Is anyone familiar with bain4weeks.com-share your stories!

[barcotta]

I was first turned on to distance learning and testing out by Bear's Guide to Degrees by Distance Learning, then I found bain4weeks after I found degree-whiz.net (which no longer exists) and clepmaniac.com (which is now a big IC advertisement). I think the degree-whiz site convinced me first, it used to have a nice long testimonial about a guy who sounded just like me who had tested out in seven months or so, and then his wife tested out, and it listed out all his exams all nice. I still have all the pages I printed off from that site. I thought it was a bit easier to understand how the process works and I'm sad it's gone! Also, I already accepted the idea of testing out because I had already done it my senior year of high school with an AP exam.

What I liked most about the bain4weeks site was the idea of using the GRE subject exams for credit, and I probably would not have attempted that move if it had not been for Lawrie's example. He is a huge inspiration.

I first came across this concept via the Bear's Guide too. That was back in 1991. I still have my copy. I also used the consulting service they were associated with back then. Boy, do I wish I knew then what I know now. In the pre-Internet and InstantCert age, the only thing I could find out about CLEPing was that you had to somehow learn everything that would be on a typical college final exam on your own--assumably by reading a textbook yourself. The thought of just reading a whole textbook--let alone memorizing a bunch of it, was enough to discourage me back then--and I think if that was the only way I wouldn't have ever done this. I even went so far as to look at the big blue CLEP book in a bookstore and tried to answer some of the sample questions. That discouraged me even further. I was also very focused on the NAME of the college back then and figured that the only degree that would be worthwhile would be from a "name" school. Had I done anything, I would have done the Penn State associates degree--which I think is still available.

I looked at this on and off over the years and finally, like many people, stumbled across the bain4weeks site. Based on my previous familiarity and some personal knowledge of other Excelsior graduates, it all made sense. I, too, printed out important pages and began working it into a plan for myself. Incidentally, I think the degree-whiz site you referred to may still be around. I remember Jack Mize calling his site something along the lines of degree wiz, but it also had the URL Test Out of College Using CLEP DSST ECE Credit By Exam, and that URL is still active. Check it out and see if it's the same.

[alissaroot]

Incidentally, I think the degree-whiz site you referred to may still be around. I remember Jack Mize calling his site something along the lines of degree wiz, but it also had the URL Test Out of College Using CLEP DSST ECE Credit By Exam, and that URL is still active. Check it out and see if it's the same.

It is! Thank you so much! I have bookmarked this so now I can send people there hooray. I love this Jack Mize guy.

[cookderosa]

Yes, but it would not be considered exactly the same if many people were getting it in 4 weeks. That would surely cause an audit of the process, accreditation issues, etc. The B&M schools would certainly put pressure on the accreditation agencies if they noticed this trend.

So, my point was that we should all be glad that 4 week BS degrees are not the norm at the big 3, and anyone who challenges us should understand that we have the same accredited degree that anyone else has except for the fact that we earned it the hard way. By earning it the hard way, we have proven that we are self motivated and have a certain level of efficiency to get the same results in less time.

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I'm not trying to be argumentative- really- but the speed at which you complete your degree has no impact on anything. If you completed your degree through testing in 4 years, and Lawrie completed his through testing in 4 weeks, you got the same degree. (no "hard way" or "easy way" about it)

[malcs]

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I'm not trying to be argumentative- really- but the speed at which you complete your degree has no impact on anything. If you completed your degree through testing in 4 years, and Lawrie completed his through testing in 4 weeks, you got the same degree. (no "hard way" or "easy way" about it)

Well, think about CLEPping vs traditional school.
My college days a long time ago consisted of:
- parents money
- dating
- 15 credits/semester
- stopping at the diner on the way to school
- hanging out in the quad between classes
- going to clubs
- having a beer at the rat
- oh, and going to classes

CLEPping typically consists of:
- your own money
- researching schools that fit your situation
- your own degree planning
- negotiating with the big three about overlap, etc.
- checking that your exams get posted
- pacing yourself
- knowing when you are ready to test
- finding appropriate and economic study material
- figuring out the breadth of the exam so you don't over/understudy
- researching subjects yourself because there is often nobody to ask
- taking an all-or-nothing final
- lining up the next subject's materials two weeks in advance
- finding enough exams for a subject to create an area of concentration, without infinite choices
- rejection of D grades (at EC, not sure about others)

So, in my opinion this is the harder way to go. The upside is that you can finish a degree at your own pace, which often means doing it in 1/3 of the time.

The net benefit of this approach is that you become so efficient when you apply this method in other situations. I am now looking at some Microsoft certification books that used to look so dense. They now look like the pages are filled with loose fluff.

[JanusthePhoenix]

I know this is kind of irrelevant, but how are you all sure Lawrie's a guy? Who's that girl that keeps popping up in pictures on the website?

[cookderosa]

I know this is kind of irrelevant, but how are you all sure Lawrie's a guy? Who's that girl that keeps popping up in pictures on the website?

>>

He's a poster on the distance learning forum

[alissaroot]

I know this is kind of irrelevant, but how are you all sure Lawrie's a guy? Who's that girl that keeps popping up in pictures on the website?

I think those are just stock photos to make the site look a certain way. Like how IC has a picture of a girl sitting on the steps with a laptop on it's home page,but it's just, you know, decorative.

I am pretty sure Lawrie is a guy from reading his old posts on the other forum that Jennifer referred to.

As for the little debate going on, I'm just going to chime in with a thought. Lawrie was not a child when he accomplished this. He was a seasoned adult with career, family, and military(?) experience. He had learned a lot through his life experiences. I don't know a whole lot about him, but I don't think it's quite right to say he earned his degree in 4 weeks. Really, he earned his knowledge for his degree in like ten or twenty years of living his life. (I don't know exactly how old he was when he tested out.) It just took him four weeks to verify it.

[HawkGuy]

Bain4weeks was what got me started down this path. It took me a lot longer than 4 weeks, but after I got back from a deployment I knocked out 90 something credits in maybe 6-7 months.

So while his plan works, 4 weeks is a bit unreasonable lol.