Options for bumping up GPA

[lillingworth]

Hello everyone, it's been a while.

I tested out of an Associate's a couple years ago and have forgotten everything about alternative education since then. I'm now considering the BSBA from TESU and was wondering what my options were for raising my GPA. As far as I know, most of these sites are pass/fail, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. I have right around a 2.8 but would like to get that over a 3.0. What can I do?

Also, not sure if it matters, but I live in Tokyo and proctoring services are VERY limited and expensive but not completely out of reach. A single CLEP exam can cost somewhere in the $200-250 range. Still cheaper than attending a university but just something to keep in mind.

[Synicaal]

Hello everyone, it's been a while.

I tested out of an Associate's a couple years ago and have forgotten everything about alternative education since then. I'm now considering the BSBA from TESU and was wondering what my options were for raising my GPA. As far as I know, most of these sites are pass/fail, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. I have right around a 2.8 but would like to get that over a 3.0. What can I do?

Also, not sure if it matters, but I live in Tokyo and proctoring services are VERY limited and expensive but not completely out of reach. A single CLEP exam can cost somewhere in the $200-250 range. Still cheaper than attending a university but just something to keep in mind.

Where is your associates degree from? If you pursue a degree at TESU and have zero actual courses from them you will have no GPA attached to your TESU degree. If the associates degree is from TESU then you will need to take a few courses and get an A. It all really depends on where you got your Associates. CLEP/DSST/Study.com/SL none of these options will increase your GPA so you have to take courses which can get pricy at TESU.

[lillingworth]

Where is your associates degree from? If you pursue a degree at TESU and have zero actual courses from them you will have no GPA attached to your TESU degree. If the associates degree is from TESU then you will need to take a few courses and get an A. It all really depends on where you got your Associates. CLEP/DSST/Study.com/SL none of these options will increase your GPA so you have to take courses which can get pricy at TESU.

My degree is from Murray State University. How will I lose my GPA completely if I graduate from TESU? I'm a little confused, sorry. I have 71 credit hours that have a grade attached. Will TESU ignore that?

[jsd]

Your GPA won't go away if you want to apply for grad school or such as they'll want your original Associates transcripts when you apply, but TESU won't count outside courses on your transcript toward your TESU degree GPA

[lillingworth]

So if I test out of most of my courses and then decide to take 1 or 2 classes online through TESU and manage to get an A... my GPA will be 4.0 from TESU? How will that play out later when I apply for grad school? I'll have a 2.8 and a 4.0? Sorry if these are stupid questions... I attended CC and Uni and they combined on my transcript for a cumulative GPA so I didn't even know it was possible to keep them separated.

[jsd]

Yes, you'll have a 4.0 at TESU in that case.

Grad schoolswill need all of your transcripts, and they'll generally combine your GPA from all courses to get a more accurate count. Different schools have different ways of going about this recalculation, though (for example if you failed a class and retook it and passed, one school night calculate your F and your higher score, another school might be more generous and only count the retake)

[jsd]

By the way, it'll be pretty clear on your transcript that your "4.0" is only based on a class or too, and everything else was transfer credit (this is my exact situation, as it is for many on this forum). So that alone won't impress any grad schools.

[dfrecore]

Back to your original question, the only way to bump up your cumulative GPA is to take courses where you get a grade. You can see what you would need to raise it (how many credits you need to take receiving an A or a B or whatever) here: Learn how to improve GPA (I wish this said the name of the website which is GPACalculator.net so it doesn't look like I'm spamming you).

I'm not sure if UExcel exams still give grades or not, but you could check on that.

TESU is not the best way to do this, as they are very expensive (around $1500/course). But there are plenty of online schools or correspondence courses that you can take to get grades that are a lot less expensive than TESU. U of Arkansas Self-Paced is $480/course, CSU-Pueblo Indep. Study is $495/course, Univ of Idaho IS is $510, BYU Indep. Study is $534, LSU Distance Learning is $728. And there are online schools that will be fairly reasonable.

You might also consider doing a degree somewhere other than TESU with a competency-based degree like WGU, Patten, Capella, U of Wisconsin Flex, or something like that. Not sure what they all do about grades, but if you can find one that will give you a GPA, that might be a good option for you.

Now, on to something else you mentioned. If it's been a while since you have been on these forums and since you got a degree, the good news is that there are a TON more options now to "test-out" of a degree. Between Straighterline & Study.com, you can take most of your courses for roughly $100/course online, and never set foot in a testing center. There are also free courses (Insurance Ethics, TEEX, NFA), and very inexpensive options (ALEKS math for $20/mo, Saylor courses are free but the exams are $25, Shmoop is $85/mo for unlimited courses) that are also completely online.

Check out the Beginner's Guide - some of which is outdated already - but it will give you a good place to start. http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...llege.html

[jsd]

You might also consider doing a degree somewhere other than TESU with a competency-based degree like WGU, Patten, Capella, U of Wisconsin Flex, or something like that. Not sure what they all do about grades, but if you can find one that will give you a GPA, that might be a good option for you.

Patten will definitely give you grades, WGU will not. Pretty sure Capella doesn't either, but not positive. No idea about UW Flex.

[Mamasaphire]

Now, on to something else you mentioned. If it's been a while since you have been on these forums and since you got a degree, the good news is that there are a TON more options now to "test-out" of a degree. Between Straighterline & Study.com, you can take most of your courses for roughly $100/course online, and never set foot in a testing center. There are also free courses (Insurance Ethics, TEEX, NFA), and very inexpensive options (ALEKS math for $20/mo, Saylor courses are free but the exams are $25, Shmoop is $85/mo for unlimited courses) that are also completely online.

Check out the Beginner's Guide - some of which is outdated already - but it will give you a good place to start. http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...llege.html

I was going to mention these options, but dfrecore beat me to it (and does a much more comprehensive job posting than I do), so all I can say is that she is definitely right