I know there are a lot of good college out there. I am just curious of how do you choose a college to get a degree in a short amount of time? What I mean is what do you actually consider before you enroll in a college?

Welcome to the IC group!!

I chose Excelsior College as they accepted ALL of my previously earned college and training credits that were 25 years old, the ease and flexibility in earning credit from a variety of courses and or EXAMS such as CLEP, DANTES or ECE, and finally EC is actually pretty inexpensive in the long run.

Check them out yourself - www.Excelsior.edu

__________________
ShotoJuku +
A.S., B.S., M.S.

Always be ready to release your mind and be willing to listen to the advice of others. Remain flexible. - Gichin Funakoshi

I agree with Brian, I went with Excelsior particularly because they accept credit from a wide variety of sources. Pretty much anything that is ACE recommended (not CEC stuff, though). I also was able to use my traditional credits from college eons ago as well as my tech certs. Their only limitation to the number of credits you can earn by testing out is the limit set by your degree plan. By that I mean, if you need 9 UL arts and sciences credits, you can't take CLEP's to meet that requirement. But you can take a variety of other exams.

You also have to consider your professional field and more importantly what you, personally, are passionate about. If you love engineering and want a degree that reflects that, it will probably take you longer simply because of the field. However if your sole goal is to get a degree and get it now (like mine is) then something in the liberal arts is probably your best bet. It's very diverse and the topics are widely accessible. You can find the info you need to knock out a test ASAP. In fact, I only took exams that were on IC when it came to cleps/dssts. This way I knew I'd have the info quickly and could pass quickly.

Also consider your learning style. Some people are not comfortable with the testing method for school and prefer a more structured environment - well, let me clarify - they prefer an environment whose structure is established by someone other than themselves. Most of us here on the boards create our own structured environment for studying. IC actually helps with it because of how the flashcards are grouped together.

Choosing a school is a big decision. Use all the free/cheap resources available to decide. You can get the school catalogs for free - read through them, get a feel for the school through that, choose the one that fits.

__________________

Best of luck,
Joanne

31 hours traditional schooling
11 Microsoft exams, 1 Linux+, 2 ICCP's, 6 CLEP's, 12 DSSTs, and 6 ECE's

Degree Completed!
BS in Liberal Studies

I also enrolled in Excelsior, and the reasons stated above were my main reasons for enrolling with them as well.

Check out this site, particularly this page. It pretty much covers the concerns and pro/cons of the big 3. Keep in mind, the author hasn't updated this site in roughly 2 years, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of this information at this very moment, but I'm sure things haven't changed much. I can tell you that I read through that site inside and out, along with information on forums, before I made my decision; I recommend you do the same.

Best of luck.

__________________
Ana
96 credits completed (93 by exam)
BS in General Business, Excelsior College (33 credits remaining)
Next exams: DSST Statistics, DSST Business Law 2
Recently taken: DSST Drug/Alcohol (61), CLEP French (63), ECE Gerontology (B ), DSST MIS (65), DSST Counseling (54), DSST Ethics (63)

I enrolled in Thomos Edison State College for similar reasons. They accept just about every previous college credit no matter how old it is. They accept every Clep and Dantes offered among other options such as Prior Learning Assessment and previous work certificates. In my case they gave me 67 credits for my Airframe and Powerplant license (A&P). That made the decision easy. EC did not offer such a plan as far as I know.

You may want to compare the tuition between the two. My employer paid the $2000 annual enrollment fee for me so I have a minimum out of pocket for me since I can be done in one year. I had 54 previous college credits when I started plus the 67.

I would recommend just taking a bunch of Clep and Dantes exams while you decide. Take things that you know you will need no matter what first. Things such as english, sociology, psychology, history and the like. That will give you some time to research your college choice while at the same time you are earning college credit.

__________________
Dan
Douglasville, Georgia
Finished my degree 6-15-06
56 previous college credits (from 1987)
9 Dantes (Statistics, Ethics, World Religions)
9 CLEP (Socialogy, Prin of Management, American Gov.)
67 credits for my A&P license (Airframe and Powerplant)
TESC - BSAST- Aviation Maintenance Technology

I think this is a dynamic point, something that I am having my daughter do before enrolling.

The benefit of course is not having to cram in as many exams as possible during your one year enrollment ($1000.00 @ EC) and then have to add another $500 to keep your enrollment active until you can reach your degree requirements.

Stock pile as many CLEP and DANTES exam credits and then enroll with their transcripts! GOOD LUCK!!

__________________
ShotoJuku +
A.S., B.S., M.S.

Always be ready to release your mind and be willing to listen to the advice of others. Remain flexible. - Gichin Funakoshi

I totally agree, I have to admit when I realized that others did this, I thought, how ingenious! Why didn't I think of that?!?!?! You can get the catalog for free and knock out the obvious stuff.

Along those same lines, if you can plan out your graduation to be within 30 days of when you pay your annual renewal fee, Excelsior will credit your renewal to your graduation fee. So you pay to renew, then graduate no more than 30 days later, they don't charge you extra to graduate. In fact they end up owing you $15!

Key caveate here is that you have to have all your transcripts in and allow time for processing to accomplish this. Take your DSST's first then CLEP's then ECEs (or other Prometric exams). DSST has the longest reporting cycle (as we have all groaned about here) then CLEP is generally within 2 weeks. Prometric reports within 2 business days. Just stay in touch with them during this process.

__________________

Best of luck,
Joanne

31 hours traditional schooling
11 Microsoft exams, 1 Linux+, 2 ICCP's, 6 CLEP's, 12 DSSTs, and 6 ECE's

Degree Completed!
BS in Liberal Studies

I think the wait time for FEMA via FCC is even longer - UGH!!

__________________
ShotoJuku +
A.S., B.S., M.S.

Always be ready to release your mind and be willing to listen to the advice of others. Remain flexible. - Gichin Funakoshi

There are so many people that I talked to that say, "I don't know what to go to school for" and they will continue to way month after month and year after year. I always tell them that they can start earning credits today without enrolling anywhere. I tell them to study for clep and dantes that night and in less than a month they will have one class done and easily 12 courses completed in one year while they decide exactly what they want to get a degree in. They ignore my plea and I get fed up.

Start TODAY and earn credit IMMEDIATELY!!!!

__________________
Dan
Douglasville, Georgia
Finished my degree 6-15-06
56 previous college credits (from 1987)
9 Dantes (Statistics, Ethics, World Religions)
9 CLEP (Socialogy, Prin of Management, American Gov.)
67 credits for my A&P license (Airframe and Powerplant)
TESC - BSAST- Aviation Maintenance Technology

thanks to you all. I am studying U.S. History I and going to enroll in EC