Map to a Psy degree from Excelsior

[gemut]

I guess the cogent question would be "what do you plan on doing with your degree?" Undergraduate Psychology degrees are fantastic if you want to enter graduate school. Your post graduation goals will inform your decision on what school and what degree to pursue. For example, competitive graduate schools often demand gpa scores above 3.0 or higher. TESC does not calculate a gpa for coursework or credit by exam not taken at TESC. Excelsior provides grades for many DSST's, all ECE's and will calculate your gpa using your CC credits and all other credits that have a grade attached. I was given an A at Excelsior for the absurd 1 credit Information Literacy course I did through Penn Foster in 1 hour.
I got into a very competitive grad program with a BSLS from Excelsior because I had a very high cumulative gpa, something that you will not get from TESC: they calculate your gpa just on the courses you take there. On the other hand, if you want to be a substitute teacher and only need to show you graduated from a regionally accredited school, TESC is fine. Graduate schools that do not require a gpa, of which there are plenty to choose from, will also make the decision a toss up. The institution of the capstone at TESC coupled with the high enrollment fee you mention, make TESC a more expensive choice now if you do not take other course work at your prospective institution.
Which returns to the question of which degree should you pursue. If you really want a BA in Psychology with no need of a gpa for grad school, TESC is the less expensive option in the short run due to the extra course work required at Excelsior. However, a BSLS at Excelsior is about $700 less than a BSLS from TESC. I know it is all a little arcane and confusing. After spending many many hours contemplating the options you are contemplating, the most important factor in my decision to choose a BSLS from Excelsior was my post graduate plan. Or to quote Stephen Covey "Begin with the end in mind."

[CoachP1985]

Thank you for knowledge it is very helpful.

[CoachP1985]

What could be a map to go off of to get the BALS

[sanantone]

I guess the cogent question would be "what do you plan on doing with your degree?" Undergraduate Psychology degrees are fantastic if you want to enter graduate school. Your post graduation goals will inform your decision on what school and what degree to pursue. For example, competitive graduate schools often demand gpa scores above 3.0 or higher. TESC does not calculate a gpa for coursework or credit by exam not taken at TESC. Excelsior provides grades for many DSST's, all ECE's and will calculate your gpa using your CC credits and all other credits that have a grade attached. I was given an A at Excelsior for the absurd 1 credit Information Literacy course I did through Penn Foster in 1 hour.
I got into a very competitive grad program with a BSLS from Excelsior because I had a very high cumulative gpa, something that you will not get from TESC: they calculate your gpa just on the courses you take there. On the other hand, if you want to be a substitute teacher and only need to show you graduated from a regionally accredited school, TESC is fine. Graduate schools that do not require a gpa, of which there are plenty to choose from, will also make the decision a toss up. The institution of the capstone at TESC coupled with the high enrollment fee you mention, make TESC a more expensive choice now if you do not take other course work at your prospective institution.
Which returns to the question of which degree should you pursue. If you really want a BA in Psychology with no need of a gpa for grad school, TESC is the less expensive option in the short run due to the extra course work required at Excelsior. However, a BSLS at Excelsior is about $700 less than a BSLS from TESC. I know it is all a little arcane and confusing. After spending many many hours contemplating the options you are contemplating, the most important factor in my decision to choose a BSLS from Excelsior was my post graduate plan. Or to quote Stephen Covey "Begin with the end in mind."

You don't need a GPA from TESC in order to get into graduate school. The graduate school will calculate its own GPA. I had no GPA at TESC and had no problems with getting into a graduate school that required a 3.0 GPA on the last 60 hours. I had graded credits from other colleges and universities. So, the issue would be if you have enough graded credits. You'd have at least one graded course for the capstone at TESC. The ECEs are graded, so that will factor into your GPA too. However, as a word of caution, a graduate school can decide that it will not use DSSTs or other CBEs in the calculation of grades. Another option with TESC would be to take community college courses for graded credit since community colleges tend to be cheaper than 4-year colleges. I took CC courses for about $54 per credit hour. TESC is the only one of the Big 3 that will give UL credit for CC courses. COSC would be the cheaper option out of all of them, it's easier to complete the psychology degree there than with Excelsior, and they also give grades for 2-digit DSSTs.

[gemut]

"Graduate schools that do not require a gpa, of which there are plenty to choose from, will also make the decision a toss up"

What I meant by that sentence is there are plenty of grad schools which do not require a gpa on your transcript, which Angelos State University is surely one. However, there are also many grad schools, and departments within grad schools which will not go to this effort because they have many more applicants than they have spaces. Competitive schools have a strict rubric which demands that the applicant conform to the program's admission standards. No GPA = No Acceptance, into the rejection pile you go. SUNY would not calculate my gpa in this fashion for a competitive Physical Therapy program. Also, ECE's are transcripted to look like actual classes on the Excelsior transcript which is a huge help when you have lots of CBE. There is a reason top tier schools do not accept CLEP and DSST credit, they are still not seen as comparable to classwork at a community college or university. In addition, Excelsior has a much more professional looking transcript than TESC, which is helpful for ease of reading.

I am not talking out of the side of my neck here as I have a Bachelors from both TESC and Excelsior and only pursued the Excelsior degree after having been told I needed a gpa on my transcript. So my only advice to anyone starting on this path is ask yourself what is the goal in attaining a bachelors degree? If a competitive graduate school is on the horizon, investigate that school's requirements and tailor your undergraduate degree to that program, it will save you time and money in the long run.

[sanantone]

I guess the way ECEs are transcribed can be confusing. However, they are differentiated from Excelsior courses with the "X" in their course code. Someone told me that the Excelsior transcript gives an explanation for what that "X" means. Anyway, there would be a GPA on the transcript for the required capstone course, as I said earlier.

[CoachP1985]

Ok so I decided to go with a BALA with Psy and History becuase I like History and think it would be cool to have both. So I need help with an out line. Here is what I have for the majors.

Psy-12 History-12
Ed. psy CC Amer. Gov't CC
Intro. psy CC West. Civ CC
Lifespan. Psy CC Middle East CC

What do I have left to take for the major and I will again becoming in with around 80 credits. thanks

[perriquit]

Bio-psychology and History and Systems are offered online by Southwestern College of Kansas.
They charge $391 x credit and $250 for military however they are 6 week week only and you can take them concurrently.

I would not bother with Abnormal Psychology or other pysch pre-reqs via ECE that is 300, I would rather take them from a Community College.
Cowley College also from Kansas offers $117 out of state tuition and they probably have the majority of psych classes you need.

[bluebooger]

is that 117 per credit ?

in that case the ECE would be cheaper
also you're going to have to write papers for any class you take (and I see not writing papers the main advantage of ECEs)
also, quite of few of the ECEs are upper level credit

[EI2HCB]

Hi Blue,
here's an aside question about ECE exams, does excelsior provide you with study tools if not what resources did you find helpful in pursuing them.
thanks