What should I tell all them college students?

[StrEngr]

Whenever people ask how I'm getting my degree, I have to simply tell them that "it is complicated" because I don't know how to explain that I am earning my degree through DSST and Clep. It is not the main road that everyone else takes and understands, so it is difficult to explain to them. Anyone else have this little problem? It is annoying, and I'm hunting for solutions.

[Lindagerr]

Don't explain if they don't know that is for them to figure out. Just tell them you are going through XYZ college and you are doing online work and proving your knowledge through testing.

Almost every college has online classes now. If they are interested in the testing because they want to do it send them here. If they are just looking for a way to tell you that they are doing it better ignore them.

[mrs.b]

For the courses I did CLEP or DSST, I've just said that. If that person did not know what that was, I explained the concept. I usually said it is an option to complete a course by studying on my own, then taking what is essentially a final exam that tests knowledge of all the subject matter covered in such a course. Much of the time, they asked why you would do all that work on your own rather than just take the class, and I explain it's $77 for the test that awards three credits if passed, versus $600+ per course plus more time, and they are widely accepted by most state colleges and universities, so it kept student loans to a minimum. That explanation has covered it so far with no askance looks so far. In fact, a few people have come back and asked for more information for themselves or one of their children.

[dcan]

You are taking online classes from a state school that has an accelerated program. If you can prove you know the material then you can graduate much faster.

Bosses and the like also really like the phrase "accelerated program."

Now you look like a genius who deserves a raise.

[Gaz]

I just say that I am taking classes online with proctored exams at a test center. I've found that most people cannot wrap their head around the type of subject matter discussed on this forum. Lindagerr said it best, "Don't explain if they don't know that is for them to figure out".

I have gone into detail with people in the past and I sensed the skepticism. On one occasion, someone condescendingly informed me that they are "earning" their degree. This person was attending an NA school. I politely tried to explain the limitations of NA credit and degrees. He became defensive and could not accept that my exam credits have greater transferability than the courses he "actually attended".

[cookderosa]

Whenever people ask how I'm getting my degree, I have to simply tell them that "it is complicated" because I don't know how to explain that I am earning my degree through DSST and Clep. It is not the main road that everyone else takes and understands, so it is difficult to explain to them. Anyone else have this little problem? It is annoying, and I'm hunting for solutions.

???? I don't understand how it's complecated? You're earning your degree at X college and testing out of various courses. They could do the same. Very few colleges DONT accept "any" clep.

[burbuja0512]

The main problem I had initially was getting a little too excited once I discovered CLEP/DSST and expecting for others to share in my joy. Yes, I have had a couple of very close friends understand and a couple of people (including DH) start to follow my testing path, HOWEVER, here are the big problems:

1) People who have a degree paid thousands of dollars and spent 4-6 years of their life getting their undergrad will NOT like what you're doing. You just found a quicker solution - to admit that you're doing something worthwhile would be admitting that they wasted years and a lot of money. It's more likely for them to think that you're doing something shady or only partially legitimate at best. After all, their degree must be better because it took a lot longer and cost a lot more, right?

2) People who don't have a degree can be suspicious and/or jealous. They already KNOW that getting a degree will take tens of thousands of dollars and years, which is why they chose not to do it. Why are you so special that you can find a quick way to do it when they couldn't? On the plus side, the person who is still working on getting their degree will be much less likely to judge if they're curious about how they can emulate your efficiency. They may actually be receptive to your message and solicit information on to how to finish school quickly too.

Overall, the key thing to remember here is that if you're telling people at work, don't give too much detail. You don't know how people will take the "testing" thing and you don't want to be put in the position where you have to explain your Big 3 degree any more than other colleagues have to explain their non-Big 3 degree. When you start getting chatty with people at work, you can seriously affect the way people view your educational background. My disclaimer: I don't believe in sharing a lot of personal info with people at work as a general rule. I love the people I work with, but I'm there to work and meet my career goals, not to find BFF's.

If you're just telling friends that you'll never work with, there isn't the need to be quite as guarded IMHO. However, if your group of friends is very competitive or snobby about their education, you may want to keep quiet and use any number of the very good explanations listed above. The last thing you want is to hear several years from now how your degree isn't as good as theirs.

I hope that CLEP/DSST become a part of mainstream vocabulary, but until they do, I will never be totally open about all of my credits. I won't lie about "testing out" of some credits, but it doesn't seem beneficial to share the extent of my testing credits with almost everyone I work with or with many of my friends, as unfortunate as that may be.

[clep3705]

Schools that don't accept CLEP include:

Boston College
Brown
Caltech
Carnegie Mellon
Colorado School of Mines
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Emory
Georgetown
Harvard
Howard
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Princeton
Rice
Smith College
St. John's College
Stanford
Swarthmore College
Trinity College
U Cal Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt
Vassar
Webb Institute
Yale

Morehouse College accepts CLEP but only with a minimum score of 70.

[cookderosa]

Schools that don't accept CLEP include:

Boston College
Brown
Caltech
Carnegie Mellon
Colorado School of Mines
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Emory
Georgetown
Harvard
Howard
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Princeton
Rice
Smith College
St. John's College
Stanford
Swarthmore College
Trinity College
U Cal Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt
Vassar
Webb Institute
Yale

Morehouse College accepts CLEP but only with a minimum score of 70.

there ya go. There's this group, then the rest of the world.

[fromthisdesk]

I really like Burbaja's post - there are always going to be prejudices against testing just as there are common prejudices about community college degrees. One is more socially acceptable than the other. Will it matter to a graduate school? It might. It might not. Depends on the program and what tests were used to attain the degree. What I see on this site is that most of the students are going after liberal arts or business degrees. Very few are going after science degrees. Degrees in General Studies, Business or other may be easier to transfer to graduate schools - I don't really know. Anyway, that prejudice is why I am considering working through SUNY more so than the "Big" 3. Yeah - it takes longer and is more work but no explanation is necessary as to how my degree was obtained or through whom. Great thing is that they accept 96 transfer credits (tested or otherwise) and I can get a science degree. But saying that - to each his/her own. If the "Big" 3 is your cup of tea - good luck and more power to you. It's still RA which is by far the most important thing to me anyway.