Major career change, cosmetology to MSW/LMSW

[Jonathan Whatley]

Thank you for your reply! Re: completing gen eds — is the ACE route similar to CLEP? I took five AP tests in high school with four 5’s and one 4 so I imagine I’m still a great test taker. I was wondering how easily or far I could CLEP myself forward, but I don’t know if that’s super lofty and I don’t want to skip anything that I really should take a class for. I’m mostly wanting to miss having to take the gen eds so your reply feels really spot on.

CLEP and AP are more or less also forms of alt-credit, but we sometimes talk about them as separate categories. CLEP and AP are accepted at more schools in total than the newer generation alt-credit such as Sophia via ACE.

As rachel83az indicated, AP scores are archived. I'm not seeing that there's any time limit on AP archiving. (CLEPs are deleted after 20 years.) You can order your archived AP transcript for $25.

You can expect those APs to cover some of your gen eds today!

Alt-credit programs like Sophia and Study.com are similar to CLEP in that they're largely self-study, generally self-paced, and usually culminate in an exam. Unlike CLEP, there are typically other required elements to complete the newer-gen alt-credit course: often open-book quizzes, sometimes written assignments. These are rarely onerous.

CLEP could still be part of your degree plan today, if there was a subject you'd rather fulfill by CLEP than alt-credit.

I used a mix of CLEP, CLEP-like exams (DSST, TECEP, and the late lamented UExcel and ECE), college courses, and alt-credit courses (including Sophia and Study.com), in my bachelor's.

As far as transferring from UMPI to WSU I’m assuming I can ask Wayne if they accept those transfer credits right? I’ve read conflicting information on “really super extra making sure your credits are legit and will transfer” etc. and I want to make sure I’m doing things the correct way so I don’t have to repeat anything.

Ah: Under this plan you wouldn't be transferring from UMPI to WSU. When you complete your bachelor's degree at one school, then apply for a master's at another school, you're not considered a transfer student and the credits in your bachelor's are not considered transfer credit.

The master's school generally will review your transcript, but except for special cases not really pertinent here, it will not audit it so closely as to consider whether or not each credit would be accepted in transfer in its own bachelor's program.