Considering going to EC at the last minute...

[Sharkfin]

I had originally planned to go to a local B&M university to finish up my B.S. in Business Administration but now just a week before the semester starts I finally find out that they are not as accepting of certain exams as I was hoping. This along with other typical B&M issues would likely set me back a semester, where I probably wouldn't be able to graduate until Fall 09 when I was hoping to be done in the Spring.

So now I am trying to decide if it would be better to just go with one of the big 3. One of the reasons I didn't go with them in the first place is I am unsure of how they would be looked at for someone coming right out of college, as I am only 21. Right now I am leaning more towards EC because it seems like the requirements would be easier for me to complete. I have at least 80 credits, more if D's are accepted. Another major plus for EC is that they assign grades to exams, so I would likely have a very solid final GPA. I am aware that they do not do this for the updated DSSTs, but does anyone know for sure if they will continue to assign grades to the old scores? I have seen conflicting posts on this. Some other questions I have:

Is the General Business degree is pretty much the same as Business Administration?

Do they have many class start times like they do admissions periods? I know they basically force you to take their Business Policy course and I wouldn't be able to start for awhile since I am sure it takes some time for the credit eval.

Would it be realistic for me to graduate sometime early next year? One snag is that I failed the Business Law CLEP in June so I wouldn't be able to take that again until December.

I noticed that EC requires at least precalc for math. I was worried about getting through college algebra, let alone precalc. Has anyone got through this that was not at all good with math?

Again, one of my main concerns is how the degree would be looked at by employers for someone with no professional experience. Has anyone here started their career after getting a degree from EC?


I have until the end of the month to withdraw from the college I was planning on, so any feedback at all would be appreciated

[livingproof]

I'm in a similar situation. I'm finishing up a degree at TESC, I'm 22 and have no real prior work experience. I had to transfer back home from my college and since most schools wouldn't take all the credits, went with TESC. I've stopped worrying -- if your final transcript has grades and a solid GPA (which chances are, employers won't even see), it doesn't matter much where the degree came from (save Ivy League) - as long as it's accredited.

[dharmachic]

I can only answer regarding the old DSST exams: yes, an Excelsior advisor did confirm with me that they will continue giving letter grades for the old exams, and NOT the newer ones.

Helen

[Sharkfin]

Thanks everyone, I think most of my questions are answered between here and the admissions people at EC.

One last thing holding me back that I just realized the other day when looking at this thread:

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...hours.html

Does EC really require 30 UL credits? I can't find this requirement anywhere on their site or in the information I received. If this is the case, do they accept any exams that are generally considered lower as UL? I have over 80 credits already, and since most of their degree requirements look like they can be completed with lower division course, I would probably have to take at least 9 credits of UL exams just for this requirement...bringing me to around 130 total credits in the end.

[barcotta]

30 UL credits is for a liberal arts degree. The business degrees do not have a specific UL requirement other than 12 UL business credits and other requirements which may happen to also be UL. This is all based on my recollection and should be confirmed.

[skyfall123]

30 UL credits is for a liberal arts degree. The business degrees do not have a specific UL requirement other than 12 UL business credits and other requirements which may happen to also be UL

Added to this....you already have the MIS credit which counts as 3 UL, so you need 9 additional UL credits. Most people go with ECE Ethics and ECE Organizational Behaviour because they cover both core and UL requirement. The last 3 can be done with DSST Money and Banking (doable), Business Law II, or a handful of ECE exams....HR Management, etc...

[Sharkfin]

Alright, so I decided awhile back to go with EC. The thing I am wondering now is if I would be fine registering for a couple of penn foster classes (info lit and managerial acct) as well as the CSU Ops Mgmt before I receive my eval or enroll. I would like to get all that started asap since the eval could take awhile. I had already asked EC if I could register for one of their courses (Business Strategy) and they said I can register for whatever, they just won't be able to help with advising yet. I understand all these courses have been approved by EC for others already, so would I be fine getting registered right away?

[barcotta]

Alright, so I decided awhile back to go with EC. The thing I am wondering now is if I would be fine registering for a couple of penn foster classes (info lit and managerial acct) as well as the CSU Ops Mgmt before I receive my eval or enroll. I would like to get all that started asap since the eval could take awhile. I had already asked EC if I could register for one of their courses (Business Strategy) and they said I can register for whatever, they just won't be able to help with advising yet. I understand all these courses have been approved by EC for others already, so would I be fine getting registered right away?

I can't imagine why you wouldn't be able to start on those courses. I know from my experience that you're going to need credit in those three areas for a business degree from EC.

[Sharkfin]

Thats what I figured, so I went ahead and registered for everything. I wasn't sure if it was better to get it approved by an adviser first, but I can't do that yet anyway.

[dharmachic]

Thats what I figured, so I went ahead and registered for everything. I wasn't sure if it was better to get it approved by an adviser first, but I can't do that yet anyway.

All I can say is to read the course requirement descriptions in the EC Business Catalog very carefully and use them as guidelines if you're going the DIY path without the explicit approval from an advisor. You'll see something like, "Financial accounting subjects include, but are not limited to: Fundamentals of accounting, principles of accounting..." which will give you clues as to equivalent course titles that EC may accept as credit. But be sure to read the actual description carefully so that the required topics are covered in your chosen courses.

It's a bit of a gamble, trying to do this before enrolling, but you are definitely not alone in going this route. Just do the best you can and refer to the EC Catalog often!

Helen