Ideas for Data Analytics / Data Science?

[ss20ts]

The Org Leadership has some analytics in it but is not primarily an analytics degree.  It would be the cheapest way in Texas to complete a Bachelors through CBE methods.  If the end goals is Masters and a BAAS in Org Leadership (or even General Studies, which is a self-defined program at TAMUC in the same department -- pick your own courses as long as they meet the required number of UL and geneds) might check the box to get to the Masters quicker, it could be an option worth considering.

UMPI's BLS in MIS would also check a box and they would be more likely to accept the Coursera work than TAMUC.  I am a Texas resident, but UMPI accepted more of my IBM certs for credit that counted in my degree, so I am doing that.  TAMUC wasn't that friendly towards Coursera, they took a few but didn't really want to.

Ohhh, that UMPI BLS in MIS sounds way more in line with what he wants to do. Great suggestion! Could you tell me a bit more about your experience? How many total credits were you able to transfer? How many 'sessions' do you think it'll take you to get done? 

Thank you for being so helpful.

UMPI definitely does accept the Coursera certs. And they give a decent amount of credit.

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Coursera

ETA: I completed the BLS with the MIS Minor. The Minor does not prepare you for a career in MIS. Not in any way. However, if he takes additional certificates, then he will be far better prepared.

[rachel83az]

The Pierpont degree does not "convert" ACE credits to RA. It simply waives the need for HS transcripts at schools like UMPI.

The MIS degree at UMPI isn't great for a tech career, but I would maybe suggest the Project Management degree if he's just looking for "any" degree on his way to a Master's. The Project Management degree contains all the classes of the MIS minor but will potentially look better on a resume while he's completing the Master. Plus, PM skills are often good to have in tech fields anyway.

Of course, there is also the TAMUC degree if "any" degree will do.

[dfrecore]

I think you have to look at 2 things: does he want a BS in Data Science just in case he doesn't ever get to a master's degree? Or does he KNOW that he is going to get a master's and therefore a bachelor's is not as important? Because even though everyone is throwing out all of these grand plans for a master's, if he doesn't have that as a goal, or is at all worried that he's not going to complete that, then I would suggest a bachelor's that will work for what you want.

If that's the case, then he could expand his options a bit:
1) TESU - and you know you need 30cr of RA (24cr brought in from elsewhere or taken as TECEP exams)
2) WGU - I THINK they will accept an NA associates degree for the GE requirements IIRC
3) PUG - lots of writing in this degree (and I've heard it's a LOT)
4) SNHU - they have a Data Analytics degree, and will take up to 90cr of ACE, and probably lots of the Coursera stuff - can't hurt to ask ~ $10k
5) Wilmington University - will accept NA credit, but doesn't have a Data Science degree (IT Systems Management might be an option?) ~$12k
6) Franklin University - will accept NA credit, doesn't have an Data Science degree, but does have an IT degree and then cloud and data courses as electives ~$12k

So, if he has a lot of NA credit that a school will accept, it wouldn't hurt to check out the degrees, and to apply and see what happens. The worst is that he rules those out. At that point, you look at the other schools discussed here, and realize he's starting from scratch, and send in apps and the Coursera stuff to see what they all say. The most he's out is the money and time it takes to apply. Then, at that point, he can choose his best option.

[Tswede]

Ohhh, that UMPI BLS in MIS sounds way more in line with what he wants to do. Great suggestion! Could you tell me a bit more about your experience? How many total credits were you able to transfer? How many 'sessions' do you think it'll take you to get done? 

Thank you for being so helpful.

I am nearing the end of my first session and on target to finish in two sessions. I transfered in 147 hours including about 50 that came through certificates with IBM, Google and a few others with ACE credits plus foreign language credits from ACTFL (I was raised trilingual). So I had enough credits by far, but needed 10 courses finished with UMPI, so those are the ones I am doing now. The MIS class is very dated and outdated, material-wise. But it was not hard, either. I have enjoyed Art108, I enjoy design and ux/ui type things and that class has given me a good exposure to the history and theory behind some of the things I have done or seen, but not put much thought into until now. Very glad this class became an option for the 2D gened requirement.

I only needed 3 courses in the required minor coursework of the MIS program since I had credits that transferred as several essential courses from IBM and Google, including a couple of data analytics certs that counted towards degree requirements. I am taking Art108 for a gened right now and american government, which I had not yet completed but it is now available on Sophia, when it was not while I was taking classes there. Then next session I need 5 UL electives. I am a history fan and was born and raised primarily in the EU (but moved to the US and became a citizen as a late teen), so I will take the EU based history and politics courses and the Cold War one probably, because those are some of my interest areas.

I am getting a Bachelors just to have done it. If I ever wanted to make partner in my firm, I will need a bachelors, but I don't even really think I want to do that. I also don't want to be blocked by not having it though, in case it comes about. I love my current role and don't really want to be a partner, but it's been floated. I could change my mind, so might as well get the degree. I am also interested in data analytics and use it in my career but I am not as math-loving as many data analytics people, so I did the coursera stuff and focused more on my strengths with a more general degree that accepted more of my completed certificates and allowed me to get it done pretty quickly. I had 8 community college hours prior to starting this journey less than one year ago when I started doing Sophia and ACTFL and compiling my ACE certificates. I had a goal at work to learn more about data analytics, so they paid for my Coursera certs, which happened to also be college credit worthy. It all just kind of came together.

[bjcheung77]

@impasta, you need to have a chat with the SO on what pathways or options seem better fit for the amount of energy, money, time put into this educational journey. I suggest working on 3 things, certs, degree, experience and get a mix/match of the three. Here's a thread you may want to review: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-IT-degree

[impasta]

First of all, thank you guys so much for all your help and input. Apparently he's even more enthusiastic about getting a degree than I thought he would be because he's been breezing through Sophia courses every single day (apparently he goes straight for the quizzes lol). He's been trying to complete a good general blend of courses from Sophia, and he already has several Coursera certs. I put together a spreadsheet to keep track of his credits:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

He still has ~2 weeks left on his Sophia subscription and he's going to do Spanish I and Intro to Sociology. He's also thinking about knocking out English Comp I and English Comp II, but I read that those are a real pain at Sophia.

We've been weighing his options. Yesterday he decided that he's pretty certain he wants to go for the BLS in MIS, then move on to the WGU MS in Data Analytics. It seems that UMPI might be the most economical choice as well, and he's hoping to transfer the maximum of 90 credit hours and complete the rest at UMPI as quickly as possible (he's hoping for 1-2 terms - ambitious, I know). He would still prefer a BS in Data Analytics or Data Science, but only if it was comparable in price to UMPI. MIS seems to be at least vaguely related to Data Analytics, which is why he chose that over TAMUC Org Leadership.

I really just wanted to run this by you guys and see if you have any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations/feedback on his plan.

[bjcheung77]

Seems like an easy and logical path, it's a good option to ladder from an Nationally Accredited program at the Associates level to a Regionally Accredited degree at the Bachelors level (even though it's like starting from scratch). Starting from the AAS from ITT is fine, going to the UMPI BLS MIS is also good, the final choice of where he ends at is also a great option for the WGU MS Data Analytics! I think that's the recommendation I had on the linked thread above... Keep at this, if there are changes, let us know...

[dfrecore]

First of all, thank you guys so much for all your help and input. Apparently he's even more enthusiastic about getting a degree than I thought he would be because he's been breezing through Sophia courses every single day (apparently he goes straight for the quizzes lol). He's been trying to complete a good general blend of courses from Sophia, and he already has several Coursera certs. I put together a spreadsheet to keep track of his credits:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

He still has ~2 weeks left on his Sophia subscription and he's going to do Spanish I and Intro to Sociology. He's also thinking about knocking out English Comp I and English Comp II, but I read that those are a real pain at Sophia.

We've been weighing his options. Yesterday he decided that he's pretty certain he wants to go for the BLS in MIS, then move on to the WGU MS in Data Analytics. It seems that UMPI might be the most economical choice as well, and he's hoping to transfer the maximum of 90 credit hours and complete the rest at UMPI as quickly as possible (he's hoping for 1-2 terms - ambitious, I know). He would still prefer a BS in Data Analytics or Data Science, but only if it was comparable in price to UMPI. MIS seems to be at least vaguely related to Data Analytics, which is why he chose that over TAMUC Org Leadership.

I really just wanted to run this by you guys and see if you have any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations/feedback on his plan.

I personally would advise him to do the WGU Data Analytics degree over UMPI, but I always try to plan for "what-if" and in this case, that means he ONLY gets a bachelor's degree.

But if he's set on lowest cost, then UMPI is the best bet for sure.  I'd probably choose Project Management over MIS.

[LevelUP]

First of all, thank you guys so much for all your help and input. Apparently he's even more enthusiastic about getting a degree than I thought he would be because he's been breezing through Sophia courses every single day (apparently he goes straight for the quizzes lol). He's been trying to complete a good general blend of courses from Sophia, and he already has several Coursera certs. I put together a spreadsheet to keep track of his credits:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

He still has ~2 weeks left on his Sophia subscription and he's going to do Spanish I and Intro to Sociology. He's also thinking about knocking out English Comp I and English Comp II, but I read that those are a real pain at Sophia.

We've been weighing his options. Yesterday he decided that he's pretty certain he wants to go for the BLS in MIS, then move on to the WGU MS in Data Analytics. It seems that UMPI might be the most economical choice as well, and he's hoping to transfer the maximum of 90 credit hours and complete the rest at UMPI as quickly as possible (he's hoping for 1-2 terms - ambitious, I know). He would still prefer a BS in Data Analytics or Data Science, but only if it was comparable in price to UMPI. MIS seems to be at least vaguely related to Data Analytics, which is why he chose that over TAMUC Org Leadership.

I really just wanted to run this by you guys and see if you have any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations/feedback on his plan.

I would suggest doing BA in Business Administration with a concentration in Project Management from UMPI. It's a far better degree and fits his management work history.
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

BABA project management has all the exact courses at the BLS MIS & also a minor in MIS

The UMPI transcript will list the degree as:

• Degree: Bachelor of Arts
  
• Plan: Business Administration Major
  
• Sub-Plan: Project Management and Information Systems Concentration
  

The downside is that it will take more time, likely 2-4 weeks extra.

The upside is the better payoff to complement the STEM degree.
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...at-to-Know