General Question about DANTES credit transfer

[awake1563]

I'm obviously a n00b here, but I want to say I appreciate all the resources there are here.

Here's my question, after exhausting the search function to no avail:

At one point I remember reading on these forums that there was a college/institution that would award credit for DANTES exams, in such a way that you got a letter grade, and on transcripts, it looked exactly the same as if you had actually taken the class. Does anyone know of a college that does this?



The rest of the story: I'm trying to get into a nursing program at a community college - they require public speaking, and I only have interpersonal communication. They don't accept DANTES for public speaking. I'm looking for an institution that will accept DANTES public speaking, and make it appear as if I took the class with them as far as transcripts go, so that I can transfer it to the comm college. I do realize that I'll want to have the comm college "pre"-evaluate the institution's public speaking class, as well as verify that the transcript will look the same before I act on it.

If you made it this far, you are a gentle(wo)man and a scholar, and I thank you. Please enlighten me.

[Yenisei]

With the caveat that this is not an expert opinion, I think it's Excelsior that awards grades for some, but not all, DSST exams. However, AFAIK, that's for students graduating from Excelsior only- the grade is not transferable.

[marianne202]

Excelsior does award letter grades for the DSST exams that still have a two digit score, while the 3 digit scored exams are now pass/fail like the CLEP exams. I believe you would have to be registered as a student which would cost you more than just taking the class. You may want to call around and see if any other schools in your area will accept the DSST as a letter grade or as credit by exam, even as a pass/fail, credit by exam or CE is acceptable at almost every school, especially if isn't part of your core or concentration classes and this certainly wouldn't be for nursing. Just a thought. Good luck!

[cookderosa]

I'm obviously a n00b here, but I want to say I appreciate all the resources there are here.

Here's my question, after exhausting the search function to no avail:

At one point I remember reading on these forums that there was a college/institution that would award credit for DANTES exams, in such a way that you got a letter grade, and on transcripts, it looked exactly the same as if you had actually taken the class. Does anyone know of a college that does this?



The rest of the story: I'm trying to get into a nursing program at a community college - they require public speaking, and I only have interpersonal communication. They don't accept DANTES for public speaking. I'm looking for an institution that will accept DANTES public speaking, and make it appear as if I took the class with them as far as transcripts go, so that I can transfer it to the comm college. I do realize that I'll want to have the comm college "pre"-evaluate the institution's public speaking class, as well as verify that the transcript will look the same before I act on it.

If you made it this far, you are a gentle(wo)man and a scholar, and I thank you. Please enlighten me.

No. Bad idea. First off, nursing programs are HIGHLY competitive (you know this right?) Trying to outwit the adcoms is a bad idea. Take the class. Earn an A. The end.

1) suggestion: look at your local college's winter break sessions. Many/most community colleges offer these. In my area ALL the colleges do. It's a 21 day class, meets 5x/week several hours per day. A very fast way to meet this requirement.

2) suggestion: is this a pre-req or a co-req? If it's a co-req, apply without it and do it if you get in. If you don't get in this cycle, take it while you wait.

3) suggestion: apply to another program. Not all programs require public speaking (I know of 1 locally that does, but I know of 6 locally that don't).

4) suggestion: take an online version of the class. Many exist, get approval from your prenursing advisor and you'll be all set.

Good luck

[clep3705]

The rest of the story: I'm trying to get into a nursing program at a community college - they require public speaking, and I only have interpersonal communication. They don't accept DANTES for public speaking. I'm looking for an institution that will accept DANTES public speaking, and make it appear as if I took the class with them as far as transcripts go, so that I can transfer it to the comm college. I do realize that I'll want to have the comm college "pre"-evaluate the institution's public speaking class, as well as verify that the transcript will look the same before I act on it.

I doubt you will succeed. Take the class and be done with it. I do understand because I'm in a similar situation (I start nursing school next year) now and I know better than to try to pull a stunt like this.

Here is something a lot of people simply don't get: Just because you think you tricked them into accepting this, it doesn't mean you'll succeed at the end. You can sometimes slip something by an untrained or overly busy bureaucrat at the school. You think everything is fine and you apply for graduation. A different person checks everything and one thing leads to another and low and behold, your credit is denied. You won't graduate. It does not matter that you have a written document from the school saying they'll take the transfer credit. The bottom line is that you don't meet the school's published requirements. This is sort of analogous to the "ignorance is no excuse" argument in criminal cases. You know the rules, you don't meet them, don't expect success. I'm not moralizing. I used to work for a large university. I understand academic bureaucracy. I only wish to educate you so that you don't get a nasty surprise later.

For people in the state of Texas, there is a way to pull off something like this, but only under very specific conditions. If you use a placement exam to get credit for something that counts as part of the Texas Academic Core Curriculum at a community college or junior college AND you actually get a degree from the college AND you transfer to a state funded university, then the university must accept the course as transfer credit even if they don't accept the exam for students who aren't transferring in. Confusing? Yes. Will it always work? Not necessarily. The university can just say no. Can you afford to take the university to court? If the credit you receive is just elective credit and not counted as part of the Texas Academic Core on your associate's degree, then the university does not have to accept the credit as transfer credit and they most certainly will not.

[cookderosa]

I doubt you will succeed. Take the class and be done with it. I do understand because I'm in a similar situation (I start nursing school next year) now and I know better than to try to pull a stunt like this.

Here is something a lot of people simply don't get: Just because you think you tricked them into accepting this, it doesn't mean you'll succeed at the end. You can sometimes slip something by an untrained or overly busy bureaucrat at the school. You think everything is fine and you apply for graduation. A different person checks everything and one thing leads to another and low and behold, your credit is denied. You won't graduate. It does not matter that if you have a written document from the school saying they'll take the transfer credit. The bottom line is that you don't meet the school's published requirements. This is sort of analogous to the "ignore is no excuse" argument in criminal cases. You know the rules, you don't meet them, don't expect success. I'm not moralizing. I used to work for a large university. I understand academic bureaucracy. I only wish to educate you so that you don't get a nasty surprise later.

For people in the state of Texas, there is a way to pull off something like this, but only under very specific conditions. If you use a placement exam to get credit for something that counts as part of the Texas Academic Core Curriculum at a community college or junior college AND you actually get a degree from the college AND you transfer to a state funded university, then the university must accept the course as transfer credit even if they don't accept the exam for students who aren't transferring in. Confusing? Yes. Will it always work? Not necessarily. The university can just say no. Can you afford to take the university to court? If the credit you receive is just elective credit and not counted as part of the Texas Academic Core on your associate's degree, then the university does not have to accept the credit as transfer credit and they most certainly will not.

Excellent point and sometimes overlooked on this forum. This is true in most states when applying public to public in the same state.

BTW, good luck in nursing school! (both of you!)

[NAP]

.......
4) suggestion: take an online version of the class. Many exist, get approval from your prenursing advisor and you'll be all set.

Good luck

If you are allowed to transfer a speech course, I have read good things in this thread about the BYU Independent Study Course:

http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...aking.html

[awake1563]

Just an update to this thread... (And a little flame for the naysayers ) I was able to find a friendly and knowledgable person at the institution who would rather see people succeed than fail, and they were able to make the right calls and emails to change the institution's policy, which now accepts interpersonal communication as a substitute for the public speaking/ COM requirement.

Just thought I'd post it up here, in case someone comes across this thread in a search... IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET INSTITUTION POLICY TO CHANGE. The fact that many other institutions of their size were doing the same thing, and that my interpersonal COM class had met the requirement of my associate's degree from another institution helped a lot.

[BGSU_Alum_86]

I am glad you were able to get this resolved. I do want to add that I had heard at one time that a DSST or CLEP exam would not show up on a transcript from a university because the exams did not originate from the university. These exam scores would need to be ordered on a transcript from the originating source -- Prometric (DSST) or Collegeboard (CLEP).