Intro and CLEP Advice

Hello, fellow distance learners! I have spent a few days reading through the very informative discussions on this board, and I've been very impressed with the sharing of information. I am hopeful that I can also benefit from the advice -- and eventually be able to give back as well.

Well, my short story is that I am a working adult who fears that the company at which I've worked for the past 17 years may be going under water before too long (due to the economy and other reasons). The skills that I have acquired while working there are either things I would rather not do the rest of my life or are not very marketable. Thus, I believe I need to go "back to school" and make myself more attractive to future employers.

My initial line of thinking is that I would enjoy and be good at accounting-type work. I have done a little bit of that sort of thing at my current job, plus I run a small, part-time business and handle those books and taxes myself as well. Initially I have targeted the BSBA in Accounting at Thomas Edison State College as the end goal, with maybe a Masters and CPA pursuit thereafter. But I am a long way away from that as I am starting at the very beginning. While I did take some college courses right after high school, I have learned that TESC will not accept them because the school was not regionally accredited.

So my plan of attack is to test out of as many of the general studies courses as I can via CLEP tests. I will begin to study for the English Comp with Essay test this evening and hopefully take that one and one other in early May. I hope to be able to knock out the general studies CLEP test in a year or less and then enroll in TESC for the Business/Accounting portions of the degree.

In my few phone conversations and emails with TESC, I have been underwhelmed with their friendliness/helpfulness. I almost got the feeling that I was bothering them and that they wished I would go away. I've read where others have had similar experiences. I did get them to confirm that I was taking the right English course for credit, but I was wondering if anyone else here had mapped out the rest of the CLEP courses that TESC would accept for credit for the other general studies requirements. I am going to hate to have to call them every time I want to take a test. So if any other TESC students could share their CLEP strategy, that would be very appreciated. If not, I guess I will just pester them for the information as I go. Being that I am not enrolled yet, I don't think they're going to bend over backwards to get me that information.

Lastly, with regards to TESC, I am aware of the situation with Rutgers, and it will probably be well into 2011 before I enroll, so hopefully there will be some clarity by that time. Personally, I hope they are able to stay independent. I would anticipate more distance-learning restrictions and higher tuition if they were to merge into Rutgers.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.

Scott

 

Unless there are some specifics drawing you to TESC, you might check out Excelsior or Charter Oak State College. Both have similar programs to TESC.

My personal experience is that Charter Oak (the smallest of the three) has really friendly and helpful people, and many here at degreeinfo have described them as being the most "personalized" of the bunch. But there are plenty of students here who have gone to all three, so I'm sure you can get some commentaries and comparisons between them.

You might also try searching our archive for "Accounting" and find some older, but probably still useful, threads comparing the accounting offerings of the three programs.

Good luck!

 

My 17 yr old daughter is wrapping up an AA from Charter Oak. The customer service is top notch there. I thought so much of Charter Oak that I referred a staff worker to Charter Oak, who echos the great customer service.

That being said, Charter Oak probably won't accept your work at a non RA college. While you can CLEP (and I strongly recommend CLEP exams - 2/3 or my daughter's AA is through CLEP), you might want to look into Capella University. Capella is expensive - but they will take your credits if the school was Nationally Accredited. I'm sure others will weigh in as well with suggestions.

Good luck!

Shawn

 

When I think of inexpensive and NA to RA I think of one place - AMU. Check it out.

 

Charter Oak answered dozens of questions for three months straight. The advisor even started to recognize my voice and was perfectly polite and thoughtful on every call. Oh, this was before I enrolled and gave them a single cent...not even an application! Top that

 

Well, I was drawn to TESC for a few reasons:

1) They have a BSBA with accounting concentration. I'd like to have a "BA" degree because it would leave the door open to maybe get an MBA degree some day as well. But I also would prefer to have a focus on the accounting side, as I see that as the most likely career path at this point. They also have a Master's CPA track, I think. So TESC's degree seemed to match up with my interests pretty well.

2) They are one of the cheaper options around. I think for non-NJ residents, the tuition is $180/credit hour.

3) I like the fact that they have been around quite a while (since the 70s) and are fairly large (around 18,000 students).

4) I like the name better than some of the others (like Excelsior). I know that's superficial, but I'm including it in the list anyway!

I have inquired at a few other schools to see about the possibility of taking my general studies courses and then applying to finish the degree (such as Indiana University-East and University of Wyoming). So I am certainly open to other schools at this point. The nice thing is I am not under the gun to make a super quick decision. I tell you -- I really like that UW's tuition is just about $100/credit hour even for out of state students. Wow. They will allow you to do the last two years of an online Business Administration degree, and I understand their business school is well regarded. My big questions with them are can I get an accounting focus with that, and what are the steps to getting accepted (undergrad coursework -- where and what). So we'll see where that goes. I don't like the fact with IU and UW that you are restricted to doing the classes when the traditional classes are in session.

Thanks for your input.

Scott

 

I am glad to hear Charter Oak has good customer service and that it has worked well for your daughter.

I appreciate the recommendation, and I will definitely keep them in mind. I know they have a Business Administration degree, but I am not sure if I would be able to get it with an accounting focus, so that is something I would need to double-check.

Thanks,

Scott

 

Hi, Randall.

It looks like they offer a Business Administration degree but not with an accounting concentration (they have several others). I don't know if they would be able to customize it for me or not, so I will have to check.

Thanks for the recommendation -- I had not heard of them before!

Scott

 

TESC is not known for customer service

While you will find plenty of complaints about TESC customer service you will also find them the most flexible in accepting previous credits. They also require the fewest upper level credits and give upper level credit for more exams.
A great source of info is their online catalog and this link Undergraduate Ways to Earn Credit - Thomas Edison State College - acalog ACMS
which gives a list of the course equivalents of all CLEP, DSST, & TECEP exams.
Thee ae also many other TESC students here and we can help answer some of your questions.
Are you positive TESC will not take any of your previous courses?
Good Luck with which ever school you decide on. I am not a busines major, but I have used several test and alternate methods toward my degree.

 

Just as a heads-up, I responded to pretty much each person who commented above, but none of my posts have shown up... not sure why those messages wouldn't have been allowed through since I was thanking folks for their help and adding a little more info about my situation. Anyway, if this one gets through, thanks to you all for the advice!

Linda -- I took classes at IVY Tech in Indianapolis about 20 years ago. TESC told me they couldn't accept courses from there since they were not RA. They did suggest I check with ACE to see if they had reviewed the IVY Tech courses and said that ACE could submit a transcript on my behalf. I did check with ACE, and they had not done an audit of IVY Tech courses and had no plans to do so, thus they could not help.

I'm not overly upset by this, as I do appreciate TESC's high standards. I do wish they were more helpful when it came to helping out those of us who have not yet enrolled but have every intention of doing so. I would like to have a fairly firm idea of what tests I can take to pass out of various classes. Thanks for the link -- I will see if I can use that to match some of them up.

Scott