A word of warning about test-out degrees.

[cookderosa]

It's been about 6 months since I completed my BS in General Business from Excelsior. It took me almost exactly a year from start to finish. You can see the breakdown of the credits in my sig.

I want to provide my real world experience so far, so that I can maybe help some of you avoid the disillusionment that might come afterward. My advice to those seeking a fast, test-credit degree like mine is to be absolutely sure what you are getting it for. Here are some legitimate reasons to get a non-specific, nontraditional degree like mine:

1) You cannot move up in your job without that piece of paper, regardless of where it's from or what it says.
2) You want to take it to the military and be an officer.
3) You need it as a pre-requisite for a professional degree.

I can't think of any others. Mine was reason number 3. I'm about to apply to University of Idaho Law School for fall 2011. (Plan all the way to the end so you don't miss deadlines!!) Reason number 2 was my plan B.

Allow me to share some things about employers these days that I have discovered firsthand. First, they don't need to hire people. It is a ludicrously one-sided job market right now, and they only want to hire people better than they already have. That means requirements for entry level positions are mind-numbingly demanding. The potential of a job seeker means nothing. They only care about what they have proven already. That means if you're fresh out of college and haven't had experience in your chosen field already, you're going to be screened out immediately by the people who busted their butts with internships or journals or projects, things that are largely unavailable to us as CLEP takers. In my case, I don't even have a chosen field. Employers see my degree and see not only a lack of experience, but potential headiness without anything to offset it. At worst, they see a person who doesn't know or care what he wants to be doing and is just taking what he can get. Not attractive to employers at all. In a real sense, my degree is hurting my resume right now. I knew it wasn't going to help me a whole bunch when I was working on it, but I never thought for a second it would actually damage my chances of landing a job.

Luckily for me, I only have to stay afloat for another 10 months or so before I can finally start setting my career path straight, so my degree is still going to serve its intended purpose. Still, I still allowed myself to hope that it would be of more use on its own, and I was very much let down.

The moral of this story is don't expect too much from something that costs so little (relatively) of your time and money. If you want your bachelors to stand on its own, CLEP away the fluff first and finish up the rest in a more traditional collegiate environment with all the trimmings that can get you the specialized training, education, internships, work studies, connections, and opportunities to prove yourself concretely. You're going to need it. And figure out what you want to do with it before you pick your major! When I was in the Navy, they always told me "Choose your rate, choose your fate." This advice was far more profound than I had ever known.

Again, I'm posting this as a warning to those who aren't looking where they're leaping. Good luck to all of you.

*bold mine
What you say is true, but not true too. It is ALWAYS the dilemma of the new college grad. They won't hire you without experience, but how do you get experience without being hired? Linda answers this well. But, to link this to CLEP? I think you are very mistaken. CLEP is a means of earning credit, how you build your resume is up to you. How many hours per week do you volunteer? Did you start a small business in your free time? Are you a leader *or member* in any local organizations? (Junior Achievement, Future Business Leaders, etc) Have you considered shadowing at SCORE meetings, or polishing your public speaking through Toastmasters? Are you involved on any of your city's committees for change? Political/govt. volunteer? Think business things. Do something entrepreneurial. SHOW your acumen.

I'm not downing you, I'm showing you. People DO stuff like that, and that pushes their resume to the top of the pile. My education is 2 lines on my resume, an afterthought. How you earned your credit is irrelevant- in fact, that shouldn't be on your resume anywhere, and as far as I can tell, is something only YOU know unless you share.