Disappointed (That's Putting it Mildly) and Ready to Quit

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Hey Sanantone,

Many thanks for clarifying that. Is there a link to the FEMA exams? How long do they generally take to prepare for, and how many of these things are there?

Many thanks again,

Lemurian_Spirit

[Tedium]

Take it from me, if you spend too much time wondering what the future might hold or what you could have done differently or what someone may or may not say Monday morning you will drive yourself insane. Just take a deep breath and try to get some rest tonight.

Even if TESC or Excelsior do not accept the credits it won't be the end of the road for you. This forum is full of people (myself included) who thought that they had reached the end of their educational journey, but it turns out that we were all wrong. I understand the financial concerns that you have. I worry about money all the time, even as I am typing this trying to reassure you. I work a full 40 hours a week on a fluctuating A,B,C schedule. Most of the time I don't even know what day it is. I payed for the last three exams I took by giving plasma at a local plasma center. I even had my girlfriend give me $100 for our three year anniversary to pay for the College Comp. CLEP I have to take (God only knows why she puts up with me). And I plan to sell the books I used to study for those tests to buy more tests.

I'm telling you all of this to let you know that you are not alone in any of this. All of us have been where you are now at some point. If I hadn't dicked around at my first two (or just the first one) institutions I would have graduated by now. I think about that every day as I'm scouring the web looking for answers to my questions or working on my degree plan. I have a lot of regret about that, but I would never make any progress if that was all I thought about. Even if you lose those credits, it is still possible to get a degree quickly. This forum is designed to help you make it from point A to B in the shortest, least expensive way possible. Cookderosa is absolutely right: you have to be able to let those go if you are going to achieve your goals. If I had adopted that mentality I would have saved myself a lot of money, time, and headaches. I would have dropped my third institution once I found out it wasn't going to work and gone directly to COSC.

I hope everything works out for you tomorrow, and if it doesn't I hope that you will have an open mind to the advice everyone has given and will give you. It's never too late, even if you think it is. Good luck.

[cookderosa]

Hey Sanantone,

Many thanks for clarifying that. Is there a link to the FEMA exams? How long do they generally take to prepare for, and how many of these things are there?

Many thanks again,

Lemurian_Spirit

Someone will link you to it or you can search back, but I don't have it saved. Like Sanantone mentioned, TESC and COSC take FEMA credit direct and EC requires it laundered first. So, anyone with a computer can take a FEMA course. Each course is essentially a pdf document(s) that you read and take the online quiz whenever you feel ready. Many people feel ready while the pdf is open But, in fairness, some of the courses have 5-7 documents, and the information is interesting to many people. So, you take the online quiz, it gives you an instant response to your email of pass/fail. If fail, log back in and do it again. All answers are in the reading material. Repeat until you've completed 27 credits from the list. Be sure to ONLY pick TESC approved exams. There are probably twice as many exams as what TESC accepts for credit, so you'll need the current list. Also, some of the credits require 2 parts to equal the 1 credit, so just pay attention and you'll be fine.
For every "pass" you complete, FEMA records it. When you wrap up all 27 credits, simply request FEMA forward your transcript to TESC. The entire process is open to anyone and 100% free. They are quick too, so they'll send it to TESC right away (as to TESC getting your transcript updated....that can take time). Anyway, depending on your motivation, aptitude for the material, etc., you can knock these out in a week or so. Even if you did 2 every Saturday, you'll be done in no time.

EDIT: I almost forgot, there is also a Certificate you can earn directly via FEMA in the process. There are a series of specific courses you can be sure to complete so you earn it too. A little extra resume bling.

One other question- have you ever taught a classe at a regionally accredited college for college credit? That's another source of free $0 credit, but few people qualify. Just thought I'd check.

[publius2k4]

My advice to you would be to apply to both COSC and Excelsior and see if either of them accepts your college credit. When I applied to all three, Charter Oak offered me the best options with regards to transfer credit. That was in June. I had 107 credits at the time. Now, I have 127, and I'll be completing my capstone in less than 2 weeks!

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Thanks Jennifer,

When I get the FEMA link I'll definitely check it out. That sounds like a quick way to earn 27 credits. I taught one class at a regionally accredited college, but not for college credit, and it only happened once, so I doubt it's worth pursuing. I have also thought that another possibility might be to get an AA from TESC or some such place and apply that towards a bachelor's degree. Any possibility of double-dipping anywhere by being able to use requirements for both the AA and BA? Would this be a good idea? If so, at one of these three schools or two? Just more to ponder.

Thanks Publius24! I might just attend COSC's weekly chat session tomorrow as well. I have another question for everyone. Since it now seems that I will be applying and waiting more. I want to continue taking exams that will be accepted at all three schools. I will reiterate just so everything is in one place the exams I have currently taken and the exams I have planned to take. Please let me know your thoughts on whether the exams I have planned to take should still be in my game plan considering the above.

Exams I have taken to date and scores:

College Mathematics CLEP - 60
Natural Sciences CLEP - 50
Social Sciences and History CLEP - 63

Exams I have planned to take:

Introduction to Educational Psychology CLEP (note: I'm nearly done studying for this, plan to go through the InstantCert flash cards between tomorrow and be finished with them by Tuesday so I can finish taking all five of the practice tests I have for this by Saturday when I meet with the tutor all day, and then take the exam on the 9th).
Ethics in America DSST (Note: I have yet to buy study materials for these but will wait until I have spoken with all three schools tomorrow to see if it would be useful and accepted by all)
Introduction to Sociology CLEP

I sincerely hope I don't have to take any more CLEP/DSST exams than the above, but at this point I think this is probably too much to hope for. If someone has the link to the FEMA exams I would greatly appreciate it. I will see if I can find that info on the TESC site.

Many thanks,

Lemurian_Spirit

[Westerner]

If someone has the link to the FEMA exams I would greatly appreciate it.

Emergency Management Institute | Independent Study (IS) - Course List

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Wow Westerner,

Thanks bunches. I've been looking for that for a while now. BTW, any idea as to which ones are accepted by TESC? I couldn't find anything on their site about this. Thanks bunches once again.

Lemurian_Spirit

[JBtesc]

Wow Westerner,

Thanks bunches. I've been looking for that for a while now. BTW, any idea as to which ones are accepted by TESC? I couldn't find anything on their site about this. Thanks bunches once again.

Lemurian_Spirit

http://www.tesc.edu/degree-completion/do...review.pdf

[sanantone]

Thanks Jennifer,

When I get the FEMA link I'll definitely check it out. That sounds like a quick way to earn 27 credits. I taught one class at a regionally accredited college, but not for college credit, and it only happened once, so I doubt it's worth pursuing. I have also thought that another possibility might be to get an AA from TESC or some such place and apply that towards a bachelor's degree. Any possibility of double-dipping anywhere by being able to use requirements for both the AA and BA? Would this be a good idea? If so, at one of these three schools or two? Just more to ponder.

Thanks Publius24! I might just attend COSC's weekly chat session tomorrow as well. I have another question for everyone. Since it now seems that I will be applying and waiting more. I want to continue taking exams that will be accepted at all three schools. I will reiterate just so everything is in one place the exams I have currently taken and the exams I have planned to take. Please let me know your thoughts on whether the exams I have planned to take should still be in my game plan considering the above.

Exams I have taken to date and scores:

College Mathematics CLEP - 60
Natural Sciences CLEP - 50
Social Sciences and History CLEP - 63

Exams I have planned to take:

Introduction to Educational Psychology CLEP (note: I'm nearly done studying for this, plan to go through the InstantCert flash cards between tomorrow and be finished with them by Tuesday so I can finish taking all five of the practice tests I have for this by Saturday when I meet with the tutor all day, and then take the exam on the 9th).
Ethics in America DSST (Note: I have yet to buy study materials for these but will wait until I have spoken with all three schools tomorrow to see if it would be useful and accepted by all)
Introduction to Sociology CLEP

I sincerely hope I don't have to take any more CLEP/DSST exams than the above, but at this point I think this is probably too much to hope for. If someone has the link to the FEMA exams I would greatly appreciate it. I will see if I can find that info on the TESC site.

Many thanks,

Lemurian_Spirit

You should definitely ask COSC first if they'll even consider NA credits before you spend more money on transcripts and on the application fee. It wouldn't hurt to ask Excelsior either if they'll accept credits from schools with that particular accreditation.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Hey There,

Many thanks for the TESC link about the FEMA courses. I'd been looking and looking for that. Believe me, I will also ask both COSC (in the chat session later today) about the NA credits before applying. I'll let you know what I find out, though I should probably get some studying done today after the job search, so it might be a bit before I post the results.

Someone from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts contacted me first thing this morning. As with the Art Institute, there is no way to update the credits, though the gentleman was very nice and offered to send a letter to any school I wanted explaining that they were NA-accredited at the time. I'm not sure that will help since TESC already knows that and won't accept the credits, but it was a nice offer anyway.

I just got off the phone with Excesior. Of course, they were very vague and hypothetical without transcripts, however, it appears that the most credits they will accept out of the 30 credits I earned at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts is 15. Also, because they won't accept anything below a C there are two courses I got a D in from the regionally accredited schools (worth 8 credits) that were accepted by TESC (which of course, wouldn't be accepted by Excelsior). So if I go the Excelsior route it seems like I would gain roughly 15 credits and sacrifice 8. What do you think? Is it worth waiting another two weeks to a month for a gain of 7 credits?

I was in the weekly online chat session with COSC earlier, and basically they will accept credit from non-regionally accredited school if the schools were accredited within five years of my attendance (which I have since found out that TESC will accept as well). Since that wasn't the case for me (I attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts six years before they were accredited instead of five--ugh), I would be back to their portfolio program to get credit for those courses. I would have to submit a portfolio for each course, and since most of my courses were worth 2.5 credits I would basically have to use 5 of my credits to gain 3 of theirs. That might be the case at TESC as well, but I'm not sure since I haven't spoken with Todd Sieben in their Portfolio Learning Assessment program yet. However, from what I can tell the COSC portfolio program doesn't seem feasible for me and because they won't accept half my credits (like TESC) there doesn't seem to be an advantage to me if I apply there. What's the difference if I go with a portfolio program at one school or another? Am I missing something? What do you think?

I also spoke with Mary Beth Lynch from TESC's registrar's office. She said that she would get the exams I've taken, as well as the ones I plan to take unofficially added to my evaluation so I can have a better idea of how to proceed with Todd. I confirmed with her that if I go the portfolio route that it's basically a crap shoot and I'm not guaranteed of getting any credits at all. She confirmed that, but I still think it's worth it for Todd Sieben to go over my transcripts before I decide to give the idea up for good.

However, if I take only the exams I planned (please see list above) and use FEMA exams exclusively for my electives, it might be worth a try to go for the portfolio for my 15 upper level credits (though I think it might take 20 of my credits to get 15 of theirs--again, I'm not sure until I speak with Todd Sieben about this). What do you think? Someone mentioned Straighterline courses for the 15 upper level credits. However, I just checked with Straighterline, and according to them the "highest numbered course we offer is 251," so that doesn't help with upper level credits, though I will talk with Todd Sieben about that.

At this point based on what I've found out from COSC and Excelsior today, does anyone out there still think it's worth my applying to either of those schools? If so, please explain why.

Many thanks again one and all,

Lemurian_Spirit