International student, complex study history, looking at TESU BA Psych

[vaticidalprophet]

Hi, everyone New to the forum, excited to be here. Been doing a lot of research on my own.

I'm an Australian citizen and resident, currently aged 24. I've been interested in the concept of a degree by examination for a long time, but never been entirely clear on how to actualize it until now. My educational history is pretty complicated, and translating it internationally even moreso. I don't have a conventional 'high school diploma' (the local terminology for this varies by state; I'm using American terminology for simplicity), and Australia lacks a simple GED equivalent or clear-cut 'homeschool diploma'*, but I have multiple forms of both ~equivalent qualifications and previous attempts at higher study, some fairly unusual:

• I have a Certificate III, which is the closest 'high school equivalent' certification that exists; they inhabit the same level of the Australian Qualifications Framework, the standardized national system for educational qualifications, and are treated as equal-level qualifications in demographic and sociological data (see example). Cert 3s are generally pass/fail (including mine), which does make it a little more complicated to compare to high school completion in grade level terms.
  
• I was until recently (i.e. weeks ago) working towards an Advanced Diploma, which is equivalent to an Associate's (not a common degree in the Australian system, though they're starting to pop up), but used as an end in itself rather than a means to transfer. I completed the equivalent of 12-15 or so credits, not a huge amount, probably overlapping with the next category, but it does demonstrate both some credits that may apply (especially if few from the next category do) and that I'm locally "eligible for" higher education in the same sense as someone with a conventional high school experience. This was also pass/fail.
  
• My longest-lasting and most complicated higher educational experience to explain is weird by Australian standards, let alone much else. From 2019-2021, I attended Monash College, a bridging program to Monash University (one of the country's most prestigious universities). Bridging programs are much like community colleges as a stepping stone to four-year institutions from a logistical point of view, but are all of 1. far rarer, 2. connected to individual institutions rather than being standalone (though you could apply to any university from them), and 3. targeted at international students with negligible domestic participation. I was the only domestic student in any of my classes, though I knew of maybe 1-2 more in the whole cohort, and I met multiple people who didn't know domestic students could attend MC. I didn't finish the program due to Covid disruptions, but I did more credits towards it, and got actual numerical grades (some exceptionally good). I'm extremely unclear on how many of these would transfer as college-equivalent. I'm also frankly not very clear on how to get my transcripts as an ex-student, so it's hard for me to pin down how many credits I have (I'll probably have to make a few phone calls). I also have some concerns about how the grades would translate to the US -- the two countries use very different grading scales. (90 in the US is pretty good, but not spectacular; 90 in a quantitative class in Australia is very impressive; 90 in a qualitative class in Australia means you were the best student in the cohort.)
  

I'm aware from the wiki (which I've been doing little else but read, for the past couple days) that non-US higher education credits 'should' transfer as RA. As you can gather from the bullet points, I don't know that my situation is...sensical enough to rely on this. I'm hopeful I can knock out a decent amount nonetheless, but I'm accounting for worst-case scenarios with no or negligible credits, as well as best-cases where they all transfer and everything between.

I'm strongly leaning towards TESU as the best fit for my scenario:

• Has international student admissions, is fairly transparent about how they work, and doesn't have completely soul-crushing international tuition
  
• Easiest way to take TECEP tests, which are the only real direct-test-credit option available to me (there is one CLEP test site in Australia, on the opposite coast, with a distance equivalent to between NYC and Salt Lake City)
  
• Accepts CSM Learn (I'm mildly dyscalculic, and while there are forms of maths I'm more conversational in, it's been an issue for prior education)**
  

My only real concern about TESU regards interpretation of the high school completion clause. I'm hoping that a presentation of my educational history will work as a demonstration I've completed "high school or equivalent". If it's interpreted overliterally, well, as I said, there's no clear-cut local equivalent to the given certifications -- but I have the best local equivalents we have.

I'm specifically most interested in TESU's BA in Psychology. I might have some Monash College credits for it, considering all prior caveats. I'm mostly looking at Sophia, Coopersmith, and TECEP to get credits, though some individual classes (SOS-450 Ethics in the Social Sciences, specifically) seem hard to find a good way to handle -- the recommendation on the wiki is study.com, which seems somewhat cost-prohibitive. I'm also looking at TEL if I need more RA credits on top of prior study + TECEP + residency, and various other credit sources (Coursera, TEEX, etc) for individual electives I find interesting. I plan to do the 16-credit residency, with my current outline being cornerstone/capstone, e-Packs for Abnormal Psychology and Psychology of Personality, and full classes for Medical Terminology and Biomedical Ethics. The last one is the one I'm most hesitant about -- it gives the impression of a very involved/work-heavy class, and isn't 'directly related' to the major (which is to say it takes a slot more naturally filled by Ethics in the Social Sciences), but it's a passion of mine and something I want to study further.

I want to keep my graduate school options open, which is to say I want to have a good enough ratio of graded credits to pass/fail credits to get into grad school. This is something I've long worried about regarding degrees by examination, though my recent heavy research is mitigating that fear a little.

I'd really appreciate any help or guidance available. I know my situation is unusual, but I'm hoping at least for reassurance about my worst fears being irrational I've been looking deeply into this and want the opportunity to think out loud/work through my plans with people who've been there and done that. I'm starting to form a real image of a study plan in my head, and I'm looking for the practical experience to actualize that theory.

Thanks for any help, and I hope you have a great day.

*'Homeschooled during high school' is a reasonable simplification of the situation for our purposes -- it's more complicated than that at heart, but it's complicated in a way that isn't relevant to this post.
**My Monash College credits (which, again, I'm being equivocal about transferrability for) include an Introduction to Statistics. I'm certainly hoping that this will transfer given it's a core class for the BA Psych, but as I understand it I'd still need another maths credit for gen ed? Regardless of CSM necessity I'm hoping it transfers -- statistics is my best maths, but I did quite a bit better in that class than my usual for formal maths classes and don't fancy my chances of pulling another miracle.