Written English Requirement at Excelsior from a former Univ. of Phoenix student

[auminer49r]

Hey everyone,
I just thought that I would let you know about a possible shortcut that may apply to former University of Phoenix students who switch to Excelsior College.

If you are, or were, a University of Phoenix student, it is likely that you were expected to take an online English Proficiency, Critical Thinking Proficiency, and or Math Proficiency exam. These exams were not for college credit, but were required for a degree nonetheless. Too bad they don't offer the free proficiency tests anymore. They discontinued them about 6 months ago.

According to the Business School catalog at Excelsior college, the Written English Requirement may be satisfied by an official letter of proficiency from another credit granting institution.

I coordinated between my U.of Phoenix advisor and the Main Registrar's office in Phoenix AZ. to have the registrar prepare an official letter of proficiency and mail it to Excelsior's Records Office. The folks at the registrar's office said that they had never been asked to provide such a special document, but they refered it directly to the registrar and the registrar sent the official letter to Excelsior College.

I have recently enrolled in Excelsior College and I am waiting for my official evaluation, however, I have met the Written English Requirement exactly as stated in the catalog. I may not get 3 credits for the proficiency exam, but I should be able to replace those 3 credits with a lower level CLEP or DSST, or FEMA test. Who knows... maybe if I am lucky, Excelsior may grant me college credit for U. of Phoenix's proficiency exams!

If this situation applies to you, I would suggest going through the trouble of having the registrar write a special letter. I expect it to pay off for me. I'll know more when Excelsior provides my official evaluation in the weeks to come.

[Greggy_D]

Congrats getting out of that money sinkhole known as UoP!!!!!! I bet you'll be happier with Excelsior in the short and long run.

[auminer49r]

Thanks Greggy,
About a year ago, I got tired of writing group-papers with illiterate people who shouldn't have graduated high school. I got tired of paying over $1000 for a PDF e-book and an Outlook Express Newsgroup where the students had to post in a forum comments regarding topics that they had no clue about. :confused:

They were like independent study courses. but worse! I had to deal with the poor performance of of other students who learned how to ride coat-tails and make excuses about how their personal life got in the way of schoolwork. ... only to be given the same good grades as the students who applied themselves.:mad:

I knew there HAD to be a better way; a cheaper, faster way; a way where I would learn more. And I found it!! I have saved thousands of dollars, learned more, and saved a lot of time since I left UofP. --End Rant.

Now I'm going to crawl under my desk, curl up in the fetal position and try to think happy thoughts!! ... puppies and kittens!!! puppies and Kittens!!!hilarious

[mstcrow5429]

"About a year ago, I got tired of writing group-papers with illiterate people who shouldn't have graduated high school. I got tired of paying over $1000 for a PDF e-book and an Outlook Express Newsgroup where the students had to post in a forum comments regarding topics that they had no clue about."

Um, I've been involved with writing group papers with functional illiterates at Excelsior, and at both a brick and mortar college (the atrocious UMass-Boston) and Excelsior, I've had to engage in forum commentary/group discussion with clueless nubs about topics *they* had no clue about. At UMass-Boston, often the professors as well. Always exciting when an English teacher vastly oversteps their area of authority and starts assigning terrorist rants as something to emulate and then opens it up to class discussion. Then after a bit I got told to shut up by the professor...

[auminer49r]

Well, I got my status report from Excelsior today. It only took a week for them to evaluate my credits since I enrolled. Not bad at all.

They did not approve of my official letter from the University of Phoenix registrar. I called them and pleaded my case, but they said that it had to be listed on a transcript. That's not what the catalog says. So, I may appeal it.

I also ended up losing 8 credits that, come to find out, came from Denver Technical College... a college that was not regionally accredited. I didn't know that when I took those 3 classes there back in 1993. The University of Phoenix accepted them, but Excelsior won't. I may have to "credit bank" them somewhere if I can. I don't know if I will pursue that or not.

Other than those hic-ups, I was quite pleased with my evaluation and the speed in which it was conducted.