 years in and out of hospitals and racking up an entire small country's worth of medical debt, it's not a matter of being cheap -- it's looking for the most economical way to finish a college degree that got "ripped" away from me due to circumstances beyond anyone's control.

    Not everyone has extra bucks lying around -- even if it's for something as worthwhile and necessary to me as school.

    I was just looking for some sound advice on ways to economize, that's all. I'm anxious to "reclaim" what was once certain to be mine, and I HAVE to do it in the most economical bottom barrel way possible. Nothing shameful or remotely "cheap" about that.

    reed
     
  10. Hi Reed,

    I suppose the enroll now/later question really comes down to whether or not you have the time, energy, money and ability to complete the degree within the course of 1 year.

    As the enrollment fee covers the first 12 months, if you feel that you can complete the requirements in that time there is no difference between completing it in 1 month, 6 months, or 12 (except perhaps that it may take a few weeks or more for the final exams to "credit" to your transcript so it may be risky to come too close to 12 months).

    If you take over a year there is the additional ~$450 fee to take you into the next 12 months, which is an added expense.

    Personally, I was glad that I enrolled in October when I did, as there is a new Information Literacy requirement for Excelsior that went into effect as of Jan 1st. I didn't want to find out that, as others have, that the situation changed as soon as I was "ready" to enroll.

    If you're looking to minimize the risk, I'd recommend that you enroll as soon as you take your first couple of General CLEP exams. You don't mention if you've taken CLEP or DANTES exams previously; some people take to them like a duck to water while others find out (after enrolling) that this isn't the best way for them to earn credit.

    Also, if you feel you can do very well on one of the GRE Subject exams you can get up to 30 credits in one exam (the best value around).

    Cheers,
    Mark
     
  11. gsmckee

    gsmckee New Member

    Take a close look at what you already have -vs- known requirements. Without fail, you will need at least one each of a humanities-type course, a social science(intro to psychology or sociology or ...), some basic science, ...
    If you don't have this completed, it's a great place to start. Better to get it out of the way before finding out you can't clep/dantes/ece after officially enrolling.
    Websites may not be current, policies may change, but the lower level stuff will always be required.
     
  12. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I waited because I was cheap. .:rolleyes: I waited until I had all the gen ed classes covered and a nice selection of "other" credits. The only thing I got burnt on was the UoP 300 level class that COSC accepted as a 200 level. No upper credit like I expected there.

    To me, it was worth waiting. Strange thing was, I waited until I took several CLEPS / DANTES in two weeks and earned 18 credits in those two weeks. I knew I would get it done quick and the one year time frame that COSC gives would not be a problem
     
  13. seekinghelp

    seekinghelp New Member

    Reed - Ignore the rude post. Most of us are here to help each other, not insult. I agree that the most general tests would likely be safe to take before enrolling. If you have other credits that you don't know where they may fit, I would matriculate before you move into the intermediate and upper level tests just so you know where you are at. At COSC, they will credit the 175.00 evaluation toward your matriculation fee. You have 12 months from the date of the official evaluation to graduate before you incur any other fees.

    COSC is great to work with. Even though I haven't matriculated yet, they have already checked out several classes I have sent them to confirm they will take them for core deficiencies.

    Also, I liked the fact that I knew exactly what they would take(which turned out to be all my credits) before I started planning my testing route more precisely.

    If you have no credits, start with the basics while you decide what you want to do. Best wishes.:D
     
  14. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    There do not appear to be a lot of surprises. If you read the full 100 plus page catalogs from each school, they tell you exactly what they will accept. Go beyond these and you're on your own. If all the gambles in my life were as trivial as a trip to the library and a $50 exam fee life would certainly be simple.
     
  15. Reed

    Reed New Member

    Thanks guys. I do appreciate the advice. I have about 60 GE credits and I was only looking to add additional "elective type" credits with things like intro to business and drug and alcohol. I haven't even begun to think about upper level tests and I'm sure when I get to that point, I will definitely want to become matriculated if only for the guidance offered. I just know that there's no way possible to get it done in 12 months for me and so I believed it would be most economical to continue taking some community college classes along with a few DSSTs or Cleps.

    Anyway, thanks very much as usual.

    <<Most of us are here to help each other, not insult.>>

    I do realize this and I'm sorry if I jumped the gun by responding in such a touchy way.

    This board is really the greatest place I've found for DL information. Invaluable, really.

    Reed
     
  16. RKanarek

    RKanarek Member

    If you wanted Reed to ignore the rude post, why did you post it?
     
  17. cmt

    cmt New Member

    This makes no sense. If you want someone to shut-up, are you silent? I'm sure her advice did not cause Reed to stumble into a trance and be fixated on the "rude post."
     

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