College to transcript Upper Level DSST Courses

[Hpd]

Howdy all,

I've run into a bit of a problem and I hope someone here can help me out. My (B&M) college is not currently accepting DSST exams, since they are in the process of splitting off from another college and the current college doesn't accept them. They said they would be happy to accept them however, if I could have them transcripted by another RA college. Essentially they want to give me credit but they can only do it off of another college's assessment.

So, I need to find a four year college (since the benefit I need is the upper level credit) that will transcript the course at little to no cost. I checked with TESC, COSC, and excelsior, and they were all no-go because of the way they list the course. The course needs to be listed with credit number equivalency-I've pasted the email below:

After some discussion with the Dean and some research into the exams you referenced, I have an answer to your question. Since we have never formally evaluated these exams , we defer to the judgement of outside colleges. If they list the exam as simply "DSST Exam", and award credit hours then we will not accept it. If they list the exam as "DSST EXAM for HIST 3301" or any other applicable course number and grant credit for it then we will accept the credit. Essentially we want to know that they consider the exam to be as rigorous as the same course taken at their university.

Anyone have some ideas?

[cooperalex2004]

I'm not sure what the official transcript says on it, but TESC does equivelate (is that a word) the exams with actual courses.

On the unofficial transcript it simply gives the course code and a grade of CR (what some schools list as P) but on the Academic Eval they will list it as a course taken at TESC (listing it with a source number next to it that shows in the legend as TESC instead of another school).

Technical Writing DSST shows up like this:
2.. ENG-201... Technical Writing........ 3.00 CR ENG-201 *NE

Meaning TESC course ENG-201, 3 credits, pass, ENG-201 credit, non-equivalency (meaning an exam)

I guess it depends on what they put on the actual transcript. You might want to call the admissions office and ask how it works out or you'll probably get an answer from someone on here who has done what you're talking about.

[IrishJohn]

So, I need to find a four year college (since the benefit I need is the upper level credit) that will transcript the course at little to no cost. I checked with TESC, COSC, and excelsior, and they were all no-go because of the way they list the course.

I'm not sure whom you spoke with at TESC but that doesn't sound right. When I completed my BA in History, 5 of the DSST exams I had taken transferred as upper level classes and were listed as such on the transcript. I've attached the section from my official transcript that shows this:


  Less than 1 minute ago">TESC transcript - DSST exams.docx (Size: 67.63 KB / Downloads: 0)

You might want to call them again.

Another option could be Excelsior College's "One Transcript" service: OneTranscript for credit consolidation - excelsior.edu

[cookderosa]

Howdy all,

I've run into a bit of a problem and I hope someone here can help me out. My (B&M) college is not currently accepting DSST exams, since they are in the process of splitting off from another college and the current college doesn't accept them. They said they would be happy to accept them however, if I could have them transcripted by another RA college. Essentially they want to give me credit but they can only do it off of another college's assessment.?

Are you sure that's not YOUR idea? That's third party credit laundering. Maybe you can share the name of the college, because that's so incredibly unlikely that it'd be big news.

[rebel100]

I don't know how you would pull this off. What would the incentive be for the other college? In order to pull it off I think you would have to Apply to the other college and be accepted, have all your transcripts evaluated including DSST exams, take at least 1 course through the school to create an official transcript. With all that done you MIGHT have a usable transcript that would accomplish your goal...but I doubt it.

Why not print out the TESC exam equivalents page and see if your school will accept that as the schools recommendation. DANTES That list shows everything they are asking for, TESC typically gives the best return for a given test (even some easy CLEP exams are listed as UL).

Here is the TESC accreditation page Thomas Edison State College is regionally accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and has specialized accreditation for its nursing and educational leadership programs

Perhaps armed with the two print outs you can make the case without trying to do the impossible...good luck!

[dcan]

Pretty sure nobody will launder credits. It undermines the trust in the academic integrity that ties schools together. I looked at the EC transcript service and my guess is that is simply to provide "everything on one transcript" for convenience, not "granting official EC credit for your tests." Notice in the list of benefits it doesn't list "transfer the credits to another school." But I am not an expert by any means, so it can't hurt to call them and ask.

I think where this gets confusing is something like FCC transcripting FEMAs. But FCC doesn't just transcript them -- the FEMAs are the courses for it's EM degree, so at least there is some validity there.

[Hpd]

I don't have any desire to "launder" the credit or hide the fact that it's DSST credit. Credit laundering would be similar to the old FHSU/straighterline situation. I just need an official college to evaluate the credits formally. And Jennifer, i really don't appreciate someone i don't know calling me a liar without any reason. If you're honestly curious about which college, pm me and i'll tell you.

[rebel100]

I don't have any desire to "launder" the credit or hide the fact that it's DSST credit. Credit laundering would be similar to the old FHSU/straighterline situation. I just need an official college to evaluate the credits formally. And Jennifer, i really don't appreciate someone i don't know calling me a liar without any reason. If you're honestly curious about which college, pm me and i'll tell you.

I think you need to chill. No one called you out. It might not be the best idea to pick a fight with the one person with a sterling reputation for having others best interests at heart. Re-read the post, I think you'll agree that YOUR out of line.

[Hpd]

Sorry, but I can't agree with you here. As I explained, this was done at the direct request of the college advisor. Perhaps people were mislead because I only posted the email regarding how the credit would have to be listed on the diploma. It might not seem like the biggest deal, but I'm as sensitive as anyone to being called a liar without cause. Anyway, I suppose the issue is moot now. I found a college that would transcript them and now I'm just waiting for them to post at my home college.

[dcan]

I think what happened is that this type of question gets asked from time to time and it is precisely asked for credit laundering purposes, so when your question popped up it triggered little alarm bells in people's heads.

But you know, with your explanation now that I re-read your first post I see what you are saying. I guess the point was the college was willing to accept it but they wanted another school to basically do the eval for them, and if they would accept e.g. HIST-101 from School A and School A accepts a DSST test as filling HIST-101 then your school would accept it as well. Is that right?

I'm genuinely curious about this. So you got it completely resolved?