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+--- Thread: I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior (/Thread-I-m-thinking-about-switching-to-Excelsior)
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I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - johnysc430 - 12-17-2007
Hello everyone,
I'm enrolled at Empire State College. I have to say I'm very unhappy with the mentor that they assigned to me. He's not helpful at all. I ask him questions and he gives me very vague answers. He made me type up all the CLEP and Excelsior exams I was planning to take. He told me to e-mail him the list. When I sent it to him, he asked "what is this?" I told him this is what you told me to send you. He goes ohh, I don't need that.
That's not the first time he did this. When I was doing the degree planning he made me do a bunch of BS that had nothing to do with the class.
I'm really glad I found this site and I will be registering with instantcertonline.com in the next few days.
The main drawback with Excelsior with me is, I have several professional licenses. Series 7,24,63, Real Estate Brokers License,NY life and health insurance licenses. Empire state College gives credit for these. I'm not sure if Excelsior does.
I'm not looking for a degree in any particular area. I have 16 credits I can transfer over. I'm looking for the easiest,fastest possible degree program.
What would you guys suggest? This is just to fulfill the American Bar Associations requirement.
I went to a H.S. that was a similar format to CLEP and Dantes. They gave me a book made me study and I took exams for my grades. I'm Proficient in this format. I could probably do an exam a week. I have a lot of free time to study.
How long does it take to schedule these exams? Do you know of any good testing sites in Long Island NY that are computer based?
I'm sure I'll have a million questions in the future.
Thanks in Advance =)
I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - gcalvin - 12-17-2007
Excelsior may well give credit for the real estate and insurance certifications. They offer a Bachelor of Science in Risk Management program that you may be interested in. You may want to ask for a Portfolio Assessment, especially if you have been working in the field for a significant time. You can find DSST (DANTES) testing sites here, CLEP testing sites here, and Pearson Vue locations for ECE exams here.
Give Excelsior a call and discuss it with them. I expect you will find them very helpful.
I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - tvelasquez - 12-17-2007
Welcome johnysc430,
The best decision I made 6 months ago was switching to Excelsior, not because I was unhappy instead I needed a degree NOW. The first thing I would encourage you to do is to apply (cost $75) then submit your transcript that way you will find out what credits are accepted. I know that some professional certifications are accepted and for more information you can review Ways to Earn Credit site. I was able to use my MCSE and CCNA certifications. So don’t rule out your Series 7, 24, 63, Real Estate Brokers License.
The Dante’s and Clep exams are a great way to earning a degree however, many of them will require more time preparing for them than 1 week (unless you’re a brain child, there are few on this site, but I’m not one) specifically upper level credits will require more study time (But it’s still faster than sitting in a 16 week class).
Depending on the location, some Testing Centers require 24/48 hour notices and some have walk-ins policy. Most likely you can take your exams at Empire State College since you’re already familiar with them (hopefully different department/area than your mentor). Also when applying to Excelsior you are given the option for Excelsior to apply your credits to the degree that will get you out the fastest. In my case it was a BS Liberal Arts Degree and I’m hoping to be finished by June 2008.
I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - MKRainn - 12-17-2007
Before you transfer over to Excelsior, I think you should at least check out CollegePlus!. It's fast and cheap. Only $2500 a year for tuition. If your interested here's the link.
I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - snazzlefrag - 12-17-2007
MKRainn Wrote:Before you transfer over to Excelsior, I think you should at least check out CollegePlus!. It's fast and cheap. Only $2500 a year for tuition. If your interested here's the link.
MKR,
I am certain that you meant well, but I think you are (however inadvertently) treading a fine line here between providing appropriate, applicable, and timely advice; and providing free advertising for a private, for-profit business.
CollegePlus charges $2500 per year to provide the kind of support and advice which can be easily obtained here for free. I understand that you, and some other members are making use of this service, and feel it is a worthwhile investment. But the way you worded your message could be confusing to some of our members. It almost seems to infer that CollegePlus is an ALTERNATIVE to a college such as Excelsior, that the "tuition" is cheap and INSTEAD of paying various fees and costs to Excelsior (or any other college), and that CollegePlus provides some kind of quicker and easier path to earning a degree than can be achieved without their services. However, it HAS to be noted that CollegePlus is not a college, it cannot award college credit, and does not grant degrees. The $2500 per year in fees are in addition to any fees paid to an actual college and on top of any exam or college course costs. I would argue that equally effective advice can be had for free, equally helpful advisement about which exams/courses to take can readily be obtained, feedback and recommendations about appropriate study resources and exam content can be gleaned without much difficulty, and moral support and encouragement every step of the way is available right here ALL FOR FREE. Whether these same services provided by CollegePlus, for such a high fee, are worthwhile, necessary, or even advisable, remains both debatable and controversial amongst the members of this board.
I just want to make sure that nobody becomes confused as to what the CollegePlus web site is actually offering for the price they are charging, that nobody is misled into thinking that CollegePlus REPLACES the need to enroll in a college degree program, and that we don't slip too far into the "advertisement" zone when recommending their services to newer members of this message board.
Thank you,
Snazzlefrag
I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - ShotoJuku - 12-17-2007
Just to preserve the integrity and intention of the thread the active link has been deleted.
I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - Gary - 12-17-2007
snazzlefrag Wrote:[quote=MKRainn]Before you transfer over to Excelsior, I think you should at least check out CollegePlus!. It's fast and cheap. Only $2500 a year for tuition. If your interested here's the link.
MKR,
I am certain that you meant well, but I think you are (however inadvertently) treading a fine line here between providing appropriate, applicable, and timely advice; and providing free advertising for a private, for-profit business.
CollegePlus charges $2500 per year to provide the kind of support and advice which can be easily obtained here for free. I understand that you, and some other members are making use of this service, and feel it is a worthwhile investment. But the way you worded your message could be confusing to some of our members. It almost seems to infer that CollegePlus is an ALTERNATIVE to a college such as Excelsior, that the "tuition" is cheap and INSTEAD of paying various fees and costs to Excelsior (or any other college), and that CollegePlus provides some kind of quicker and easier path to earning a degree than can be achieved without their services. However, it HAS to be noted that CollegePlus is not a college, it cannot award college credit, and does not grant degrees. The $2500 per year in fees are in addition to any fees paid to an actual college and on top of any exam or college course costs. I would argue that equally effective advice can be had for free, equally helpful advisement about which exams/courses to take can readily be obtained, feedback and recommendations about appropriate study resources and exam content can be gleaned without much difficulty, and moral support and encouragement every step of the way is available right here ALL FOR FREE. Whether these same services provided by CollegePlus, for such a high fee, are worthwhile, necessary, or even advisable, remains both debatable and controversial amongst the members of this board.
I just want to make sure that nobody becomes confused as to what the CollegePlus web site is actually offering for the price they are charging, that nobody is misled into thinking that CollegePlus REPLACES the need to enroll in a college degree program, and that we don't slip too far into the "advertisement" zone when recommending their services to newer members of this message board.
Thank you,
Snazzlefrag
I totally agree. Sounds like a sales rep to me.
I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - MKRainn - 12-19-2007
snazzlefrag Wrote:MKR,
I am certain that you meant well, but I think you are (however inadvertently) treading a fine line here between providing appropriate, applicable, and timely advice; and providing free advertising for a private, for-profit business.
CollegePlus charges $2500 per year to provide the kind of support and advice which can be easily obtained here for free. I understand that you, and some other members are making use of this service, and feel it is a worthwhile investment. But the way you worded your message could be confusing to some of our members. It almost seems to infer that CollegePlus is an ALTERNATIVE to a college such as Excelsior, that the "tuition" is cheap and INSTEAD of paying various fees and costs to Excelsior (or any other college), and that CollegePlus provides some kind of quicker and easier path to earning a degree than can be achieved without their services. However, it HAS to be noted that CollegePlus is not a college, it cannot award college credit, and does not grant degrees. The $2500 per year in fees are in addition to any fees paid to an actual college and on top of any exam or college course costs. I would argue that equally effective advice can be had for free, equally helpful advisement about which exams/courses to take can readily be obtained, feedback and recommendations about appropriate study resources and exam content can be gleaned without much difficulty, and moral support and encouragement every step of the way is available right here ALL FOR FREE. Whether these same services provided by CollegePlus, for such a high fee, are worthwhile, necessary, or even advisable, remains both debatable and controversial amongst the members of this board.
I just want to make sure that nobody becomes confused as to what the CollegePlus web site is actually offering for the price they are charging, that nobody is misled into thinking that CollegePlus REPLACES the need to enroll in a college degree program, and that we don't slip too far into the "advertisement" zone when recommending their services to newer members of this message board.
Thank you,
Snazzlefrag
I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it that way! Apperantly I don't know what Excelsior is. CollegePlus is just that, a college..which I don't own.(I'm only 14 for crying out loud!) For the first year, you get a coach that helps you and guides you through studying for CLEP exams and tells you what you'll need and things like that. (it's kinda like this site, but only more personal and with different information)Then when you get 60 credits, you transfer over to Thomas Jefferson State. I don't know if that cleared up anything or if I was selling it again..
What is Excelsior?
I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - ShotoJuku - 12-19-2007
MKRainn Wrote:CollegePlus is just that, a college..which I don't own...
[SIZE="2"][COLOR="Navy"]Just curious......Is "CP" accredited and recognized by CHEA or USDofED?
Thanks for any info you can provide![/COLOR][/SIZE]
I'm thinking about switching to Excelsior - Chebasaz - 12-19-2007
No, and I don't think it would make the claim that it's a college. If you look on their site, they offer majors, but when you follow the links it says that it offers majors primarily through Thomas Edison.
If I had to guess at the business model, I'd guess:
1) Student signs up for CollegePlus
2) Student is enrolled by CollegePlus in TESC's credit bank system
3) Student is contacted by CP for a discussion on what major the student is interested in, using TESC's list of majors
4) CP formulates a list of CLEP/DANTES/TESCE/ECE that the student would need to meet that major
5) Student is provided coaching, study material resources, and motivation from CP's advisors
6) Student ends up graduating from TESC.
It's not a bad idea, but it's borderline deceptive to "Offer Majors" on the site and give the impression that CP is an academic institution. Still, while I agree that you can find most of the information for yourself without the hefty "tuition" fees that CP requires; there are some people out there that need that motivation and someone holding their hand throughout the process.
In the end the questions are:
1) Does CP help more people reach their goals of having a college degree? - For that, I'd say yes they do.
2) Are their business practices a bit... grey? - That's a matter of personal opinion. The fact that some of their students seem to think that CP is a college itself is troubling though. (Nothing against you personally MKR)
One last question for everyone though... If CP! didn't exist, does anyone think that MKR would be as far as he is towards a college degree? That's a pretty big endorsement for CP right there.
Just food for thought.
Edit: Just realized we didn't answer MKR's question about Excelsior.. Excelsior is a regionally accredited college. You can find more information at http://www.excelsior.edu