Advice needed: Beginning International Student

[kiyphon]

Hi all,

This forum has provided a lot of great resources and info, and now I'm looking into getting some assistance and tips in my current situation.

Brief Introduction:
I'm a professional from Canada looking to get a degree in Computer Science.  After dropping out of University for a good half-decade, I've finally found interest in a field which emboldened myself to pursue this endeavour.

Educational History:
Having gone to a B&M for two years and ultimately dropped out, I managed to scrape 44 credits worth.  My concentration within those two years were in Criminology (most of my courses reflect that), and a few humanities/social science electives.

School of Choice/Discipline:
I had wanted to apply for WGU's BSCS (seeing the competency-based education model was of interest to me), but much to my dismay, found out that they did not accept International/Canadian students anymore (phoned their Education Counselor to confirm).
As such, I am now planning my degree within TESU for BACS.

Academic Evaluation:
I have not had an international academic evaluation yet.  However, my unofficial transcript states that I had completed 44 credits worth of courses.
If anyone has personal experience in Canada-to-US credit transfers to TESU, how was your experience and have any tips?

Required Assistance:
I was hoping to see if someone could take a glance at my spreadsheet to see if anything that looks out-of-place or made more efficient.  For the most part, I'd like to be able to transfer as much as I can (to accelerate and save on costs) before jumping in, while also avoiding any potential mistakes that could become financial hurdles down the road.  In the case of my possible transfers, I've plotted them into what I think TESU would accept them as (in terms of GenEd, Electives, etc...).

As I do not know if my B&M courses will all transfer, there may be more spots to plug in, but would mainly be electives in any case. I've mainly been making use of study.com (as they have a great TESU transfer guide), Sophia and TEEX (mainly for the free credit).  I've yet to dive deeply into Saylor yet, as their transfer courses does seem a bit on the sparse side.

To summarize:
1. Find efficiencies within planned spreadsheet and see if anything could be moved around for more freedom;
2. Experience or knowledge of how well Canadian-to-US transfers work for TESU;
3. Any suggestions that would help accelerate or alleviate costs.

Thanks in advance!

[MNomadic]

If you're still working through 1 or more of the TEEX courses, make haste and finish them before the end of the month(their ACE recommendation ends and we're not sure if it will renew). Also, check out the free ethics course. It will satisfy the ethics requirement at TESU. Also, it's ace recommendation ends at the end of the month as well.

[zzzz24]

The majority of your criminology courses will only go to free electives, especially if you are taking something like Computer Science. I took a legal program previously and that's where they all went. Criminology should go to info lit.
You can see what type of courses would fit into GE here https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/2016-and-after2

Definitely complete the free courses ASAP, request your transcripts from your previous institution, have them sent to WES for evaluation and they will send them to TESU.
Apply to TESU and wait and see where your courses end up.

[bjcheung77]

The majority of your criminology courses will only go to free electives, especially if you are taking something like Computer Science. I took a legal program previously and that's where they all went. Criminology should go to info lit.
You can see what type of courses would fit into GE here https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/2016-and-after2

Definitely complete the free courses ASAP, request your transcripts from your previous institution, have them sent to WES for evaluation and they will send them to TESU.
Apply to TESU and wait and see where your courses end up.

This is great advice and I would like to add to it the following.

1) Saylor - My degree plan actually consisted mainly all Saylor courses because of the price, but I changed to use mainly StraighterLine for LL and Study.com for UL because the Saylor course structure and difficulty of passing the course was much harder, it would take up more energy/time in the long run to save a little money.

2) There are many options available to you, but I highly suggest using the StraighterLine/Study.com combo for your degree as StraighterLine/Study.com will be cheap/easy/fast and the value is that you get discounts on residency fee/capstone course if you use Study.com

This method is the most cost effective/efficient for a Canadian and what I have recommended for people who are without a CLEP/DSST testing center. You need to quickly start with the FREE courses and get them done fast as some expire end of this month.

You then need to use ALEKS for College Algebra and Trigonometry (comes in as Pre-calculus) to get your math up to par before you tackle the harder math courses. I would also recommend the CSM Learn $39 for review before you do the ALEKS course, it grants 3 credits for elective studies and prepares you for College Algebra.

If you read this post #31 on the Beginners Guide, it's got a spreadsheet of all the courses you need for your BACS and the courses you can take for elective credits. You may also want to read post #27/28 to get the hang of changing your courses around if needed. https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid276872

BTW, kiyphon, which city/college did you take your undergraduate courses from?
To apply/enroll into WGU, they previously only offered it to selective cities in AB/BC/ON
It's too bad they stopped allowing international students from Canada into their programs.

[kiyphon]

If you're still working through 1 or more of the TEEX courses, make haste and finish them before the end of the month(their ACE recommendation ends and we're not sure if it will renew). Also, check out the free ethics course. It will satisfy the ethics requirement at TESU. Also, it's ace recommendation ends at the end of the month as well.

The majority of your criminology courses will only go to free electives, especially if you are taking something like Computer Science. I took a legal program previously and that's where they all went. Criminology should go to info lit.
You can see what type of courses would fit into GE here https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/2016-and-after2

Definitely complete the free courses ASAP, request your transcripts from your previous institution, have them sent to WES for evaluation and they will send them to TESU.
Apply to TESU and wait and see where your courses end up.

Thanks for mentioning that those courses were 'expiring' soon!  Definitely did not know that their ACE recommendation was going to be ending.

Fingers crossed on those transfers ending up on some GenEd requirements.

The majority of your criminology courses will only go to free electives, especially if you are taking something like Computer Science. I took a legal program previously and that's where they all went. Criminology should go to info lit.
You can see what type of courses would fit into GE here https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/2016-and-after2

Definitely complete the free courses ASAP, request your transcripts from your previous institution, have them sent to WES for evaluation and they will send them to TESU.
Apply to TESU and wait and see where your courses end up.

This is great advice and I would like to add to it the following.

1) Saylor - My degree plan actually consisted mainly all Saylor courses because of the price, but I changed to use mainly StraighterLine for LL and Study.com for UL because the Saylor course structure and difficulty of passing the course was much harder, it would take up more energy/time in the long run to save a little money.

2) There are many options available to you, but I highly suggest using the StraighterLine/Study.com combo for your degree as StraighterLine/Study.com will be cheap/easy/fast and the value is that you get discounts on residency fee/capstone course if you use Study.com

This method is the most cost effective/efficient for a Canadian and what I have recommended for people who are without a CLEP/DSST testing center.  You need to quickly start with the FREE courses and get them done fast as some expire end of this month.  

You then need to use ALEKS for College Algebra and Trigonometry (comes in as Pre-calculus) to get your math up to par before you tackle the harder math courses.  I would also recommend the CSM Learn $39 for review before you do the ALEKS course, it grants 3 credits for elective studies and prepares you for College Algebra.

If you read this post #31 on the Beginners Guide, it's got a spreadsheet of all the courses you need for your BACS and the courses you can take for elective credits.  You may also want to read post #27/28 to get the hang of changing your courses around if needed.  https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid276872

BTW, kiyphon, which city/college did you take your undergraduate courses from?  
To apply/enroll into WGU, they previously only offered it to selective cities in AB/BC/ON
It's too bad they stopped allowing international students from Canada into their programs.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply!

I've been going through the courses from Sophia & TEEX as per everyone's instructions to get it before the deadline.
I'll absolutely have to take a closer look into StraighterLine since I skimmed past most other 'options' it when I saw most of the LL/UL courses offered on SDC (+ added bonus of SDC discount).

Thanks for also mentioning ALEKS and CSM Learn- I haven't done much formal mathematics since getting out, so hopefully it'll bring things up to speed.
I've also been reading up on the Beginners Guide you've linked and that has changed some of my plans around to keep it more flexible.

I took my undergraduate courses from Vancouver, BC- it's fairly close to the US border, so I had hopes that WGU would be accepting those areas.

[zzzz24]

They don't consider legal courses to be social sciences at TESU for some reason, which is why there's basically none on the GE listing, other than criminology.

My Legal Research course went to info lit based on the research aspect. Everything else basically went to electives, other than the small amount of social science/humanities courses I did have.
Examples in electives:
LES221 Criminal Law
LAW221 Real Estate Law
LAW201 Business Law Torts
LAW242 Corporate Law Procedures

[bjcheung77]

Thank you so much for your detailed reply!

I've been going through the courses from Sophia & TEEX as per everyone's instructions to get it before the deadline.
I'll absolutely have to take a closer look into StraighterLine since I skimmed past most other 'options' it when I saw most of the LL/UL courses offered on SDC (+ added bonus of SDC discount).

Thanks for also mentioning ALEKS and CSM Learn- I haven't done much formal mathematics since getting out, so hopefully it'll bring things up to speed.
I've also been reading up on the Beginners Guide you've linked and that has changed some of my plans around to keep it more flexible.

I took my undergraduate courses from Vancouver, BC- it's fairly close to the US border, so I had hopes that WGU would be accepting those areas.

So, which college did you go to again? I had a few people who went to BCIT or the local colleges in BC private message me with questions in regards to getting a degree in Business or Comp Sci as they did either a year or two at BCIT but want to ladder into a Bachelors. I had one person transfer 7 courses over and the other transfer their entire diploma, without issues to TESU. I am very familiar with the Canadian and overseas education systems as well, not just limited to the USA.

[pws]

Academic Evaluation:
I have not had an international academic evaluation yet.  However, my unofficial transcript states that I had completed 44 credits worth of courses.
If anyone has personal experience in Canada-to-US credit transfers to TESU, how was your experience and have any tips?

1. It's a long process; start now.
2. Read up: 
- https://www.tesu.edu/academics/catalog/p...-submitted
- https://www.tesu.edu/current-students/send-transcripts
- https://www.tesu.edu/admissions/evaluation
(There may be other important pages—look around.)

3. You'll have to have your credits evaluated (course-by-course) by a credit evaluation company. TESU has a recommendation list of credit evaluators. I went with ACEI because they seem professional, support has been helpful, and it was listed first in the list. 
4. You need all your official documents from your previous school, diploma, etc. Carefully/precisely follow all the directions for the required documents, provided by the credit evaluation company.
5. Send everything (I'm at this stage, but had extra steps of finding a good academic translator and then have all my documents translated).
6. Wait, then contact your credit evaluation company.
7. After the credits have been evaluated, the credit evaluation company should send everything to TESU. 
8. You should be receiving an email from TESU mentioning they received the credit evaluation and required documents, and then within 10 business days the credits should successfully be transferred (as per TESU FAQ quoted below).

How do I know my documentation/transcript has been received?
Enrolled students can check on the status of their documentation/transcripts by logging into Online Student Services. Under the header Academic Profile, they can click on Transcripts Received to see a list of documents that have been received by TESU, and the date they were received. Applicants can contact the TESU Enrollment Services at enrolled@tesu.edu to verify the receipt of documents.

How long does it take for my academic evaluation to be processed?
After acceptance, the academic evaluation process will be completed within 10 business days from the date your transcripts have been received. You will receive an email letting you know when your academic evaluation has been completed, as well as instructions on how you can view it online.

https://www.tesu.edu/admissions/evaluation

Again, I'm currently going through this, so there might be a few extra things or some differences (if you choose a different credit evaluation company, for example), so use this as guidelines and not as directions.

Good luck!