Your School, your degree, graduated????

[axlerod]

Hello all!

Hopefully you are all enjoyed the eating & shopping of Thanksgiving.

Well, wouldn't it be a good idea to have a thread for folks to post

• their Degree program ,
  
• their school,
  
• graduated when or not, and
  
• any words of wisdom about their journey,
  
• cost if you like, and
  
• if graduated what your new path is. Strictly that minimal info.
  

The forum is great but the thread could be a sticky to inspire newbies......almost like a one stop inspiration info stop.

That would almost be an instantcert alum thread for the graduated and for those working towards graduating some day.

Also maybe folks can find mentors on that thread..........

Hey instantcert is like our own support group!!!

[entreelink]

I started in the middle of 2007 with 30 community college credits. I earned 95 more through FEMA, CLEP and DANTES through June of 2008. I graduated with my BA at the September confirmation. I could not have done it without InstantCert. Most of the exams were InstantCert only, no other materials but Wikipedia. I ended up using only 2 FEMA credits and the other 15 I earned are transcripted but not included in the credits used for my degree.

My GPA was listed as NA but it was on my final degree audit as the GPA from my community college days. That is a problem, but I could have avoided it by taking one course at TESC.

My cost was $2397 tuition, $225 graduation and $75 application fee. I also paid for about 24 CLEP and DANTES exams. Some CLEP were 6 credits which really speeds up the process.

My community college "Survey of Mathematics" course counted for the math portion of my BA. CC Intro Biology with Lab and Intro Astronomy fulfilled the natural sciences portion.

The TESC people were very helpful and always responded in a timely manner. I never even talked to anyone until I was just about finished with all of my requirements. I called up, paid the $2397 and was approved for graduation about 2 weeks later.

[lovetheduns]

Sure I will give it a shot:

I will graduate in December with a BS Accounting from NC Wesleyan College. It is a small private college in NC.

I completed 57 credits at the school itself (combination of a couple online, and 5 or 8 week in the classroom courses). I am rather bummbed I did not realize I needed a minimum of 60 credits to be able to graduate Summa Cum Laude (which my GPA allows for). So I will graduate with some kind of transfer student honors. Oh well such is life.

6 credits were acquired through Dantes tests (my final two courses required one had to be a religion course World Religion Dantes took care of that and the other was Org Behavior) I am excited as the school has received the transcript from Dantes and I am clear to graduate.

87 other credits came from a combination of my traditional undergrad days at UNC CH, online studying from UMUC, 2 courses at a technical community college, and the remainder from another traditional brick and mortar NCSU.

All in all I graduate with 150 credit hours--(at the time I was postponing graduation so I could accumulate 150 credit hours to sit for the CPA exam in my state). I wont be sitting for the CPA, but I did in those 150 credit hours take courses which really interested me and taught me other things (Criminal Justice, Art History, Sociology, etc etc)

Now, I am starting an online masters in Information Systems at UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County) in January. I will be taking 2 courses (Information Systems Fundamentals and Systems Analysis and Design). I will be taking a 3rd course in Human Resources Management at the Harvard Extension School as well. I figure I have the technical and wil go ahead and intermingle with the business side again since the MIS program at UMBC does not offer business side courses. All online and reimbursable through my employers tuition reimbursement program.

I have no idea about the costs-- except for my student loan balance which is upwards of 35k. *LOL* I figure eh, it is an investment in my future and I do not consider it bad debt. They have low fixed rates and I would rather owe the government then someone else. My school I am graduating from has tuition of $290.00 per credit hour.

If I knew years ago what I know now, I would have taken as many Dantes and Cleps as I could. I am a pretty good test taker and retain information well-- I think I could have definitely gathered many credits and been able to maximize my dollars. Coulda Shoulda Woulda. Hindsight is twenty twenty.

My insight for everyone? Take as many credits as you can in these test formats. The savings is immense and it can definitely speed things up. Many traditional schools will even take the credits. You will also feel an immense amount of pride at spending those hours studying and passing one exam awarding at least 3.00 hours of college credit. I am so in awe at the folks here who have completed MANY MANY hours of credit on their own through testing. These people are to be admired.

Next-- go and get a masters-- a Masters will open other doors and further differentiate you from others in the work place.