Why Charter Oak State College is better than Thomas Edison State College

[KittenMittens]

The popularity of TECEPs has been increasing recently because of the Per Credit Tuition Plan and online proctoring. Uexcels are becoming less popular because of the new test fees. These are recent changes. Recent posts on the forum reflect the increasing popularity of TECEPs. Instantcert will eventually see that there is more of a market for TECEPs.

Right, and when that happens then it will become a more attractive option. Until then, it currently isn't that popular, and the data that is out there suggests that as well (from instantcert.com, degreeforum student advice, practice exams).

Even if the test fees are $111 per TECEP exam, comparing that to UExcel’s which are $145/each – it’s not a deal breaker. It’s $34 difference, which isn’t a deal breaker at least for the type of student this is geared to. I think most students would be fine paying the extra $34 knowing that there are practice exams, instantcert materials, and forum advice for those topics. Right now the way TECEP exists, there are practically no materials available and like I mentioned earlier, they only have flash cards for 3 subjects versus UExcel which has 10 or 11.

Multiple choice testing is less likely to test for logical and analytical thinking. There is a reason why it's often mocked as multiple guess testing. Having to write essays is a much better way of measuring analytical thinking. I do not give my upper level students any multiple choice tests or quizzes. They are required to write out the answers, not guess between 4 or 5 options. The professors in our program have told the teaching assistants that multiple choice tests are not recommended for upper level students.

Depends on the test you’re taking. There is a place for coursework and there is a place for standardized exams. There is more personal discretion in how a grade is given out particularly in less technical subjects (i.e. liberal arts) and how a professor feels at any given moment. With a standardized exam, everyone is compared to the same standard. Exams like the medical college test, MCAT, law school test LSAT, graduate level test, GRE, GMAT, the USMLE, SAT, etc. are known for being extremely rigorous and challenging and I don’t think anyone would make the argument that they are irrelevant. Certainly top tier programs put a lot of emphasis on them and they are producing leaders, visionaries, and innovators. I think both matter and a healthy balance of the two are important. Standardized exams DO test logical/analytical/comprehension ability under timed/pressurized conditions.

Not really. Your GPA, test scores, and letters of recommendation are way more important than the school you attended.

That’s highly debatable. Good luck getting into Harvard Law, Wharton School of Business, or any top tier institution from a “no name” “general” college. Where you went matters far more in most subjects (with the exception to some degree for hard sciences and engineering). If you want to go into law school, business school, or medical school, I can say with certainty that where you went has more of an impact than your GPA (within reason of course – i.e. 3.1 GPA from Harvard in Sociology >>> 4.0 from Charter Oak for reason). If I was an employer, I would gladly take a 2.8 –*3.3 student from UC Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, etc. compared to one that went to any of the 3 schools I mentioned above, and the trend clearly shows that as well.

Completing the cornerstone and capstone at COSC is much more expensive and takes way more time.

Most people will not be doing the “per credit” option like you because they won’t take 8 credit exams through TECEP. The data shows that again on instantcert.com (they show the pass rates for each subjects and more students at this point in time are taking UExcel exams for whatever reasons)

Penn Foster courses can also be time-consuming.

From personal experience, which I obtained thanks from people in this forum, the ones I mentioned are stupidly easy. Penn Foster’s Financial Management course is so stupidly easy, that if you can’t pass that one, then neither of our plans should be in someone’s book.

Most people can't complete your plan either.

Well, what subset of the population are we talking about? I’d say it’s more doable, and likely that people can do the plan I (& others have done too) did more easily simply for the fact that A) there are documentable practice exams, flash cards, student advice on the subjects & B) FEMA credits that can be transferred in C) easy Penn Foster coursework.

I would say with certainty that more people are likely to pass the UExcel exams I described in the wiki compared to the TECEP ones because A) they are more documented thanks to the practice exams, flash cards, student forum advice B) Excelsior College like you mentioned has far more students than either COSC or TESC combined so it will naturally have far more students taking the exams.

There are changes that have happened within the past year. The Per Credit Tuition Plan and making TECEPs available online has made them more attractive. There was no incentive to take them before. Uexcel added a $50 testing fee for 3-credit exams and a $60 testing fee for 6-credit exams.

Yes, in the foreseeable future, for now I don’t think the $34 difference is enough of a deal breaker for most students to go for a TECEP exam where you’ll have to crack open a textbook to prepare for compared to concise, short, and precise study guides through instantcert.com, the instantcert forum, and practice exams. In fact, the original pioneers of the rapid bachelor’s degree programs (like bain4weeks.com) specifically mention the use of CLEP, DSST, and Excelsior exams.

More people on this forum just recently started taking TECEPs, so I'm sure Instantcert will see that there is more of a market. Aside from Strategic Management, I would have never taken a TECEP if it weren't for the Per Credit Tuition Plan and online proctoring. I even avoided taking Uexcels, and I still have no incentive to take them.

I do hope that those materials come out –*and if they become more popular then even better for everyone.

Most people choose not to test out at all. Your average person chooses to complete a degree with mostly coursework.

We’re in a time period where 5 - 10 years ago, you couldn’t even get a college degree online, or even in many cases, take coursework online for credit. This has changed become of the advances in computer software and technology. The other trend that has been happening and perhaps already happened is that as the bachelor’s degree becomes more widely accessible for people, the less valuable it becomes, so the Master’s will naturally become the new Bachelor’s degree and the Ph.D. the new Master’s (indeed this trend has already happened over a decade ago).

Glassdoor's data is based on people choosing to self-report. This is called self-selection bias. This is much less accurate than conducting a survey using random sampling.

Well – PayScale often gives pay ranges that are so inaccurate sometimes that don’t properly reflect their markets. Sometimes less is more –*you have to be able to evaluate each and every data point with a grain of salt – all I’m saying is that I would never really rely on income reports from colleges who are advocating for themselves or even USNews rankings. Anyone can google how skewed the incomes are for college graduates. Payscale’s report shows, “Among college graduates nationwide,Excelsior College earned the top overall ranking when it comes to the highest median salary for those with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts – $79,000 by mid-career (an increase from a median starting pay of $47,000).” Like you said the typical Excelsior College graduate tends to be mid-career and probably in their 30s or 40s and that’s why their median salary is already higher. It would be unfair to compare a liberal arts degree from Harvard (for the sake of exaggeration/argument) with one from Excelsior, where one individual is 22 and the other say 45.

I’m trying to figure out your plan for COSC. I see you included the student fees, tuition, and application fee. I don't see the graduation fee. After adding up all of the fees and tuition, I'm getting $2,946 (this does not include the costs for completing the other requirements. Can you somehow complete a plan that looks like mine so that we can see a complete breakdown of the costs?

Ah, I forgot to add the application fee – I’ll correct/adjust that in a bit. I was just doing an apples to apples comparison doing the Enrolled Options Plan using the same coursework I did/detailed for COSC (forgoing the TECEP exams based on the aforementioned reasons of lack of prep materials) with the addition of Penn Foster’s Strategic Management course. The cost hits $6,900 for TESC with my plan idea because of the use of 4 Penn Foster Exams (PF Financial Management, PF Strategic Management, PF Employee Benefits, and Penn Foster Microeconomics).

Like I said, my course outline isn’t the cheapest, but it’s not the most expensive – it’s around $6,000, but it can be cheaper forgoes the Penn Foster courses and goes with Straighterline instead of Penn Foster. My plan is about not going intensely like yours with the 8 TECEP exams which I felt was much riskier.