Is anyone familiar with bain4weeks.com-share your stories!

[journey21]

His timeline is extremely aggresive, but one of our own members completed his degree in 12 weeks through EC.

How did he do that?

This was for his BA/BS?

[alissaroot]

I was first turned on to distance learning and testing out by Bear's Guide to Degrees by Distance Learning, then I found bain4weeks after I found degree-whiz.net (which no longer exists) and clepmaniac.com (which is now a big IC advertisement). I think the degree-whiz site convinced me first, it used to have a nice long testimonial about a guy who sounded just like me who had tested out in seven months or so, and then his wife tested out, and it listed out all his exams all nice. I still have all the pages I printed off from that site. I thought it was a bit easier to understand how the process works and I'm sad it's gone! Also, I already accepted the idea of testing out because I had already done it my senior year of high school with an AP exam.

What I liked most about the bain4weeks site was the idea of using the GRE subject exams for credit, and I probably would not have attempted that move if it had not been for Lawrie's example. He is a huge inspiration.

[ShotoJuku]

We should all be thankful that you can't get a BS online in 4 weeks, because that would make our degrees worthless.

I wouldn't say worthless per se, the degree would still have great value and the fact that one could "in theory" earn a degree in four weeks and then prove so in practice would simply demonstrate that particular student was an incredible test-taking machine.

[malcs]

I wouldn't say worthless per se, the degree would still have great value and the fact that one could "in theory" earn a degree in four weeks and then prove so in practice would simply demonstrate that particular student was an incredible test-taking machine.

If a large amount of students were able to get their degree in four weeks by testing-out, it would most certainly impact the value of our degrees. It would mean that there is something wrong with the process, and that these degrees do not equate to a traditionally obtained degree.

If it happens once in a while it is no big deal, just like 12 year old kids occasionally getting into college.

I would rather not have a prospective employer ask, "Is that one of those degrees that you can get in 4 weeks?".

[nick94]

If a large amount of students were able to get their degree in four weeks by testing-out, it would most certainly impact the value of our degrees. It would mean that there is something wrong with the process, and that these degrees do not equate to a traditionally obtained degree.

If many people get their degree in weeks I might want to get several masters or a doctorate!

[nick94]

Went from 86 to 120 credits in six weeks thanks to IC and the forum.

How long did it take you to get your 86 credits?

[malcs]

How long did it take you to get your 86 credits?

Long story, but in 1977 I got my AS in electronics engineering and got a string of cool jobs after it. In the late 80's I took some B&M courses and the GRE in Computer Science through Regents College (now called EC), and got myself up to 110 credits. Life got in the way, and there was no way to do it online at the point, and another 20 years went by. I had no incentive to finish my degree since I had a well established track record.

The recent job market forced me to go back and get my degree, just so that I could fill in the "Highest Degree" box with "BS" on a job application.

When I re-enrolled EC dropped my credits down to 83 due to stale technology courses, changed GRE policy, a few supposed overlaps, and the two Ds that I got when I was 18. I tried to dispute the overlaps based on the fact that they were not considered so in the past, but they would not budge.

Now that I have earned my BS degree, I have the bug to continue towards an MBA.

I really enjoy the fact that I don't have to dance around the degree issue whenever it comes up in conversation anymore. In the past, most everyone assumed that I had one and I did not want to admit to not having one.

[cookderosa]

If a large amount of students were able to get their degree in four weeks by testing-out, it would most certainly impact the value of our degrees. It would mean that there is something wrong with the process, and that these degrees do not equate to a traditionally obtained degree.

If it happens once in a while it is no big deal, just like 12 year old kids occasionally getting into college.

I would rather not have a prospective employer ask, "Is that one of those degrees that you can get in 4 weeks?".

>>


I disagree. Almost 3000 colleges accept CLEP, and yet even people who attend those 3000 colleges largely have no clue that it is even an option. EVEN ADVISORS don't always know their own college's CLEP policy. Additionally, even when you tell people about CLEP, few are likely to pursue it. Case in point, every semester, I tell my 32 culinary students how to test out of their 15 gen eds using CLEP (available at our college). Since I learned about CLEP- maybe 3 years now, I have shared with 250 students at a minimum. Who has CLEPped? None. Despite the fact that my students must miss work (and $) in their apprenticeship to take their gen eds- they could instead take all gen eds in one day.... <shrug>

Add in the confusion of two other biggies: diploma mills and accreditation. Most people (even in education) have very little knowledge of either. Toss in the online option or private vs public, and most people are so clueless about how to evaluate the legitimacy of a degree that it's hard to have a conversation.

The question about earning a 4 week degree is really this question: "did you buy your degree through a diploma mill?" Anyone who earns a regionally accredited degree through ANY regionally accredited institution has EXACTLY THE SAME degree as EVERYONE else- regardless of length of time enrolled.
Out of the 12,000 TESC graduates last year, how many earned degrees in 1 month? How many EC students tested out vs took classes? Your employer doesn't know either.

[malcs]

>>


I disagree. Almost 3000 colleges accept CLEP, and yet even people who attend those 3000 colleges largely have no clue that it is even an option. EVEN ADVISORS don't always know their own college's CLEP policy. Additionally, even when you tell people about CLEP, few are likely to pursue it. Case in point, every semester, I tell my 32 culinary students how to test out of their 15 gen eds using CLEP (available at our college). Since I learned about CLEP- maybe 3 years now, I have shared with 250 students at a minimum. Who has CLEPped? None. Despite the fact that my students must miss work (and $) in their apprenticeship to take their gen eds- they could instead take all gen eds in one day.... <shrug>

Add in the confusion of two other biggies: diploma mills and accreditation. Most people (even in education) have very little knowledge of either. Toss in the online option or private vs public, and most people are so clueless about how to evaluate the legitimacy of a degree that it's hard to have a conversation.

The question about earning a 4 week degree is really this question: "did you buy your degree through a diploma mill?" Anyone who earns a regionally accredited degree through ANY regionally accredited institution has EXACTLY THE SAME degree as EVERYONE else- regardless of length of time enrolled.
Out of the 12,000 TESC graduates last year, how many earned degrees in 1 month? How many EC students tested out vs took classes? Your employer doesn't know either.

Yes, but it would not be considered exactly the same if many people were getting it in 4 weeks. That would surely cause an audit of the process, accreditation issues, etc. The B&M schools would certainly put pressure on the accreditation agencies if they noticed this trend.

So, my point was that we should all be glad that 4 week BS degrees are not the norm at the big 3, and anyone who challenges us should understand that we have the same accredited degree that anyone else has except for the fact that we earned it the hard way. By earning it the hard way, we have proven that we are self motivated and have a certain level of efficiency to get the same results in less time.

[ShotoJuku]

Yes, but it would not be considered exactly the same if many people were getting it in 4 weeks.

[COLOR="Navy"]As fast as many-many-many students have earned degrees (I completed 2 undergrad and 1 grad in 3 1/2 years) I don't recall anyone doing the 4-week deal.

These people, if they truly exist, are freaks (code for incredible test-taking-monsters who hide under your bed at night).

Take a look and see if you find one under there. You won't, they don't exist.[/COLOR]