Pulling the trigger for TESC

[Jabberwocky]

Hey guys!

I'm about to pull the trigger with enrolling at TESC. I have taken courses at SL and have courses completed from my old college, and 1 DSST course done as well. Once I complete 2 more business courses, a business ethics class, and a biology capstone course, I'll have 121 hours. I intend to graduate with a BA in Biology and an AA in business at the same time (life insurance, worth it to have both for me right now.)

I just want to make sure I have the process understood:

Have my transcripts sent from my college to TESC. Any courses that I failed and re-took (I had a semester where it was too late to drop, retook and got an A) will only show the new course, correct?
Submit my SL courses to ACE to have them evaluated.
Submit the DSST course to TESC as well.
Have TESC evaluate all of the courses and ensure no deficiencies. If there are any, I'll take them next semester along with the capstone course so I'll have everything done in the spring.
Once the evaluation is done, I'll enroll in TESC and have my financial aid information sent over for pell and whatnot and pay the difference.

Is that it? Am I missing anything?

I know the ACE courses are pass/fail but the courses I have completed with a grade will go to TESC with a grade, correct? And for SL I can choose whether or not to give them a grade or pass/fail, depending on if I sent them to TESC directly or ACE as a funnel?

Your help is much appreciated, I think I have everything but I would love a second glance!

[cooperalex2004]

I'll answer a few of those questions as it seems like you're on the right track but may be missing a few things.

-You are correct that courses with a grade of F or without a grade (such as a W or NC) will not come over. The other note is that things are a bit more complicated if you have two or more courses with the same name (both having a passing grade) such as from two sources or courses taken for a better grade. In this case they will duplicate the credits causing both to be listed and credit only given to the higher graded course. If you dropped or received an F the first time then you don't have to worry about this.
-Your financial aid submission is okay to do but remember that a Pell Grant is based on fulltime enrollment and since you may only take a single course you may not receive what you are expecting. They adjust the amount down to what credits you enroll for and things like the enrollment fee are not covered unless you have excess funds once this process is completed. No matter how they handle your financial aid, you'll be expected to pay the enrollment fee up front when you enroll (you will get the evaluation done first to see the way credits fit into your degree). You can get financial aid depending on what you are approved for (Pell, loans, or something else) but this is paid in the course enrollment process and not up front.
-Any graded courses you bring in whether they are from an RA school or another source like Straighterline will not count toward your official GPA or show up on the final transcript no matter how they are brought in to TESC. Graded courses will show up on your evaluation along with the online transcript and be used to help determine your GPA for graduation (2.0 needed if graded courses are present). The transcript given at graduation will only show the courses as being taken but will not show any letter grades. Your capstone course and any other graded courses at TESC are the only things used to create your TESC GPA for the final transcript. In other words, taking just the capstone means you will end up with a GPA based on just the one course. Exams will state CR next to them marking credit being given while graded courses from an RA school will have a blank spot indicating they were accepted but not noting a grade.

Hey guys!

I'm about to pull the trigger with enrolling at TESC. I have taken courses at SL and have courses completed from my old college, and 1 DSST course done as well. Once I complete 2 more business courses, a business ethics class, and a biology capstone course, I'll have 121 hours. I intend to graduate with a BA in Biology and an AA in business at the same time (life insurance, worth it to have both for me right now.)

I just want to make sure I have the process understood:

Have my transcripts sent from my college to TESC. Any courses that I failed and re-took (I had a semester where it was too late to drop, retook and got an A) will only show the new course, correct?
Submit my SL courses to ACE to have them evaluated.
Submit the DSST course to TESC as well.
Have TESC evaluate all of the courses and ensure no deficiencies. If there are any, I'll take them next semester along with the capstone course so I'll have everything done in the spring.
Once the evaluation is done, I'll enroll in TESC and have my financial aid information sent over for pell and whatnot and pay the difference.

Is that it? Am I missing anything?

I know the ACE courses are pass/fail but the courses I have completed with a grade will go to TESC with a grade, correct? And for SL I can choose whether or not to give them a grade or pass/fail, depending on if I sent them to TESC directly or ACE as a funnel?

Your help is much appreciated, I think I have everything but I would love a second glance!

[KayV]

Have you already taken the Liberal Arts Capstone for a BA in Biology?

Never mind, I see you are planning that for later.

[Jabberwocky]

Thanks a bunch!

One of the concerns I have is the 4k I have to put down basically to take a course then graduate.

Online I see that an entry date is April rather than January, which would allow me to get taxes in first before I have to pay that. Is it a problem to go through the April date rather than the January for the Capstone course? Is that *allowed* and then is that *suggested.* I already have a topic I want to write about that relates to genetics and their use in insurance (bio background and insurance background, mixes the AABA and BA together well) and I'm willing to work on the course a little bit independently from now until then if the time crunch is the major concern.

I'd just like to finally get this done. I see all kinds of positions I am more than qualified for but lack the degree, and I want to start getting things done I'd enjoy more like a graduate degree or some professional designations....

[cooperalex2004]

Thanks a bunch!

One of the concerns I have is the 4k I have to put down basically to take a course then graduate.

Online I see that an entry date is April rather than January, which would allow me to get taxes in first before I have to pay that. Is it a problem to go through the April date rather than the January for the Capstone course? Is that *allowed* and then is that *suggested.* I already have a topic I want to write about that relates to genetics and their use in insurance (bio background and insurance background, mixes the AABA and BA together well) and I'm willing to work on the course a little bit independently from now until then if the time crunch is the major concern.

I'd just like to finally get this done. I see all kinds of positions I am more than qualified for but lack the degree, and I want to start getting things done I'd enjoy more like a graduate degree or some professional designations....

You can enroll at any time and you can take the capstone any month you choose. I'm not sure what you are referring to in terms of entry dates. You can start and finish anytime you want noting a few things:
-You must enroll within six months of application or you start over
-You must pay the enrollment fee before enrolling since you are only taking one course
-You must complete the course before you can signup for graduation
-Graduation is quarterly and you will have to wait until the next date to actually get the diploma

You have to pay for each step before proceeding to the next so if you wait until April to start the process then your cycle would look something like this:

-Get your evaluation (do this now and you have six months to enroll)
-Pay for enrollment (pay on or around April 1st)
-Signup for the capstone course (register for May course by April 18th or face late fees. Course is 12 weeks)
-Apply for graduation (graduation is quarterly and you should see Thomas Edison State College: Graduation Information)

The sooner you start the sooner you can be done but you can wait and do it when you want.