Emailing TESU about planning external credits into academic evaluation

[aperantosbias]

Hey everyone.

I posted here a while ago asking for advice about universities and, following that, feedback regarding my degree plan.


I'm just over half way through my undergrad now (BA English - TESU). Thanks for all the help.

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I need to grab 30 credits from Study.com. I've already checked their TESU equivalency info, so those should all go where I want them.


After that, I will need 12 credits from Coopersmith, but I've noticed that some of the wikis say to check with TESU advising (email) to make sure that any Coopersmith courses will transfer.

Once I've done that, I'll be 15 credits short of a degree. This will either be done in a 15-credit semester at TESU, or I might just do the cornerstone+capstone (and pay a hefty residency waiver) plus three electives through Sophia. 

The second option is expensive, but probably safer for my GPA than speedrunning five courses while working part-time. I still haven't decided what to do.

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I've been told not to involve TESU advisors in my degree planning (regarding ACE credits and the like) at all, ever.

On the other hand, apparently TESU sometimes makes policy changes around the 1st of January, and it might be worth having everything planned out on MyProgress (and confirmed) before that, just in case.

Question 1: Is emailing advising about the four Coopersmith courses I plan to take worth it, or should I just YOLO the courses and send a transcript?

Question 2: Is there any point in trying to get them to update my academic evaluation/MyProgress with all the Study.com and Coopersmith equivalencies? As in, is that likely to protect me (or hurt me) in any way?

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TL/DR: I don't know how to approach (taking and) transferring in four Coopersmith courses:

a_ ENG-202: American Literature Survey: 1900 to Present 
b_ [UL3] LIT-401: Medieval Hispano-Jewish Poetry 
c_ ENG-211: Constructing and Writing Logical Arguments
d_ LIT-302: The Works of Arthur Miller
OR
d_ LIT-301: The Works of Herman Wouk

Should I ask (email) TESU Advising before taking them? I've seen them all recommended on the wiki, or successfully transferred by people on this forum.

+

If I know what all my SDC (and Coopersmith) equivalencies are, should I go ahead and ask TESU to plan in the TESU equivalents on my academic evaluation? (To have my remaining credits planned out, in written form, in case any policy changes arise.)

[LevelUP]

I've been told not to involve TESU advisors in my degree planning (regarding ACE credits and the like) at all, ever.

Making absolute statements about subjective matters can often lead to the use of the fallacy of "false absolutism" or the "fallacy of hasty generalization."

What I usually suggest is:
1. Check the Wiki.
2. Check with df members.
3. Then ask TESU advising as a last resort. 

Question 1: Is emailing advising about the four Coopersmith courses I plan to take worth it, or should I just YOLO the courses and send a transcript?

Question 2: Is there any point in trying to get them to update my academic evaluation/MyProgress with all the Study.com and Coopersmith equivalencies? As in, is that likely to protect me (or hurt me) in any way?

---

TL/DR: I don't know how to approach (taking and) transferring in four Coopersmith courses:

a_ ENG-202: American Literature Survey: 1900 to Present 
b_ [UL3] LIT-401: Medieval Hispano-Jewish Poetry 
c_ ENG-211: Constructing and Writing Logical Arguments
d_ LIT-302: The Works of Arthur Miller
OR
d_ LIT-301: The Works of Herman Wouk

Should I ask (email) TESU Advising before taking them? I've seen them all recommended on the wiki, or successfully transferred by people on this forum.

+

If I know what all my SDC (and Coopersmith) equivalencies are, should I go ahead and ask TESU to plan in the TESU equivalents on my academic evaluation? (To have my remaining credits planned out, in written form, in case any policy changes arise.)

You can email advising. 

Letting advising update your academic evaluation won't hurt you.

[davewill]

I have to say I haven't noticed that having something planned into your academic eval can protect you from policy changes. AFAIK, only having the credits actually transferred in will do that.

That's not to say it's iimpossible that it could help. If you were to find yourself petitioning the registrar to honor an old equivalency, having it planned in might carry some weight.

[bjcheung77]

@aperantosbias, if you've already applied and enrolled, you have unlimited evaluations and have the various benefits of being a student. Since you also read the posts/threads and WIKI indicating these classes may get transferred, I would just email the academic advisor indicating you want to take the classes for transfer into respective fields and get them to pre-plan it. Once they reply indicating it can be used for those spots, then take them...

[studyingfortests]

I've been through the process with TESU and ACE credits from a variety of sources, and have helped several friends. The process followed in each of these cases seems to be pretty bulletproof:

1. Email Don Stoltz (specifically). One of the few highly competent advisors. No one I know has gotten bad advice or information from him. You can email him by using the stusupport@tesu address and just putting "attention Don Stoltz" in the subject line.

2. Give him the list of up to 12 credits that you want to apply to your degree, and where you are expecting them to apply (based on the degreeforum wiki). He will email back and confirm that those have been mapped to your degree plan, or, if there's a problem, explain what the problem is. Having it added to your degree plan, and having an email confirming gives you leverage in case there is a program change.

3. As you get close to the end of the 12 credits, whether from Sophia, SDC, or wherever, request a transcript to TESU, email Don confirming those have completed and transcript is en route, and give him the list of the next 12 credits.

4. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This process was flawless for me and for two other friends that have used it (and I'm sure countless others.)

What amazes me is, Don always seems to have time to address all of these, and relatively quickly (a day or two max, in my experience). He's one of the best kept secrets at TESU.

[aperantosbias]

I've been through the process with TESU and ACE credits from a variety of sources, and have helped several friends.  The process followed in each of these cases seems to be pretty bulletproof:

1. Email Don Stoltz (specifically). One of the few highly competent advisors. No one I know has gotten bad advice or information from him. You can email him by using the stusupport@tesu address and just putting "attention Don Stoltz" in the subject line.

2. Give him the list of up to 12 credits that you want to apply to your degree, and where you are expecting them to apply (based on the degreeforum wiki). He will email back and confirm that those have been mapped to your degree plan, or, if there's a problem, explain what the problem is.  Having it added to your degree plan, and having an email confirming gives you leverage in case there is a program change.

3. As you get close to the end of the 12 credits, whether from Sophia, SDC, or wherever, request a transcript to TESU, email Don confirming those have completed and transcript is en route, and give him the list of the next 12 credits.

4. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This process was flawless for me and for two other friends that have used it (and I'm sure countless others.)

What amazes me is, Don always seems to have time to address all of these, and relatively quickly (a day or two max, in my experience). He's one of the best kept secrets at TESU.

First of all, thanks to everyone for the insights.
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Wow, this is particularly useful, given my concern regarding exactly 12 credits from Coopersmith.
I went ahead and emailed TESU Advising yesterday, and they said that the 12 credits I want to take through Coopersmith do indeed apply to the AoS of my degree- so in theory, I should be all set to email Don.
I'll start by emailing him about planning the first 12/30 credits I will be taking with Sophia, and work my way toward the Coopersmith credits.
Thanks for the tip.

[LevelUP]

First of all, thanks to everyone for the insights.
---
Wow, this is particularly useful, given my concern regarding exactly 12 credits from Coopersmith.
I went ahead and emailed TESU Advising yesterday, and they said that the 12 credits I want to take through Coopersmith do indeed apply to the AoS of my degree- so in theory, I should be all set to email Don.
I'll start by emailing him about planning the first 12/30 credits I will be taking with Sophia, and work my way toward the Coopersmith credits.
Thanks for the tip.

I updated the Wiki with the additional options
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

[bjcheung77]

Great stuff... You can email him or these other two people to get it pre-planned into your degree plan: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid402329

[studyingfortests]

First of all, thanks to everyone for the insights.
---
Wow, this is particularly useful, given my concern regarding exactly 12 credits from Coopersmith.
I went ahead and emailed TESU Advising yesterday, and they said that the 12 credits I want to take through Coopersmith do indeed apply to the AoS of my degree- so in theory, I should be all set to email Don.

At least from my experience, the wiki is completely accurate. Between me and my friends, we probably took 8 or 9 Coopersmith courses, all for upper level credit, and had no problems.

BTW, Coopersmith doesn't make it clear, but at least for all the courses I took, there is a mention of a textbook in the syllabus.  You can probably get away without it just by studying the powerpoint, but for several of the classes, I decided to get the textbook just to learn the material more completely. From my memory, they were decent textbooks, 

My only complaint was with a couple of the drug/alcohol classes. I think they were all put together by the same professor, and I found a lot of material dated and some was just flat-out wrong. The professor seems to have been in the field for decades... which isn't a bad thing, but this one seemed to hold onto a lot of old school notions and practices taht are obsolete nd not helpful to clients.  (I was already a drug/alcohol counselor when I took those courses, so I know that material pretty well.) 

But other than that, Coopersmith was smooth sailing.

[Quackerz]

I transferred in all but 15 credits (screw you, residency waiver fee!), and I emailed advising for each one before I took it to confirm that they would accept it, then I would have it in writing. The Study.com equivalent of Org Theory was about to have its ACE accreditation expire, and they gave me a heads up, so I made that one of my five classes to complete in my one semester there.

I really got great help with advising.