Special Thanks
I developed the page specifically to give a special thanks to certain people or groups that have made a significant contribution as I was completing degree requirements at Excelsior College.
- First and foremost, God. We all had to come from someone. And the primary reason why I was able to accomplish what I have is because of His blessing. (Remember, it's still your choice as to what you do with the talents you've been blessed with).
- AM3 Matthew Dale, VP-16. When I was working mid-shift, I saw Mr. Dale doing a BS in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle. When I looked at his SMART transcript, I saw the large amount of proficiency exams he had taken. He made it look like it wasn't that hard. I believe it only took him a little over a year to complete the whole BS, doubling up on the online and DL courses from E-R to meet the residency (25%). I saw him do it and figured that I could do something similar.
- AW1 Michael Dekanter, VP-16. This guy was the other "all-star" at the Navy College Office where we went to go take the CLEPs, DSSTs, etc. on base. What made him so special is that he had a knack for taking tests. He could (and did) walk in on test day and randomly select any 2 CLEPs available, and, without knowing anything about the subject, usually passed with a very good score! Once we finally met up, AW1 and I often spoke weekly about which exams we had taken and what exams we planned on taking in the future. He was actually the one that turned me on to Excelsior and bain4weeks.com
- ASCS Prentice Smith, VP-16. As much as I initially didn't like this guy, he was my boss and I learned a lot about military bearing, the importance of looking stuff up, and staying motivated regardless how how stacked up against the wall you are. He was in for 23 years and had a Master's Degree in some management area. I obviously am not waiting 23 years to do mine!
- YNC Brian Williams, VP-16. He was my mentor. Kind of a seperate beacon of light outside my normal chain-of-command that I could go to if I needed advice or to look up something. We learned a lot from each other.
- NC1 Jacquline Wade, VP-16. My career counselor. She was probably the only person that was totally on board with my educational and professional goals from the very start. She always pushed for me to excel and not give up or let anyone or anything stand in my way. I'm surprised she isn't an officer yet.
- Dana Argo and the entire staff @ the Navy College Office, Jacksonville, FL. If it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't have been able to complete my degree in the amount of time that I did. Often times they administered tests outside the normal test dates. She was totally on board with what I was doing and from March to June, 2004, she went out of her way to proctor exams to ensure that I could come as close to completing degree requirements as possible before my deployment in July, 2004.
- FCCJ, Kent Campus Test Administration Staff. They had a 6-day-a-week testing center with a very liberal test schedule. Again, they let me test sometimes without appts on a space available basis. There was a retired Army major, Alex Elliot, that gave me a lot of encouraging advice on putting together a commissioning package.
- NROTC unit @ Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA.
- Academic Advisors at Excelsior College
Their continuous diligence to ensure that all academic transcripts were processed in a timely manner was done in a fairly efficient manner. I asked MANY questions which were usually answered within 2 business days.
- Diamond Reynolds, Atlanta, GA. At only 15, she is already a high school junior at a private boarding school. I used to babysit her, and now I've seen her mature from a little girl to now getting ready to take her first SAT. I salute Diamond for her academic efforts and I am now pushing for her to start her Associates in Business from Excelsior in her free time. Perhaps by the time she graduates from high school, she will walk away with 2 diplomas :))
- Lawrie Miller, author bain4weeks.com. At first I was skepical about his approach to earning a college degree. But after doing my own research, I came to find out that he was in fact correct about testing out of an entire undergraduate degree. Him and I are proof positives that it can be done. Will you be?
- Steve Gloer, webmaster InstantCert Academy. Another great motivating factor. I provided him with a lot of feedback which enabled him to better develop the study guides even more. He always returned all e-mails that I sent him promptly (sometimes within an hour!). If it wasn't for his study guides, I don't know where I would be today. Probably a salty e-3 hating the Navy everyday I walk into work. Thanks again, Steve.
- Natasha Graham, sister. She proof-read many of these pages and offered helpful suggestions as to how to improve them. BTW, she completed her Bachelors of Science in Economics years ago at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. But then again, she's 5 years older than me.
This list is not definitive! I apologize if your name is not on this list. There are many, many more various people that I ran into during the course of building my officer package that wrote endorsements and/or offered encouraging advice on what it takes to succeed in the military (or in the civilian world, should I choose to get out).
- First and foremost, God. We all had to come from someone. And the primary reason why I was able to accomplish what I have is because of His blessing. (Remember, it's still your choice as to what you do with the talents you've been blessed with).
- AM3 Matthew Dale, VP-16. When I was working mid-shift, I saw Mr. Dale doing a BS in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle. When I looked at his SMART transcript, I saw the large amount of proficiency exams he had taken. He made it look like it wasn't that hard. I believe it only took him a little over a year to complete the whole BS, doubling up on the online and DL courses from E-R to meet the residency (25%). I saw him do it and figured that I could do something similar.
- AW1 Michael Dekanter, VP-16. This guy was the other "all-star" at the Navy College Office where we went to go take the CLEPs, DSSTs, etc. on base. What made him so special is that he had a knack for taking tests. He could (and did) walk in on test day and randomly select any 2 CLEPs available, and, without knowing anything about the subject, usually passed with a very good score! Once we finally met up, AW1 and I often spoke weekly about which exams we had taken and what exams we planned on taking in the future. He was actually the one that turned me on to Excelsior and bain4weeks.com
- ASCS Prentice Smith, VP-16. As much as I initially didn't like this guy, he was my boss and I learned a lot about military bearing, the importance of looking stuff up, and staying motivated regardless how how stacked up against the wall you are. He was in for 23 years and had a Master's Degree in some management area. I obviously am not waiting 23 years to do mine!
- YNC Brian Williams, VP-16. He was my mentor. Kind of a seperate beacon of light outside my normal chain-of-command that I could go to if I needed advice or to look up something. We learned a lot from each other.
- NC1 Jacquline Wade, VP-16. My career counselor. She was probably the only person that was totally on board with my educational and professional goals from the very start. She always pushed for me to excel and not give up or let anyone or anything stand in my way. I'm surprised she isn't an officer yet.
- Dana Argo and the entire staff @ the Navy College Office, Jacksonville, FL. If it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't have been able to complete my degree in the amount of time that I did. Often times they administered tests outside the normal test dates. She was totally on board with what I was doing and from March to June, 2004, she went out of her way to proctor exams to ensure that I could come as close to completing degree requirements as possible before my deployment in July, 2004.
- FCCJ, Kent Campus Test Administration Staff. They had a 6-day-a-week testing center with a very liberal test schedule. Again, they let me test sometimes without appts on a space available basis. There was a retired Army major, Alex Elliot, that gave me a lot of encouraging advice on putting together a commissioning package.
- NROTC unit @ Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA.
- Academic Advisors at Excelsior College
Their continuous diligence to ensure that all academic transcripts were processed in a timely manner was done in a fairly efficient manner. I asked MANY questions which were usually answered within 2 business days.
- Diamond Reynolds, Atlanta, GA. At only 15, she is already a high school junior at a private boarding school. I used to babysit her, and now I've seen her mature from a little girl to now getting ready to take her first SAT. I salute Diamond for her academic efforts and I am now pushing for her to start her Associates in Business from Excelsior in her free time. Perhaps by the time she graduates from high school, she will walk away with 2 diplomas :))
- Lawrie Miller, author bain4weeks.com. At first I was skepical about his approach to earning a college degree. But after doing my own research, I came to find out that he was in fact correct about testing out of an entire undergraduate degree. Him and I are proof positives that it can be done. Will you be?
- Steve Gloer, webmaster InstantCert Academy. Another great motivating factor. I provided him with a lot of feedback which enabled him to better develop the study guides even more. He always returned all e-mails that I sent him promptly (sometimes within an hour!). If it wasn't for his study guides, I don't know where I would be today. Probably a salty e-3 hating the Navy everyday I walk into work. Thanks again, Steve.
- Natasha Graham, sister. She proof-read many of these pages and offered helpful suggestions as to how to improve them. BTW, she completed her Bachelors of Science in Economics years ago at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. But then again, she's 5 years older than me.
This list is not definitive! I apologize if your name is not on this list. There are many, many more various people that I ran into during the course of building my officer package that wrote endorsements and/or offered encouraging advice on what it takes to succeed in the military (or in the civilian world, should I choose to get out).
homepage
Degree Plans
- Introduction
- Is distance learning
for me?
- What colleges qualify?
- accreditation and diploma mills
- BS in 6 months roadmap
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
- BS checklist
- proof of studies
Study Guides
- CLEP booklist
- DSST Dantes booklist
Final Words
About Us
- news
- special thanks
- privacy policy
- disclaimer
[new] links
- link to us
contact us
- faq
- message board
- biz opportunities
Site Map
Degree Plans
- Introduction
- Is distance learning
for me?
- What colleges qualify?
- accreditation and diploma mills
- BS in 6 months roadmap
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
- BS checklist
- proof of studies
Study Guides
- CLEP booklist
- DSST Dantes booklist
Final Words
About Us
- news
- special thanks
- privacy policy
- disclaimer
[new] links
- link to us
contact us
- faq
- message board
- biz opportunities
Site Map
Copyright 2004-2005 123collegedegree.com and
Joshua A. Graham
Joshua A. Graham
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