June Graduation @ TESC! Whose with me! Helpful TESC tips

[kevinmanemane]

So even though I finished the credits earlier this year, it took about 4 months to get everything in order - but i FINALLY got a confirmation letter that I would be receiving my BA in Liberal Studies Degree in the mail sometime in June.

So that's awesome.

What's not so awesome is all the trouble I had to go through with TESC and Prometric (the CLEP & DSST Military Administrator).

What happened was, after the two months that it took TESC to evaluate my credits, I realized they counted my English CLEP as only 3 credits when it should have been 6.

So I notified them and they asked me to resend a new transcript.
Well, its 30$ for Prometric to send a new transcript - so I said - "Well - ill just enroll, finish my credits, and then send em ALL to you when you update the credits a final time."

Very well.

So i assumed that was going to be the only glitch for the mission.
WRONG!

After verifying THREE times with TESC that I only needed to pay the RESIDENT enrollment fee of $1550 (instead of the $2800 fee -im in the military - im supposed to get the discount), the day AFTER i drop down that huge amount - i get an email stating, "You paid the resident fee. You must pay us 1300 more since you are not a New Jersey resident and you are not in the military"

Really?
Did you not notice that my email address ends in @us.af.mil (like... United States Air Force. Military ADDRESS!?)
LOL

Anyways - so because I saved all 3 of those emails where it confirmed i would only have to pay the resident fee, i emailed EVERYBODY - the registars, the admissions, and the bursars office and demanded confirmation immediately that i was all paid up and good.

2 days later - they all confirmed.
Yay!

So i finished the final 9 credits and had Prometric send them in.

2 more months later as its nearing the April deadline for the June graduation - i notice that nothings been updated yet in the evaluation

I email EVERYBODY once again - i didnt wanna take any chances after 2 days of them saying "oh - this is admissions - this needs to go to the bursars" "oh - this is bursars - this was supposed to go to the registrars" and so on.

So i get hit back 2 days later: "We received your transcript but there was nothing new on it."

....
PROMETRIC!!

What did you DO!?!

I hit up Prometric - they did mess up and sent in the wrong transcript.
B@st@rds! I thought.

So they sent over the right transcripts this time and i was like "Well that sux cuz now for SURE im not gonna make the June deadline"

But fortunately, there was a chick over there that i cant name her name i dont think - but she was awesome and she totally hooked me up with an immediate evaluation and June graduation confirmation.

Awesome!

So - i had to go through a lot of leaps and bounds that were NOT fun - but I got through it.


So heres some advice to anybody that will ever have to deal with TESC.

First off - SAVE EVERY EMAIL YOU GET AND EVERY EMAIL YOU HAVE SENT TO THEM!

when they said, "we dont have any record of you asking us about the resident enrollment fee"

I emailed them 3 emails i saved - both sent and received!
in yo FAYCE! I said.

So save em.

second - BE VERY CLEAR ABOUT WHAT YOURE ASKING FOR.
A lot of the staff there has to deal and email thousands of people a day - they wanna just get you on the "resolved issue" list. So if you just ask like:
"Its been 3 months - whats the status of my evaluation"

theyll write the standard:
"It takes up to 6 business weeks to receive transcripts and another 6 business weeks to evaluate them"

Instead - you need to be like
"Hello. My name is Bob Loblaw. I submitted my credits to be evaluated on June 15, 2010. I received confirmation that you received these transcripts on August 1, 2010. It is now November 3, 2010 - 6 weeks over the 6-week deadline for you to have evaluated my credits. May I ask what is the status of my evaluation.
Student ID # 04582920"

Third: EMAIL EVERYBODY EVEN IF YOU KNOW ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO GO TO THEM!

They will make a habit just to get you off their back that they will forward your message to someone else so that it will come back to them eventually when theyre not as busy. DONT LET EM! Instead, when you email everybody - all the other departments will not be wanting to receive all these emails that they MAKE the right department answer you back quicker rather than them getting bugged all the time with stuff thats not their issue.
So email Human Resources - email the Library - email everybody with your admissions issues - youll get an answer QUICK from the right person.


And lastly: BE FIRM WITH THEM IN YOUR WORDS!

Realize that these guys are from Jah-SAY (New Jersey) - not to be offensive, but these guys are just a little more not interested in how they sound in their tone when they talk or email you. You make think theyre rude - and maybe they are - so be rude right back. Talk to them in the same way theyre talking to you. To be honest, people generally understand other people better that act and sound like them.
I know i sounded like a jerk, but i got the info i needed.
So dont worry about being like
"Hi there, SIR! If you don't mind, I have question..."
Thats a no-no.

Instead, say,
"HeY! Answer this for me now."

Believe me - itll save time.

And thats all

so i got my BA
going on to Grad school for English in the Spring 2012 - so i cancelled my Instantcert subscription - im good til 6/2/2011.
So its been nice working with everybody - thank you for all your help. i would name people but so many have helped me i dont wanna leave anybody out.

Anyways - thanx a bunch everybody!

[skyfall123]

Congratulations on earning your degree and fighting to get it conferred!!! Good luck in Grad school!!!

[bricabrac]

Congratulations again on your wonderful accomplishment!! That said, Wowza Dude, you are definitely on a whole 'notha thing!!! Smart A$$. Attack all Jah-SAYans because of a few bad apples? How dare you! And yeah, I am also a pushy, condescending, Jah-SAY Girl and darn proud of it!! Happy the other Jah-SAY Girl, whose name we won't mention, gave you the Jah-SAY hook up!!milelol:Can you tell I had fun with this one!

Enjoy what's left of the weekend and your new Degree! You are an education machine! Good luck in your Masters Program!! Sure hope you stay on the forum!:patriot:

[rebel100]

Congrats Kevin! Job well done!