Back in the late 90s I attended a vocational college called Computer Learning Center or CLC for short. Shortly after graduating the school went bankrupt and this made obtaining my transcripts literally impossible. Amazingly its taken me almost 5 years to obtain my transcripts from the state of California and im glad to say they are in my hand. After some careful reviewing of Excelsior’s website it says that they will accept only official transcripts however after almost 5 years I really had no choice but to examine and read what the state had sent me. I was so elated to have received my transcripts after all this time. So to conclude id like to know the following : Do you know if Excelsior will accept transcripts that are in there official envelopes but opened? Id really like to know if any of these credits will be transferable or if they would even consider taking them?

Also I have a few semesters of junior college under my belt I'd like to submit my transcripts from my JC time however my transcripts are going to be riddled with good grades and poor grades. Should I still submit my transcripts to excelsior despite there being A's thru F's ? I’m embarrassed to say that but I’m ready to finish this degree and move on.

No, Excelsior will almost certainly NOT accept an open or unsealed transcript.

ACCEPTANCE OF CREDIT EARNED AT ACICS ACCREDITED SCHOOLS

There is a far greater concern, however, and that is that none of the big three assessment institutions  to include Excelsior COSC and TESC, nor indeed, any other regionally accredited institution may accept credit awarded by the Computer Learning Center (CLC) or other ACICS accredited schools.

Exceptions perhaps where some articulation agreement existed between a regionally accredited college and an ACICS accredited school, relative to a specific program or course (I seem to recall some such arrangements existed between ITT colleges and the University of Phoenix, for example).

A more general exception would be where a particular course offered by an ACICS school has been assessed for equivalency by ACE. In that case there should be few problems with acceptance and transfer of credit. Other than that, the only thing you could do would be to portfolio your CLC coursework. This may be a relatively straight forward exercise if :

1.       You have the original CLC course curricula.

2.       The detail and level of your CLC courses can be mapped to courses offered by a regionally accredited four-year institution.

3.       You have evidence of achievement in those CLC courses (here, your transcripts provide that evidence).

Vis-à-vis your regionally accredited junior college credit –

4.       All passing grades will be transcribed at your discretion

5.       No failing grade will be transcribed.

6.       With respect to this issue, fortune favors the shameless.

As noted, no failing grade will be accepted or transcribed, and that policy has far-reaching consequences. It means of course, no failing grade can appear on your academic record. Certainly good news for you. Additionally, you may selectively suppress any course credit you happen to bring with you or that you earn subsequent to enrollment. That is, you can discard poor passing grades at your discretion. It means you can bide your time, complete degree requirements, then looking at all your results, cherry pick which credit you want to appear in your final transcript.

The effect of these rules (no failing grades, option to discard graded passes) is that with judicious application, they can do wonders for your GPA. You will need to have suitable alternate credit before you can dump the poor stuff, but excess duplicate credit is not at all uncommon, if you have earned college credit prior to enrollment, or taken GRE subject exams which may duplicate some credit earned in a related discipline.

See BA in 4 Weeks, “Which degree?”, accessible via the link on the homepage. 

Lawrie

Hello,

I have about 70 credit hours from B&M accredited state University. I am planning to finish my BS degree from EC. I am interested in Physics, Maths, or Elec. ET majors. I would like to pursue an MS degree in either Phys/Maths/or MSEE from SMU, Baylor, UTD or OK State Univ. My questions are as follows:

1: Will any of the schools mentioned above accept a BS degree from EC?

2: Have you witnessed anybody pursuing this path?

I have requested information from the schools listed above but their reply is vague and not very encouraging.

1. All the universities cited will accept Excelsior College degrees, I think. However, particularly with respect to the MSEE, I think you would need an undergraduate engineering degree earned in an ABET approved/accredited program.

Though Excelsior offers degrees in Electronics Engineering Technology and in Nuclear Engineering Technology that are ABET approved/ accredited, they are, nevertheless, technology degrees, not engineering degrees, and this is far from being naught but a semantic distinction.

You would, at a minimum, be required to remove significant deficiencies before being fully admitted into the MSEE. However, if memory serves, University of Colorado among others, offers M.E. (Master of Engineering) degrees that, in certain subjects, require only advanced math and often, certain limited physics or engineering coursework that need not be ABET approved..

There are various graduate programs where prerequisites are far less onerous, but your bog standard MSEE at a B&M state funded school, would, I think, have prerequisites comprising close to the major portion of an ABET approved engineering undergraduate degree. As noted, many other master degrees in engineering-type disciplines have far less stringent prerequisites.

To state the obvious,

a. Those intent on a graduate career in an engineering discipline should look to tailor their undergraduate program to ensure it covers prerequisites of their intended master degree program.

b. Specifically, if you are intent on an MSEE, your undergraduate degree should be an ABET approved/accredited degree in an engineering discipline (BSEE would be ideal (duh) ).

c. It would be possible to remove deficiencies by taking several ABET approved undergraduate courses, however, it is often the case that by the time you’re done, you’d be better off having taken the relevant qualifying undergraduate degree in the first place.

d. A technology degree is not the same as an engineering degree. Engineering degrees generally sport more rigorous curricula

2. Well, many USNY/Regents/Excelsior graduates have pursued advanced degrees in computer engineering and computer science, and in various other engineering and engineering-related disciplines. The issue is not Excelsior degrees per se but the type and quality of the competencies comprising the individual degree, which brings us back to the issues discussed in 1. above.287

Lawrie