EU - BSLA

[nick00106]

Hello   ,

I could use some assistance in identifing the best path to accomplish the remaining UL Arts & Sciences. Essentially i need 15 credits in the Upper Level for Arts & Sciences.

Few questions-

1. I am interested in Lawshelf, but there courses seem to be mainly catered towards Electives, has anyone had success transferring any courses from Lawshelf into Arts & Sciences?

2. Is there any recommendation/preference between coopersmith and study.com? Ideally i would like to hop into a course, self study until i feel prepared for a final exam and jump right into that.

3. In addition to #2 are there recommendations for specific UL courses that seem to be easier than others?


Question in regards to Excelsior Unviersity-

I noticed on this forum there are many more topics for TESU than there are for Excelsior.. Is TESU a preferred school for this forum? Is there a reason that may be?

I enjoy the content on this forum, looking forward to discussions with you!

[bjcheung77]

@nick00106, Welcome to the board, that's a pretty good introduction post with some basic details and some questions.  I would highly recommend you complete the addendum & template here and provide as much information as possible to give us a better overview of your situation: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Basically, it's great you're asking questions and providing us the minor details, but it's still somewhat unclear as we don't know what courses you've taken, commitments, study habits you have... The questions you're asking is also very subjective as it will differ for everyone due to the reasons I mentioned above.

You're going to get varying answers that are subjective in nature, it really depends on a many things, your budget, commitment, time management and more. We don't know your situation and can't gauge how well each person does things unless they provide more details. 

TESU has more degree offerings that can be had for cheap, Excelsior's main seller is the BSLA, if you're going for the BSLA, then the UMPI BLS might be something to investigate as well.

[rachel83az]

Excelsior is a good choice for many students. Their tuition is marginally lower than TESU's, once all credits are gathered from alt sources. But there are, indeed, a few reasons why a student on this forum might choose TESU instead.

1. Per transcript fees - Excelsior charges $300 for every evaluation after the first. If it takes you 3 or 4 additional evaluations before you have sufficient credit in the right areas, that's an extra thousand bucks you're paying for your Excelsior degree. It's no longer cheaper than TESU.
   
2. Fewer UL credit - Excelsior requires 30 UL credits. Both the capstone and cornerstone can count as UL credit at Excelsior, but that still leaves students with 24 UL credits needed from elsewhere. TESU, on the other hand, only requires 15 UL credits + capstone. UL credits can be significantly more expensive/time-consuming than LL credits. This can sometimes make a TESU degree both cheaper and faster than an Excelsior degree. 
   
3. More transparency - It's unclear how much this is going to change on the 12th, but TESU has traditionally had extremely clear requirements for its degrees (for the most part). Although the public site for TESU isn't the clearest now, there is still a lot of information there. Excelsior doesn't even publish what CLEP/DSST exams it accepts and for what. Students have reported that the official Sophia/Excelsior transfer page isn't 100% accurate. This tends to make it more difficult to plan an Excelsior degree compared to a TESU degree.
   
4. Momentum - Because more students tend to choose TESU, that makes it easier for other students to choose TESU. Without students reporting what different classes work for, the wiki cannot grow. This is illustrated most clearly on the Coopersmith page. Many more students have reported TESU transfers than Excelsior transfers. It's a lot easier for students to take one leap of faith and take a single class that may or may not work than it is to take 3 or 4 classes without knowing for certain if they'll even work for your degree.
   
5. Degree options - At Excelsior, most students must choose between either liberal studies or generic Business degrees. TESU has significantly more options. About 20 different degrees are available, with varying amounts of difficulty in obtaining each one. 
   
6. Name - Until recently, Excelsior was a college and TESU was a university. For some students, especially international ones, that matters a lot.
   
7. Cost - IMO, most students who would traditionally have flocked to Excelsior over TESU because of the slightly lower price tag have now been turning to UMPI. The prospect of finishing a degree for less than half the price of TESU or Excelsior has been too good to pass up. Students who do maximum credit but who work slowly can still typically expect to finish a UMPI degree for at least a bit less than the cost of either TESU or Excelsior. This is a win-win prospect. 
   

None of the above makes Excelsior a bad choice. Indeed, they're the right choice for many students. Unlike TESU, Excelsior does not have weird residency waiver fees that can make things confusing. They also don't require a minimum amount of RA credit. Not everyone wants to juggle adding Finnish university credits (or cheap CC credits/TECEPs, etc.) to their degree plan as they might have to do with TESU. That's fine. Excelsior also accepts NA credit, something that's super important to a lot of students.

Really, it all boils down to what's most important for you and your needs.

[nick00106]

@nick00106, Welcome to the board, that's a pretty good introduction post with some basic details and some questions.  I would highly recommend you complete the addendum & template here and provide as much information as possible to give us a better overview of your situation: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Basically, it's great you're asking questions and providing us the minor details, but it's still somewhat unclear as we don't know what courses you've taken, commitments, study habits you have... The questions you're asking is also very subjective as it will differ for everyone due to the reasons I mentioned above.

You're going to get varying answers that are subjective in nature, it really depends on a many things, your budget, commitment, time management and more. We don't know your situation and can't gauge how well each person does things unless they provide more details. 

TESU has more degree offerings that can be had for cheap, Excelsior's main seller is the BSLA, if you're going for the BSLA, then the UMPI BLS might be something to investigate as well.

Thank you for the warm welcome! Thanks for linking the template. Filled out below:


Code:

Code:

[b]Your Location:[/b] State and Country NY, USA
[b]Your Age:[/b] 29
[b]What kind of degree do you want?:[/b] Would prefer a more technical  degree or a business degree. 
[b]Current Regional Accredited Credits:[/b] 90

School Name Total Credits: #

Cowley Community College, 42 credits, SUNY Jamestown Community College, 12 credits, Sophia Learning 15 credits, Lawshelf, 18 credits. 

Class Name, Credits, Grade

See below screenshots from my Excelsior MAP, Sophia and Lawshelf screenshots. 

[b]Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:[/b] N/A

Provider Total Credits: # N/A
Class Name, Credits, Grade N/A

[b]Any certifications or military experience?[/b] N/A

---

Excelsior is a good choice for many students. Their tuition is marginally lower than TESU's, once all credits are gathered from alt sources. But there are, indeed, a few reasons why a student on this forum might choose TESU instead.

1. Per transcript fees - Excelsior charges $300 for every evaluation after the first. If it takes you 3 or 4 additional evaluations before you have sufficient credit in the right areas, that's an extra thousand bucks you're paying for your Excelsior degree. It's no longer cheaper than TESU.
   
2. Fewer UL credit - Excelsior requires 30 UL credits. Both the capstone and cornerstone can count as UL credit at Excelsior, but that still leaves students with 24 UL credits needed from elsewhere. TESU, on the other hand, only requires 15 UL credits + capstone. UL credits can be significantly more expensive/time-consuming than LL credits. This can sometimes make a TESU degree both cheaper and faster than an Excelsior degree. 
   
3. More transparency - It's unclear how much this is going to change on the 12th, but TESU has traditionally had extremely clear requirements for its degrees (for the most part). Although the public site for TESU isn't the clearest now, there is still a lot of information there. Excelsior doesn't even publish what CLEP/DSST exams it accepts and for what. Students have reported that the official Sophia/Excelsior transfer page isn't 100% accurate. This tends to make it more difficult to plan an Excelsior degree compared to a TESU degree.
   
4. Momentum - Because more students tend to choose TESU, that makes it easier for other students to choose TESU. Without students reporting what different classes work for, the wiki cannot grow. This is illustrated most clearly on the Coopersmith page. Many more students have reported TESU transfers than Excelsior transfers. It's a lot easier for students to take one leap of faith and take a single class that may or may not work than it is to take 3 or 4 classes without knowing for certain if they'll even work for your degree.
   
5. Degree options - At Excelsior, most students must choose between either liberal studies or generic Business degrees. TESU has significantly more options. About 20 different degrees are available, with varying amounts of difficulty in obtaining each one. 
   
6. Name - Until recently, Excelsior was a college and TESU was a university. For some students, especially international ones, that matters a lot.
   
7. Cost - IMO, most students who would traditionally have flocked to Excelsior over TESU because of the slightly lower price tag have now been turning to UMPI. The prospect of finishing a degree for less than half the price of TESU or Excelsior has been too good to pass up. Students who do maximum credit but who work slowly can still typically expect to finish a UMPI degree for at least a bit less than the cost of either TESU or Excelsior. This is a win-win prospect. 
   

None of the above makes Excelsior a bad choice. Indeed, they're the right choice for many students. Unlike TESU, Excelsior does not have weird residency waiver fees that can make things confusing. They also don't require a minimum amount of RA credit. Not everyone wants to juggle adding Finnish university credits (or cheap CC credits/TECEPs, etc.) to their degree plan as they might have to do with TESU. That's fine. Excelsior also accepts NA credit, something that's super important to a lot of students.

Really, it all boils down to what's most important for you and your needs.

Thank you for the detailed reply. 

1. That’s been a sticking point for me aswell. I am trying to complete the degree requirements in the next few weeks to save myself the evaluation fee. But it’s looking like I may not meet that timeframe. Frustrating part of excelsiors process. 

2.  This seems to be the last requirement I need and is giving me the biggest headache. I need 15 CR UL Arts/Science. I wish I could apply LL from Sophia which would help me zoom through the remaining classes. 

3. The transparency with EU sucks. I have to wait for them to review my transcript after every 4 classes before we can discuss the next classes to take. I wish I could just get a list of everything and knock them out. 

4. Good to know, thank you. 

5. That’s been my difficulty with EU. I don’t love the idea of a BSLA but I was/am looking for the FASTEST BS path. Ideally by the end of this year. I am tentatively planning to go for my MBA at WGU next year. 

6. Good to know, thank you. 

7. Good to know, thank you. 


Perhaps I should’ve made a post and discussed this here before enrolling with Excelsior. I am currently in the Fall 1 semester taking the Cornerstone/Information Literacy courses. 

Essentially I was searching for the fastest path to acquire a Bachelors degree. I have a ton of technical experience/certification so I don’t feel like the BSLA degree hurts me, but I’d prefer more of a technical or business degree. But with WGU I can achieve that with an MBA after I complete the EU BSLA.

[rachel83az]

If you want a BS degree and not a BA degree, TESU's Org Leadership or Professional Studies (probably Professional Studies?) degrees might work for you, depending on exactly what you have now and how close you are to your degree. It might be worth spending the $50 + transcript fees to apply to TESU just to see how your current credits will work out and what you have left. It could save you both time and money in the long run.

I see you have plenty of RA credit, so that's the longest/most difficult part of the TESU process out of the way.

[nick00106]

If you want a BS degree and not a BA degree, TESU's Org Leadership or Professional Studies (probably Professional Studies?) degrees might work for you, depending on exactly what you have now and how close you are to your degree. It might be worth spending the $50 + transcript fees to apply to TESU just to see how your current credits will work out and what you have left. It could save you both time and money in the long run.

I see you have plenty of RA credit, so that's the longest/most difficult part of the TESU process out of the way.

That’s really interesting! I’d much prefer a BS in Org Leadership as opposed to a BA lol..

I see with TESU you only have to take 2 courses. Could I then transfer everything else in and complete through Sophia, Lawshelf and copper smith? I also wonder if you can take exams to test out through TESU. EU removed that as an option. 

I guess some of my concern is I’m in week 2 for EU. Maybe I should see that through and transfer the cornerstone and information literacy course into TESU? Or maybe it’s a sunk cost?

[rachel83az]

Assuming you're on day 8-15, if you withdraw now, you can cancel and you'll still get 50% of your money back. https://www.excelsior.edu/policy/add-dro...e-courses/ If you're on day 16+, I'd go ahead and finish the courses while you decide/get a TESU evaluation. The Excelsior courses won't transfer as anything especially useful at TESU, but they'll impact your whole-degree GPA and the Ws for a post day-16 withdrawal might not look so good for a future Master's degree.

It's a pretty big chunk of change to lose, so it's really up to you to decide if it's worth it to lose that much tuition money to switch to a "better" degree. For some students, the answer is NO. For others, it'd be an immediate YES.

You can see TESU BS Org. Leadership course suggestions here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap and https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan It's one of the few BS degrees at TESU without specific science requirements.

If you decide that you want to continue with the BSLA, dfrecore is our main Excelsior person. They can assist you in finding valid UL courses so you don't have to keep wasting time/money on evaluations.

[bjcheung77]

Continue with the BSLA at Excelsior, you just need to complete your Info Lit and Cornerstone, on the next term, complete the Capstone. You want to transfer the rest into the degree with whichever provider you decide to go with, Coopersmith, Sophia.org, Study.com, or another provider etc. You don't need a BSOL or BSBA to get into the MBA at WGU or if you prefer their MSML, look at other programs such as HAU MBA for $3K, UMPI MAOL, and also check their entry requirements...

[nick00106]

Continue with the BSLA at Excelsior, you just need to complete your Info Lit and Cornerstone, on the next term, complete the Capstone.  You want to transfer the rest into the degree with whichever provider you decide to go with, Coopersmith, Sophia.org, Study.com, or another provider etc.  You don't need a BSOL or BSBA to get into the MBA at WGU or if you prefer their MSML, look at other programs such as HAU MBA for $3K, UMPI MAOL, and also check their entry requirements...

I think I will be continuing Excelsior. Just need to identify UL Arts and Science courses to complete the remaining 15 CR

[allvia]

Continue with the BSLA at Excelsior, you just need to complete your Info Lit and Cornerstone, on the next term, complete the Capstone.  You want to transfer the rest into the degree with whichever provider you decide to go with, Coopersmith, Sophia.org, Study.com, or another provider etc.  You don't need a BSOL or BSBA to get into the MBA at WGU or if you prefer their MSML, look at other programs such as HAU MBA for $3K, UMPI MAOL, and also check their entry requirements...

I think I will be continuing Excelsior. Just need to identify UL Arts and Science courses to complete the remaining 15 CR

In your case I agree with bjcheung77, I think it would be best to stick with your path at EU for the BSLA (both in time/money). Get those 15 UL and get it done   We look forward to hearing about your master choice, should you decide to take that next step.