his mission after graduating with a BS from CAL-Tech...sort of the MIT of the west. When he arrived back to CAL-Tech to attend graduate school where he had hoped to obtain a Masters Degree in Marketing for Industrial Products, te dean (who was NOT LDS) looked at his mission and granted him half credit right there for his experience and then tailored the balance of his masters program around that... 15 Upper Division Credits for his mission.

Anyone that has ever served, especially in a foreign country can tell you right now, those two years of education are worth AT LEAST one full semester of University credit. The ONLY reason BYU does not do this in addition to piling on another entire semester in 'religious studies" is to ensure you spend at least one or two more semesters getting a college degree there. Not many UG's make it in just four years unless they have full rides and no social life. At CAL-Tech, the dean recognized the invaluable education this one friend had gleened from it. There are other universities that offer as many as 8-12 credits for mission experience if quantified and presented in such a manner that it would count for cultural, language, historical, marketing or foreign exchange credits. MANY fully accredited colleges will grant considerable coursework credit for work served on Missions, in the service and in the Peace Corp or equivalent organizations, if the education experience can be defended in oral and written presentations (arguments) before the schools departments.