Questions re "BA in 4 weeks" and DANTES

I had around 60 transferable credits when I started his 4-week plan to finish my BS in Business. I tested out of the remaining classes in a few months. His plan is more of a roadmap but it was immensely helpful to completing my degree even though I didn't finish it in 4-weeks.

 

Unless things have dramatically changed, the BS in General Business degree from Excelsior can be done mostly via examination. You'd need a combination of CLEP, DANTES, ECE and TECEPs, plus likely the capstone and info literacy courses. There may be more but I'm not sure.

BAin4Weeks is still probably around 70% applicable - some ECEs have been dropped (TECEPs make up the difference in most cases) but CLEP and DANTES exams haven't really changed.

Are you doing this 100% by exam or do you have existing credit to apply? I finished around 5 years ago doing the 100% by exam route and completed 120 credits in about a year working full time (something like 34 exams). The big trick is finding convenient exam centers and as Lawrie says, use "synergistic" exams where you can leverage similar concepts and study material (like Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice).

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any credit that I can apply towards a degree in anything. I'm starting 100% from scratch.

At this point, I've been trying to find out which degrees are 'possible' with all/mostly testing out of things. From there, I figured I'd whittle it down by cost and interest and pick from there. That seemed easier than going through various degrees that look interesting, only to find out that I can't test out of most of it.

If I'm going to go this route, I definitely want something I can complete in one year or less. Those yearly renewal fees for the colleges are definitely something I'd want to avoid.

 

Ok cool!
So, the short answer, all of them Not to overwhelm you lol, but really, the big 3 allow maximum flexibility- so start browsing!

 

There is no reason you can't complete a bunch of exams before you even apply and enroll to one of the Big 3. With no credits, there are some exams that you definitely have to take. Might as well get those done before the 1yr clock starts.

 

Agreed. There are a few to knock out that are likely to apply to general ed requirements:

1) If you know Spanish, French or German well (or relatively well), definitely take the CLEP language exam as Excelsior will give you either 6 or 12 credits for it. Think - 10% of a degree done in a single exam!

2) The CLEP general exams give you 6 credits each - Humanities, Social Sciences and History, Natural Sciences. Be careful of overlap if you take them with other exams like Psychology or Sociology.

3) For most people, CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Language is an easy 6 credits.

Right there are 36 credits - over a quarter of a degree - and easy enough to tackle before signing up for a program.

If you don't have the language skills, there are others like Here's To Your Health and Substance Abuse DSST exams that most feel are pretty easy, or Criminal Justice / Intro to Law Enforcement.

If you have reasonable computer knowledge then take DSST Introduction to Computing or the CLEP version (but you probably won't get credit for both) and Management Information Systems - MIS usually gives upper level credit.

My recommendation would be to do about 30 credits of testing from the selection above that would meet your general education credit requirements and then enroll. You'll get a good idea of how you like testing out, the ins and outs of your testing centers and boost your confidence...

Good luck!

 

I believe Steve Levicoff, an occasional poster to this site, completed his bachelor degree with a large amount of testing and portfolio credit through TESC.
Perhaps Chip can point you to a degreeinfo link that documents his experience.

 

Don't forget that you will probably want to generate a GPA -- which means probably taking at least one course at your final school of choice (TESC/EC/COSC).

There are bonuses to each school:

• EC & COSC give credit for GRE subject exams above a certain percentage.
• EC and COSC give letter grades for some DSST exams
• EC and TESC have majors, while COSC's major is Liberal Arts
• TESC allows you to use ACE-approved courses to fill some requirements (Aleks, FEMA, etc)

TESC is cheaper than EC for taken courses, which played a big role in my decision to enroll there. If my DSST results are awesome, then I may reconsider Excelsior College.

 

While TESC's cost per credit is $120 lower than EC ($70 if you join via POAG or one of the other partner programs,) for out of state the annual fee is $1600 more. And if you take 12 credits as a Partner member through the EC, the enrollment fee for the first year is $130 instead of $895...

TESC - Fees + 12 Credits out of state = $5150
TESC - Fees + 12 Credits in State = $3472
EC - Fees + 12 Credits = $4990
EC Partner - Fees + 12 Credits = $3620 (+$20 POAG subscription for 1 year)

Not seeing the cost benefit for out of state at TESC... Especially when POAG is $20-25 a year. (Website says $25 for non-law enforcement, but only has a $20 option to pay, or at least that's the way it was when I subscribed.) In-state only barely beats out a partner membership. So it's still worthwhile if EC has something (Like GRE Credit) that suits the student.

 

Books and other media (movie rentals & such) are not include, and I didn't have time this morning to compare COSC... I'm not really familiar with them, because that entrance essay turned me off.

 

All of them? That narrows it down!

I guess I should dig a bit further, then.