Has anyone here completed UC San Diego’s Copyediting Certificate or ACES’ Poynter Certificate of Editing recently, and can you compare the rigor and the quality of instructor feedback? I’m looking for structured assignments with line-by-line comments — not just auto-graded quizzes — ideally in a 6–8 week format with CMOS 18 integrated. My goal is to refine judgment calls on hyphenation, en dashes, and serial comma consistency across multi-author manuscripts.
I did ACES’ Poynter Certificate last year and UCSD’s Copyediting I before that: ACES is solid but mostly quizzes and a final edit, while UCSD gives real line-by-line margin notes tied to CMOS 18 — like graduating from spellcheck to a human red pen. If 6–8 weeks is a hard cap for you, would an accelerated UCSD section work? Best next step is to email UCSD for a sample annotated assignment and confirm pacing (their sections are often 10 weeks) here: Copyediting Courses & Certificates | UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies.
And i got true line-by-line at UCSD by emailing the program before enrolling to request an instructor known for heavy Track Changes comments — @perez92 is right about the feedback. Sections run 10 weeks, but mine let me work ahead and finish in about 8; is a firm 6–8 week window a must for you?
Piggybacking on @lewis75: before I enrolled, I emailed UCSD asking “can you show me a graded sample from this instructor?” and they sent a redacted PDF with dense margin notes and tracked changes that matched the actual course. Small caveat: some slides still reference CMOS 17, but my instructor graded to 18 when I noted it — want the address I used?
@lisa31 is right about matching the instructor — what worked for me was emailing my top pick a 200–300‑word edit sample and asking for a quick 2–3‑comment pass so I could see their margin style and CMOS 18 handling before enrolling. If they won’t do that, ask for a 10‑minute office‑hours chat after your first assignment to calibrate on hyphenation decisions — does that fit your 6–8 week timeline?
I’ve finished both; ACES gave me solid drills and rationales but little individualized markup, while UCSD returned Track Changes on my pages and graded the style sheet. When you email, ask specifically, “Do you grade a style sheet and send tracked comments on every assignment?” and what the cohort cap is — like picking a gym vs a trainer, that’ll predict how hands-on it feels.