What level of counsel/advice is it possible to receive from an advisor without enrolling?

If I am uncertain as to which of the Big 3 I should enroll with, do you recommend submitting an application to both? How will that be helpful?

At what point will they evaluate your credits?

At what point and to what degree will they help you design a degree path?

How receptive are they to helping you design a path that is 90% testing and not just comprehensively taking their own classes?

How much of the process is just you on your own trying to figure out what you need and then asking them if it will count?

Thanks!

hsing,

I gather from reading here and at the degreeinfo forums that Charter Oak is the most helpful of teh big 3 prior to enrollment. But with some time, freely available catalogs (at least at Excelsior you just need a free login to get the catalogs), and some searching here and on the degreeinfo forums, you could design your own program with reasonable likelihood of acceptability without any advisor input at all.

Elizabeth

From my own experience, I found Excelsior to be quite helpful, even before I became a student. I simply called them and let them know my intention was to test out as much as possible. I then sent them my transcripts and they performed an "unofficial" review o let me know what I would need. I then tested out of as many as possible then enrolled once I was close to being completed. The reason this is done is so that you don't have to keep paying their annual student fees. Once I finished testing out, I paid the rest of my enrollment/graduation fees and I was done. The whole process was quite painless, except for all the studying to pass the tests. I hope this helps you some, please feel free to PM me if you have any further Excelsior questions. Regards, Lee

__________________
Associates Degree, Aviation Maintenance Technology, Community College of the Air Force
Bachelors of Science, Liberal Studies Degree, Excelsior
MBA Human Resource Management, California Coast University

My motivation to enroll at Excelsior was the fact that they calculate a GPA for DSST & CLEP exams. I think they have "tweaked" their policy on this a bit. I was also please to when they accepted all my D's. Good Luck!

__________________
Excelsior College B.S. Liberal Studies

119 Credits 2.75 GPA

46 Credits transfered in from B & M School (5 D's, gotta love Excelsior)

18 Credits from CLEP
48 Credits From DSST/Dantes

7 Credits from Excelsior College (Information Literacy, World Population & Ethics Theory and Practice)

Remaining Exams/Courses

ECE Org. Behavior

and one of the following ECE exams (what would u recommend?):

Research Methods in Psychology
Foundations of Gerontology
History of Nazi Germany
American Dream
Pathophysiology
Psychology of Adulthood & Aging
World Conflicts Since 1990
Abnormal Psychology
Social Psychology
Organizational Behavior
Religions of the World
Juvenile Delinquency
Bioethics

Same here. I enrolled the moment I received my unofficial eval and noticed they credited my D's from a previous life. I also have no problem taking their $270 Info Literacy course because of this.

__________________
Brian R. Fey Sr. +
M.S. - Psychology
B.S. - Criminal Justice
A.S. - Administrative Management