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

[sanantone]

The people at TESC probably don't know that ECE and Uexcel were combined under Uexcel ECEP or Uexcel for short.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Thanks, that could be, but we're working on redoing the evaluation. I'll post it when it's been updated tomorrow. I don't think I'll need that now. Many thanks again.

Wowee!! I just got off the phone with TESC for what I sincerely hope will be the last time we redo my evaluation (at least until I enroll). I will post that in the next message due to length. I'm so happy--no ECEs, only one Straighterline course, and the rest DSST/CLEPs (apart from the Capstone of course). Also, though it might not look like it, I have confirmed that my 12-credit concentration requirement is fulfilled! Yippee!!!!!

This will mean taking two exams a month between now and February, (much easier now that I'm not working), but I will bite the bullet and get it done. Then March will be the one Straighterline Business Ethics course as well as the remaining FEMA courses. Whew!

[Lemurian_Spirit]

S.H. S.H. Applied S.H. Comm Coll S.H to Overall TESC
Required to Degree Req Remaining S.H. Applied be Planned GPA Met GPA
120.00 68.00 52.00 0.00 22.00 YES

Date: 12/04/13 Page: 2

Source Institution Source Institution
1 New York University 3 Thomas A. Edison State College

2 Pace University

BA General Education (60 SH)
Semester Hours Completed: 60.00
Complete all 4 subrequirements:
A: Intellectual Skills (Pending)
> Complete 15 semester hours (SH) of Intellectual and
> Practical Skills coursework, to include:
> *English Composition I, 3SH with grade of C or better
> *English Composition II (Writing Intensive), 3SH with grade
> of C or better
> *Math, 3SH
> *Intellectual and Practical Skills Electives, 6SH
Semester Hours Completed: 17.00
ENC-101 (Completed)
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
2.. ENG101 English Comp............. 4.00 B ENC-101 *TE
ENC-102 (Writing Intensive) (Completed)
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
2.. ENG102 English II............... 4.00 C+ ENC-102 *TE
Math (Completed)
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
3.. MAT-103... General Math II.......... 3.00 CR MAT-103 *NE
Intellectual and Practical Skills (Pending)
Semester Hours Completed: 6.00
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
3.. MAT-102... General Math I........... 3.00 CR MAT-102 *NE
3.. ENG-201 Technical Writing........ (3.00) --- ENG-201 *PL *TE

B: Responsibility (Pending)
> Complete 9 semester hours (SH) in Personal and Social
> Responsibility coursework to include:
> *Diversity or Global Literacy, 3SH
> *Responsible Ethical Leadership, 3SH
> *Elective, 3SH
Semester Hours Completed: 9.00
Diversity or Global Literacy (Pending)
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
3.. ANT-101 Introduction to Anthropol (3.00) --- ANT-101 *PL *TE
Responsible Ethical Leadership (Pending)
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
3.. PHI-287 Ethics in America........ (3.00) --- PHI-287 *PL *TE
Personal and Social Responsibility Elective (Pending)
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
3.. SOC-101 Introduction to Sociology (3.00) --- SOC-101 *PL *TE

C: Human Cultures (Pending)
> Complete 18 semester hours (SH) in Human Cultures and the
> Physical and Natural World to include:
> *Humanities, 3SH
> *Social Sciences, 3SH
> *Natural Sciences, 3SH
> Choose electives from Humanities, Social
> Sciences, Natural Sciences and Interdisciplinary course, 9SH

Semester Hours Completed: 20.00
Humanities (Completed)
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
2.. MUS141 Music Apprec............. 3.00 A MUS-100 *TE
Social Sciences (Pending)
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
3.. SOS-102 Social Sciences and Hist. (3.00) --- SOS-102 *PL *TE
Natural Sciences (Completed)
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
3.. NAS-102... Natural Sciences II...... 3.00 CR NAS-102 *NE

Interdisciplinary (Completed)
Semester Hours Completed: 11.00
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
3.. NAS-101... Natural Sciences I....... 3.00 CR NAS-101 *NE
1.. V710202 Harmony & Counterpoint I. 4.00 D MUS-145 *TE
1.. V710201 Harmony & Counterpoint I. 4.00 C MUS-144 *TE

D: General Ed Electives (Completed)
> Complete 18 semester hours (SH) in General Education
> Electives.
!! Exception
Overage in Int. Skills and Human Cultures, 14 SH required

Semester Hours Completed: 14.00
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
1.. V710111 Topics in 20th Century Mu 4.00 C MUS-199 *TE
1.. G711101 Collegium Musicum........ 2.00 B- MUS-199 *TE
1.. V710110 Topics in 19th Century Mu 4.00 D MUS-299 *TE
1.. V410896 Reading in Poetry........ 4.00 CR ENG-246 *TE


BA Humanities (15 SH must be At 300/400 level)
Semester Hours Completed: 30.00
GPA Achieved/Needed: 3.424 / 2.000
Complete both subrequirements:
A: Concentration (24) (Pending)
> Complete 24 semester hour credits in the Humanities. Among
> the 30 credits required within the entire concentration:
> -At least THREE different subjects must be included for
> breadth of knowledge.
> -A student must earn at least 12 semester hours in ONE
> subject.
> -A maximum of 18 semester hours can be earned in any ONE
> subject area in order to have a balanced interdisciplinary
> concentration.
> -A maximum of SIX semester hour credits at the 100 level
> can be applied toward the area of concentration.
> **At least 15 of the 30 credits required within the
> concentration must be at the 300/400 level.**
Semester Hours Completed: 24.00
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
1.. V450163 French Cult From Mida Age 4.00 B+ FRE-299 *TE
1.. V900832 Buddhism................. 4.00 A REL-399 *TE
1.. V450868 Topics in French Lit..... 4.00 A- FRE-399 *TE
2.. FRE208 Mstrpces Fre Lit 2....... 3.00 B FRE-242 *TE
3.. REL-405 Intro. to World Religion. (3.00) --- REL-405 *PL *TE
3.. PHI-384 Ethics & Business Profess (3.00) --- PHI-384 *PL *TE
3.. BUS-302 Business Ethics and Socie (3.00) --- BUS-302 *PL *TE

B: Concentration (6) (Completed)
> Complete an additional 6 semester hours of Humanities
> coursework.
Semester Hours Completed: 6.00
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
2.. FRE108 Intro to French Lit...... 3.00 C+ FRE-241 *TE
2.. MUS141SE Music Appreciation....... 3.00 A MUS-199 *TE


Liberal Arts Capstone (3 SH)
> Complete course LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone for 3
> semester hours (SH).
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
___ LIB-495___ _________________________ ______________________ 1 course needed


BA Free Electives (27 SH)
> Complete 27 semester hours of Free Electives.

Semester Hours Completed: 8.00 Required: 27 Remaining: 19
Src Course # Title S.H. Grd TESC # Notes
1.. G711102 Collegium Musicum........ 2.00 B MUS-299 *TE
3.. SOS-101 Social Sciences and Hist. (3.00) --- SOS-101 *PL *TE
3.. PSY-230 Intro. to Educational Ps. (3.00) --- PSY-230 *PL *TE
_____________________________________________________________________ 3 credits
_____________________________________________________________________ 3 credits
_____________________________________________________________________ 3 credits
_____________________________________________________________________ 3 credits
_____________________________________________________________________ 3 credits
_____________________________________________________________________ 3 credits
_____________________________________________________________________ 1 credits



Student Remarks:
11/26/13 You have received your academic evaluation which is an assessment of your transfer credit. The academic evaluation is a tool which will enable you to make a decision regarding enrollment at Thomas Edison State College. If you have any questions regarding your academic evaluation, please call toll free number 1-888-442-8372.

For more information regarding available tuition plans please go to the following link: Thomas Edison State College: Selecting the Right Tuition Plan.

11/26/13 You submitted a transcript from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts June 1977. The credits from this institution cannot be accepted in direct transfer. The institution did not achieve Regional Accreditation status until 01/01/1983. Also, The Art Institute of Seattle Fall 1989, this institution did not gain Regional Accreditation status until 12/01/99, therefore no credits can be accepted in transfer. Thomas Edison State College will accept credits in transfer from regionally accredited colleges and universities or credits recommended for academic credit by the American Council on Education (ACE), the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) or through the Office for the Assessment of Professional and Workplace Learning (OAPWL). Credit for knowledge acquired through college level coursework completed at all other non-accredited institutions can be assessed through the Portfolio Assessment process at Thomas Edison State College. Credits will be reviewed on a course by course basis through this process. Please visit the College website to learn more about this method of earning credit at Thomas Edison State College: Prior Learning Assessment.

[Lyanne]

I read your intro and one or two responses, then jumped in to reply. My ex husband had the same issue. He told his interviewers that he had x amount of credits and planned to finish his coursework by such and such date. They hired him anyway, with the provision that he acquired his degree by the date. As soon as he got his conferral letter from the school, he submitted it to Human Resources to be added to his personnel file. (And just for good measure, when he got his diploma, he made a copy and hung it on his office wall)
I agree with the others who say stick with one of the Big 3, (EC,COSC,TESC) It really is your best bet. Best of luck to you. I know losing some credits was a blow, but keep moving forward, and even try rearranging or talking to different people to get some of the credits back. Again with my ex husband, one college registrar would not give him full credit from his college because it wasn't US, and so many phone calls back and forth did us no good. I even asked him to please email their admissions, and he said it wasn't his job, he'd been doing this for 10 years, he knew what schools were accredited, blah blah blah. We knew this guy was wrong because the reason my ex chose that college was because it was US accredited and he knew he was moving to the US soon! You know how he got his credits? I googled the school website, it said right there that it was a US accredited school. I sent the webpage to my ex's advisor, she sent it to the dean, and the registrar had to give him full credits. Crazy!

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Thanks Lyanne,

I wish it was that simple. I attended four schools--two of which were regionally accredited when I attended them (where all the credits you see that were actual courses were taken). TESC has a policy, that even if the school was not regionally accredited, they will accept credits within five years of when the school became regionally accredited. Of the other two schools, one was unaccredited when I attended, and didn't become regionally accredited until TEN YEARS after I graduated (well outside of the five-year mark), and the other school became accredited within six years of the date I graduated (so I was still one year outside of the five-year mark). In short, I'm screwed and now have to take those credits all over again. If you see any way around this please be sure to let me know. I'm all ears! The good news is that I was primarily going to use those credits for my upper level humanities, and not much else. It's a pain that I have to take more credits for this. I keep getting to this point where I think I only have two exams to go and then it keeps being more. I really hope that doesn't happen again or might really shoot myself this time (never mind that this would be extremely difficult for someone without a gun--like me ;-). At this point, here is what I have left before the Capstone course:

Introduction to Educational Psychology CLEP (scheduled for this Monday)
Ethics in America DSST
Business Ethics and Society DSST
General Anthropology DSST
Technical Writing DSST
Introduction to World Religions DSST
Introductory Sociology CLEP
Business Ethics Straighterline course
The remaining 19 elective credits with FEMA or some other such (BTW, any suggestions for the absolute hands-down quickest way to get these done would be most gratefully appreciated). Does anyone know if TEEX and NFA free courses count for more credits than FEMA courses? If so, if you could please direct me to the TESC equivalents I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks bunches one and all!

[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.

Hi Cookderosa/Jennifer,

I was looking at the post above and also at the FEMA site. Of the courses that TESC accepts now most seem to work as described above. However, it looks like maybe half a dozen or so of these are interactive courses (mostly 10 hours, but some are 4). My question for you is, have you taken any of these interactive courses, and do they work the same way (i.e. can you have the interactive course open while taking the final exam)? If not, what do you suggest? Unfortunately, there aren't enough courses to fulfill all my remaining electives if I only take the courses that use .PDFs. Many thanks in advance for all your help.

[Lindagerr]

From your first post you mentioned your age and talked about diminishing returns. It does not matter these days what age you are if you can get your foot in the door and prove your knowledge and experience during the interview. I started my journey when I was 52 but I took my time and goofed off for months at a time. I was 56 when I finally earned my BA. I know my degree has helped me in the market place (I don't have a job yet my I moved to another state and have not been looking very hard). My point is keep going and don't look back I had done a year of Nursing school that was not RA accredited so I lost those credits, I had over 30 years experience in a lab so I thought I could do PLA's but that turned out to be more trouble then it was worth. I did Many test and 2 TESC courses. I bought very few textbooks I used IC flashcards practice test and study guides some people were nice enough to give me for free. One of the resources I found most helpful was the specific exam feedback from this forum, it can really help focus your study.

As for the FEMA courses I found I could do both the old style and the new style (interactive) in about half the time they predicted and still learn plenty. Personally I did not like Straighterline courses too much reading and going through boring slides. I only took one course that way I bought my book used, and I did the course in less than a month it just took a lot of stern talking to myself to spend the time.

Don't let the frustrations discourage you keep your eye on the finish line and take one step at a time.

[soliloquy]

Hi Cookderosa/Jennifer,

I was looking at the post above and also at the FEMA site. Of the courses that TESC accepts now most seem to work as described above. However, it looks like maybe half a dozen or so of these are interactive courses (mostly 10 hours, but some are 4). My question for you is, have you taken any of these interactive courses, and do they work the same way (i.e. can you have the interactive course open while taking the final exam)? If not, what do you suggest? Unfortunately, there aren't enough courses to fulfill all my remaining electives if I only take the courses that use .PDFs. Many thanks in advance for all your help.

I was able to finish the interactive courses by reading everything within 2 days. It didn't take me 10 hours. If you are taking the tests to actually learn the material, the interactive doesn't take any longer than the ones that have zip files of word documents or pdf's to download. The slideshow type presentation actually goes pretty fast and makes it more interesting in my opinion. However, I guess people have been using the .pdf (without reading it) and then taking the test as though it's open book. I'm not judging because I understand the end game but I think you miss learning so much by doing that. *shrug*

Anyway, my point is once again if you are reading the material...interactive doesn't take any longer than .pdf. If the goal is to just use the .pdf to take the test...then yeah...interactive takes longer.

[Sharebearg]

Lemurian Spirit, DId you end up taking the educational psychology clep? I am taking mine this week and wanted to know what you thought about it, I tried to private message, for some reason not working, I am a paying member. Any pointers or what helped you to study?ALso for the liberal arts capstone, I just finished mine, any advice pm me.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Hey Sharebearg, et al,

I did indeed PASS the Introduction to Educational Psychology CLEP exam today--with a 59. This wasn't the best score, but now that I have less study time (not to mention that between the time I started studying for this exam I lost my job, had a fender bender, went through losing half my credits, and got a TEXT from my landlady to inform me of my rent going up) I'm just happy to have passed this one at all. Thanks bunches everyone for all your help. Now, apart from the FEMAs, I have seven more requirements. I think I'm going to take two Straighterline courses because I think I will be able to get through these faster and knock out three requirements this month and next.

Thanks bunches for all the support everyone!