In the USA money talks... by extension that USUALLY means profit and choice
When searching for quick and potentially cheap and easy University options within the United States your framework should consider places that include but are not limited to for-profit, faith, accept the lesser forms of alternative credits e.g. ACE, and accredited by certain bodies such as HLC, DEAC, or NA.
Dedicated time to study: To be honest, I can probably dedicate 6-8 hours/ day just to finish as fast as possible.
Timeline: ASAP, ideally within 0-1.5 years.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: -
Although I have some years experience as a SWE, the job market is not looking that great for those without a degree (at least from my experience). So I decided that this would be a good time to pursue a Computer Science degree. In the future, I would also like to transition into cybersecurity, where a degree would be even more helpful.
From my research and understanding, there are 2 good candidates for my choice:
1. TESU double degree, BA CS + BS CIS.
Pricier (~$5000-6000 for both degrees, is that right?)
You get 2 degrees (does this actually have any positive impact?)
2. UMPI BS CS.
Not yet announced, but some info that it will come this year. If you would recommend UMPI over the others, I could start working on credits that would likely transfer to other schools anyway (such as general education courses, intro to programming, etc.).
Way cheaper (~$2000, is that right?)
If there are better alternatives please let me know!
I thought that the rough long term plan should look something like this (I would love your input on this as well):
1. Get the CS degree.
2. Earn some certifications (starting with CompTIA Security+, unsure what else yet)
3. Try to transition into a cybersecurity role.
4. Master's in cybersecurity (would this be worth it?)
And on a sidenote, from reading the forum, it seems the usual advice is to take courses through Sophia first, and only use Study.com if necessary. However, with the recent Study.com changes, is it now better to just use Study.com from the beginning? (I've never used either platform, so I might be wrong)
For those that have moved on to grad school. How did you get recommendation letters for applications when speeding through a degree? I've taken 10 courses at UMPI. Only had 1 repeat professor and he's not even in my degree program. I did well in the 3 degree courses I took, and got great feedback from the 3 professors, but again, I only took 1 course from each of them and it feels strange to ask for a recommendation letter based off just that.
In my previous post, I mentioned that I was planning to apply to UMPI and that I created a degree plan with your help. I’m sharing the link to my plan here:
According to this plan, I have completed all of my external courses except for Spanish 101 at Sophia, which I will finish this week. (In total: 21 Sophia courses, 4 Study.com courses, and 3 Coursera certificates.)
As an international student, I am also scheduled to take the IELTS exam next week. After that, I believe I will be fully ready to apply!
I have a few questions and would really appreciate your advice:
Should I find a firm for my external credit evaluation and another firm for my high school diploma evaluation, or should I apply to UMPI first?
Can you walk me through the international student application process?
Based on my degree plan, am I missing any courses or requirements?
Thank you all so much again for your amazing support and guidance!
Course length too short and teachers speak with incomprehensible accents. I completely wasted my money with nothing to show for it and would never pay 50 dollars for a certificate.
I am trying to find out if there is a way to earn a Bachelor's Degree in Legal Studies at Excelsior University... I have an ABA-approved Paralegal Certificate that I earned after completing 30 upper level credit hours at San Francisco State University, and I have 25 lower level credits from 8 classes I took at Hillsborough Community College. Would I be able to do this by going with the Liberal Arts option and declaring a concentration in Legal Studies? I would be interested in transferring the maximum allowable number of non traditional credits, (suchs as CLEP, Sophia, Study.com, etc). I am in my late 50's and not necessarily thinking about using the degree to look for work or to get into graduate school... I just don't want to kick the bucket without completing some kind of degree, preferable a Bachelor's degree, and I thought of Legal Studies since I already have upper level credits in that area.
Your Location: Montana, United States Your Age: 32 What kind of degree do you want?: BSc or BA in Statistics, Applied Stats, Applied Math Current Regional Accredited Credits: Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: None Any certifications or military experience?: None Budget: No specific budget but would love to save as much as I can Commitments: Working full time 9-5 Dedicated time to study: 4hrs after work and weekends Timeline: Depends Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None but open to suggestion about FASFA So I currently have an agriculture degree that’s too niche and been hard for me to find good jobs. I have decided to pivot my career into what I have always wanted (something math related). I have a foreign bachelor and masters and I don’t have much courses I think I can transfer. Looking for help on how I can get into the degrees mentioned above. I did some search and found the three colleges: Liberty University: BSc Applied Stats TESU: BA Mathematics, BSc Data Sc and Analytics SNHU: BSc Comp Sci – data analysis concentration, BSc Cybersecurity- Data concentration, BSc IT- data analytics concentration, BA Applied Math Outcome: I hoping to be statistician and also try to take Actuary exams and do a Masters in Stats. Would appreciate any form of help from how to earn a bachelors faster and cheaper. Attached by courses from previous degrees.
Big thanks to this forum for helping me choose a college to finish my degree fast! I’m officially starting my capstone with Excelsior on May 5th!
I finished both the Information Literacy and Cornerstone courses with above 97. Information Literacy was a great intro to learning how to use all the resources Excelsior offers. Each week had one discussion post, two replies across different days, required readings, and a quiz. It’s set up as an 8-week course, but I was able to finish by week 7 since the final exam is open book and flexible.
The Cornerstone course was pretty easy as well. As long as you follow the rubric closely, you’ll be good. The setup is similar to Information Literacy but with a short assignment due each week. Each assignment helps you build your final paper, which is due in week 7.
Your Location: Charleston, South Carolina, United States Your Age: 30 What kind of degree do you want?: Computer Science or Software Engineering (Bachelor's or Master's) Current Regional Accredited Credits: 49 Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 101 Any certifications or military experience?: N/A Budget: $15,000 Commitments: Spouse + dog, Software Developer job (WFH, 40hrs/wk), Web Developer job (WFH, 4hrs/wk) Dedicated time to study: 2+ hrs/day and flexible weekends ---> ~20hrs/wk max Timeline: 2 years (arbitrary, flexible on this) Tuition assistance/reimbursement: N/A Additional Context: I have a Liberal Studies degree from UMPI. I want to formalize my education and career as a software developer. I have about 4 YOE and my current education has helped me get into the role I currently am in (my second software development job). I want to make sure that my education doesn't hold me back from getting an interview in the future. Filling in any gaps of knowledge in the CS/SWE space from academics would be a bonus, but I genuinely love reading through technical textbooks so I know I'll learn about a topic if I am curious. With all of this said, I am open to either a second Bachelor's degree or a Master's degree. I'm not sure what is the right choice. I started talking to WGU about their new Master's in Software Engineering, but I'm curious about a second Bachelor's in Computer Science from a school like TESU. Any feedback would be super welcomed!
I have attached my unofficial transcript if my course load is of any help when driving this decision.
