My BS in 1.5 years - my experience with CLEP/DSST/SL/WGU

[jessikalauren]

I have no idea if anyone would be interested in this information, but I’ve followed SO many detailed stories of others who documented their journeys and it’s helped me immensely. I honestly, likely would have spent another $15k+ and maybe not even finished my studies without all of the useful information I’ve found here. So here you go, if this helps anyone then YAY.

A very abridged background is that I am working full-time in a career I’ve worked hard to advance through quickly, I’d fully resigned to making my place in this world having traveled down the “career path” on the Game of Life board rather than the “college path.” For some reason I woke up one day in summer 2016, completely encouraged to go back to school. I had a few credits to my name from pretending to go to college at 18/19, and after a NUMBER of missteps and spending around $10k at a “regular school” for the past few semesters, I am now transferring to WGU in their BS-Business, HR program. Many of my credits won’t transfer (since the BA path I was in before is elective-heavy) so when I dropped back down to only 30ish transferrable credits I became incredibly discouraged once again.

Thanks to everything I’ve found here I’ve thrown so much of my time and energy into CLEP, DSST exams as well as Straighterline courses, and I’m transferring with 73 credits completed. All-nighters are simply not the same at 30 as they were at 19!!

I haven’t gotten my official transcript evaluation yet but according to my own spreadsheet, I’m starting off with the following:

- (20 credits) Transferred from community college & GGU: Psychology, intermediate algebra, sciences (2), intro humanities, critical thinking
- (22 credits) Transferred through CLEP/DSST exams: Principles of Mgmt, College Mathematics, Intro HR Mgmt, College Composition (6 credits applies to BOTH English requirements at WGU), Principles of Marketing, Business Ethics
- (31 credits) Transferred through StraighterLine: Intro to Business, Business Law, Organizational Behavior, Accounting I & II, Business Communication, Business Statistics, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, American Government

73 credits completed, 46 remaining to complete at WGU

My goal is to complete these 46 remaining credits in one 6-month term. I completed all of the above StraighterLine courses (31 credits) in one month so I’m working to find this motivation again after I begin courses on 8/1 so I can have a Bachelor’s degree by the end of this year. The application process with WGU has been a breeze (aside from requesting SO many transcripts and hoping they arrive in time) and my enrollment advisor has been so friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Our weekly phone calls have been my lifeline and helped me to stay motivated and focused.

Thank you again to everyone who posts on here with their journey! I welcome any and ALL tips and feedback regarding your experiences with WGU. Feel free to comment or message me directly if you have any questions.

[bjcheung77]

You're a rockstar, very impressive! I've been reading this and I totally understand how it feels... Push forward!
I hope you did transfer all your courses before you enrolled as courses taken after enrollment aren't transferable.

[jessikalauren]

You're a rockstar, very impressive! I've been reading this and I totally understand how it feels... Push forward!
I hope you did transfer all your courses before you enrolled as courses taken after enrollment aren't transferable.

I've used many of your posts/tips as well, so thank you very much!

I'm waiting now for my last few items to arrive at WGU and I'm nervous. CLEP & DSST are the absolute WORST for timely transcript delivery.

WGU just received my StraighterLine transcript, approximately 24 hours after I'd requested it. If there's anything I wish I'd known and would recommend to others, is use SL over CLEP/DSST whenever possible! Unless time is not a factor and you're not trying to gather all of your transcripts in under a month like I am.

[jessikalauren]

So I'm still having trouble getting my DSST & CLEP transcripts to WGU, both assure me they'll be there by the end of the week (before the 1st) so WGU can do my evaluation. Since I was so impressed with how quickly my transcript from SL arrived, and because I'm too stir crazy to just *not* keep working on my degree, I've paid for another month of membership at SL and I'm working on two more courses. My advisor assures me if I get transcripts in a *few* days after the 1st it will be alright, and since we have the 4th of July holiday coming up I saw my opportunity open up to keep trudging along.

[jessikalauren]

Since everyone is so informative and I realize I truly can't access my orientation or any course details until the 15th, I've been tackling more StraighterLine courses. I have my final exam in College Algebra tonight. It's my second attempt so think happy thoughts.

Something about having ONLY upper-level coursework left when I start my WGU term really makes it feel like I'm in the home stretch.

Intake interview scheduled for 7/11, at least I'll have a few days off to get ready!

[Thorne]

Something about having ONLY upper-level coursework left when I start my WGU term really makes it feel like I'm in the home stretch.

Intake interview scheduled for 7/11, at least I'll have a few days off to get ready!

Be careful. As soon as you do the intake interview, they won't let you transfer in anything else. You're considered "Admitted" (source: My WGU page) and your transcript evaluation is final. If you send the SL trasncript before your intake by a day or two, they should be able to update quickly, but be prepared to reschedule your intake if needed - just in case.

[jessikalauren]

Be careful. As soon as you do the intake interview, they won't let you transfer in anything else. You're considered "Admitted" (source: My WGU page) and your transcript evaluation is final. If you send the SL trasncript before your intake by a day or two, they should be able to update quickly, but be prepared to reschedule your intake if needed - just in case.

Yep that's exactly what I'm planning. I've seen first-hand how fast the transcript can go (I've already sent one) so since I've noted some "down time" before it's intake interview time, I'm giving myself tonight/tomorrow to finish and send to WGU, and then Mon-Tues they should be able to review and update my evaluation. My enrollment counselor is aware of this timeline and she's on board!

Thanks for looking out!

[Thorne]

I've seen first-hand how fast the transcript can go. . .My enrollment counselor is aware of this timeline and she's on board!

Thanks for looking out!

Sounds good! Best of luck on Algebra, by the way!

[jessikalauren]

Today is technically my first day, I've had a week inside the courses accessing the content and I must say, it's very overwhelming at first. I'm not used to having SO many helpful and specific resources. For instance, everyone says to "follow the rubric" when writing, but I not only have a rubric, I have a rubric template and three other supporting documents. I guess I'm just not used to things being spelled out so clearly. I'm sure once I get over this hump it will be smooth sailing. I'll meet with my CM again this week and he'll get me on a more focused path.

Tonight I decided to look at a few courses to see what the cohort offerings were, and I happened to notice there was a cohort series for Project Management starting tonight. It runs every Tuesday night (and it's recorded and posted) for four weeks. I just finished the first session and *wow* is the instructor very clear, very engaging and explains everything wonderfully. I will recommend this to anyone in this program.

I went through and enrolled in basically every cohort available in August for my remaining courses. I can see why people don't use this resource because their being scheduled doesn't really fall in line with the self-paced model. But I figure I can un-enroll later on if I get my act together and figure out how to study the material and get back on the fast pace I was on before. 

I was right in anticipating that once I took a break for WGU to evaluate my transcripts, it would be very hard to pick the momentum back up again. I only have 40 CUs left but I'm struggling to get focused again.

[bingbangboom]

Today is technically my first day, I've had a week inside the courses accessing the content and I must say, it's very overwhelming at first. I'm not used to having SO many helpful and specific resources. For instance, everyone says to "follow the rubric" when writing, but I not only have a rubric, I have a rubric template and three other supporting documents. I guess I'm just not used to things being spelled out so clearly. I'm sure once I get over this hump it will be smooth sailing. I'll meet with my CM again this week and he'll get me on a more focused path.

Tonight I decided to look at a few courses to see what the cohort offerings were, and I happened to notice there was a cohort series for Project Management starting tonight. It runs every Tuesday night (and it's recorded and posted) for four weeks. I just finished the first session and *wow* is the instructor very clear, very engaging and explains everything wonderfully. I will recommend this to anyone in this program.

I went through and enrolled in basically every cohort available in August for my remaining courses. I can see why people don't use this resource because their being scheduled doesn't really fall in line with the self-paced model. But I figure I can un-enroll later on if I get my act together and figure out how to study the material and get back on the fast pace I was on before. 

I was right in anticipating that once I took a break for WGU to evaluate my transcripts, it would be very hard to pick the momentum back up again. I only have 40 CUs left but I'm struggling to get focused again.

Interested to know how you're doing. The hr degree from wgu was my first choice but I chose a BALS from tesu so I could finish quicker, since 83 credits from my CC transferred into that program. But I am still interested to hear from a person actually going through the hr degree there. Best of luck, you can do it, you're almost there!!