Should I apply before or after? + my plan

[StealingDreams]

Hey everyone,

I've been lurking around here for a week and decided to join and am signing up for IC here in a bit as well. I had a questions about when I should try and apply to Excelsior though and thought you might give me some guidance.

I currently have 24 credits from the University of Georgia 3 of which are from getting a 4 on my AP English test 7 years ago (gasp! has it been that long really?) I was only in school for a year when some circumstances forced me out into the working world so now I want to try and go back for my BSGB and after about a month of research I've decided EC is a good choice for my credit by exam adventure.

My question is this: Should I go ahead a apply with just my UGA and AP credits and get my CLEP and DSST tests sent to them as I take them or is it better to go ahead and take all the exams I plan on and then apply after sending them along with my application? Does it make a difference at all and when they do their unofficial eval will they want to know what my plan is for exams and such? Same thing with actually enrolling, do I wait to enroll until I am down to just the credits I have to get through EC or do I go ahead and do it while I am still taking exams?

Here is my plan:
Reqirement Credit Hours Needed

Written English 3
AP Credit UGA

Humanities 9
CLEP Humanities
Intro Philosophy at UGA

Social Sciences/ History 15
Microecon Clep Principles of Micro
Macroecon CLEP Principles of Macro
Intro Psych at UGA
CLEP Social Sciences/History
Natural Sciences/ Math 6
Math above Pre-cal Math at UGA
Stat Dantes SE 450 Principles of Stat

Remaining Arts and Science 27
Physical Science at UGA
Language at UGA
History R&R at UGA
CLEP Natural Science
CLEP Intro to Edu Psych
CLEP American Gov
CLEP Into to Sociology
Dantes Criminal Justice

Additional Credit 15
Info Literacy Information Literacy at EC or CC class
Dantes Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Dantes Here's to your health
Dantes Fundamenals of Counseling
Dantes Principles of Supervision
ECE World Population

Business Core 45
Ethics Ethics at UGA
Organizational Behavior Dantes Sf/SG 531 Org Behavior
Financial Accounting CLEP Financial Accounting
Managerial Accounting TBD
Intro to Business Law CLEP Intro Business Law
Computers CLEP Info Sys and Comp App
Principles of Management CLEP Principles of Management
Principles of Marketing CLEP Principles of Marketing
Financial Management Dantes SF/SG 524 Pinc of Fin
Production/Operations Mngt EC cource or TESC test or (more likely) CSU-Pueblo independent study course (thanks auminer49r)

Business Policy EC cource BUS 495

Dantes SF 534 Bus Law II
Dantes SE 551 Mngt Info Sys
ECE BUSx410 Human Resource Management Or DSST
ECE BUSx360 Labor Relations Or DSST Money and Banking

Sorry for such a long first post but I appreciate the help and if anyone sees something wrong with my plan or has a suggestion for a better/easier exam that would be awesome too. Thanks!

[gcalvin]

CLEP Principles of Accounting is long gone now. There is a CLEP Financial Accounting and a DSST Financial Accounting, but there is no longer any exam for Managerial Accounting. A community college course or a Penn Foster course can take care of that for you.

If you take the ECE Organizational Behavior instead of the DSST, you get Advanced level Business credit for it.

It doesn't make much difference whether you enroll early or late at Excelsior. If you are going to take more than a year to complete your degree, you may want to wait and enroll later, saving a yearly student service fee. On the other hand, you do get some benefits, such as the online library, advisory, and tutorial services when you enroll. Some will advise that you don't have your CLEP and DANTES scores automatically sent to Excelsior. That way you can do some pruning if you blow an exam. Once it goes to the college, it goes on the transcript. I have been having all mine sent directly, and I just make sure I'm prepared before I take an exam.

Most of your other business core requirements are prerequisites for the Business Strategy course, so they may not let you enroll in that one until the other courses come in. My experience has been that they are quite quick with evaluations, but their official word is that they can take weeks.

Hope that helps,

-Gary-

[StealingDreams]

Very helpful indeed, Gary.

Thanks for the heads up on Principles of Accounting. I must have been looking at an out of date catalog because it was listed as a exam acceptable for credit. I will have to fix that.

I'm not worried about Organizational Behavior being UL because according to the EC Credit By Examination Guide Business Law II, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Principles of Finance and MIS should give me the 12 UL credits I need and it costs half as much as a DSST...Unless the ECE is easier.

I plan on being done by August so I guess I should just go ahead and apply/enroll. I'm an over preparer so no worries on blowing an exam and pruning. (I have an excel spreadsheet with 6 tabs just with information on tests and costs and schedules for taking them and requirements and fulfillments and I haven't even applied yet ha ha)

Does anyone know if the Human Resource Management DSST would work in place of the ECE Management of HR?

[Kiwi Lover]

Does anyone know if the Human Resource Management DSST would work in place of the ECE Management of HR?

StealingDreams,

Unfortunately it doesn't, as the DSST exam is lower level and the ECE exam is an upper level exam.

JoAnne

P.S. I like your screen name!

[gcalvin]

DSST Drug and Alcohol Abuse is not Advanced Level Business. ECE Labor Relations is, though, so you're still okay. But you could replace ECE Labor Relations with DSST Money and Banking and save a few bucks. And you can do DSST Human Resources Management instead of ECE, because you have enough Advanced credits without it. And you can probably replace that ECE World Population with a cheaper DSST or CLEP while you're at it -- maybe American History I or II? But get all of this confirmed by an Excelsior advisor -- don't take our word for it.

-Gary-

[BMWGuinness]

DSST Drug and Alcohol Abuse is not Advanced Level Business. ECE Labor Relations is, though, so you're still okay. But you could replace ECE Labor Relations with DSST Money and Banking and save a few bucks. And you can do DSST Human Resources Management instead of ECE, because you have enough Advanced credits without it. And you can probably replace that ECE World Population with a cheaper DSST or CLEP while you're at it -- maybe American History I or II? But get all of this confirmed by an Excelsior advisor -- don't take our word for it.

-Gary-

Hey gcalvin,

I've seen you post bits and pieces when you pass exams, have you posted your entire roadmap? It would be a great reference point.


StealingDreams,

One reason I'm taking exams and not enrolling yet is because I'm still evaluating EC vs TESC, and TESC is taking much longer for my evaluation to come through. EC took 2 weeks, and this is the 4th week for TESC (they told me it takes 5-6 weeks).

I'm evaluating the EC BMI vs the TESC BSBA CIS. They are both the Management Information Systems path. In my research, I've found that FEMA courses can help supplement my progress with a 2nd degree (Liberal Studies). Achieving the BSLS (EC) or BALS (TESC) along the way to the MIS degree would check a box for any potential job opportunities requiring a 4-year degree.

Additionally, TESC has an AS program in Disaster Services, which utilizes FEMA courses, and is directly related with Emergency Management and Homeland Security. I have Emergency Management experience, and I think this would be a resume booster along with the MIS degree.

Until I can decide between EC and TESC, I've made a roadmap of the exams that would fit both paths, and am following that.

Both MIS programs accept Professional IT Certifications/Exams as college credit, and toward the major. I've started my exams path with Microsoft Certifications. The reason I started here is because I have proficiency in IT, and I'd rather utilize that knowledge while it is fresh. The other reason is the Certifications would be another resume booster in my field.

You've been doing your research, which is a fantastic first step. Please keep us informed of your decision and your journey, and I will try to do the same.

[StealingDreams]

Thanks JoAnn! I'm glad you like my screen name. I'll have to see if I need the UL credit or not and then I will decide which to take. If I can save $100 for another test I might.

Gary, you're right it isn't advanced business. My brain is kind of fried with all this information in the past few weeks. It was in the same section in the catalog so I typed before I thought. Thanks again. I'll look into your suggestions about the other tests too.

BMWG,

It is nice to talk to people who are doing similar things and seeing how they are going about it. It really helps clear some things up and make you feel like this is really possible. I went ahead and applied to EC and will wait to enroll until I get further down the path and have passed 1/2 to 3/4 of my exams I think so I can make sure I have the right credits at the right level to finish out and don't take unnecessary exams. I'll certainly be around her a lot and keep you posted and share my experiences.