Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Fun Question
#1
Which one would you rather have?

When I completed my first set of degrees, there were limited options for earning credits. There was pretty much just CLEP, DSST, Penn Foster, Excelsior exams and TECEPs (they were more expensive), some little-known NCCRS options, and I think SL was just starting out. However, TESU only required a capstone for the BSBA and you could transfer it in, FEMAs were accepted, and CC courses could transfer in as UL. If you wanted to complete a major with few alternative options, you could use the Subject GRE tests to complete a whole major at Excelsior.

Now, we have TEEX, Davar, Study.com, CSU Global CBEs, etc, but there are residency requirements, Excelsior no longer accepts GRE tests, more capstones, and TESU has become stricter in what they'll accept as UL.

I think I'd rather have the first option. I paid a larger enrollment fee, but I didn't have to complete a capstone, and my CC courses filled up a good amount of my major. I probably would have finished a science degree at Excelsior if they still accepted the GRE. I might have even been able to finish one at TESU with CC courses, but they don't even have a natural science major anymore.

I do understand the reasons behind the changes.
Graduate of Not VUL or ENEB
MS, MSS and Graduate Cert
AAS, AS, BA, and BS
CLEP
Intro Psych 70, US His I 64, Intro Soc 63, Intro Edu Psych 70, A&I Lit 64, Bio 68, Prin Man 69, Prin Mar 68
DSST
Life Dev Psych 62, Fund Coun 68, Intro Comp 469, Intro Astr 56, Env & Hum 70, HTYH 456, MIS 451, Prin Sup 453, HRM 62, Bus Eth 458
ALEKS
Int Alg, Coll Alg
TEEX
4 credits
TECEP
Fed Inc Tax, Sci of Nutr, Micro, Strat Man, Med Term, Pub Relations
CSU
Sys Analysis & Design, Programming, Cyber
SL
Intro to Comm, Microbio, Acc I
Uexcel
A&P
Davar
Macro, Intro to Fin, Man Acc
#2
Option #1, which I call "the good ol' days". I was too late. I'm just happy I was into this before the capstone tecep got taken away. It seems that every year or two, changes are made that make it more difficult to earn degrees through them.

But they still beat the alternatives.
We are all on the same side here, trying to better our lives....so let's get along and help each other out. 

Learn a trade. Gain technical skills. Make money, then use this money to get a degree...if you have the desire. 


#3
My dumb answer, option #2 - I want it cheap/easy/fast. Free Credits (through Clep or DSST) and ACE/NCCRS credits for the win. I'm not sure if COSC and Excelsior would accept Shmoop, but since TESU does, it's the cheapest BALS anyone can get.

Literally, these are borderline diploma mill as most of the courses are either not proctored from Shmoop, or passable before the final from Straighterline. The only "course" to do is the TESU Capstone.

I have read many people refer the Big 3 as borderline diploma mill as there's only one course for the degree, the rest are transferred in! It doesn't really matter to me, as long as it's accredited.

I just feel sad that people bash Big 3 like some bash WGU, calling WGU a "fly by night school" and mentioning grads are incompetent in their IT skills. Those are the schools that give opportunities to those less fortunate, some academics just don't understand.

Times have changed, I still like the test-out-able option now more than it ever was, it's cheaper/easier/faster as a whole. I remember the "olden days" when Excelsior degrees can be had for under $1,500 a dozen years ago. But the exams were time-consuming to study for.
In Progress: Walden MBA | TESU BA Biology & Computer Science
Graduate Certificate: Global Management & Entrepreneurship, ASU (Freebie)

Completed: TESU ASNSM Biology, BSBA (ACBSP Accredited 2017)
Universidad Isabel I: ENEB MBA, Big Data & BI, Digital Marketing & E-Commerce
Certs: 6Sigma/Lean/Scrum, ITIL | Cisco/CompTIA/MTA | Coursera/Edx/Udacity

The Basic Approach | Plans | DegreeForum Community Supported Wiki
~Note~ Read/Review forum posts & Wiki Links to Sample Degree Plans
Degree Planning Advice | New To DegreeForum? How This Area Works

[Image: e7P9EJ4.jpeg]
[-] The following 1 user Likes bjcheung77's post:
  • Nixi
#4
I rarely spent more than a week studying for an exam, so I didn't see them as time-consuming. The only inconvenience was driving to a test center.
Graduate of Not VUL or ENEB
MS, MSS and Graduate Cert
AAS, AS, BA, and BS
CLEP
Intro Psych 70, US His I 64, Intro Soc 63, Intro Edu Psych 70, A&I Lit 64, Bio 68, Prin Man 69, Prin Mar 68
DSST
Life Dev Psych 62, Fund Coun 68, Intro Comp 469, Intro Astr 56, Env & Hum 70, HTYH 456, MIS 451, Prin Sup 453, HRM 62, Bus Eth 458
ALEKS
Int Alg, Coll Alg
TEEX
4 credits
TECEP
Fed Inc Tax, Sci of Nutr, Micro, Strat Man, Med Term, Pub Relations
CSU
Sys Analysis & Design, Programming, Cyber
SL
Intro to Comm, Microbio, Acc I
Uexcel
A&P
Davar
Macro, Intro to Fin, Man Acc
#5
I think that option 1 would appeal to anyone who has existing credits. Someone starting near scratch, or who wants a particular degree, will appreciate the available cheap online courses in option 2.

To me, I feel like the minimum someone should have to do is a real capstone... After all I want people to respect my degree. They won't if the standard drops too far.
NanoDegree: Intro to Self-Driving Cars (2019)
Coursera: Stanford Machine Learning (2019)
TESU: BA in Comp Sci (2016)
TECEP:Env Ethics (2015); TESU PLA:Software Eng, Computer Arch, C++, Advanced C++, Data Struct (2015); TESU Courses:Capstone, Database Mngmnt Sys, Op Sys, Artificial Intel, Discrete Math, Intro to Portfolio Dev, Intro PLA (2014-16); DSST:Anthro, Pers Fin, Astronomy (2014); CLEP:Intro to Soc (2014); Saylor.org:Intro to Computers (2014); CC: 69 units (1980-88)

PLA Tips Thread - TESU: What is in a Portfolio?
[-] The following 3 users Like davewill's post:
  • hsfamfun, Joeman200, Nixi
#6
(11-19-2017, 09:51 PM)davewill Wrote: I think that option 1 would appeal to anyone who has existing credits. Someone starting near scratch, or who wants a particular degree, will appreciate the available cheap online courses in option 2.

To me, I feel like the minimum someone should have to do is a real capstone... After all I want people to respect my degree. They won't if the standard drops too far.


I agree with everything Dave's said. I'm thankful I got to transfer in Penn Foster's Strategic Management in place of the capstone though, because that saved me a lot of money and time and allowed me to graduate on my goal date.

If I remember correctly, option 1 would have a lack of remote proctoring (like ProctorU/Examity) for most of the credit options right?  If that's the case, then option 2 would be what I'd pick. Traveling to a proctoring center and scheduling in advance is such a hassle.
#7
Only having had the last option, I can't really compare. But, at least in the case of a liberal arts degree with an eye on grad school, I recommend taking the capstone. It helps you brush up on current APA guidelines. There is so much writing in grad school for some degrees that at least if you've had the capstone you've got the knowledge under your belt. I had 80+ credits already but most of those earned 20+ years ago. I already had real life experience and all of the courses I took to finish up were kind of a joke - even the capstone (no one writes an APA paper in six different modules over three months). The only change I wish they allowed was being able to submit a capstone paper in a self-paced course so that it's not dragged out over such a long period of time. That was really brutal. For getting the degree I got I'm glad I could finish up so quickly. For multiple degrees it's nice too. I'm just glad I got in when I did. With degree changes and requirements getting stricter I can only imagine this process is going to change even further. Five years from now the advice we give will be totally different.
MTS             Nations University - September 2018
BA.LS.SS     Thomas Edison State University -September 2017
#8
Too bad they do not have an option:

Option 1 (old school) 100% transfer in all RA credits for a degree option (no exams allowed). No Capstone or any course from the Big 3.

Option 2 (new school) Capstone if you use any exams or non-RA F2F credits.
Non-Traditional Undergraduate College Credits (634 SH): *FTCC Noncourse Credits (156 SH) *DSST (78 SH) *CPL (64 SH) *JST Military/ACE (48 SH) *CBA (44 SH) *CLEP (42 SH) *FEMA IS (40 SH) *FEMA EM (38 SH) *ECE/UExcel (30 SH) *PLA Portfolio (28 SH) *EMI/ACE (19 SH) *TEEX/ACE (16 SH) *CWE (11 SH) *NFA/ACE (10 SH) *Kaplan/ACE (3 SH) *CPC (2 SH) *AICP/ACE (2 SH) *Sophia/ACE (2 SH) and *FRTI-UM/ACE (1 SH).
Non-Traditional Graduate College Credits (14 SH): AMU (6 SH); NFHS (5 SH); and JSU (3 SH).
 





#9
My masters program used Chicago Style; it's not common, though.

(11-19-2017, 11:46 PM)rlw74 Wrote: Only having had the last option, I can't really compare. But, at least in the case of a liberal arts degree with an eye on grad school, I recommend taking the capstone. It helps you brush up on current APA guidelines. There is so much writing in grad school for some degrees that at least if you've had the capstone you've got the knowledge under your belt. I had 80+ credits already but most of those earned 20+ years ago. I already had real life experience and all of the courses I took to finish up were kind of a joke - even the capstone (no one writes an APA paper in six different modules over three months). The only change I wish they allowed was being able to submit a capstone paper in a self-paced course so that it's not dragged out over such a long period of time. That was really brutal. For getting the degree I got I'm glad I could finish up so quickly. For multiple degrees it's nice too. I'm just glad I got in when I did. With degree changes and requirements getting stricter I can only imagine this process is going to change even further. Five years from now the advice we give will be totally different.
Graduate of Not VUL or ENEB
MS, MSS and Graduate Cert
AAS, AS, BA, and BS
CLEP
Intro Psych 70, US His I 64, Intro Soc 63, Intro Edu Psych 70, A&I Lit 64, Bio 68, Prin Man 69, Prin Mar 68
DSST
Life Dev Psych 62, Fund Coun 68, Intro Comp 469, Intro Astr 56, Env & Hum 70, HTYH 456, MIS 451, Prin Sup 453, HRM 62, Bus Eth 458
ALEKS
Int Alg, Coll Alg
TEEX
4 credits
TECEP
Fed Inc Tax, Sci of Nutr, Micro, Strat Man, Med Term, Pub Relations
CSU
Sys Analysis & Design, Programming, Cyber
SL
Intro to Comm, Microbio, Acc I
Uexcel
A&P
Davar
Macro, Intro to Fin, Man Acc
#10
I have a combo: I got the residency requirement completed with 5 TECEP's, the cornerstone, and the capstone (which I'm doing now). I appreciate not having to pay the $1800 RW on top of the full-priced capstone (I failed the TECEP).

As someone whose old brain doesn't work as well as it used to for tests, I appreciate all of the additional methods of taking courses. I just cannot do tests like I used to be able to, and I'm not disciplined in my studying (life really gets in the way). Also, for anyone who didn't have easy access to CLEP/DSST exam centers, it was pretty difficult to do things the old way. I'm certainly glad there are other options now.

I am also almost (but not quite) glad that I'm taking the Capstone. It is easier than I thought in some ways (I've gotten great grades on the Case Studies, and find them interesting to work on), harder in others (hate the discussion questions, too much work for a small part of the grade, and all of this THINKING makes my brain hurt sometimes, LOL).

I agree with davewill, if you're starting from scratch, having more options is better, and they don't even really know the difference.

Also, I think there are more degrees you can test out of now, with the additional options (Propero, CSU-Global).

It's a mixed bag - pros and cons to both options.
TESU BSBA/HR 2018 - WVNCC BOG AAS 2017 - GGU Cert in Mgmt 2000
EXAMS: TECEP Tech Wrtg, Comp II, LA Math, PR, Computers  DSST Computers, Pers Fin  CLEP Mgmt, Mktg
COURSES: TESU Capstone  Study.com Pers Fin, Microecon, Stats  Ed4Credit Acct 2  PF Fin Mgmt  ALEKS Int & Coll Alg  Sophia Proj Mgmt The Institutes - Ins Ethics  Kaplan PLA


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  TESU Enrollment Question mysonx3 8 3,616 09-19-2018, 11:16 AM
Last Post: jsd
  Courses/Exams at a Cheaper Price and TESU Admissions Question UnbreakablyDetermined 12 4,392 09-09-2018, 08:41 PM
Last Post: davewill
  GPA Question mysonx3 10 2,619 08-26-2018, 11:51 AM
Last Post: katelynn
  Question about TESU UL Requirements mysonx3 1 1,717 08-21-2018, 10:09 PM
Last Post: dfrecore
  TESU Equivalency Question dexter1326 4 1,958 08-16-2018, 07:01 PM
Last Post: Merlin
  TESU Course equivalency question. jbwyo 6 1,969 08-10-2018, 11:00 PM
Last Post: dfrecore
  COSC Individualised Studies Question Tedium 12 2,795 08-01-2018, 07:06 AM
Last Post: Tedium
  Replacing LL with UL duplicate course question (COSC) ReyMysterioso 6 1,997 07-07-2018, 10:58 AM
Last Post: topdog98
  COSC transfer question Paramedic12 8 1,940 06-29-2018, 08:45 AM
Last Post: Tedium
  TESU Question about recording CLEP exams SamCes 5 1,615 06-29-2018, 08:26 AM
Last Post: mdel210201

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)