testing out and grades/gpa

[sirjake]

so no way to translate the clep or dsst pass/fail into a grade?

Pretty much. Except for those listed on the previous Excelsior link that haven't been replaced with "refreshed" exams, you only get a pass/fail, which does give you credit, but does not affect your GPA positively or negatively.

As for whether or not you can go to a good university afterwards for a graduate degree: that depends on a number of factors. As CookDeRosa indicated, "good" is in the eye of the beholder, to a certain extent. What you are calling "good," others may scoff at (or vice versa). Whether or not they admit you will generally be in part due to your GPA, true, but it will/can also largely depend on your ability on standardized tests. I don't know if every discipline values their admissions test as much as law school, but in LS, a high LSAT score was gold. Increasing my score by a mere two points (from 166 to 168) and only three percentage points (93rd to 96th percentile) netted me an additional 25k in scholarship money at what I would call a "good" university (University of Illinois, ranked 23rd for law schools at the time). And I was admitted to Notre Dame University's law school (better name, perhaps, but ranked approximately the same) with a decent scholarship as well.

I was also at least "in the running" at Vanderbilt (ranked 14th at the time) in that I was on the waitlist when I withdrew.

I ended up with a combined undergraduate GPA of 3.66, which wasn't outstanding, but didn't really hurt me. And more of my credits were pass/fail than were graded. So combined with my high LSAT score, I was a competitive applicant.

Not saying any of that to brag (honestly, in a sense I don't care anymore since I decided not to attend law school), but it is relevant to whether or not a student can pursue education beyond a "CLEP degree."

Other factors will almost certainly include: required essays/personal statements, work experience, and letters of recommendation (less important perhaps than the previous two, but still required).