West Texas A&M ACE/Study.com not accepted for Masters work

[Gloddy]

Good Afternoon,

I am posting this here because it relates to study.com but it is in regards to graduate work as well. I am going to post it in the Graduate School Discussion as well.  I apologize in advance if this is a no-no, but I want people to be aware of this.

I just received official notice that I will graduate from TESU with a BSBA on 9/14!   

My plan is to do a Masters next.  I am leaning towards Finance instead of the MBA.

For this reason, I am considering West Texas A&M Master in Finance and Economics for the following reasons:
Accredited
Online
Inexpensive
"The program earned a 2018 #18 ranking as a best graduate business program by U.S. News & World Report.­"

I read the following on the website:
Receive Your Personalized Plan of Study: Please send a copy of your current resume and your unofficial transcripts today to receive your personalized Plan of Study.

So, I did this.  Long-story short...They will not accept the study.com (ACE) for Finance, Stats and Accounting.  I will have to take 3 "Leveling courses" prior to being able to move fully into the masters program.


I asked if their are exceptions.  One of my professional designations, CIMA, was taught by Wharton professors and I have 20+ years in Financial Services.  No luck.

I am sharing this because I completed almost 100% of my non-B&M courses at study.com.  I didn't think this would be an issue, but apparently it can be.

Right now I am feeling a little salty about it but I guess this is the price that will have to be paid. 15 courses instead of 12 isn't the end of the world, but it bothers me, plus it will take longer.  This program is not competency based like a WGU, so it will cost me time.

Gloddy

[dfrecore]

Good Afternoon,

I am posting this here because it relates to study.com but it is in regards to graduate work as well. I am going to post it in the Graduate School Discussion as well.  I apologize in advance if this is a no-no, but I want people to be aware of this.

I just received official notice that I will graduate from TESU with a BSBA on 9/14!   

My plan is to do a Masters next.  I am leaning towards Finance instead of the MBA.

For this reason, I am considering West Texas A&M Master in Finance and Economics for the following reasons:
Accredited
Online
Inexpensive
"The program earned a 2018 #18 ranking as a best graduate business program by U.S. News & World Report.­"

I read the following on the website:
Receive Your Personalized Plan of Study: Please send a copy of your current resume and your unofficial transcripts today to receive your personalized Plan of Study.

So, I did this.  Long-story short...They will not accept the study.com (ACE) for Finance, Stats and Accounting.  I will have to take 3 "Leveling courses" prior to being able to move fully into the masters program.


I asked if their are exceptions.  One of my professional designations, CIMA, was taught by Wharton professors and I have 20+ years in Financial Services.  No luck.

I am sharing this because I completed almost 100% of my non-B&M courses at study.com.  I didn't think this would be an issue, but apparently it can be.

Right now I am feeling a little salty about it but I guess this is the price that will have to be paid. 15 courses instead of 12 isn't the end of the world, but it bothers me, plus it will take longer.  This program is not competency based like a WGU, so it will cost me time.

Gloddy

Many schools want specific courses to be graded, so they won't take alternate credit for those.  They will accept your degree, but want grades for those courses.  It's a bummer, and if you would have known that you wanted to go this route, you could have planned for it in advance.

But, I would not let that stop me, especially if the degree I wanted from a good school was an option.  I'd suck it up and take the courses.

[Tedium]

That does suck, but it is something that everyone on this forum should keep in mind if they plan on going to graduate school. Not all schools are very progressive when it comes to alternative credit, but there are a lot of them available that don't have policies against it. Like dfrecore said, if you really like the program and are able to afford the time and money to take those three classes, do it.

Doesn't Straighterline give grades? Would that be an option? Or is it just ACE in general they don't like? Hell, even knocking out some classes at NMJC or something may be more cost effective. Just a thought.

[dfrecore]

That does suck, but it is something that everyone on this forum should keep in mind if they plan on going to graduate school. Not all schools are very progressive when it comes to alternative credit, but there are a lot of them available that don't have policies against it. Like dfrecore said, if you really like the program and are able to afford the time and money to take those three classes, do it.

Doesn't Straighterline give grades? Would that be an option? Or is it just ACE in general they don't like? Hell, even knocking out some classes at NMJC or something may be more cost effective. Just a thought.

They're going to want graded credits from an RA (normally) school.  So even if SL did give grades, it wouldn't matter in this case.

I think schools have the option of giving grades for SL courses, I only ever remember maybe COSC giving grades at one point, although I don't remember.  And, it would have to be a school that takes SL directly, because ACE transcripts don't have grades - just the fact that a course is on there means you passed.

[davewill]

Did you hove those courses on your TESU transcript or did you try to send your ACE or Study.com transcripts? I suspect everyone is right and they just want those prerequisites to be regular graded courses, but it you didn't actually show them on your TESU transcript, that might make a difference.

Nevermind, I see that you're about to graduate, so they must be on your TESU transcript. You might be able to take those quickly at your local CC if you don't want to take them at the new school.

[Gloddy]

Thanks for all the responses.

I am still thinking it over and exploring other programs at the same time.

West Texas A & M Confirmed I can CLEP or DSST out of them.  Here is the exact response:

"You can CLEP or DSST out of the courses, and I think that would be the best option for you financially. You can take any statistics test, for the accounting we need financial accounting, and for the finance you are looking for business finance, corporate finance or financial management."

I am sharing for others that may be in this situation.

For me it stings because I just took the courses in question in March of this year.
Stats was in March - grade was 82 or 2.7
Finance was in March - grade was 90 or 3.7
Accounting 1 was in March - grade was 84 or 3.0
Account 2 was in March - grade was 90 or 3.7

Again, thanks for the responses. I will report back with any important updates.

Gloddy

[dfrecore]

"You can CLEP or DSST out of the courses, and I think that would be the best option for you financially. You can take any statistics test, for the accounting we need financial accounting, and for the finance you are looking for business finance, corporate finance or financial management."

I am sharing for others that may be in this situation.

For me it stings because I just took the courses in question in March of this year.
Stats was in March - grade was 82 or 2.7
Finance was in March - grade was 90 or 3.7
Accounting 1 was in March - grade was 84 or 3.0
Account 2 was in March - grade was 90 or 3.7

Have you pointed out to them that CLEP and DSST are just another form of ungraded credits that they won't accept from an ACE-recommended course provider?  I mean, obviously their hangup isn't the graded part, or they wouldn't take CLEP/DSST.

Do they have challenge courses at their school?  Sometimes they will let you take those for free (I had the same issue when I inquired about the WNMU MBA program - ungraded courses would need to be "challenged").  Again, silly, because they're ungraded...

Just an FYI, Managerial Acctg can't be done through CLEP or DSST, so you'd have to find another option there.  How about TECEP's or UExcel's?

Your only other option is CC's.  Rio Salado has rolling terms, and 8-week options.  NMJC is cheaper, but regular semester system.

[davewill]

If you just passed those courses with good grades, you can probably handle the CLEP/DSST versions without too much extra studying. Try a few practice tests and see how they go. You might be able to wrap them up in a month or less.