Benefits of Enrolling at Excelsior College

[NAP]

I am planning to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree with a Math major at Excelsior College.

I expect it to take me at least 5 years using mostly tests to complete a degree. Since there is a $440/year student service annual fee, I am considering delaying enrollment until I have more credits, but I would like to know:

What are the benefits of enrolling at Excelsior? What support, advice, or resources would I be missing out on by doing testing on my own and waiting to enroll?

Do they have an active and supportive forum like this one for students taking exams?

I saw on pages 1 and 2 in their guide to credit by exam that they offer study guides and materials for ECEs. Do they give any guidance for study materials for GREs?

Thanks for your help.

NAP

[dharmachic]

Delaying enrollment until you are close to finishing up your credits and ready for graduation is an excellent and economical way to complete your degree. Many people on this board are taking the same DIY route and Excelsior does a pretty thorough job in its documentation to help you accomplish this by exam.

If you're planning on taking local courses to transfer over to Excelsior, it does get a little iffy as it depends on the course content, etc. but again, you can use the school catalog to get a good idea of what EC is likely to accept. The main advantage of being enrolled is that you'll know for sure if the classes you are taking will satisfy the specific credits you need.

You can sign up for a free account on EC and email your questions and an advisor will respond to you (I've found responses to be fairly quick). This is with the caveat that unless you enroll and receive your evaluation, they won't be able to give you a 100% certain answer to certain specific questions. But their input is definitely helpful.

Posting your degree plan on this board so that currently enrolled students and EC grads can comment on it is a great source of help - which I see you've already done .

EC doesn't offer GRE study materials, but there are plenty of third party resources out there. You can also check out the feedback on this forum for help.

Hope this helps,
Helen

[alissaroot]

They have a forum, but...it's not as great as this one. The chat transcripts are interesting, though, but they never had one going on when I could catch it. They do have an online library and other things like that, as well.

I never found any study guides or guidance for the GREs. But then again, I never asked them, really. I just floundered through that part on my own. Finding good, relevant advice for the GREs is a challenge. Sometimes I thought that the book reviews on Amazon for the exam specific books had some helpful advice.

The only big drawback to not enrolling now is when you have a question about a really specific thing. The answers from the Admissions Advisers are often more vague and cryptic than the ones you will get from the adviser within your program. That could be said for most schools, since once you are enrolled they will have a better idea of what credits you have, and where your question would really apply.

Saving your money until you are sure you can finish within one year is a good idea. I went ahead and enrolled even when I was not sure that I would finish within one year because I felt that the deadline of the SSAF would help me stay on a fast clip and help me stay focused on finishing in a timely manner.

[derek10rr3]

Hi All,
Sorry to hijack this thread, but on the subject of enrolling at EC, i had a question.

I am still working on my associate's degree with northeast community college, so do not want to enroll in a bachelor's program at EC yet.

My concern is regarding the Aleks math credits, and the fact that these classes may no longer be ACE evaluated after January, 2010.

I will have these courses transcribed by ACE within the next 6-7 weeks.

Do I need to applyto EC before this period to ensure that these credits will be applied, or if they are transcribed by ACE now, will they remain safe?

I almost wonder if I would be better of applyto EC sooner than later, and completing my associate's degree with them? My concern was the fees, and the fact that at northeast community college I do not have to pay almost $2,000 to graduate.

Thanks.

[dflowers2]

If your courses are already ACE transcripted, you will be fine even if they do not continue to ACE approved later. You have to think of ACE kind of like the regional accreditation bodies. If you took classes at a school that was RA and then they lost the RA, the courses you took while they were RA would still be good typically. From what I understand, ALEKS is going to continue to have their courses ACE evaluated, but like the RA schools, they will be up for review in 2010. Most of the ACE evaluated participants are on a review schedule. For example, I took a course at the National Fire Academy and it was new and therefore has not been reviewed by ACE. The NFA has all of their resident courses evaluated, but new ones have to wait until they cycle through before they get evaluated. I hope some of this makes sense and is helpful.

Hi All,
Sorry to hijack this thread, but on the subject of enrolling at EC, i had a question.

I am still working on my associate's degree with northeast community college, so do not want to enroll in a bachelor's program at EC yet.

My concern is regarding the Aleks math credits, and the fact that these classes may no longer be ACE evaluated after January, 2010.

I will have these courses transcribed by ACE within the next 6-7 weeks.

Do I need to applyto EC before this period to ensure that these credits will be applied, or if they are transcribed by ACE now, will they remain safe?

I almost wonder if I would be better of applyto EC sooner than later, and completing my associate's degree with them? My concern was the fees, and the fact that at northeast community college I do not have to pay almost $2,000 to graduate.

Thanks.