Excelsior written english requirement

[glgamerica]

My son has been working on a degree map I put together a while back that he's been working on since before he was 16 years old. He's now a senior in high school. Here's the map:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CJEW10sjVQQ-VbTFfkhv_LIiicULMyJxIXm8YODpQmA/edit?usp=sharing

We went ahead and applied this week and I got his unofficial review back from Excelsior today. It only took a day or two to get back. Everything except one thing I had mapped in matched perfectly to the degree map I had created.

The only problem was with the written english requirement. I had mapped in the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition to satisfy that requirement. When I saw it wasn't there, I contacted the school to ask why that was missing. While I was on the phone the counselor checked with the evaluator who indicated that it should count and it would be corrected. Then, later in the day, I got a call from admissions that it couldn't count because it was taken after 2016.

While I'm certainly happy everything else mapped in correctly, I'm a little frustrated because right in the current school catalog on page 7 it says all the ways you can satisfy the written english requirement including:

Advanced Placement (AP) English
Examinations (fulfills the requirement for
the associate and bachelor’s degrees)

I had even contacted the school prior to my son's junior year and asked about it as well and the admissions department checked with an evaluator and said it would satisfy the requirement.

Since it's 6 credit hours, obviously it's disappointing. 

My son's goal is to graduate from high school and college at the same time and we are pretty much on track so this is a wrinkle I hadn't expected which might delay us. I'd say the most frustrating thing about this process with Excelsior is that it very difficult to map out a degree unless you talk to an advisor and you can never do that until you enroll. I could see maybe if you were talking about degree concentration but this is just the general education part of the degree.

Anyway, when I was in college I was able to petition the school for a couple of exceptions that were granted. I was wondering if anyone has petitioned Excelsior for exceptions and what their experience was.

I was also wondering if anyone from Excelsior frequents these forums that could help since it says right in the course catalog they accept it.

[cookderosa]

Here's the problem. That AP exam isn't ACE evaluated right now and EC is watching the computer screen instead of using common sense.

If you applied anywhere else (where transfer credit is not maxed out and the norm) this wouldn't be an issue because AP is the most prominent credit by exam brand and should stand on its own merits.... that said, you might get snagged on this one. I would go ahead and try to appeal to a registrar AND see if you can get some back-up from The College Board. Perhaps they can give you something to make a case. If EC allows the exam to count, it's going to be an exception, and again, that's because of the ACE evaluation (which is their default way to evaluate credit without thinking).


http://www2.acenet.edu/credit/?fuseactio...ICE=300271
AP English Literature and Composition

Credit Type: Exam
ACE Course Number: 0010
Organization: College Board Advanced Placement (AP) Examinations
Location: College Board Examination Test Sites, Worldwide
Length: 3 hours
Dates Offered: 4/1/1994 - 3/31/2016
Description: A 3-hour examination covering a full-year introductory college English course. Includes 60 minutes of multiple- choice questions and 120 minutes of free-response questions.
Skills Measured: The examination covers a one-year introductory literature and composition course. The examination tests the student's ability to read selected poems and prose passages analytically and to write critical or analytical essays based on poems, prose passages, and complete novels or plays.
Credit Recommendation: In the lower-division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 6 semester hours of credit are recommended for examinees with a grade of 3 and above (1/07).

[glgamerica]

After I made the original post, I did petition the school but I didn't hear anything back. Today I happened to log in to Excelsior and noticed they had posted a new credit evaluation that gave my son credit for the AP exam and it satisfied his written english requirement.

Cool!