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A college like WGU where I can test out of a degree Fast!! Please help!!
#1
Hello! I am an international student and therefore I can't attend WGU. I was wondering if there is another university where I can take exams and graduate instead of having to write papers and wait ages until they are graded. I know of the Big 3 but I won't wait months to graduate. I read of JFKU. On the site it says exams but I've seen some threads here mentioning assignments. JFKU would be ideal...IF I only need to take exams. It doesnt matter what the subject of the degree is.
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#2
I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure you’ll have to write papers anywhere you go, even at WGU there are papers required.

There are other competency based schools like Walden, Capella and Purdue although I’m not sure if they take Intl students.

Hope that helps somewhat!


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#3
WGU has few papers and they are graded Quick. The problem is Capella only has essays, No exams and they take longer than 2 days to grade.
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#4
I graduated from WGU. The papers/projects often took more than 2 days, and depending on your major there could be a lot of papers.

In the IT program, many exams are third party exams, and sometimes even those took more then 48 hours to verify.

Your expectations might need to be recalibrated, and at the very least your goal needs to be reset. "Any" degree is more than a little broad. What's your background? Why do you need this? How far along are you? What are your interests? Strong points? Weak points (aside from paper writing, which is a basic college skill?)
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#5
(12-30-2019, 12:07 AM)jsd Wrote: I graduated from WGU. The papers/projects often took more than 2 days, and depending on your major there could be a lot of papers.

In the IT program, many exams are third party exams, and sometimes even those took more then 48 hours to verify.

Your expectations might need to be recalibrated, and at the very least your goal needs to be reset. "Any" degree is more than a little broad. What's your background? Why do you need this? How far along are you? What are your interests? Strong points? Weak points (aside from paper writing, which is a basic college skill?)

Also, keep in mind that it is much easier (and more likely to be successful) to accelerate a college degree when you already have significant experience in the field you are pursuing. I mention this because there are lots of people who think they can test out of any degree at WGU or one of the big 3 in a few months because they see others doing it. Then they are surprised/disappointed to find out that it isn't that easy after they invested their money. I'm active in the WGU forums on Facebook and Reddit, and it seems like I'm always having to have the conversation with people who set unrealistic goals for themselves because they started a degree they have little-to-no experience in and then start complaining about how they cannot accelerate through the courses like "everyone else." Then they get stuck paying for extra terms that they didn't plan for.

The truth is that only like 2% of students at WGU are able to accelerate at all and less than 10% of those are able to complete 30+ credits per term. At least those are the numbers I was told by my program advisor while I was a student.

So, regardless of where you end up attending, if you want a degree quick, find a field that aligns with your professional background or at least an area of interest you are already well-versed in. Once you have that in mind, then look for a competency-based school that supports a degree program in that field, or something close enough that there is overlap in your experience. That way you mainly need to focus on learning the subject matter you're missing, which is less tedious and time-consuming.

Also, don't go in expecting to complete a degree in a few months unless you have significant prior credits to transfer. At the least, you may want to recalibrate your timeline after you've completed a few courses.

Good luck.
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#6
Thank you. I didnt know about WGU taking so long. I read about people graduating in 1 month.

I guess Capella might be my only chance...

A few years ago there were plenty of options for testing out of a degree completly so I am hoping to find one university like that around still.
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#7
A VERY low percentage of WGU students finish in one term. I imagine one month would be a lot lower than that. I finished in just under 4 months, but I came in with 67/122 credits and am pretty much an expert in the subject matter.

Most schools require a capstone for a bachelors degree now (including Capella).
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#8
(12-30-2019, 11:53 AM)quigongene Wrote: A VERY low percentage of WGU students finish in one term.  I imagine one month would be a lot lower than that.  

One mentor told me ~10% are finished in one term. even less finish in less than 3 months. There is no way you can have all the assignments completed, graded, and not have any returned to you in less than one month.

I think you have a misconception that just because these are competency-based programs they are somehow easy basket weaving courses. I can assure you they are NOT !!!
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#9
(12-30-2019, 07:19 AM)Forest.green1 Wrote: Thank you. I didnt know about WGU taking so long. I read about people graduating in 1 month.

I guess Capella might be my only chance...

A few years ago there were plenty of options for testing out of a degree completly so I am hoping to find one university like that around still.

There are still plenty of options for testing out, via competency-based schools or ones like the Big 3 - but you won't be doing it in just a few months, no matter which way you go.  The people that "finish" in just a few months are ones who already have a lot of credit.  Starting from scratch, there's just no way to get 120cr done within a few months.  You can do it fast, but I would guess that most who are starting at zero credits do it in 1-2 years.  Which is ¼ to ½ the time it takes to get a "regular" degree at a "regular" school.
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#10
(12-30-2019, 07:19 AM)Forest.green1 Wrote: A few years ago there were plenty of options for testing out of a degree completly so I am hoping to find one university like that around still.

Really? The Big3 are the only ones that allow testing out almost completely. It used to be possible to get a BSBA from TESU by testing out of the capstone course, but that was the only route I knew of to truly test out completely. You now have to take a capstone at all of the Big3, which does give you a minimum time to graduate of probably 5-6 months plus being only able to graduate at set times of the year. If you truly start with zero credits, then I'd guess a practical minimum of 9-12 months. A competency school COULD be faster, but only if you can REALLY crank out the work.

What is the most important thing, speed or taking mostly tests rather than doing papers and projects? Despite the capstone, you can probably do more testing with one of the Big3 than with a competency school.
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