I give!!!!

[MomOf2]

Okay - I am just about to give up. I have tried 5 times to get me degree plan approved and this is the last email received -

I realize that you have taken a lot of time to lay out your entire plan for you business degree. However, Excelsior College usually approves course and exam credits on a term or two basis, but not an entire degree program at one time. As a result, you will want to identify the coures and exams you plan to pursue in the next term and contact our School of Business for official approval. The reason for this is that courses and exams change or are discontinued and may no longer be available by the time that you are prepared or decide to pursue them. For your courses, you will want to provide course numbers as well as titles.


How am I supposed to get my plan in order if she will not tell me it is approved and that the courses I have mapped out will work? Also - how am I supposed to provide course numbers and titles when it is for example -
DSST Introduction to Business (3)
DSST Human Resource Management (3)
DSST Introduction to Computing (3)
DSST Principles of Supervision (3)

Has anyone else had a Business degree plan approved or did you get the same story?

[cookderosa]

Okay - I am just about to give up. I have tried 5 times to get me degree plan approved and this is the last email received -

I realize that you have taken a lot of time to lay out your entire plan for you business degree. However, Excelsior College usually approves course and exam credits on a term or two basis, but not an entire degree program at one time. As a result, you will want to identify the coures and exams you plan to pursue in the next term and contact our School of Business for official approval. The reason for this is that courses and exams change or are discontinued and may no longer be available by the time that you are prepared or decide to pursue them. For your courses, you will want to provide course numbers as well as titles.


How am I supposed to get my plan in order if she will not tell me it is approved and that the courses I have mapped out will work? Also - how am I supposed to provide course numbers and titles when it is for example -
DSST Introduction to Business (3)
DSST Human Resource Management (3)
DSST Introduction to Computing (3)
DSST Principles of Supervision (3)

Has anyone else had a Business degree plan approved or did you get the same story?

>>


I love advisors

[malcs]

EC does not work like that. Colleges like Empire SUNY do, and your first 3 credit course is planning your degree. This is due to Empire's lack of standard degrees.

I would go by the catalog, and then just have two exams in their approval queue at any time. Each time you complete one, ask them to approve another.

If you are going to take a significant amount of time to finish your degree, ensure that you get approval for each course along the way. EC tends to change the deal as time goes on if you operate without their guidance. I originally did not get approvals and it cost me a whole bunch of credits.

Also, make sure you get the level and bin that the credit drops into documented in an email. EC does not always go by the CLEP guidlines.


ALSO, give them a kick every once in a while to rework your current status. They ususally do this after a few exams are completed, but you should send them a friendly reminder.


EC does provide a great service, and you will get into their flow after a while. They may seem difficult at times, but the regular universities often treat you in an even less personal manner.

Welcome to the world of DIY education planning. You will be a master in no time!

[retake]

I was always under the impression that the school can't change the degree requirements on you once you declare your major. Is this not true with Excelsior?

[malcs]

I was always under the impression that the school can't change the degree requirements on you once you declare your major. Is this not true with Excelsior?

They can't, unless you take too long or you let your membership lapse. I don't know how long you can be inactive before they require a new evaluation of credits, but it happened to me. In my prior enrollment they apportioned credits for GREs in different ways, and they allowed transfer of D grades, etc. I also lost credit because they claimed that some courses overlapped, which did not at an earlier time.

In a way I ended up better off. Losing a couple of D's moved my average above 3.0, and I made up the GRE credits with DSST and ECE exams. I now have a 3.2 average and a transcript that shows all regular courses that will be universally accepted.

[skyfall123]

How am I supposed to get my plan in order if she will not tell me it is approved and that the courses I have mapped out will work? Also - how am I supposed to provide course numbers and titles when it is for example -
DSST Introduction to Business (3)
DSST Human Resource Management (3)
DSST Introduction to Computing (3)
DSST Principles of Supervision (3)

Has anyone else had a Business degree plan approved or did you get the same story?

The Excelsior Business catalog specifies exactly which CLEP, DSST, ECE, TECEP exams will apply to their business degrees. You don't need an adviser to figure that out and there is no disputing whether the exams are accepted or not. It is written in black and white.

In the past, the CLEP accounting went from a 6 credit combined Financial & Managerial Acct to a 3 credit Fin Acct only. You could also test out of the Business Policy using a TECEP, now you have to take the Excelsior course.
ACE courses get phased out all the time.TECEP's and ECE's get phased out. These are some of the examples that may explain why you can't get a complete course and test approval in advance.

Since you can currently test out of everything except Business Policy then the only thing that should be up in the air is the concentration. In that instance if you need course approval, you just provide a course number and link to either another college or give the ACE credit information. Excelsior usually got back to me within 24 hours and approved all but one course.

[barcotta]

Geezer's advice is right on. I didn't have any trouble getting approvals. In fact, in one case, I got my approvals on the phone while I was on my way to test out of some music courses at my local community college that morning. You can look at my business degree plan by clicking on the "My Excelsior Degree Journey" link below to get an idea. I didn't attempt to get everything approved at once. In fact, I don't think I got any of the exams approved. I just followed the catalog.

My plan will likely still work with the exception of the Business Strategy course which is now required. Otherwise, substitute in a few humanities courses for my music courses and that should be close.

It sounds like you've already spent way too much time on this. Every moment you spend studying is getting you closer to your degree. Every moment you spend trying to confirm the entire plan is not. Even if you end up with an extra test or course in there somewhere--I promise you that you will reach your goal sooner by confirming your next couple of steps and moving forward. Good luck!

[marianne202]

I will say that maybe I'm foolish or crazy, but unless I have to get an ECE approved to be able to register I don't get any of my CLEP / DSST exams approved. I just go by the catalog of accepted exams and do them. I have never had an issue with any of them being applied. I just finished my AS with EC and moved into my BS with them and since I had a month between conferral and when I could enroll into the BS program my HS advisor approved 4 CLEP / DSST exams & 2 EC courses so I had something to work with while I was in limbo. I do ask when I have a question, like I wanted to take HTYH and Substance abuse but for both degrees I already has my applied professional / health sciences electives done, so it wouldn't apply. I thought they would fall under the natural science elective, but no such luck! I know my LA advisor told me that each advisor has like 300-400 students to oversee, so I guess the business side has more students per advisor and they just don't want to extend themselves out that far. If you follow the catalog and know the exams are accepted and where EC puts them as far as credit you will be ok. Just keep up with your needed credits on your transcript or summary page. Good luck! PS: I took another DSST today without approval! Living on the edge I guess!

[P00057870]

I tried again to send you a PM. Hopefully it is there waiting for you.

Judy

[bat21]

They can be difficult just spell it out them in plain English, and keep copies of everything!