Fixing my mistakes and finishing my degree

[gypsymama]

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting since I just signed up although I've been reading here for a few weeks now. I want to go back to school and finish my degree (Business) and really like the idea of testing out through one of the big three. I have tons of questions on deciding a degree path but my first concern is my awful student record from previously attending school. I am very ashamed of my terrible GPA since I was a gifted student with an amazing school record even graduating high school a year and a half early before extreme family/personal issues attributed to me tanking in college. I am very interested in finishing a degree at one of the big three but am concerned about grad school acceptance later since I do intend to go back for my MBA at some point. I know that any of the b3 will give me an institutional GPA for classes there that would be good and only include their courses but my cumm GPA will still be awful. I would like any ideas or advice on how to improve my standings for getting into grad school.

I know that grad school is a ways off but if my GPA is going to be a determining factor than how I finish my bachelor's can make a big impact here and thus is an immediate concern before I go any further. I know Excelsior gives letter grades for CBE and that COSC gives the option to exclude coursework from transcript... would either of these help? I am open to any ideas anyone here might have.

(I am waiting on a copy of my unofficial transcripts and will update with details then if that helps. Thanks!)

[rebel100]

I think your gonna find it difficult to hide the old GPA. The Big 3 aren't really a great place for GPA repair. With that said, a few thoughts...

I think you need to start figuring out how you will address this issue, explain to schools why you have a low GPA, that it is residual from a time in your life when things weren't going particularly well.

Consider that while a high GPA may be required for some schools, there are others that won't really care about your GPA at all. The expression "beggar's can't be chooser's" comes to mind. Can you still accomplish your life's goals without a degree from a top 50-100 school? If so I think your gonna be OK.

Just how bad is this GPA? Mine was 2.something when i got serious a few years ago and finished my AS then BS, the 8-10 or so classes I finished brought that up to just over a 3.2, more than sufficient to gain admission to any of a number of schools.

Great GRE scores can negate a low GPA to some degree.

Great experience and an ability to sell yourself can help to negate a low GPA.

I might lean towards (or at least really look) COSC. You can exclude at least some of your previous work in some cases and they require at least two courses to graduate...so make great grades on them! They also add Straighterline courses into the GPA calcualtion, there are some easier ones that can really serve to boost the overall appearance of your GPA. I don't really know how TESC and EC assess all of this.

Chill about the GPA, dust yourself off and get started making the best of it. Checking the "has bachelors" box will likely be more critical than a fancy MBA.

[sanantone]

TESC should be out for GPA repair unless you plan to take courses at TESC. Unlike EC and COSC, TESC does not give grades for Straighterline and CBEs. There are a lot of graduate programs that only look at the last 60 credit hours. My cumulative GPA wasn't that great, but I got in to a graduate program because of the last 60 credit hours. I made straight As on a bunch of community college courses.

[UptonSinclair]

I don't have anything to add, but wanted to post the links to some spreadsheets that you might find helpful.

[gypsymama]

Thanks for the input. I did see that TESC wouldn't likely be a good fit because of the GPA issue. I know that job experience and GMAT/GRE scores will help offset the GPA issue and don't have any real preference on grad schools. I haven't really looked into them too much as that is a ways off but I don't want to neglect the issue then realize that I did more harm than good by testing out to finish my degree. That is really good info about the last 60 credits though and makes me feel a lot better about the fact that some schools will evaluate and look at the bigger picture instead of just writing off an applicant because of some issues during part of their schooling. That definitely makes me feel better about continuing on as I've been stalled for some time afraid that my previous school work would hinder my finishing or accomplishing anything at this point given the ruin to my academic record. Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I'm definitely going to get started studying and working towards my degree now that I can once again see light at the end of that tunnel. Thanks!

[gypsymama]

Wow... since going over the advice here I decided to do a little more research and I think my gpa isn't quite as tanked as I thought it was! I first attended a local comm coll with an ending gpa of 1.61. Bad yes but not so low that it can't be remedied. At that rate just two A classes would bring me to a 2.05. I attended WGU after that and didn't get credit for a couple of classes that got added on during the semester and I timed out of before completing thus lowering my attempted/completed credit #. All courses at WGU are given a pass/fail grade though so even though I received a fail grade on those it isn't a letter grade to affect my gpa!!! Given that if I achieve good grades on letter graded classes and/or tests from here on out I can succeed completing my degree without a totally fallen gpa. I know that my previous failed attempts will still show up and be evaluated during grad school apps but I do feel much better that this can be done and I WILL be able to go to grad school later. Thank you so much to everyone here. I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions throughout this process but I definitely feel much more confident that I can do this now. Now... off to start planning my course of action.

[EI2HCB]

I think someone with more knowledge than I on this subject may be able to answer this issue, As far as I know if you took a class at a B&M school and got a grade then that can't be replaced by a test score. So you need to be careful what tests you take as your allowed take them (the college board will take your money) but only the ones that don't duplicate the classes already taken will actually get applied to your degree. For example lets say you got a D in U.S History 101( ten years ago) you can't then take the U.S History I CLEP and receive credit for the CLEP as the History 101 score will be applied first.

[gypsymama]

Thanks for the reminder on that. Luckily the classes that I got the bad grades in I don't need for my degree so I can just leave them and won't be trying to retake or test for them. I will however have to take classes or tests for other classes that will fill the general areas that those could have given credit for but luckily no core classes there!