Excelsior vs Thomas Edison vs Charter Oak

[Harpda]

Hi everybody. I was wondering why you chose the school you are now attending.

I must make a decision soon and have been researching this for a few months. I am leaning towards Excelsior but wanted to bring this question to the masses just in case I am missing some bit of info that you may have!

I'd really like to bypass the Capstone Course but it seems they all require it.

I'm looking at getting my Bachelors in general business and have pretty much clep'd and dsst'd everything I can.

Please provide input -- anything and everything is welcomed. What was/is your deciding factor/s?

Also...I took Accounting I and Accounting II way back in 1997 back at the junior college and was wondering if this will suffice as credit for Managerial Accounting and Financial Accounting.

Cheers

[sanantone]

Everyone is going to be different. Some people have a lot of transfer credits, some people have a little, and some people have none. I applied to all of the Big 3 to see who would give me the most credits. Some people are concerned about the enrollment fees. Some people are concerned about the tuition rates. Some people are concerned about being able to test out of everything. You might find your desired major and/or concentration at one of the Big 3 and not the others.

I had a significant amount of transfer credits, so I applied to all 3 schools. TESC and COSC gave me the same number of transfer credits. Excelsior gave me very little. TESC was the only one to give me upper level credits. I first chose COSC because of the customer service, but I found out that it would have been expensive for me to complete a psychology degree with them because I would have had to depend on Excelsior exams for upper level credit. At the time, Excelsior exams were a few hundred dollars, but most are $95 now. I switched to TESC because they had already awarded me some UL credits, took more CLEP/DSST as UL, required less UL credit, and gave UL credit to community college courses which I took online cheaply.

If I were going to choose a school for the lowest fees and would be testing out of most of the requirements, I would choose COSC given that I could test out of most of the requirements there. If I wanted to take a significant number of credits with one of the Big 3, I would choose TESC's Comprehensive Tuition Plan because it's the cheapest rate you're going to get at any of the Big 3. If I were looking to avoid a capstone for a business degree, TESC would be my only option. If I had to transfer credits from a nationally accredited school or was looking for credit for various IT certifications, then Excelsior would probably be the best option. I believe Excelsior is the only one of the Big 3 that will consider non-ACE or non-NCCRS approved courses from nationally accredited schools. TESC and COSC require regional accreditation if the course is not approved by ACE or NCCRS. TESC gives credit for a select few IT certifications; it looks like Excelsior gives credit for a wider variety of certifications. I heard the limit of credits given to IT certs at Excelsior is low, but I haven't seen it myself in their catalog. Maybe someone else has found it.

I forgot about something else. When you're completely testing out of a degree at TESC, you will only get a GPA for the required capstone if your degree requires a capstone. TESC only gives grades for TESC online and guided study courses. Some people choose to take a few TESC courses for a GPA. Some people choose to only take one for a GPA, but I don't think that does much for graduate school. COSC and Excelsior will give grades for 2-digit DSSTs, Excelsior exams, and I think Penn Foster and Straighterline courses. I took a lot of graded courses at other colleges, so I wasn't worried about not having a GPA at TESC. Graduate schools usually require transcripts from all colleges attended, and they calculate their own GPA.

[sanantone]

I forgot something else. COSC is the only one left of the Big 3 that gives credit for the subject GRE tests.

[rebel100]

If your planning to use any FEMA IS courses Excelsior charges about $80/credit (through Frederick CC). TESC and COSC accept them direct from FEMA for free. Can shave up to a year in cost and time depending on the degree chosen (note there is only room for 6 of these in TESC's BSBA)

[Daithi]

I think Sanantone really laid out all the variables in what goes into the thought process for deciding on one of the Big 3. I don't have much to add, other than my own personal decision.

I decided to go with TESC because the things important to me were finishing the degree quickly, easily, and cheaply (in that order). One thing Sanantone hadn't mentioned was FEMA courses. FEMA courses can be applied to electives, and if you are pursuing a degree that has a lot of electives then this can be both a HUGE time saver and a cost saver. Only TESC and COSC accept FEMA credits directly, so this ruled out EC for me.

The college name played a role in my decision to go with TESC as well. I liked the fact that it was a "State College" because state colleges aren't degree mills and they aren't for profit colleges that employers may view skeptically. I was afraid Excelsior might sound like a college similar to Phoenix, DeVry, or Capella.

Basically, my decision came down to a choice between TESC and COSC. The reason I ended up going with TESC was because I only needed to do a Cornerstone course with TESC, but I would had to have taken a Cornerstone and a Capstone course with COSC. TESC also required fewer UL courses. TESC also granted more UL credits for DSST tests and Straighterline courses than did COSC. Thus, completing a degree with TESC would be faster and easier. Note that TESC was faster because I could use a single 6 credit CLEP test to cover LL credits. However, since COSC had additional UL requirements, I couldn't use the 6 credit CLEP and would need to take two 3 credit DSST tests instead.

TESC is going to cost me a little more than COSC (about $1,000 more). However, all of the Big 3 are relatively inexpensive.

[jam123]

I went with TESC because they had a computer science degree, gave me the most transfer credit (FEMA, IT certs, etc.), gave upper level credits for some DSST/CLEP, tuition is reasonable and they are a public institution.

[ncpenn]

I went with TESC because they had a computer science degree, gave me the most transfer credit (FEMA, IT certs, etc.), gave upper level credits for some DSST/CLEP, tuition is reasonable and they are a public institution.

This is almost exactly why I chose TESC as well. Computer science degree from a state school, and I could use FEMA credits the cheapest.

[sanantone]

Yes, I forgot about FEMAs. If you're in a degree program at TESC that has a lot of free electives, then doing FEMAs for free more than makes up for the difference in enrollment fees between them and Excelsior. Excelsior requires the credits to be first transcribed by another college. I can't remember if this has to be Frederick Community College or any community college that grants credits for FEMAs. Anyway, FCC charged $77 per credit hour the last time I checked.

[Yanji]

Personally, I think Excelsior College sounds like a private LAC in the NE in the mould of Bard or Marist, which sounds a lot better than "______ State College", which just sounds like another name for "Last Chance College" or "Tiny State School in the Middle of Nowhere". At least, that's my opinion. For-profits almost invariably call themselves "university" to give them the impression of size and perhaps attract international students. But at the end of the day, it's not like any of the schools being discussed are vastly different in quality.

I like TESC because they have physical presence in Trenton (I used to live in north NJ so I could just go down and write exams) and they're big enough to offer a relatively wide range of services. However, customer service can be very hit-and-miss. One thing I like about Excelsior is that they have longer business hours because they're bigger and they seem to have a more national scope than TESC, which is more regional. Knowing what I do now, I'd probably have bit the bullet and paid out-of-state tuition at ESC to take advantage of their extensive learning centre network and flexible programs, but I don't regret choosing TESC at all. (I don't have a green card so I can't get in-state tuition in NJ anyway...)

[sanantone]

I almost applied to Empire State College too until I heard about the enormous amount of busy work. I don't think there is anything hate more in education than busy work.