Excelsior Degree Plan

AWESOME! I didn't think he'd have any trouble with it, especially since he's burned through so many exams already.

I wish I could say that financial accounting is going to be just as easy, but I think it's one of the more difficult ones. Still, I'm sure he can do it!

 

Great news! My son got his AP Art History exam score back and he scored a 4. At Excelsior that's good for 6 credit hours.

After taking a very close look at the Excelsior policies, I've updated his credits and degree map and he technically has accumulated 63 credits. So it's kind of cool that he's a junior in college and just finished his sophomore year in high school.

Here's the link to his degree map.

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

We have kind of hit a little bit of a lull because he completed all he could using speedyprep and doesn't like instantcert as well. So we are still stuck on accounting. I'm hoping we can get back on track this month.

He has signed up for 3 additional AP classes his junior year which is 14 more hours.

Hopefully he'll keep plugging along!

 

Congratulations! Time for a Qdoba celebration!

 

He said thanks!

Got back on the board today as he passed the CLEP Financial Accounting. This was the first one where he used Instantcert instead of SpeedyPrep. I also worked with him quite a bit to walk him through it. I think he's more comfortable with the Instantcert interface so that's also good.

He's now at 66 credit hours. He's done all of the CLEP's I've mapped out and is now going to start working on the first of the seven DSST's in the plan. I think the first one will be Ethics in America!

Hopefully, the turnaround on the next one will be a little quicker so we can get all of the DSST's and the UXCEL (4 of those in the plan) exams done and out of the way.

Headed to Qdoba in about an hour!!

 

Congrats! That's a tough one.

Ethics in America is a pretty easy DSST exam. I passed it without studying.

 

I only play one on TV.

 

This is all super-encouraging. Go! Go! Go! Keep up the great work!

I definitely have questions!

I've been in the IT field for 10 years, getting by with technical certs (Microsoft, CompTIA), but was looking into a simpler, cheaper and faster way to get an AA and maybe even a BA. I do have some college credits that I got back in community college when I was going for my AA.

I really like the document that you created which shows a clear path of what needs to be done in order to test through classes... How did you know if those credits would apply to Excelsior and other online colleges? Did you come up with a list and then talk to an advisor with the institution to confirm?

I'd love to get a degree in something IT related using this method.

Thanks and keep hammering!

 

I like the degree map I made as well. I made it by carefully studying the information I found on Excelsior's website. I'm not a 100 percent sure I'm completely accurate but feel it's pretty close for the vast majority of it. I did contact Excelsior directly about the AP exams but once we enroll, we will know more.

Whatever you college you choose, you have to sit down and look at their information to figure out what classes or exams fill out the map properly.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll pass it on to him.

 

So my son took his first DSST test today. That test was Ethics in America. He passed it for an additional 3 credit hours and is now at 69 credit hours!

We have 6 other DSST's we need to get through but haven't decided on which one to do next.

Any suggestions on which one to tackle next? Here's the list:

DSST Principles of Statistics (3 credits) Taking statistics in high school right now.
DSST Organizational Behavior (3 credits)
DSST Personal Finance (3 credits)
DSST Business Mathematics (3 credits)
DSST Human Resource Management (3 credits)
DSST Principles of Finance (3 credits)

Super stoked!

 

Are all of the 69 credits he's accumulated so far at the lower level (100 and 200 level courses)? If I'm not mistaken, I think Excelsior only accepts 60 credits of lower-division courses/exams. I do know, however, that Thomas Edison State University accepts up to 80 credits of lower-division credits.

 

According to what I read 21 credits must be upper level.

After I posted his result, he and I decided to take the Human Resources Managenebt dsst. I also decided to go ahead and apply so we make sure we do everything correctly.

We have to wait for his credits to transfer in and then I’ll report back what I find out.

 

That sounds like a good idea.

 

I just double-checked the Excelsior website. Looks like you're right on that. They require much less upper-level courses than I thought.

 

So another exam down! This one was the Human Resources Management DSST. With that one out of the way, he now has 72 credits (and is currently taking 14 more AP credits at school). Next up is probably going to be Principles of Statistics or Organizational Behavior.

He's got quite a string going. He's now taken 20 exams - 17 cleps, 2 dsst's and one AP and passed them all.

I did apply for him at Excelsior but haven't learned much there. Because he is 17 and is still in high school, they won't review his application. There's a lady who has helped some but the only definitive answers can only be had once you enroll. That's the only way you can talk to an advisor.

I did transfer all of his exams in to the school but no evaluation will be done.

I do believe that when he is 18, he can enroll so we will just have to play it by ear until then and hope my planning is correct. We weren't planning on enrolling until he was 18 anyway but it would have helped to make sure we are on track.

On to the next exam!

 

I'm kind of surprised Excelsior wouldn't even review his application. Shouldn't be a big deal though. He can just keep on taking exams and earning credits. After he graduates from high school and turns 18, he can then apply and have his degree in hand shortly thereafter.

 

The good news is that he turns 18 right after his junior year in high school. The way we have it mapped out, I think he will be done taking all the exams he can take by the end of his junior year and he will just have coursework after that.

Our goal is to have his high school commencement and then go to his college commencement right after that.

I could see not reviewing his application if he hadn't completed hardly anything but he's way over half way done lol.

I did learn from the school that he can take ECE exams and classes without enrolling as long as he doesn't need financial aid. That means he can do whatever he would need to do without enrolling which is one thing I wondered.

He decided on taking the Organizational Behavior DSST next and has started working on it already.

 

Don't forget about TECEP exams. Like CLEP and DSST, they are also multiple choice and graded pass/fail. TECEP offers a bunch of upper-level exams in business.

https://www.tesu.edu/degree-completion/testing

 

Considered any Saylor.org classes and tests? Took four classes there that transferred to Excelsior. $25 each. Great value.