General question about cleps

[Weldy]

I'll answer your question based on my own experiences. First, I recommend that you consult the college that you want to attend. Find out how many lower level hours you can take & transfer into their school. Around my area, that's pretty varied. You really need to know the school's policy so that you can make informed decisions.

I went and talked with an advisor at the program I was considering before I applied for admission. This influenced my decision to apply for admission before I had previously considered it, because the school I'm attending allowed me to take hours concurrently at the junior college. What that ended up meaning for me was that I took the bulk of my senior level courses over the fall/spring when the university offered payment plans (I'm getting my degree without any student loans or financial aid). I then take hours at the junior college over the summer because it's so much cheaper.

I took advantage of several express classes that my jr college offered to help boost my transfer elective hours. For example, I took 2 extra speech classes last semester. Because they were express classes, I attended Friday night, Saturday and Sunday afternoon for 3 weekends and was done. 3 weekends each, 3 hours credit each. It was an easy 6 hours.

After I was admitted, I considered clep tests. I looked up clep exams to show my teenager something and was floored by the number of exams offered. I called my school's admission office, which was very helpful, and learned that I could take up to 30 hours of clep tests. I explained that I was a transfer student, and asked if that would affect the number of hours I could transfer, and the answer was no - it has no impact on it at all. The admissions person said that it was up to each department rather they counted the hours towards their degree plan (the English department is apparently very picky). The admissions person told me where to look on the website for the information on clep tests. My university actually lists which exams they take, the score you need, how many hours credit you get, and how it will be listed on your transcript. Since I'm NOT in the english department, I called my program advisor, and she confirmed that my department has no objection to cleps, and will count all of them up to the 30 hours.

Here's what this meant for me. My degree requires a 120 hours. I transferred in 66 hours from the junior college. I have a 30 hour residency requirement at the college. (66+30=96 hours. 120 hours - 96 = 24 hours I can clep). My degree requires 36 upper level hours, but 3 of the clep tests counted as upper level credit at my school (the business classes) and counted directly towards my degree plan. That will give me an elective slot to take this summer. Traditionally, I take about 6 hours a semester because I work full time and have a family. However, because of the 2 express classes I mentioned, last semester I took 12 hours. I also took & passed 4 clep tests. So last semester I earned 24 hours of credit. This semester I'm taking 9 hours, plus hopefully taking and passing 4 more clep tests. I have 2 classes in the summer and I'll be done. Because I'm taking the clep tests while I'm at the university, every clep test I take saves me $1000. I'll be able to finish my degree a full 2 years ahead of when I anticipated. The only downside is that I won't have taken the 45 hour minimum to get an honors degree from my school, even though my gpa is high enough. However, given that I'll be saving thousands an estimated 12k on my degree and coming out of school with no debt, I can live with that.

So my advice is find out what your college policies are (how things transfer from the jr college & how many hours they will transfer), how many clep hours they allow, and then you can figure out a plan of attack.

Please let me know if you I can answer any more questions, or be helpful. Feel free to pm.

Let us know how things work out for you! We're glad to have you on the forum.

Thanks for the info.I am still trying to find my way around and I will check with the univ. to see what they will accept.I have gained so much knowledge on this site in the last week and a half,its been a great source. Everybody is so helpful and any question that I post I have gotten great feedback.
-Mark.