I hate Excelsior

[dewisant]

I have hated Excelsior ever since they changed their name. I have really hated Excelsior since they dropped their GRE Subject test policy. Now, Excelsior seems to be jacking with all of their majors so I'm hell-bent to get my degree done before they go out of business. Back to studying!

[sanantone]

Wow! I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. Excelsior probably has more students than TESC and COSC put together. Excelsior wasn't the right choice for me, but I still think it's a great option. Excelsior seems to be the best place out of the Big 3 to get credit for IT certifications and they have the most flexible nursing program in the country. I just don't like their worthless, initial evaluation. I'm not paying them an enrollment fee just to see if my credits will transfer. I also didn't want to deal with the whole depth requirement and liberal arts vs. applied or whatever that is.

Okay, now let me go on my rant. I think COSC's cornerstone and capstone courses are stupid. I think Excelsior's capstone requirements are stupid too. I looked at their associate's programs and most, if not all, require a capstone. Now, TESC looks to be going down this stupid path. Did I mention that I think capstones are stupid?

[GoodYellowDogs]

At least they gave us warnings about their changes regarding the GRE subject test policy - I think we got over a year's notice. I do wish I had graduated when they had the Regents College name.

All that being said, they have been good to me. I get answers from my advisor in 24 hours, I've been able to challenge how they applied a couple of credits, etc. If I stay on track, I'll finish in March with a conferral in June. I've paid my tuition money each year to stay under the catalog I started under which meant I'm exempt from the changes.

I have hated Excelsior ever since they changed their name. I have really hated Excelsior since they dropped their GRE Subject test policy. Now, Excelsior seems to be jacking with all of their majors so I'm hell-bent to get my degree done before they go out of business. Back to studying!

[marianne202]

I'm sorry you are having issues with EC. I found them to be quite fair and my son is planning on starting with them in May. I will tell you that the capstone is most likely more a requirment of the regional accreditation agencies than the schools. As a college instructor in an RA accredited State college, we are SACS accredited, the most stringent of the regional accreditors, and we are turning to capstones in our courses to prove student learning outcomes. This has become very difficult for manys schools as regional accreditors tighten their requirements. Capstones are the easiest way to prove that students have learned what the school says they will learn during their program. So while we as students might not understand them they are a valuable assessment tool for schools. I wish you luck with EC. I found that if you are educated about your rights and you keep on top of things you can be very successful with EC, they just need students to be involved and vocal in the process because sometimes they are not as on the ball as most of us would like. Just remember you are your own best advocate, so don't trust your future or anything important to anyone else...ever!

[sanantone]

Yeah, I still don't get it. LOL. I can sort of understand with the Big 3 since they let students test out of and transfer in up to 120 credits. For traditional colleges, aren't students supposed to be assessed in each individual course? It just seems a bit redundant and nonsensical to make someone do a large project or paper shallowly covering the whole major when students already did smaller projects and papers for each course that were more in depth.

[marianne202]

The problem is that the most schools local State auditors and school systems value course outcomes but the regional accrediting agencies value program outcomes. We have spent the entire last two years creating program outcomes and changing how we assess our students because of these changes. I see these changes affecting every RA school before long. If you think if the program as a series of puzzle pieces (classes), just because you have all the pieces doesn't mean you have a complete puzzle until it you can correctly assemble it. So while the course outcomes prove you know that particular course material until you can use it all together, as you would in the real world to create a total picture, you haven't really proved you know the total program content. Trust me as an instructor of 15 years this has been hard for me to understand, but I'm finally starting to get it the more I work with it. It is also a lot more work for instructors and schools to completely redo their programs and outcomes. I think this becomes even more important for schools like the big 3 that don't have residency requirements and therefore can't prove the quality of previous coursework, but they have to stand behind it when they confer the degree. For the student it may be more work, but I personally loved my Capstone course at EC more than any other course because I could actually put into action what I had learned in a practical way, rather than just focus on theory concepts. It also gives students something to use in a portfolio to show employers their skills, abilities and training. You can hate it and try to fight it, but in the long run I think it is here to stay. Without it the schools will lose their accreditation and that won't benefit anyone. Good luck!

[sanantone]

I always thought this might be an accreditation issue if not a money issue. Welp, I'm glad I got my BA out of the way.

Sorry for hijacking the thread. I know it's supposed to be about hating Excelsior!

[ronaldemail1]

I understand what you mean. Sometimes I wanted to hate TESC because things did not work out the way I expected them
to work out (or the way I perceived them); but I remembered my previous experience with brick and mortar institutions and
noticed that actually TESC was treating way better than them in hindsight. Do not allow this to become a barrier to finish
your studies. Try everything. And if it does not work try something else.