Stuck in B & M Twilight Zone

[94steve]

I just graduated from TESC with a history degree and want to continue my education by earning a mechanical engineering degree. I figured I'd get the ball rolling by taking some math and science classes at my local community college, maybe even do the full AS degree before transferring to an engineering program.

Then I received this lovely e-mail from the fine folks at BCC:

Mr. Stephen *****,

I am emailing you on behalf of Mike ********, our transcript evaluator at BCC. Your transcript from:

10/5/2010ACE
10/7/2010IONA COLLEGE
10/13/2010THOMAS A. EDISON STATE COLLEGE
10/25/2010COAST GUARD INSTITUTE



were received. However, certain credits from Thomas A. Edison State College could not be transferred in because we need the official Clep exam scores sent from College Board and an official record from Dantes. A voicemail was left on your phone about 2 weeks ago. If you can please contact us at your earliest convenience to better assist you, it will be greatly appreciated it. You can contact us via email *****@bergen.edu or telephone (201)493-**** if you have any questions or concerns.

Regards,
Fernando ***

Below is my response:

Dear Mr. ****:

Thank you for the update on the status of my transcripts.

Thomas A. Edison State College (TESC) and Bergen Community College (BCC) use identical score cut-offs for all CLEP examinations save for some of the foreign language exams (Undergraduate Ways to Earn Credit - Thomas Edison State College - acalog ACMSâ„¢, BCC Catalog, pg23), none of which appear on my TESC transcript. Therefore, I should not have to pay Prometric $30 for a DANTES transcript and the College Board $20 for a CLEP transcript when it is perfectly clear that my scores are above BCC's minimum cut-off score. Quite frankly, I find this to be absurd and this is a perfect example of why I earned an AAS and a BA at TESC, not BCC.

That being said, I realize that the preceding paragraph will most likely fail to budge BCC's transcript evaluation policy even one inch. I've bitten the bullet, paid up, and sent away for transcripts from Prometric and the College Board. They should be in your hands sometime within the next two to three weeks.

Truly yours,

Stephen *****

NEVER, EVER forget just how lucky we are to have institutions such as TESC that make transferring credit a cinch. Now I'm laying out $50 because some bozo administrator made a policy decision to require the original scores when transferring in CLEP/DANTES credits that were banked at another school. Maybe I could halfway understand it if their standards differed significantly from the ACE recommendations but alas, THEY DON'T!!!

I can only wonder if said administrator is on the College Board/Prometric payroll... hilarious

[Yenisei]

In all fairness, they have internal procedures to follow, plus can you really expect them to chase down TESC's CLEP acceptance policies?

[Maniac Craniac]

If it were the other way around, some bozo at TESC would require your clep transcripts, too.

[PonyGirl93]

If it were the other way around, some bozo at TESC would require your clep transcripts, too.

^^ What he said.

[CLEP101]

Steve,
Why did you spend $50 for the Prometric and College Board transcripts? Did you not use the military transcript request form which orders both transcripts for $30 now. I think it used to be $20.
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloa...r-form.pdf

[lumpylump]

If it were the other way around, some bozo at TESC would require your clep transcripts, too.

That's exactly what they did to me.

[94steve]

Looks like I'm not getting any sympathy here hilarious . Well at any rate, thanks for listening.

[shardaye5]

@ 94steve, I see you've taken several cleps that I would like to attempt. This is my first time venturing out into this world of cleps and I was hoping you could provide me with some useful information; such as, how long did it take you to prepare for the cleps and also what all did you study, like did you use instant cert only or other things. I have these questions for the following cleps you've taken:

English Composition
Intro to Psych
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
US History

If you can please go one by one an answer the questions

Ex.
English Clep: 3 days studying using Instant Cert only


I would very much appreciate your feedback.

Thank you

[shardaye5]

Steve,
Why did you spend $50 for the Prometric and College Board transcripts? Did you not use the military transcript request form which orders both transcripts for $30 now. I think it used to be $20.
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloa...r-form.pdf

@ clep101, I notice you've taken the spanish clep, can you please inform me of how you prepared for it as well as how long it took you to prepare.

Thank You

[cookderosa]

Looks like I'm not getting any sympathy here hilarious . Well at any rate, thanks for listening.

LOL, well.... I know, it's frustrating. It's standard though- every college you ever attend from here on out (even grad school) will want every transcript including clep/dsst/cc/etc... from here on out. You prolly should set aside some cash. banghead