When exactly should I enroll in one of the big 3?

[txnicole]

Personally, I've always been a much bigger fan of Charter Oak. The extra 15 upper levels aren't that hard to find since they can be in any subject. It's great for really young people because they don't get hung up on age, and for older people who have poor grades in old college attempts they don't transfer your failed course grades... giving you potential to have a fresh start with a GPA. It definitely makes it easier that they post all their equivalencies. The fact that they take the free FEMA courses is definitely awesome too. Overall though... I think the thing I like the most is that if you contact someone at COSC they will actually respond and are nice, definitely have not had the same experiences with the others.

[BrandeX]

I read that too.

I'm not sure where it's mentioned. They're just in the partner's listing.

[davewill]

Personally, I've always been a much bigger fan of Charter Oak. The extra 15 upper levels aren't that hard to find since they can be in any subject. It's great for really young people because they don't get hung up on age, and for older people who have poor grades in old college attempts they don't transfer your failed course grades... giving you potential to have a fresh start with a GPA. It definitely makes it easier that they post all their equivalencies. The fact that they take the free FEMA courses is definitely awesome too. Overall though... I think the thing I like the most is that if you contact someone at COSC they will actually respond and are nice, definitely have not had the same experiences with the others.

TESU doesn't transfer failed courses, either, but that doesn't help your GPA any. The one on your last transcript doesn't show it, but any grad school who cares about GPA will insist on seeing all of your transcripts. Even some employers might, and if they actually care about GPA, they will at least realize that the transcript showing your bachelor's doesn't represent all of your coursework.

[txnicole]

TESU doesn't transfer failed courses, either, but that doesn't help your GPA any.

Seems like our experiences have been quite different. For me, when I've looked at transcripts helping people plan degree completion, most of the ones I've seen from traditional schools show a cumulative transcript in which the old grades are pulled in along the way. Not to mention a lot of colleges have GPA minimums for admission, so if you bombed out on an early attempt and have a really low gpa that can inhibit you from even starting. My state has something called 'academic fresh start' which was created to solve this exact problem, so that people can have a college completely ignore everything (good and bad) that was taken more than 10 years ago.

The one on your last transcript doesn't show it, but any grad school who cares about GPA will insist on seeing all of your transcripts.

Again, I've had a different experience there. Most of the ones I've had interactions with honor the cumulative GPA listed on your transcript by your last highest degree granting institution attended.

Even some employers might, and if they actually care about GPA, they will at least realize that the transcript showing your bachelor's doesn't represent all of your coursework.

I suppose there might be a few employers out there who are going to examine your transcript deeply, but I doubt most would understand the codes and number mess that most transcripts look like. I'm an employer myself, and most employers I know don't actually check education claims at all. Those of us who do usually just call up the registrar and confirm the graduation date, use a paid service like the student clearinghouse to verify it, or sometimes you can get it as part of a package offered by the company you use to do a criminal background check so you don't have to use a bunch of different services.

[sanantone]

I literally looked at hundreds of masters degree programs several years ago. Graduate programs that do not require all of your transcripts seem to be in the minority.

[jsd]

Most of the ones I've had interactions with honor the cumulative GPA listed on your transcript by your last highest degree granting institution attended.

What schools are you interacting with? This is pretty rare.

[sanantone]

I haven't come across too many employers, though, that require all transcripts. When I applied to corrections and law enforcement jobs, all but one wanted all of my transcripts as part of my background investigation. I believe the federal government requires all of your unofficial transcripts be uploaded; I don't know if they ask for all of the official transcripts after you're hired.

[BearEDU]

did it cost any money for eval to the schools etc?

[dfrecore]

Seems like our experiences have been quite different. For me, when I've looked at transcripts helping people plan degree completion, most of the ones I've seen from traditional schools show a cumulative transcript in which the old grades are pulled in along the way. Not to mention a lot of colleges have GPA minimums for admission, so if you bombed out on an early attempt and have a really low gpa that can inhibit you from even starting.

Not my experience at all. I've never actually seen "old grades pulled in along the way." Most schools look at your old transcripts and then calculate their own GPA. There is no "cumulative" GPA at all. I've been helping people get their degrees for a few years now, and your way has not been done on a single of the dozens of schools I've looked into. None.

One thing though, that I have noticed, is that plenty of schools look at more than just GPA when admitting to a master's program. I have no fears that if I want to go to grad school, that I can't get into a competitive one, with a cumulative GPA (my own calculation) of about 3.0. The 1.9 that I got at my first school almost 30 years ago will not play as big of a role as my 3.36 from the next school, the 3.5 I got in all UL courses in management at the next school, and the 4.0 at the final school. Many schools look at the last 30 or 60 graded credits, which is awesome for me. I would probably stick to schools that looked at the last 30 graded credits to give me the best chance (3.6 GPA for those). I would also give some thought to taking a couple of more graded courses, so that my last 60cr was the higher GPA (currently a 3.3 there, but if I took 2 courses and got A's, then I could replace 2 C's and would have a 3.5).

[txnicole]

Not my experience at all. I've never actually seen "old grades pulled in along the way." Most schools look at your old transcripts and then calculate their own GPA. There is no "cumulative" GPA at all. I've been helping people get their degrees for a few years now, and your way has not been done on a single of the dozens of schools I've looked into. None.

Well seeing as how there are several of you guys who have seen it differently, maybe the experiences I've had are the strange ones? Either that or maybe we're miscommunicating and describing the same thing in different ways. I'm not suggesting at all that the information isn't available on the transcripts from each school, in fact I'm saying the opposite, that any school you transfer courses TO will show the transferred courses and the new courses on it also. Maybe part of it is a disconnect on the use of the word cumulative? All I meant by that is the final gpa from all your schoolwork from your last school. I really don't think this is a weird thing. Let me give you an example...

If Joe took 3 courses at CC (3 credits each), failed 1 with a 45 and passed the other two with 85 each, he has a 2.20 GPA. When Joe transfers to university, the two courses he passed are given equivalency to new courses and the failed course doesn't transfer to an equivalency because it was below a C grade. He takes 3 courses at university, and gets 89 on all three, plus the 85s from the first semester at CC, so his new gpa is 3.30.

Seems very normal to me, and is cumulative in that it combines the grades obtained from the different schools.