which school and why

[Waldorfteacher]

This is a very timely discussion as it bears upon my current situation. I have applied to both TESC & Excelsior and am awaiting their evaluation of my credits. I have 105 credits and have stopped testing until I am sure how my credits fit into their schemas. I will be pursuing a Social Studies BA at TESC or a History BA at Excelsior depending on the outcome of these evaluations of my prior course work & testing.

Speaking in favor of TESC is the lack of a capstone course requirement which leads to a faster way to achieve a degree (in my situation), a less expensive degree due in a large part to the FEMA credit policy, and a touted more liberal Upper Division credit granting policy. The lack of a bona fide GPA at TESC is the main reason I am also applying at Excelsior. I could take a 1 credit course on Pride&Prejudice for a phony gpa, but that would delay my graduation by 3 months.

Excelsior gives grades for many DSST tests which is a positive for me. They also include your B&M credits in your total gpa as well as a gpa specific to Excelsior credits, which includes the graded ECE's. The up front costs are less at Excelsior, although the lack of FEMA credits and the 30 credit Upper Division requirement makes it a more expensive degree (in History) at the end of the road. It appears the much maligned American Dream ECE is now defunct so one can no longer test out of a history BA at Excelsior using just CLEP, DSST & ECE exams.

I do intend on applying to grad school so a real gpa is an issue. I am applying to California State U Dominguez Hills which requires a minimum 3.2gpa for the last 60 credits earned. As an aside, CSU-DH has some online only Masters programs that are a good value at around $10k for California residents.

I will base my decision on how TESC & Excelsior evaluate my credits as well as how much I value the 3 months I will save by enrolling at TESC. The cost difference in my case is about $1k higher at Excelsior.

I previously posted a degree plan for a BA in Social Studies at TESC. Here I have attached my BA in History at plan at Excelsior. Doing these degree plans has really helped me to clarify the pros and cons of each institutions graduation requirements.

As previously stated on this thread, the choice depends on your particular situation and how much you value the benefits of each school's differences. It appears some people here choose not to choose and enroll at both schools!

Partisanship aside, neither school has made it to the Final Four recently so you probably wont see either one in next years bracket. If rooting for your alma mater matters to you, you might want to look at Gonzaga.