UMPI Questions

[ss20ts]

What kind of mistakes in your transcript evaluation?

Thank you for analyzing my situation. I appreciate your time and expertise. Some of the business courses in my transcript evaluation were accepted as electives when they appear to be virtually identical to the UMPI courses described below. The issues below should not be construed as a complaint against an individual. Instead, the transcript evaluation process is flawed with no obvious means of redress. Tragically, many universities drop the ball in the same area


Obviously, I lack a terminal degree in business and am therefore unqualified to determine two courses are substantially equal. What I can state is that I evaluated the course syllabi for the pertinent Sophia courses, and carefully compared them with the matching UMPI courses. Next, I researched how other regionally accredited Sophia partner universities transfer those same Sophia courses. Finally, I consulted with educators and current and former UMPI students who took these Sophia courses to obtain more fully informed opinions about course equivalency. 

1. Based upon this research, Sophia’s Introduction to Statistics Course ( https://www.sophia.org/online-courses/ma...tistics-2/ ) is essentially equal to UMPI's  MAT 201 - Probability and Statistics I in content and rigor. Instead, UMPI transferred Sophia's  statistics course as MAT 101 - Basic Statistics. This is a foundational course equivalent to Sophia's Foundations of Statistics. As a result, my Sophia Foundations course transferred as an unnamed elective, 1XX. I might add that all of the Sophia partner universities I checked with transferred Sophia's Introduction to Statistics as a 200 or 300 level course.
   
2. Using the same methodology, I conducted the similar research for Sophia's Principles of Finance (https://www.sophia.org/online-courses/bu...of-finance ) and determined it most closely aligns with UMPI's Bus 325. Due to its depth and rigor, ACE recommends Sophia's Principles of Finance for 3 upper-level credits. Inexplicably, Principles of Finance was transferred as a 1XX business elective. Most Sophia partner universities accept Sophia's Principles of Finance as a 300 or 400 level course.
   

1. 3. Sophia's Principles of Management course  ( https://www.sophia.org/online-courses/bu...anagement/ ) is by far their most challenging course. Its depth and breadth is unmatched by other Sophia courses. Not surprisingly, it is the Sophia course most commonly transferred as a 400 level course. ACE confirms this by recommending it for 3 upper level credit hours. I was stupefied to learn UMPI transferred it as Introduction to Business, a 1XX course. This is ironic because my Sophia Introduction to Business course was transferred as a 2XX business elective rather than as UMPI's Introduction to Business. Amazingly, UMPI doesn't currently offer a general management course through YourPace. The closest course I can find is Bus 410.  While not an exact match, this course description far more closely aligns with the nature of the course than a 1XX transfer.

1. 4. I was unaware of the difficulty posed by Sophia's English Composition l, ( https://www.sophia.org/online-courses/en...sition-i-4 ) I took it three years ago before discovering this forum. Sophia's English 1 was not transferred as the virtually identical UMPI English 121, rather a remedial course College Composition 101.  This prevented Sophia's Foundations of English Composition from transferring into its equivalent, College Composition 101. Instead it's listed as 1XX. 

Universities accept Sophia courses based upon their accreditation, in this case through ACE. As you are aware, ACE accreditation is not programmatic. Rather, each course is evaluated, analyzed and defined by ACE.  This accreditation is not vague but defines the subject and whether the individual course meets the standards of a lower level or upper level college course. I'm uncertain what authority a lone university has to redefine the essence of a course completed elsewhere but it is a slippery slope. 


Although I am a Sophia Ambassador, I did not use my access to Sophia management to acquire information for my research described above. The opinions articulated are my own; I am not speaking for Sophia.  Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge.

The courses you are complaining about have been determined by staff and faculty on how they transfer into UMPI. Many of these courses were decided years ago. Just because the name or course description is similar, does NOT mean that the course is actually similar to what is taught. You'd have to look at the actual course syllabus to make that determination. If you think Sophia's courses are challenging, you might be in for a rude awakening. The Principles of Management course from Sophia is walk in the park compared to pretty much every business class at UMPI. 

I've taken stats on Sophia and at a community college. The community college course covered far more material, was far more in depth, and had so many more assignments. The Sophia course was really short and easy compared to the textbook I had to learn. 

Every college gets to determine if and how they accept ACE credits. Just because ACE says something is UL doesn't mean it's UL at any college. ACE does not get to decide how colleges accept these credits. They are just recommendations. You're fighting a losing battle. I wouldn't waste my energy at all on this. Instead, I would be ecstatic that UMPI even accepts ACE credits and seriously over the moon for how many they accept as you won't find this at most colleges. 

UMPI is NOT a partner college with Sophia. 

Are you utilizing AI to write this post? It does not read like a human wrote or maybe English isn't your first language?

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On the ACE website, Principles of Finance is listed as lower level in the prior period too, from 2020 onwards. Either way, good luck to you, but it seems unlikely that UMPI will change their evaluation on these, as they are classes that they have quite frequently evaluated and another school's determination rarely influences another.

Most schools don't even accept the foundation courses, so if you are getting any credit for them, that is simply a nice bonus.

Sophia English 1 is correctly identified as English 101. Sophia English 2 is correctly identified as English 121.
Catalog: http://catalog.umpi.edu/content.php?catoid=6&navoid=223

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You could take Workplace Writing II on Sophia instead of English 2.

The Principles of Finance course from Sophia doesn't cover what BUS325 covers at UMPI. Not even close. UMPI isn't going to change their mind like you said. Hundreds of students have been through this process and it's not going to change.