GPA from undergraduate degree/TESU?

[pws]

I was organizing everything to start a BA in English at TESU, until I discovered the issue with GPA. 

My plan is to get a BA in English, to then do a MEd. I have a bunch of general credits from a brick-and-mortar college that I'll be able to transfer to TESU. For the MEd, the requirements are any undergraduate degree and a minimum GPA of 2.8.

For the things that I'm pretty sure about (please correct me if wrong):
- At TESU, all transferred credits don't count for the GPA
- Capstone does count for the GPA
- You can take TESU courses, which will count for the GPA, but this will cost around $500 per credit

For the things I'm not completely sure about:

• With the official transcript sent to the university for the MEd, what will they see and probably think?
  
• Would they be able to see that a portion of credits were obtained online (Study, Straighterline, etc.)?
  
• Would trying to get a GPA based on the capstone, coupled with a few TESU courses probably be pointless (and very expensive)?
  
• Are there other ways to get a GPA from the TESU BA in English?
  

[Ideas]

Yes, that is right. However you can do TESU's comprehensive plan and get credits cheaper. Also, there is a current Study.com discount that makes the courses $366 per credit (but this discount is probably going to be less on July 1st).

Most grad schools will have a policy saying they use the last 60 credits for GPA. So if you have a GPA with fewer credits, often this is not considered the same. But a lot of schools will accept you on a conditional basis if you have less graded credits. It will depend. I think some of the top schools might not. I'm not sure.

However, grad schools will "go back to the source" and see your B&M credits and consider those in the calculation.

They will see "ASSESSMENT" and then "TESU-ACE" for the providers that are ACE like Study.com and SL. In this post, you can see what a transcript is like. https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-from-TESU

[davewill]

The grad school will get all of your transcripts, so as long as you have a decent number of graded credits, you should be ok. However, if you have a particular school in mind, it never hurts to discuss your situation with them.

[dfrecore]

I think there's a mistake made in the GPA thing.

1) When you transfer to TESU, they will not bring your GPA over. So the only GPA you will have at TESU is the credits you take there - and that might mean just the capstone course.

2) When you apply for a MA program, the school will bring over all of your transcripts, including the GPA's, from all of the schools you've gone to - where they will see ALL of your graded courses. They will compute your GPA using all of those graded credits.

It looks like you think that since you're transferring to TESU, that it means that your old GPA is wiped out - that is NOT the case at all, it just means that TESU won't "transfer" it over to their program. Don't worry, you won't have lost anything.

Regarding not having "enough" graded credits, or the grad school seeing that some (or a lot) of your credits are ungraded, it depends on the grad school. Some won't care, some will. Some will want a certain minimum number of graded credits (like 30 or 60). I say, if you want a M.Ed from a particular school, then you need to check with them to see what they want, and work backwards from there. If you don't care where you go for the M.Ed, and just want to do your BA as quickly/cheaply as possible, and then you'll figure out which M.Ed you can get based on who accepts you in their program, then you're fine testing completely out at TESU.

Also, there are people on this forum with many test-out ungraded credits who go on to highly regarded programs at schools all the time. So I think you're fine to do the test-out method.

[cookderosa]

If I can add, this comes up a lot, and the implication is that TESU is doing something unusual. It is the case that 99% of the time, ANY and EVERY 4 year college you transfer to does not bring over grades. Spend some time poking around, I bet that even the school you're considering for your MEd follows the same policy for undergrads.

What creates an interesting situation is when the student opts to not take any classes for graded credits. This has NOTHING to do with TESU and everything to do with the student's preferences. Since you already have graded credit, as Dave mentioned, those won't be gone, they'll just not be on your TESU transcript as grades. The grades are still very real and will (probably) make up your cumulative GPA when you apply to grad school.

Further, if you need *more* graded credits, especially those in your major or to meet grad school requests, then simply do that. Yes, TESU charges about $500 per credit, but that's competitive with most 4-year colleges, especially when you consider that you do NOT have a 15-30-45 credit residency requirement. At TESU, you get to choose how many classes you take with them. I took classes for the express purpose of having graded credit in my major for grad school (granted, it was a bit cheaper when I did it) but don't try and change your career / dream / aspirations to fit into a TESU degree - do the degree in the way that helps you achieve YOUR goals.

[pws]

Thanks for the input everyone—it helped clarifying things.

I calculated all my courses from the previous school and I have I think about 20 credits I'll be able to transfer.

Regarding the school for the master's I was mentioning, it is a brick-and-mortor school (one course is online, though). Also, they aren't a top school at all. However, they still seem strict with their admission requirements, but I guess all universities do that?

Right now, the main thing I am wondering is:

• The school will see that I transferred graded credits from a previous college, and that I have some graded credits from TESU—but what will they think of the medium-large portion of courses with no graded credits? Will it be odd or perceived negatively?
  

Yes, that is right. However you can do TESU's comprehensive plan and get credits cheaper.

What is TESU's comprehensive plan to get credits for cheaper (and how do you get this)?

Also, there are people on this forum with many test-out ungraded credits who go on to highly regarded programs at schools all the time.  So I think you're fine to do the test-out method.

That is motivating.

Further, if you need *more* graded credits, especially those in your major or to meet grad school requests, then simply do that.  Yes, TESU charges about $500 per credit, but that's competitive with most 4-year colleges, especially when you consider that you do NOT have a 15-30-45 credit residency requirement.  At TESU, you get to choose how many classes you take with them.  I took classes for the express purpose of having graded credit in my major for grad school (granted, it was a bit cheaper when I did it) but don't try and change your career / dream / aspirations to fit into a TESU degree - do the degree in the way that helps you achieve YOUR goals.

I agree. However, the question remains how many is good enough? If you do too many, it could end up being really expensive, and if too little, I you could miss your chance at that school.

With your major, how many graded credits did you take? Were these enough for your master's?

[Danielp]

I have seen a person transcript after he/she graduated and said person had transferred credits from another university to TESU, but their grade wasn't shown on the transcript. How come?

[davewill]

I have seen a person transcript after he/she graduated and said person had transferred credits from another university to TESU, but their grade wasn't shown on the transcript. How come?

Because the grades are irrelevant to their work at TESU.

[Danielp]

I have seen a person transcript after he/she graduated and said person had transferred credits from another university to TESU, but their grade wasn't shown on the transcript. How come?

Because the grades are irrelevant to their work at TESU.

But how will grad schools see the grades from these courses then?

[Ideas]

Grad schools typically look at your last 60 graded credits. Some don't mind if you have only 30 graded credits.

Like I said, some of them will allow a student with no GPA, but on a conditional basis. That means you get into the school, but they require you to get a good GPA for the first courses/semester. Many schools publish their policy about this, so you can read the details.

The comprehensive tuition plan is here. You can still get the current discount through Study.com. https://www.tesu.edu/tuition/comprehensive-tuition-plan