I have a question about taking the GRE subject exams for Excelsior College credit.

On the Excelsior website they state that they give letter grades for CLEP and the other exams. Do you know if they give letter grades for the GRE subject exam? Also, when you have taken the exam and it is accepted, how is it described in your transcripts? Do they list the courses that it would encompass, or do they list the exam?

1. Sorry, no letter grades. Only pass grades are awarded for any score in a GRE subject exam.

2. No individual course equivalents noted either, I’m afraid. The transcript simply details the GRE subject exam taken, the date it was taken, the standard score achieved, and the total semester hour credit awarded.
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Lawrie

About GRE Subject exams; I like to try Psychology. How many of  [GRE subject exams]  I can take if I want to fallow your list of exams for BS degree? I am able retain any subject via audio, perhaps I should start with GRE Subject exams to shave some time and money?  Agree?

1. At a minimum, for a major in Psychology you would need the GRE subject exam in Psychology, augmented by the ECE exam in RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY.

2. Off the top of my head, you could utilize about two and three quarters GRE subject exams. Depends on exactly which GRE subjects you chose. If any of them fulfilled one of the General Ed. requirements covered in the CLEP general exams, utilization could approach 100%, i.e. 90 credit hours. Residual would comprise remaining General Ed. (using CLEP) plus required Ethics credit (using ECE exam).

3. GRE subject exams are usually offered in November, December, and April (unless you are in the military). Only one exam can be taken in any one exam diet. Not all GRE exam subjects are offered in all exam diets.

Lawrie

I have an old degree from Excelsior, 1990. I got a BS in Liberal Arts.  It seems you can only receive one BS in Liberal Arts? Is this true? I wanted to try to get a second BA in Liberal Arts/Math major So I looked into receiving something like that from COSC, however they won't answer my questions too clearly.

1. Excelsior will allow you to earn one, and only one, degree in any single program. You can, of course, earn a second degree in another (different) Excelsior program. As I recall, this is not a rule made up by Excelsior, but a policy imposed by the New York State regulatory authority (USNY).

The policy does not apply if you earned your first degree in Liberal Arts from ANOTHER college or university. In that case you can earn a second degree in the Excelsior Liberal Arts program so long as the major or concentration is in a different discipline.

I thought I’d touched on this in the text of BA in 4 Weeks, but perhaps not. If you look at the credit I list in “OUTCOMES” (this site), you will see a complete but unused major/concentration in Psychology. Since I’d already earned a degree in Political Science, I could not apply that hard-earned Psych credit in consideration of another degree in the Excelsior Liberal Arts program. Bummer.


2. Yes, COSC, second degree . . .

I too looked to salvage something by going that route. I was told pretty frankly, that since their degrees are in General Studies, there was not a whole lot of point investing the time, money, and effort required, earning another degree there (even though the specialization would have been in Psychology). It was suggested I pursue a master’s instead. I think this sound advice, now, but wondered at the time, that if that was their view, why in their catalog, they bothered to offer a second degree at all.

I’ve failed to impart the strength of the COSC advisor’s feeling, conveyed by intonation, and best characterized as – Hel-lo! - As if!

Don’t let that stop you, though. They offer it, though some there may not like it. You want it, and you don’t care that they don’t like it.

My considered view is that the practice of restricting the number of degrees that may be earned at bachelor level is asinine. Just one of the many gormless rules and rites enervating higher education institutions. No such blanket restriction exists at master’s level. None need exist at bachelor’s.

Lawrie