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

[sanantone]

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.

The popularity of a test is not based on Instantcert. Hardly anyone who takes DSSTs and CLEPs even know that Instantcert exists. Uexcel's science tests are very popular among their nursing students, but there are no IC flashcards for those. The proof that TECEPs are becoming increasingly popular lies in TESC creating more exams. They wouldn't create them if there wasn't demand. You have to remember that TECEPs are made for their enrolled students who are mostly taking courses. This forum is a small world. Most TESC students don't know this forum exists.

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.

GPA has more correlation to college success than the SAT. The SAT has been changed several times because of problems with predicting college success. You're assuming that all of these tests are good predictors without even looking for the evidence to support that assertion.

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.

Steve Foerster already proved you wrong on this.

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)

Why is IC the be-all and end-all for you? The world is much bigger than IC and this forum. There are companies doing very well selling books for CLEPs.

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.

You have no proof that your plan is doable by most people. Even if your plan is more doable than mine, you have no proof that my plan is not doable by most people. But, it really doesn't matter. Students who test out of the majority of their degrees are a very small minority of college students.

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.

Let me know when you have actual proof.

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.

The price difference adds up the more tests you take. You also have to factor in gas and time of travel (remember when you said time is money?). I live 30 min. away from the nearest Pearson test center. I'd rather save the money on test fees and gas by taking a TECEP at home.

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).

Online degree programs have been around for over 20 years. They became very accessible in the late 90s.

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.

We're not comparing Excelsior to Harvard; we're comparing it to the other two of the Big 3 that don't have "lame names." Where is your proof that PayScale's data is inaccurate? If you take a statistics course, you will learn that self selection bias creates unreliable data.

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).

Why would you do that when there are easy DSSTs to take instead? Human Resources, MIS, and Organizational Behavior are generally not viewed as being difficult. What you forgot are some of the fees at COSC.

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.

Your plan can't be properly critiqued because it's not very well organized. You're missing a couple of fees, but it's difficult to tell if you're missing anything else. None of Straighterline's courses are upper level at COSC. Would you only replace lower level Penn Foster courses? Seven of Straighterline's courses are upper level at TESC.