Excelsior: We'll tell you if you enroll

[PeteDude]

So, thinking it might be quicker to finish my A.S. at Associate's, I send them my transcripts and application fee, and away went the app.

Five weeks later, they've given a nice evaluation, save for one thing: they completely ignored the Information Literacy class I took at a community college.

I send an E-mail asking why, and they tell me (paraphrased): "Upon enrollment, we'll research this class to see if it meets the requirements."

Anybody else gotten this sort of response? Thoughts?

[gcalvin]

That doesn't sound terribly unreasonable to me. If you took a course called Information Literacy at a community college, then it's a pretty safe bet that it will fulfill your Excelsior IL requirement. By "pretty safe" I mean higher than 95% but that's just my guess. I've never heard of Excelsior throwing out a community college IL course, but like Excelsior, I don't know anything about the particular course you took or the CC where you took it. They'll have to do a little research, and they're not going to do that "on spec" -- they'll only do it if you enroll.

So other than Information Literacy, how do things look? If you end up having to re-take IL at Excelsior ($300 and two days work if you take your time doing it) would that make it a worse deal than your alternatives? Factor that into your decision making, make your call, then don't look back.

If you're thinking "they just want to squeeze me for a little more money" then all I can say is that I've never known Excelsior to be like that. In my time with Excelsior, there have been no hidden fees and no surprise requirements. The fact that they really do investigate and evaluate courses that they haven't already evaluated should actually give you some comfort. It means that they take their role seriously. It means that their regional accreditation stands for something.

-Gary-

[Kiwi Lover]

I send an E-mail asking why, and they tell me (paraphrased): "Upon enrollment, we'll research this class to see if it meets the requirements."

PeteDude,

I had a similar situation before I enrolled, although it was for a different class. The impression I got when I first started out is that the "unofficial evaluation" is just that...unofficial. It will give you a fairly good idea on where you stand, but it's not going to be as thorough as the evaluation they'll do once you're enrolled.

For example: the unofficial evaluation I received back told me that they accepted several classes I'd had when I went to community college years ago. Yet when it came time for the official evaluation, that wasn't the case! But that can work both ways. So when they say "Upon enrollment, we'll research this class to see if it meets the requirements", I wouldn't be surprised if they accepted it even if they didn't count it during the unofficial eval.

JoAnne

[PeteDude]

Thanks, all, for helping me calm down a little. . .

So other than Information Literacy, how do things look?. . .

It means that they take their role seriously. It means that their regional accreditation stands for something.

I actually came out quite well. I probably have 60+ credits available between transfer sources, and they said I only needed 4.5. I will likely look into having some certification credits assessed.

I would hate to sign up, have them not approve the class, then have to appeal. That would eat the time advantage over COSC (which I am waiting to get through some math requirement for, thus the switch to Excelsior).

. . .I wouldn't be surprised if they accepted it even if they didn't count it during the unofficial eval. . .

The most frustrating thing, probably, was that Charter Oak had approved the course even without my being enrolled. I guess that's just how the Big 3 operate differently.

Gary's right, though-- this does probably mean they're taking their course approvals seriously.

[Chica]

Excelsior...
With my unofficial they had all of my courses accepted towards my degree. And when I officially enrolled they moved 2 of my upper level classes from a state univeristy to the lower level leaving me with 21 upper level credits to complete rather than 15.

Also, they didn't accept 4 credit hours from my community college on my official (but they had accepted them on the unofficial). Im not mad this one. The CC credits were electives.

All in all I am satisfied with enrolling in Excelsior. I just have more upper level credits (more ECE exams to take than I anticipated, 4 rather than 2) which is a bummer on my wallet.

I like the program...the customer service is excellent! They are VERY quick with replies and updating my records. So not too many complaints

[originalbigjim]

My excelsior experience was less than perfect but I still think they are the best thing since sliced bread. I actually had many blunders and I think I complained many times both to them and here on the forum. The fact remains without them I would be no where near done with my bachelors or even my associates. IMO Excelsior has the best program going because of their minimal math requirement and the fact they work really well with the military. I am about 33% done with my masters and I can contribute that success to excelsior. I wish I would have taken their advice and went with the liberal studies instead of political science because I would have finished a lot sooner. ANYWAYS I have and will continue to recommend excelsior to my friends and coworkers as a quick but not painless way to get your degree.

[PeteDude]

I enrolled, and got an official evaluation back after 4 weeks.

EC asked that I submit a syllabus for the class in question, and about a week later, they approved it. With that, I qualified for degree conferral in November.

They mistakenly put a CIS class into the Social Sciences-- I'll have to have them fix that.

[dc67]

Is that all you had to do was send a syllabus in? Did you have to initiate it or did they? I am waiting on my official eval and I have a class I think should take the place of the Information Literacy class. It has been a couple of weeks so hopefully I will hear something sooner than expected.

[PeteDude]

EC asked me for a syllabus. I guess they needed it to research the class to see if it would meet criteria.

I'm hoping other SoCal students will be able to take the same course (from Mira Costa College) in the future for EC requirements.