Excelsior Degree help!!!

[rcl252]

First of all I have to say thank you to InstantCert and all of you on this forum..You guys have been so unbelievably helpfull in my pursuit of my degree. The only bad part is knowing the fact that for so slong I had no clue these options existed and could have had my degree many years ago..
Couple questions..I need some help with my course selection for my Finance degree. I know most people wait until they have most of there credits. If I plan on finishing my degree this year anyway is there any sense in waiting to enroll instead of enrolling and just getting the Excelior advisor help? I also was wondering if the finance degree can be obtained totally through testing or if maybe someone has a degree plan for finance. If I plan on getting my Masters does it really matter if my undergrad is general business or finance anyway?

I have 23 credits from previous college experience

ENG 101 INTRODUCTION TO WRITING 3
ENG 102 EXPOSITORY AND RESEARCH WRITING 3
MATH 109 PRECALCULAS 3
HIST 142 WESTERN CIVILIZATION 3
BIOL 101 CONCEPTS OF BIOLOGY 4
PHIL 140 CONTEMPORARY MORAL ISSUES 3
MATH 111 College Math 4

and have passed the following clep/dantes

BMGT 110 INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 3
ECON 201 PRINCIPLE OF MACROECONMOICS 3
ECON 203 PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS 3
IFSM 201 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER BASED SYSTEMS 3
ACCT 220 PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING 3
PSYC 100 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY 3

[blueyzz28]

I am not sure if you could completely test out of a finance degree. You can take DSST Finance and DSST Money and Banking. Both count towards a finance degree, the Finance would fulfill the core requirement of all business majors and the Money and Banking would fulfill one of your upper-level business courses that you will need.

You should be aware that you will need to take Excelsior's Business Strategy course. They changed their policy and if you were not enrolled by September 1, 2007, you now have to take their course. The only exception was for those already enrolled and they must take an exam or course before September 1, 2008 or they will need to take the Excelsior course.

[skyfall123]

If I plan on getting my Masters does it really matter if my undergrad is general business or finance anyway?

In my opinion no.

One thing that I found in testing out of the business classes was that I really enjoyed the change of pace that the unrelated subject tests offered. There are three 6 credit CLEP's that I think you should have no problem knocking off....and they will help with the general credit requirements that you will need.

Go buy the $25 comprehensive Official CLEP guide. It contains sample/practice tests for around 20 subjects. This will be a good gauge for plotting your lower level credits. After reviewing that book, you may find that you can, with minimal studying, pass the 6 credit Social Sciences & History, 6 credit Humanities, and 6 credit A & I Literature. Those three can knock off 18 credits for around $210 bucks. (the 6 credit CLEP's are the same cost as the 3 credit CLEP's). There are another two 6 credit CLEP's that I think you could benefit from as well. It's a great way to knock off the lower level credits.

Go to the Excelsior site and register. You will then have access to the catalogues which spell out the requirements for each Business Degree and your lower level requirements.

Good luck!

[rcl252]

Thanks for the input..I am definitely interested in taking those 6 credit courses. I just wasnt sure if I was able to take them because I was worried about them being duplicates of some of my credits earned through traditional learning..

[skyfall123]

Thanks for the input..I am definitely interested in taking those 6 credit courses. I just wasnt sure if I was able to take them because I was worried about them being duplicates of some of my credits earned through traditional learning..

I initially thought the same thing, but Excelsior still counted the Social Sciences and History as 6 credits even though I had previously taken (B&M) Intro to Sociology, American History and Western Civ. I didn't even study and passed with room to spare. It's very general in nature. I think the only potential conflict would be if you took B&M courses named Humanities I and Humanities II, then took the 6 credit Humanities CLEP. You may not be able to get away with the 6 credit College Mathmatics since you already have college math credit, but I think most of the other 6 credit CLEP's would fly.

I personally didn't enroll until I had around 80-85 credits and knew I would finish in another 5 months, and only did it then because I wanted to be able to test out of the Business Policy TECEP.

There are a lot of people on the forum enrolled in the Excelsior Business programs that can help answer questions.