The “GED” is an exam that you can take in the US (and possibly other countries) that is generally considered to certify that you are educated to the level of a High School graduate, regardless of whether or not you ever set foot in a formal school.
Is there an equivalent for the Bachelor’s degree (or higher?) level? E.g. is there a school that will certify equivalence (or even grant a “real” BS or BA) to someone based on their performance on an exam or battery of exams, without having to show prerequisites (such as x credits in math), experience (e.g. work), or take formal classes?
For the purposes of this question, if the qualification requires an essay/thesis/dissertation/project/etc. either in lieu or on top of exams, it qualifies, as long as the candidate can work on the essay on their own rather than need to take a class with a term paper assignment or something similar.
So, basically, an example of what I’m looking for is something that a well-read and well-rounded person could study for or prepare for informally, and then take a weekend trip to a campus or test site and walk out with a BA.
Also, I’m talking about “real” academic institutions and bodies only, fly by night “diploma mills” aren’t in the scope of this question. Basically, I’m looking for something that would serve as a real prerequisite for advanced formal study or would be accepted by an employer.
I’m not aware of any programs that offer an entire degree this way, but many universities have an option to award specific credits for knowledge you have gained outside of school.
You take an exam and pay a fee, and presto, you have x number of credits in whatever subject you were testing on. This can be used to waive requirements for general ed courses, and will count as credits toward graduation.
The closest thing to what you’re looking for would be internet-based courses at established universities. There are programs that’ll let you do most of your coursework online, at home - but they take years, just like a regular program. There’s no quick path to a BA/BS equivalent - nor should there be, imho.
Right, you’re talking about Advanced Placement exams. A lot of high schools offer AP courses - at the end of the course, you sit for the exam. This won’t get you a degree, though - at most, you’ll get out of low-level courses.
There are many schools that offer degrees online or by correspondence. Go to a good library and track down a copy of The College Blue Book, volume 6 (“Distance learning programs”).
The nearest thing to what you describe is offered by Excelsior College. It’s a private non-profit accredited college based in Albany, N.Y. It used to be a public institution called Regents College but it was privatized several years ago.
Excelsior offers as many as 30 credits to those who score sufficiently well on any of the GRE subject tests (not the better known GRE general test). Excelsior requires, I think 120 credits to graduate with a BA or BS, but most other credits can be achieved by taking a series of CLEP, DSST, UExcel, and Excelsior College exams. They also offer online classes.
There are other accredited colleges with similar models emphasizing self-directed learning. The only other college that offers credit for the GRE subject tests is Charter Oak State College in Connecticut. Thomas Edison State College in N.J. doesn’t give credit for the GRE but is otherwise similar, as is Western Governors University in Utah.
These schools are all fully accredited, but no graduate school or prospective employer can be forced to take a degree from one of them as seriously as a degree from Harvard or another bricks-and-mortar school. You’ll find some people who respect such degrees and some people who don’t, and that’s the way it goes.
AP exams are usually only given to current high school students. For those a long time out of high school, it’s worth investigating the CLEP exams, which many colleges will accept to varying degrees.
I think the question is if there are any reputable degree-granting institutions that would award you a degree after a single exam/project/paper whatever. I think it’s safe to say the answer is no.
I haven’t looked intot he CLEP exams in years, but at the time I did they were largely a myth. Every school I spoke to in the end wouldn’t allow more than about 12 credits from CLEPs. amd you still had to pay for the credits as if you had taken the class. They’d advertise that they accepted up to 30, but it would turn out that most of those were for specific degree programs.
Hopefully things are better now. I will look into Excelsior!
At the risk of stoking the recent zombie frenzy, I’m resurrecting this thread to announce that sadly Excelsior will no longer grant credit for the GRE subject tests unless you’re enrolled before Sept. 1, 2010 (this coming Wednesday). If you haven’t already started the enrollment process, it’s probably too late. The process takes, I seem to recall, a couple of weeks. Those who are already enrolled have about a year to take the test and earn up to 30 credits. In the U.S., the GRE subject tests are only given 3 times a year: October, November, and April.
As far as I know, Charter Oak State College still offers credit for the GRE subject tests, but even if you score at the top of the heap, they grant a maximum of 18 or 24 credits, depending on which test you take.
I took a slew of AP courses in high school, and got 5s on most of the exams. Let me graduate a semester early, which is about as far as “testing out” of classes will go (though some motivated students might manage to knock two semesters out with AP credit).
I recall in the 70s mainstream universities, well some anyway, would offer what was termed, “life credit.” You’d demonstrate you had this knowlege through past jobs and taking exams and you’d get the same credit as if you had taken the course.
By the 1980 when I entered college it had been pretty much all phased out at mainstream universities due to abuse.
In the early 70s especially there were all kinds of “new innovations” being tested in state universities. My father took a masters program where the professors didn’t give grades they gave each student a review. That also didn’t last long due to abuses and the “reviews” were somehow translated into grades after.
My college transcripts look like this. (They’re called narrative evaluations.) I graduated in 2000. I’ve never heard of them being abused. I think they’re a hell of a lot more useful for understanding how I did in the classroom than the grades I got in grad school.
A large number of credits were waived by my MS program by virtue of me having a experience and certification in my field. If only I’d finished the damned program… maybe next year… [sigh]