It's great to have the insight of 130 fellow students pooling our insight and hopes together. I do not want to sound pedestrian in my comments, but you all make a common goal achieveable. Thank you!! Let's all remember that we can achieve our goals if we somehow continue to help each other out along the the way. For myself ..I say thank you!!

It is great to have this common goal, and the pool of knowledge. Independent study doesn't have to be so independent. It's such a relief to be able to ask a question like, "which test is easier, X or Y?" The topics brought up here are the sort of thing that seem too trivial to call up an advisor about (and would they really tell you?). Having a place to turn to for something so important and life-altering makes this whole experience so much easier on many levels.

The discussion forum is an absolute plus for IC. There is a similar group located in the Excelsior website that gets little to no attention and activity. I would post a variety of topics trying to get something started and found that I was just basically talking to myself.

The IC discussion group feels more like a "family" with everyone sharing not only info, concerns, and sharing helpful hints but everyone here does one thing better - INSTILL CONFIDENCE and SUPPORT. It has helped me tremendously since its inception not too long ago and I hoped that I have been able to help some of you as much as you all have helped me. GOOD LUCK!!

DITTO, all of you and thank you! i stalk this site once or twice a day (when i need a quick break from studying) and the support that is here is stupendous! my husband keeps telling me this is totally doable (getting our degrees) but it helps to have outside encouragement. my husband and i have no choice, we must succeed, there's no turning back. and after reading all of the different posts, i know we can do it. i also feel lucky to have this site to refer to comments and ask questions about different classes. I like the idea that 'Independent study doesn't have to be so independent.' i'm also lucky that my husband and i are doing this together, so we both understand where each other is coming from.

Agreed, the encouragement is tremendous. Seeing others pass exam after exam, and some even completing their degrees, is inspiring... especially at those times when you're doubting yourself. When I'm studying for an exam and am feeling a little bummed out, I do a search for that exam and see how others have passed, and it makes me feel better.

I don't know about everyone else, but I have a hard time discussing my little roadblocks with regular people in my life. People seem to just not believe that someone can test out an entire degree and I'm not taken seriously; I can just tell by people's reaction. I wonder if anyone experiences this reaction from the general public.

People seem to just not believe that someone can test out an entire degree and I'm not taken seriously; I can just tell by people's reaction. I wonder if anyone experiences this reaction from the general public.[/quote]


LOL - I just love this one too: "But is it a real degree?"

LOL - I just love this one too: "But is it a real degree?" [/quote]

And I smile back and say' Yes, but Iam not paying the $40,000.00 in student loans that everyone else is..so I guess I passed the finance course too!!!!!

Ha ha ha ha!

My sister-in-law is working on her Psychology degree at a local college. This is her first semester and she is taking Intro to Psych, and English Composition.

She began the two courses in January and will finish them by the end of this month. She has been working her way through text books, weekly classes, papers, quizzes, midterms, and finals etc. I think she is going to do very well in both courses. But she has also had to pay a lot of money for just these two courses, and textbook costs are on top of any course fees she has to pay.

I have explained the testing alternative, and even offered to help her prepare for her first exam. Her college accepts up to 60 credits via CLEP/DANTES. That means she could earn up to half her degree just by testing out of courses.

But she doesn't seem to be able to work up the courage to try even one CLEP exam. I have earned 61 credits since November, and she has earned 6 credits since January. She has spent a few hundred dollars for her six credits, and I have spent a few hundred dollars for my 61 credits.

I can understand her anxiety about taking the very first exam, but I don't understand her reluctance to even TRY just one exam to see if she can do it!

At the rate of two courses per semester, she will complete here degree some time in the year 2021 (15 years from now), at a cost well in excess of $30,000. The math just doesn't add up.

I haven't given up hope that she will see the light though.

Maybe when she's done with her Psych. class, show her a sample CLEP Psych test, and tell her it took you a week or less to learn the material to pass it. Maybe that will give her some perspective.

Oh yes, I get that one too. They almost say it in a baby talk voice, like you're a small child.

If I would've gone "back to [brick and mortar] school" while working full time, I would've had to take 2 classes max. per semester, like Snazzlefrag's sister. I would've been done in maybe 7 or 8 years. Who has that kind of time? It's not like it's a hobby, like yoga or something. The time to do that class thing was when I was 18, and I screwed that up then, so I have to make up the time now! I'm sure many others feel similarly about this process.