Strategy Eval: Load up flat fee, then withdraw for no additional cost.

[StudentOLife]

I'm about to take TESU course for the first time to finish my degree. I'd like to register for 16 full credits, then drop capstone (worst case conerstone too) at day 21 if I can't handle it. Since there's no refund for flat fee anyways, there's no financial loss I figure it could be worth a punt.


I'm very lucky and get to switch to part-time work (reducing by 25%) in the full duration of these courses, assuming each credit is 14hrs over the duration of ~80 day is about 224 hours of work required. Approximately 2.8hrs a day which I think I can do, or at least try. 

To help myself I:

• May leverage course extensions
  
• 3 UL Math & PLA: Pre-study calculus 3, brush up on geometry, pray that math history & PLA is not too hard
  
• Cornerstone: use previous writing assessment(from Sophia)
  

Questions:

1. Wonder if this is a viable strategy? (Has anyone attempted this before)
   
2. Will withdrawing at 21 days impact GPA?
   

[LevelUP]

The 1cr PLA is nothing, I did the entire course in like 5 hrs total. That PLA course only lasts one month.

SOS-110 is easy but lots of busy work.
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Experience

For the capstone, I would write the entire paper before I took the course if you worried about it. Make a really good draft. Pick the right professor.

Pregame the math courses the best you can by reading the books and learning concepts.

Keep in mind there is a course extension policy that will give you an 8-week extension as long as you can finish 50% of the course before asking for the extension. There is a fee of $243 per course, which isn't bad.

https://tesu.smartcatalogiq.com/current/...Extensions

I did in one TESU term the Capstone, Critical Reasoning, PLA, and Software Engineering. Then I also did Study.com Intro Programming, Data Structures, Computer Arch,  and Discrete Math, while I was enrolled with TESU.

[StudentOLife]

Thank you @LevelUp! Good to know someone as reckless as I'm about to be...! Agree, I'm definitely doing the works, pre-gaming, extensions, pre-write. Regarding the capstone/pre-writing, do you think the mentor will say a particular research topic isn't good enough? (or is it a matter of re-phrasing the research question/title).

1. Should I be picking mentors with CS/Math backgrounds so they can help me better on the thesis?...

2. Is the latest we can withdraw from a course 21 days? or can we do it anytime, will there be any impact/reflection on the transcript?

3. Do you know if we can take 16 cr in one term, or is there a hard limit set somewhere?

[carrythenothing]

Thank you @LevelUp! Good to know someone as reckless as I'm about to be...! Agree, I'm definitely doing the works, pre-gaming, extensions, pre-write. Regarding the capstone/pre-writing, do you think the mentor will say a particular research topic isn't good enough? (or is it a matter of re-phrasing the research question/title).

1. Should I be picking mentors with CS/Math backgrounds so they can help me better on the thesis?...

2. Is the latest we can withdraw from a course 21 days? or can we do it anytime, will there be any impact/reflection on the transcript?

3. Do you know if we can take 16 cr in one term, or is there a hard limit set somewhere?

1. It won't really make a difference.

2. If you withdraw after more than 21 days using this form, you'll get an F: https://eforms.tesu.edu/appnet/reg10.html

3. You can take up to 16 credits (but no more than that).

[rachel83az]

IIRC, if you've previously taken classes at TESU, they may allow you to go up to 18 credits in one term. But that kind of negates the purpose of the flat-rate term for most people.

[LevelUP]

Thank you @LevelUp! Good to know someone as reckless as I'm about to be...! Agree, I'm definitely doing the works, pre-gaming, extensions, pre-write. Regarding the capstone/pre-writing, do you think the mentor will say a particular research topic isn't good enough? (or is it a matter of re-phrasing the research question/title).

1. Should I be picking mentors with CS/Math backgrounds so they can help me better on the thesis?...

2. Is the latest we can withdraw from a course 21 days? or can we do it anytime, will there be any impact/reflection on the transcript?

3. Do you know if we can take 16 cr in one term, or is there a hard limit set somewhere?

I would pick a professor known for giving A's. August Black is highly recommended.

The topic, it doesn't have to be anything related to your degree, such as math/computer science. Mine was on different ways of learning things in college.

I actually started out with a CS topic and switched topics after my 1st assignment. I think I was the only person in my class to switch topics. 

Your topic should be a problem that exists in the world that is not solvable. You could present research that would work towards a solution at the same time, realizing that the problem won't be solvable in the near future. 

Real topics some of my classmates did:
Different ways the world will end. (This was a pretty broad topic, and pretty dark)
How after COVID, we moved towards working from home and are happer.
The dangers of mobile phone use affecting relationships or attention spans.
How anti-vaxers put public health in danger and how to fight misinformation. (My idea just now)
How new treatments can help break the drug addiction cycle.

The key is that you don't want a topic that is too broad or too narrow. You also want a topic that is easy to research and likely discussed before.

I would suggest writing about something you already know quite a bit about.

[bjcheung77]

It's doable but I would try to put more effort, time into it... 3 hours/day doesn't seem enough for the flat-rate fee term. Using the tips/tricks above and the extension would be great for the courses that are graded and you've done at least the 50% of the course. Having said that, you wouldn't be able to withdraw for these if the "latter" part becomes too much for you. I think you should be fine as long as you place more time on the harder courses for you, the PLA and cornerstone shouldn't be too much of an issue.

[StudentOLife]

Mucho Gracias!
1) Capstone: Ok so they aren't subject matter experts, just there to guide you in writing a research paper, more like what you'd expect in an English comp class + learning how to use quantitative data to back it up if required?

2) Withdrawal: I can't really find information about grades we'll get if we dropped/withdraw from a class. There's a refund policy and schedule, but not what happens to our grades/GPA when we withdraw. According to the withdrawal form (thanks) we only get a F or NC if this was submitted before the last day of the term?...
@thecarrynothing, where did you see that after 21 = F or NC?

"Requests for course withdrawals must be completed on Online Student Services, on this form or in a letter to the Office of the Registrar containing all the information requested on this form. Withdrawal requests must be received in the Registrar's office prior to the last day of the term or they will not be processed. The submission date, postmark, fax date, or e-mail send date of a written withdrawal request will be the official date of the withdrawal. Requests received later will be denied and a grade of "F" or "NC" will be assigned."

3) Great to know there's no limitation and I can just go online and register for the 16 credits

a) How many total hours would you say an average class is, @bjcheung77? I'm planning for 42 (per three-credit class)

[bjcheung77]

A typical college course (Butt-in-seat) is 100-130 hours, these are the above average in length due to the number of assignments or exams, experiments with labs, etc. For those easy intro, online ACE/NCCRS courses, it can be as short as 20-50 hours, but I usually recommend more than that, up to 80 hours for those upper level courses. It also depends on the students abilities and commitments, previous knowledge on the subject matter, really, there are so many factors for each person, it boils down to the course and the student study/work acumen...

[carrythenothing]

Mucho Gracias!
1) Capstone: Ok so they aren't subject matter experts, just there to guide you in writing a research paper, more like what you'd expect in an English comp class + learning how to use quantitative data to back it up if required?

2) Withdrawal: I can't really find information about grades we'll get if we dropped/withdraw from a class. There's a refund policy and schedule, but not what happens to our grades/GPA when we withdraw. According to the withdrawal form (thanks) we only get a F or NC if this was submitted before the last day of the term?...
@thecarrynothing, where did you see that after 21 = F or NC?

"Requests for course withdrawals must be completed on Online Student Services, on this form or in a letter to the Office of the Registrar containing all the information requested on this form. Withdrawal requests must be received in the Registrar's office prior to the last day of the term or they will not be processed. The submission date, postmark, fax date, or e-mail send date of a written withdrawal request will be the official date of the withdrawal. Requests received later will be denied and a grade of "F" or "NC" will be assigned."

3) Great to know there's no limitation and I can just go online and register for the 16 credits

a) How many total hours would you say an average class is, @bjcheung77? I'm planning for 42 (per three-credit class)

I was basing it on the last day to get a refund (if eligible), which seems to be incorrect.

According to this policy, a final grade of F is assigned when:

• a student does not complete the course work and examination(s) for a course and does not request a withdrawal or extension before the course has ended; OR
  
• the overall average on all course work (including examinations) is below the passing level (59 or below).