Newbie EC GPA Question

[Dig]

Hi everyone! I am new to this forum and online programs in general. I am curious as to how EC or the other 2 in the big 3 determine GPA for their students.

I will be applying for an officers commission in the USAF when I finish my degree and it requires that I have a degree that has a GPA.

Also, I have 39 hours from a brick and mortar University of Texas school. I have the following courses:

English Composition
English Rhetoric
History I
History II
Political Science I
College Algebra
Art Appreciation
Theater Appreciation
Technical Production II
Presentational Speaking
Linux/Unix Programming Environment
and a few others.

How many of these do you all think will xfer and be counted towards my degree at EC? Also, which program at EC is notoriously the easiest to get through? My degree at the UT school was going to be in mathematics, but I need one to check off on my OTS application now, so I am willing to major in just about anything.

Thanks in advance, guys!

[marianne202]

Welcome! EC will award you two GPA's. One will be your overall GPA which will include your previous course work they apply and your EC coursework, CLEPS/DSST etc. Then they also show your EC GPA for work completed just through them. I don't believe TESC will award you any GPA for courses transferred in or done through CLEP/DSST. I may be wrong, but I believe that is the policy I have seen mentioned here on the board.

EC will maximize the credits they can use. I would highly recommend that you sign up for free at their website and look at their catalogs. I wouldl think based on you have some arts and sciences you would be fastest to get a liberal studies degree. I used an assortment of old B&M credits and some CLEP/DSST exams to get my AS in liberal arts from EC last year, and just completed my BSLS with them using nothing more than CLEP/DSST exams and my old classes and EC exams along with one ALEKS algebra class. It took me 11 months to complete the BSLS. If you have more time to test, you could complete it much faster.

I would recommend that you look at their catalog and see the credit distribution chart, then print off Alissa's degree plan here on the board and fill it in. Then you will know where you stand.

Good luck!

[NAP]

Welcome to the forum!

Marianne mentioned Alissa's degree plan template for a BS in Liberal Studies. In case you have not found it already, here is the link:

http://www.degreeforum.net/62322-post10.html

You can choose to pursue just the BSLS (very flexible) or with some alterations to this plan you can include a major (30 credits) and/or a minor (area of focus - 21 credits).

[NAP]

I have read the TESC discussions about getting a GPA. Since TESC does not give a GPA for transfer credits, their students with lots of transfer credits have to decide whether getting a grade for one TESC course is worth it to them/grad school.

Since EC is unusual and uses grades from transfer credits towards a GPA, I had not considered needing an EC course/exam for an EC GPA. (I won't have one for the associate degree, but it is too soon to say what will happen with a bachelor's degree.) There are 2 GPAs calculated; what would be the pros and cons to having a GPA for transfer credits and no GPA for EC?

Thanks for your input on this.

[alissaroot]

I have read the TESC discussions about getting a GPA. Since TESC does not give a GPA for transfer credits, their students with lots of transfer credits have to decide whether getting a grade for one TESC course is worth it to them/grad school.

Since EC is unusual and uses grades from transfer credits towards a GPA, I had not considered needing an EC course/exam for an EC GPA. (I won't have one for the associate degree, but it is too soon to say what will happen with a bachelor's degree.) There are 2 GPAs calculated; what would be the pros and cons to having a GPA for transfer credits and no GPA for EC?

Thanks for your input on this.

The Uexcel exams are considered EC credit and count toward the Excelsior GPA, so I would recommend taking one of those for anyone who wants both an EC GPA and an overall GPA.

As for graduate school, if they have a problem they will contact you and ask you to consult with EC for a traditional GPA. I applied to Ball State earlier last year (changed my mind about attending) but they sent me a letter saying something like, "It appears the school you attended uses a non-traditional grading system. Please contact your school and provide us with a GPA calculation based on a traditional scoring system. Please do not let this deter your efforts to attend Ball State, we are willing to accept an approved GPA calculation based on your grades..." Of course I'm paraphrasing because I don't have the letter right here, but you could do a GPA calculation like TESC students who have no GPA and submit that with your grad school application.

[NAP]

Thank you Alissa! It is good to know there are options available.

[Dig]

Wow, thank you all for all the great information given in this thread!

I stumbled upon this website BS in 6 Months Roadmap, Month 1 (freshman courses) earlier today. Can you seasoned vets take a look at it and tell me if it is totally unfeasible and or if any EC policies have changed since the author created the write up.

Thanks

[TMW2010]

- CLEP English Comp w/ Essay or Excelsior's English Comp
Excelsior does not take CLEP English Comp anymore. Excelsior's English Comp ECE is $345. You can now take the Uexcel College Writing to fullfill this for $85, but its only 3 credits, so you'd have to adjust accordingly. Both the ECE and Uexcel test use the same software system for grading, and you get it free with signing up for the ECE or you can pay $30 for 90 days for practice for the Uexcel.
- CLEP Humanities
- CLEP Natural Sciences
- CLEP Social Sciences and History
Those three are fine
- CLEP College Algebra (or CLEP Algebra w/ Trig)
I'd recommend CLEP College Mathematics instead of College Alg, and any for other Math credits you might need, I'd suggest ALEKs instead.
- Enroll in Excelsior College's Information Literacy Course
Go with Penn Fosters Info Lit course instead, unless you just want to blow extra money. You can get it done in a couple hours, its only $90, and they'll send a transcript to Excelsior for free once the course is completed.

[TMW2010]

One thing I did notice was that the plan you were looking at was for a degree in business. This is why College Alg was in there instead of college math, because the degree requires a Precalc level math as one of its core classes, along with Statistics. I advocate going through ALEKs over CLEPing/DSSTing out of either of those, but that's just the way I see it.

And it looks like you don't have to worry about the Eng Comp requirements since you've already got that through the B&M credits you have.

[Dig]

One thing I did notice was that the plan you were looking at was for a degree in business. This is why College Alg was in there instead of college math, because the degree requires a Precalc level math as one of its core classes, along with Statistics. I advocate going through ALEKs over CLEPing/DSSTing out of either of those, but that's just the way I see it.

And it looks like you don't have to worry about the Eng Comp requirements since you've already got that through the B&M credits you have.

Thank you, TMW2010, for all of the help!

Mathematics and and statistics won't be a problem. I've studied all the way to calculus 3 by myself on my own time, so it's definitely my strongest point.