So disappointed with TESC

[MadMax396]

I dont know if you should want to graduate from a school you would not recommend. However, be appreciative of the good things and rightly critical of the bad things. I would hope that things will get better with the orginization, but lets go one by one down the line and I bet students from every alma mater have things they didnt quite like about the university or college. Yes even if they went to William and Mary. Price we pay for a getting a good education and money well spent.

Try to stay positive

[malcs]

Wow, it sounds like EC has their act together much more than TESC. EC sends you a notification that the credits have been received within a few days, and posts them within a few weeks. Once I officially enrolled, they were very responsive and spent lots of time with me on the phone.

In fact, they are 1000 times better than the various brick and mortar schools that I attended. The B&Ms treated me like an idiot, and always spoke with an impatient, condescending voice, usually after many busy signals, call drops, wrong transfers, etc., before I got through the right person that knew nothing. Even trying to get my transcripts sent was a lesson in incompetence with lost papers, delays, forgotten conversations, etc.

[thatbrian]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I too was extremely frustrated with the service (lack of it) at TESC. It's important that we let people here know the facts about what we have gone through, so that they will be able to make an informed decision about which school they attend.

I would not recommend TE to anyone - period.

Brian

I just wanted to vent a little over the frustration I am experiencing with TESC. Mainly the length of time it takes for anything to be accomplished. I don't understand why it takes 6-8 weeks for a course to be put on the evaluation when they receive the transcript a week after the issuing institution sends it. If they can get someone to update the system that it has been received, can't they just see that I passed, punch up my student ID# and enter the credit? It doesn't seem that difficult or time consuming that it takes 2 months for that to happen.

A bigger and more important issue is my frustration with one of my mentors. The one I have now has posted one grade for an assignment that was due over a month ago, no other grades have been entered, yet 2 additional assignments have been submitted. I have no idea if I am meeting the requirements because nothing else is graded. I email the mentor and get no response, I email the mentors@tesc.edu and get no response. If students are expected to hand in assignments by a due date, a reasonable amount of time should be expected to receive a grade, especially before the next assignment is due. I understand that mentors have other jobs and responsibilities but so do the students. Many students are going back to school after years of not attending, have careers to manage, and family obligations, yet are still able to submit an assignment on time. So this is no excuse for a mentor. It a shame that they operate this way and that the college does nothing about it. The school is a business and I am the customer and am clearly not getting what I paid for. All I want is to know how I am doing, is that so hard to ask of a school and teacher? Because of this these issues I have lost all motivation for school and now do it because I have to versus because I want to. I am so frustrated with everything that I am considering complaining to the state board or some other department outside of the school. I know I am not the only one as I have two friends going through the same exact issue.

I will never recommend TESC to anyone, the only reason I am continuing is because I am 4 classes away from finishing. I have never experienced all this frustration and disappointment with a business as I have with TESC. If only they did what is expected of them (and i'm not asking for much) my feelings would be completely different. When I do finish my courses, I do not even want to go to the graduation, initially I was excited about it, but my feelings have completely changed due to this school being so poorly run and managed.

[ibhereforever]

I too have found that they take way too long to update my eval but have also found that if there is a real need for an update, I can call my academic advisor and he/she will get it taken care of for me in less than 24 hours. He/she specifically told me that when it comes time to apply for graduation next month that I will need to call and he/she will see to it that all of my trancripts are recognized in the system. No, I will not give out a name but there are two people in that department that I have found to be very helpful. You just need to book an hour long counseling session and form a relationship with your adivsor. If you don't like your advisor then choose another one.

I also feel your pain with the mentor issue. I was having the same issue and brought it to his attention and he has graded my last two writing assignments within 1 week.

For anyone considering TESC, I would suggest maximizing tests and minimizing online classes, TECEPS, and PLA's as much as possible.

Moral of the story, TESC is a great place to earn your degree if you can form a relationship with an advocate on the inside and are able to stay on top of them. Otherwise you can get lost in the shuffle. But no matter how you slice it, if you are self motivated you can earn your degree much, much faster than the old brick and mortar route.

I agree here. I am generally under-impressed by the school on a lot of levels, but it is a means to an end. My particular advisor can be frustrating at times because of the way he/she interprets policies and etc...

HOWEVER he/she has been an excellent advocate for me, and I like you have had an eval update pushed through in less than 24 hours as a consequence of an advisement meeting, when things had just been "sitting around" for awhile.

I recently got told I should submit my graduation paperwork as soon as I finish everything, regardless of whether or not they "have it" and everything will be taken care of. (I hope).