0 to BS in under 9 months…I’m done!

[Joel]

Well…as the title says…I’m done. I’ve finished a Bachelor of Science – Liberal Studies with an Area of Focus in Administrative & Management Studies and a depth in Psychology with Excelsior College.

I took my first exam on Sept 10th, and my last on June 9th….one day under nine months. All in all, I ended up testing out of 117 credit hours and completing 7 credits through EC courses. I had a change of plan as I went along, so I ended up taking a couple more exams than I needed. I thankfully ended up with a 100% pass rate, but really should’ve done some studying. I took almost all the exams cold, which worked out great for the CLEP and DSST exams, but I ended up getting several C’s on ECEs. This hurt the GPA quite a bit, and I ended up with a 3.21 GPA from 57 graded credit hours.

Here’s the breakdown of the last nine months of testing...

September – 12 credits
-CLEP American Government
-CLEP Management
-CLEP Information Systems & Computer Applications
-CLEP Into to Sociology

October – 6 credits
-DSST Intro to Computers
-CLEP Human Growth & Development

November - 18 credits
-DSST Here’s to Your Health
-DSST Criminal Justice
-DSST Intro to Law Enforcement
-DSST Personal Finance
-DSST Environment & Humanity
-DSST Organizational Behavior

December – 6 credits
-DSST Management Information Systems
-CLEP Intro to Business Law

January – 27 credits
-DSST Technical Writing
-DSST Intro to Business
-CLEP Intro to Psychology
-CLEP Analyzing & Interpreting Literature
-DSST Foundations of Education
-DSST Fundamentals of Counseling
-CLEP Marketing
-DSST Anthropology

February – 18 credits
-CLEP Humanities
-CLEP Social Science & History
-DSST Civil War & Reconstruction
-DSST Substance Abuse

March – 15 credits
-DSST Astronomy
-ECE Human Resource Management
-DSST Ethics in America
-DSST World Religions
-ECE Cultural Diversity

April – 0 credits

May – 6 credits
-ECE Ethics: Theory & Practice
-ECE Organizational Behavior

June – 9 credits
-ECE Foundations of Gerontology
-ECE Psychology of Adulthood & Aging
-ECE Social Psychology

I just want to thank everyone that has contributed here…the information and camaraderie has been invaluable. I have left specific feedback on several of the exams I’ve taken, and responded to at least 50 PMs, so hopefully my input will help others.

I’m checking out several graduate programs and hope to start in the spring. I’m changing duty stations this month and plan to give myself some time to get settled into a new house, new job, etc before starting another degree.

[NAP]

I have enjoyed following your progress, especially when you pop in to take a test cold! Congratulations! Best wishes on your future plans!

[P00057870]

Hope all your hopes and dreams come true.

Judy

[NAP]

Did you know about Excelsior and testing for credit one year ago? Did you think you would be able to finish a whole degree so quickly? Congratulations again!

[blueberry]

Congrats, Joel! It must be a great feeling to be done! Good luck on everything you plan to do with your degree!

[skyfall123]

Excellent job!!!!

[Sunshine]

That's fantastic- Congrats!

[malcs]

9 months. Wow, amazing!

This is a realistic version of BAin4Weeks!

Best of luck in your future persuits.

[Joel]

Did you know about Excelsior and testing for credit one year ago? Did you think you would be able to finish a whole degree so quickly? Congratulations again!

I knew about Excelsior, though I had no idea you could test out of a degree. I only knew that they were quite military friendly.

I was lamenting to my advisor immediately after enrolling about how long it would take for me to finish a degree, and she suggested taking a couple of CLEPs to knock out some of the gen ed requirements.

I took American Government, and while searching the web to see what other tests were available, I stumbled on these forums...and the rest is history!

[Ruddigore]

I was lamenting to my advisor immediately after enrolling about how long it would take for me to finish a degree, and she suggested taking a couple of CLEPs to knock out some of the gen ed requirements.

I took American Government, and while searching the web to see what other tests were available, I stumbled on these forums...and the rest is history!

"A couple CLEPs"...she should know that's almost impossible!

We're glad you stumbled across the forum: You got a bachelors in 9 months! And here you are sharing your inspiring story with us.