Grad school after testing out?

[bawhitsett]

I'm certainly not trying to ruffle any feathers by asking this, I've been a part of this forum (primarily a lurker) for a long time and have tried to help as much as I've been helped, but for those people who have completed degrees almost completely by testing out, were you at least a little nervous when (and if) you applied to a course-based graduate program? Of course, since the big 3 allow for so many degree requirements to be completed through this method it is a valid means by which to earn a degree from them, but did you feel you were adequately prepared to take on more traditional graduate work? Not saying coursework is any better than testing out, it's just a different experience. I personally went into TESC with 100+ semester hours earned via in-person and on-line courses, and feel having done that was vital to my current success at UIS. At the same time, by visiting this and other forums you can see others who have excelled in graduate programs at top schools after having completely testing out of their BA or BS. Just interested in hearing about the experiences of other folks...

[Chebasaz]

I do sometimes wonder if graduate work lends itself more to the traditional student or the tester. On one hand, It takes a certain amount of discipline to prepare for and take these exams. You're not being led by hand through the material. You don't get a gradual approach. It's quite literally as if you walked in on the last day of class and took the final exam. I don't know too many traditional students that do that.

On the other hand, testing is mostly a loner's experience. Grad school (at least with most programs) forces you to work with others. You're no longer on your own schedule, but someone else's. Additionally, you're back to the gradual approach, but with a highly increased workload. You're also using different mental skill-sets. There isn't a lot of position papers needing to be written with CLEP's and DSST's.

I recently applied to Thunderbird's EMBA program, and got the word back yesterday that I've met the experience and professional requirements. If all goes well with the rest of the interview/application process, I'll probably be attending at the Geneva campus. So I guess I'll get my first-hand answer to this question in January.

Good discussion. How about you, Brian? What's your experience with grad school so far? Any surprises?

[perrik]

Just popped back into the forum to refresh my memory about ALEKS and saw this...

My answer: it depends. Helpful, eh?

By graduation, the traditional student should have gained experience with collaborative academic work (from senior-level major classes) and extensive writing in one of the accepted formats like MLA or APA. S/he will (hopefully) have been lurking around the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy due to the work required for those classes, and will have some experience in working closely with professors.

Those of us who did it the Big 3 way have a different set of skills. We're independent learners. We don't expect someone to tell us what to do, as we've been figuring out our own way all along. We tend to be older and have more real-world experience to bring into our graduate work.

Would it have been helpful to have the traditional experience? Sure, of course it would. I did attend traditional universities, two decades ago, but only through sophomore year so I missed out on the higher-level educational experience. I sometimes wish I had taken Excelsior's MLS 500 class to get a grounding in grad-level research and writing before starting this program.

However, I'm doing well so far and LOVING grad school. Earlier this week I spent a couple hours on IM with a classmate discussing metacognition and operant conditioning. How cool is that?

So yes, I was a bit nervous about attending a course-based grad school. (my program is at a traditional B&M university, but conducted entirely online) I got over it. A little trepidation is good for your psyche, anyway. It makes you pay attention. :p