Is there a downside to CLEP credits?

[sbgrace]

I just became aware that schools my son is considering accept CLEP credits. Is there any downside to getting some general education (non major) college courses through CLEP his senior year?  One hesitation I have is that I remember those general education courses giving me some "breathing room" in my schedule at times.

He would be taking CLEP's after he has probably already begun the application process for schools he is considering. I assume that is ok. 

 

[BusyMom5]

Often those classes do offer a break from heavier classes.  They can also boost GPA if they are easier classes for your student.   You get credit, but not a grade for CLEPs.  

That said, coming in with lots of CLEP or DE courses means your kid might have space for a second major or a minor in an area they are interested in.  It can also free up space for more fun classes- think yoga, personal defense, a cooking class- or space for skill building classes like Excel classes that can be used for all majors.  If there isn't a minimum hour requirement from a scholarship,  you could schedule fewer classes per semester and have more time for working a PT job.  If you carefully plan, your kid might be able to graduate with a BS early or get a Masters degree earlier.  

[fourisenough]

I think the disadvantage has been identified above; being able to have ‘wiggle room’ in the schedule offsets it, IMHO. Because of AP/DE/CLEP credits, my girls were able to take some 12-13 credit semesters and still graduate in 4 years having taken everything that they needed or were interested in taking. 

[Farrar]

It's not a downside exactly, but a lot of homeschoolers seem to think they look super impressive in admissions and they really don't. Plus, the courses can be really test-prep centric and not very in depth or interesting. As long as everyone understands the purpose and goals, there's not a downside. 

[Melissa B]

We have run across a possible downside, that might pertain to some students. My son was going to take three CLEP exams this past spring/summer. We have decided to wait and think about it more.

The issue has come up regarding competitive AS degree programs at our local college. When applying for these programs they take the GPA of a few select pre-requisite classes and rank the incoming applicants based on that GPA. We called and asked what they do if some of those classes were completed using the CLEP exam. Passed CLEP exams are given a 3.0 GPA for each class. When they are only using six or seven classes, that ranks the student quite a bit lower than a student with all As.

[cintinative]

4 hours ago, Melissa B said:

We have run across a possible downside, that might pertain to some students. My son was going to take three CLEP exams this past spring/summer. We have decided to wait and think about it more.

The issue has come up regarding competitive AS degree programs at our local college. When applying for these programs they take the GPA of a few select pre-requisite classes and rank the incoming applicants based on that GPA. We called and asked what they do if some of those classes were completed using the CLEP exam. Passed CLEP exams are given a 3.0 GPA for each class. When they are only using six or seven classes, that ranks the student quite a bit lower than a student with all As.

Were these classes where your ds didn't take a class but just did the CLEP? For example, he didn't take psychology at home but did do the practice and took the CLEP?  I am trying to understand the scenario.

So if he actually took a class at home, got an A, and then took the CLEP and passed, would they still have given him a 3.0 GPA for that class?  Thanks for clarifying!

[Melissa B]

12 hours ago, cintinative said:

Were these classes where your ds didn't take a class but just did the CLEP? For example, he didn't take psychology at home but did do the practice and took the CLEP?  I am trying to understand the scenario.

So if he actually took a class at home, got an A, and then took the CLEP and passed, would they still have given him a 3.0 GPA for that class?  Thanks for clarifying!

He would get an A on his high school transcript, but the AS degrees are only using pre-req college classes to rank the students for admittance to their programs. So he would only get a 3.0 for that college class. 

For example, the AS degree in Respiratory Care has competitive admittance. In order to apply to the program students must first take A&P I, A&P II, College Algebra, College Comp, Amer Gov, and Humanities. They take the GPA of those six classes and rank the applicants. Then they take the GPA from all college classes taken and rank them again. Those two rankings are 80% of the decision process for admittance to the program. My son was going to CLEP three of those six classes and take the other three through DE, but a 3.0 on each CLEPed class would almost certainly knock him out of contention for the program.

[Malam]

On 7/30/2022 at 10:21 PM, sbgrace said:

I just became aware that schools my son is considering accept CLEP credits. Is there any downside to getting some general education (non major) college courses through CLEP his senior year?  One hesitation I have is that I remember those general education courses giving me some "breathing room" in my schedule at times.

He would be taking CLEP's after he has probably already begun the application process for schools he is considering. I assume that is ok. 

 

The only downside is that CLEP credits are less transferrable than AP credits, but that's a relative downside, not an absolute one.

As for gen ed credits giving breathing room, having n-1 classes will give more breathing room than n classes where 1 is a gened. If he finds general education classes to be interesting and worth the time investment, he can still audit general educations classes without any worries about grade pressure or meeting prerequisites, or enroll in easy courses to boost GPA.

Having college credit opens doors without closing any.

 

  

23 hours ago, Melissa B said:

We have run across a possible downside, that might pertain to some students. My son was going to take three CLEP exams this past spring/summer. We have decided to wait and think about it more.

The issue has come up regarding competitive AS degree programs at our local college. When applying for these programs they take the GPA of a few select pre-requisite classes and rank the incoming applicants based on that GPA. We called and asked what they do if some of those classes were completed using the CLEP exam. Passed CLEP exams are given a 3.0 GPA for each class. When they are only using six or seven classes, that ranks the student quite a bit lower than a student with all As.

If he took the CLEP exams but didn't submit them, wouldn't he still be able to take all 6 classes?

Edited August 1, 2022 by Malam

[Corraleno]

On 7/30/2022 at 7:21 PM, sbgrace said:

 One hesitation I have is that I remember those general education courses giving me some "breathing room" in my schedule at times.

But if he can check off some GEs with CLEP credits, then instead of taking 15 credits that include a GE class for "breathing room," he can just take the 12 credits (or whatever the "full time minimum" is), which provides even more breathing room! Also, the big intro-level GE classes tend to have lots of busy work and, rather than providing much breathing room, they can actually suck up a lot of time and energy; DS found that several of the GEs he had to take were actually more time consuming than his upper level majors classes.

DS did a combination of CLEP, online DE, and a summer language intensive, specifically so he could carry a lighter load (12-13 credits) most semesters, since he was a varsity athlete who had 20+ hrs/wk of practice plus was often traveling 5-6 days each month. But even if your son wants to take a full load each semester, he can likely find classes that are both "easy As" and more interesting to him than the generic GE requirements.

Another advantage is that CLEPs are generally recorded as "Credit," with no grade, so it can be a good way to knock out GEs in subjects in which a student is not particularly strong without worrying about tanking their GPA by taking the course in college.

One thing to check in advance, though, is whether the CLEPs he plans to take will "count" as a specific GE course, or whether it just counts as a general elective credit. General elective credit can be useful too, in terms of allowing a lower course load, but if you can knock out some GEs at the same time, that's obviously preferable.