FEEEEEED UP with Excelsior/ Written English Requirement

[daniellevine]

Just kill this thread... I don't even want to see it any more.

[JanusthePhoenix]

Wow. They really want you to spend those few hundred bucks on the ECE, don't they? Good luck, I hope you win this one in the end.

[marianne202]

I'm so sorry to hear about all your problems with EC. I have had good luck in one school, but horrible experience with another school there. I think the advisor or area matters most. I understand that you feel you have exceeded their writing requirement, but each school has the right to accept or reject any course from another school. I would think it would be easier to just add the course back on and take another quick CLEP to make up the extra credits. What about a Penn Foster or SL english? Will they accept either? I took basic english 101 a long time ago and they used that, so I didn't have to mess with any of this. I do know that before graduation is approved your transcript has to go to an academic evaluation specialist for final approval. Maybe you can ask to speak to that person, since they would have the final say on what would be accepted. I know how hard it is when you are so close you can feel it, but something doesn't go as planned, I just had that happen to me at EC. It worked out, but I had to have patience and talk things through with them. Try to step back and view it from their point of view. They on the line to their auditors to prove you met the requirements if asked. So they are just trying to cover themselves and protect you with degree that means something for a long time to come. If they lose their accreditation, it won't matter in the eyes of a grad school or employer if they check out your degree. I would call again and try to talk to someone else. Ask for specific policy and requirements in writing, so if you get them what they are asking for, they can't change their mind or the rules again! Do they have a writing exam you can take? I'm sorry for this frustration, but I was there last week with them. Try to stay positive and realize that non-traditional means doing things in a non-traditional way all around! Keep us posted on how this turns out. Have a mojito and everything will look better tomorrow! milelol:

[cookderosa]

Never in my life have I been so frustrated while dealing with an academic institution. I just want to recap my last couple of days on the phone for hours with the Excelsior staff.

Here's the situation. I am almost ready to graduate. I basically just need two more CLEPs and the written English requirement. I have already transferred eight English courses (five upper level), English Composition CLEP (without essay), and proof of an "English Proficiency" exam that I took from a former university which allowed me to bypass freshman composition.

I also had "College Writing." However, I asked them to remove it because it was a "C" and hurt my GPA, and more importantly because if I use that course, I won't be allowed to use the CLEP exam, and I would then end up with 3 less credits and a worse GPA. It makes sense to drop it.

I was told by Excelsior to contact University of Southern Maine, my former school, and have them write a letter stating that I've met their writing requirement. USM basically laughed at this since my transcript so obviously showed that I had satisfied the requirement. They told me they don't write letters in addition to the transcript, but that someone had to be "stupid" not to see that I didn't need a letter, and that even without "College Writing" I had sufficiently met their requirement.

I called Excelsior back today and went through a used-car salesman type of exchange. Here's how the exchange went.

1. I referred them to my transcript and the "English Proficiency" grade. They told me that this was insufficient and recommended that I take their course, or put my "C" grade back on the transcript, giving me 3 less credits and negating the CLEP exam.

2. I had to bring up another clause in their rules, which is that you can meet the requirement by taking 2 "Writing Intensive" courses. The adviser hesitantly told me that this could work, but it wasn't enough for the classes to be "writing intensive." They must be specifically designated as "Writing Intensive" by USM in clear, unambiguous wording with no synonyms allowed.

3. I googled for a long time until I found the USM course catalog online, whereupon I found an extremely clear list of specific "Writing Intensive" courses for the university. Luckily for me, two of my courses fell into that category. Writing requirement fulfilled... right?

The Core Curriculum | Undergraduate Catalog 2009-2010 | University of Southern Maine

4. I called back and spoke to another adviser, despite asking for the original adviser. He looked at the website and told me that the courses were "Writing Intensive," but since it's just a weblink, he probably couldn't accept them.

5. I called back again, this time referring him to an official PDF document from the school, again stating without any ambiguity that these two courses are specifically writing intensive.

http://www.usm.maine.edu/catalogs/underg...s/core.pdf

6. This time he told me that he didn't think they could accept them since they are "not the type of courses we usually accept." I basically lost my cool at that point, pointing out all the contradictions in our conversations and asking him to explain how their policy can continually contradict itself. He continually kept telling me to put "College Writing" back on my transcript, despite my repeated objections that I will then not be able to use 6 credits for the CLEP exam. I don't think he was very good at math or logic.

7. He put the original adviser on the phone. She told me that, even though these courses are designated as "Writing Intensive", that is irrelevant because she will need to see the original syllabus from 2003! She said she will have to read through the syllabus and make the determination if these classes are "Writing Intensive." She told me that I should call the school and ask them for transcripts that are 7 years old. I objected that transcripts are subjectively produced by professors, not as objective as course catalogs, and might not say "Writing Intensive" since the course is already designated with a "W"!. Further, I pointed out that the entire point of me scrounging through the internet for proof of Writing Intensive courses was because I was told that course writeups don't matter to begin with. I have taken upper level courses on Shakespeare, Kubrick, Foucault, Restoration Literature, James Joyce, and the American Novel. According to her, those courses don't count because they are not designated "Writing Intensive" while courses designated "Writing Intensive" don't count because they need to be reviewed subjectively with an original syllabus from 2003.

I guess I'll write off this day to trying to talk to someone sane. I'm going to call back and speak to a supervisor. I've written some glowing things about Excelsior, but this is absolutely absurd.

UPDATE: I spoke to Susan Moyer, the department director. She was very nice and told me that she would personally call USM tomorrow to confirm that the Writing Intensive courses have not changed since 20003. I can definitely live with that and it makes sense to me. Additionally she told me that she will change the next edition of the course catalog to avoid confusion about the "Proficiency Exam", as it is currently not clear (it doesn't state the exam needs to bear credits.) I am still not happy with the overall experience and advisers who are lacking common sense, but I am pleased that the issue will ultimately addressed.

Consider this a test. I took a few myself. It's just a test- how far are you willing to go in order to earn this piece of paper? It's crap and it's BS. I have said it more than once- the main difference between someone who finishes college and one who drops out is their willingness to put up with bull excrement.
Have a glass of wine and think about something else for 24 hours.:leaving:

[cookderosa]

Have a mojito and everything will look better tomorrow! milelol:

I just realized you suggested a cocktail and I suggested wine-people might get the impression that we are a bunch of drunks cheersmate