130+ credits and no degree, help me graduate!

[smdeox]

Background: 
First off, I just want to thank anyone who helps out in advance. I was a senior at a big state school when I ended 
up taking a job and dropping out. Not the smartest move in hindsight(It gave me 5 F's on my transcripts--and no degree!),  but hoping to make up for that now! 

I can't go back to the state school I was at, as they don't offer the classes online that I need to finish my econ degree. So, since I work in tech I decided to start fresh with CS at WGU. After a semester I found this forum and realized I may
be a lot closer to graduating at another school(WGU only transferred in 9 credits towards CS--- but I don't mind the WGU format in general)

Also, with things like ASU and Colorado offering masters in CS, I'm really open to any accredited degree,
it would be nice to have a bachelors in CS/IT(Or maybe Econ/Math?), but that's not a hard requirement at all if I could do a masters down the road. My transcripts are definitely not the best grade wise, so really loving these new performance based admissions programs! 


Programs I've looked at:
UMPI (Any degree, maybe the BLS?)
Texas A&M CU (General studies or org management?)
TESU/Excelsior(Any degree) 
WGU(Maybe try to re-apply and transfer more credits into a different degree, or can continue with CS if you all think that's the best route) 


Your Location: Georgia
Your Age: 28
What kind of degree do you want?: I'm honestly open to any accredited degree, but if the time to complete is very similar I would go for a STEM degree 

Current Regional Accredited Credits Total: 134+

State School Credits: 92 
Note: I'm waiting to here back from the registrar about some other courses I took, they wouldn't be relevant to a degree, but I will likely end up with around 100~ hours. (The courses were free electives like Ballroom Dance, Jogging, etc) 

All Grades A/B unless noted 
(BIOL1200) Keys to Human Biology(With lab)- 4
(BUS1010) Business Foundations - 1
(ECON2110) Principles of Microeconomics - 3
(PSYC2010) Introduction to Psychology - 3
(ECON2120) Principles of Macroeconomics - 3
(ECON3140) Intermediate Microeconomics - 3
(FRENCH101) Elementary French - 4
(FRENCH102) Elementary French 2 - 4
(STAT2220) Statistics in Everyday life - 3
(LAW3220) Legal Environment of Business - 3
(ECON3440) Property Rights - 3
(ECON 3500) Moral and Ethical Economics - 3
(HIST1730) The West and the World(Western civ) - 3
(MATH2070) Multivariable Calculus - 3
(ENG2130) British Lit 1 - 3 
(COMM2500) Public Speaking - 3
(CPSC1200) Intro Information Technology - 3
(ENGL1320) English Comp and Literature - 3
(Biol1410) Principles of Biology - 4
(Math1330) Probability and Statistics---C - 3
(MGMT2310) Management and Organizational Behavior - 3
(ACCT2310) Principles of Accounting I - 3
(ACCT2320) Principles of Accounting 2 - 3
(ENGL3040) Business Writing - 3
(PHIL3440) Business Ethics - 3
(ACCT 2010) Financial Accounting Concepts---C - 3
(ACCT2020) Managerial Accounting Concepts - 3 
(ECON3600) Public choice---D - 3
(ECON3190) Environmental Economics - 3
(ECON 4040) Comparative Economic Systems - 3
(STAT 3090) Introductory Business Statistics---C- 3 
(STAT 2010) Statistical Methods 1 - 3
(MATH 101) Algebra - 3


WGU Credits: 42
Scripting and Programming Foundations - 3
Data Management Foundations - 3
Data Management Applications - 4
Introduction to IT - 4 
Web Development Foundations - 3  
Scripting and Programming Applications - 4
Data Structures and Algorithms I - 4
Data Structures and Algorithms II - 4
Discrete Mathematics I - 4
American Politics and the US Constitution - 3
Network and Security Foundations - 4 
Fundamentals of Information Security - 3


Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0, haven't done any of these courses yet but they look promising?

Any certifications or military experience? 6~ years of work experience in tech, no military/relevant certs

Anyone have any ideas or options that I should consider?

*Attaching addendum to main post
Budget: I would like to think that I can finish a degree for less than 8k~ given all the previous credit, but I would be open to spending more depending on the speed/quality of the program. 
Commitments: Family + Full-time work, I would be dedicating an hour or two in the evenings to school with more time on the weekends.
Dedicated time to study: I could comfortably say 18-20 hours/week dedicated to school, perhaps more.
Timeline: I would like to finish as fast as possible.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None

[ss20ts]

Are you currently enrolled at WGU right now?

[smdeox]

Hey SS20TS,

I am not currently enrolled at WGU, I'm a free agent!

[bjcheung77]

@smdeox, Welcome to the board, that's a very good introduction post. Those are your top institutions of choice, I guess you're just looking for affirmation those are good choices and also see if there are alternatives. Generally, I ask people to fill us in with more details from the template/last post addendum here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

My suggestion is to skip the template as your intro covers that, but do provide us more details within the last post addendum, we want to know about your budget, commitments (beyond what you mentioned), your study habits and preferences, tuition reimbursements, whatever else that you can think of that is mentioned in the addendum.  With a clearer picture, it would be a better overview of your situation and we can advise accordingly.

Note: I suggest you have a short list created, then shrink that list to a top 3 choices of yours and top 3 backup options. The ones you listed are great options, are you planning to go for a Masters down the road, if so, which ones?  Please complete the missed addendum and then we can try mapping a possible path for you to complete the educational journey.

[ss20ts]

Hey SS20TS,

I am not currently enrolled at WGU, I'm a free agent!

I asked because you cannot transfer in additional courses while you're enrolled at WGU. I believe you have to wait 6 months after you leave to be able to transfer in courses. Did you enjoy WGU? Do you like the CBE format?

---

Maybe consider UMPI's BLS with Project Management or MIS minor and then move onto a master's degree in STEM. The BLS is probably going to be the quickest to finish unless you go back to WGU and crank out courses and finish in less than 1 term which is a lot for more people.

For the BLS at UMPI, right off the bat I can see you need Environmental Science, Art History 1 or 2, US History 1 or 2, Eng Comp 2 (many peopel complete this at UMPI), Intro to Soc, and Spanish 1 from Sophia to finish off the GEC. Your electives are done except for the 24 UL required. The minor would need to be completed as well. If you have the time and energy, you could finish in around 4 months with 2 sessions at UMPI and the courses needed from Sophia which you could work on and apply for UMPI's next session which starts in July, but I'd apply now if that's where you want to go. You can work on Sophia courses while you're at UMPI. You just need to let your academic advisor know which classes you're taking from Sophia and that you want to transfer them in. Not a big deal.

[smdeox]

@smdeox, Welcome to the board, that's a very good introduction post. Those are your top institutions of choice, I guess you're just looking for affirmation those are good choices and also see if there are alternatives. Generally, I ask people to fill us in with more details from the template/last post addendum here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

My suggestion is to skip the template as your intro covers that, but do provide us more details within the last post addendum, we want to know about your budget, commitments (beyond what you mentioned), your study habits and preferences, tuition reimbursements, whatever else that you can think of that is mentioned in the addendum.  With a clearer picture, it would be a better overview of your situation and we can advise accordingly.

Note: I suggest you have a short list created, then shrink that list to a top 3 choices of yours and top 3 backup options. The ones you listed are great options, are you planning to go for a Masters down the road, if so, which ones?  Please complete the missed addendum and then we can try mapping a possible path for you to complete the educational journey.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome, I am already indebted to people like you, ss, the template creators etc etc. You have it exactly right, I'm looking for affirmation and other alternatives that I should consider, or might have missed. Attaching the addendum below! 


Budget: I would like to think that I can finish a degree for less than 8k~ given all the previous credit, but I would be open to spending more depending on the speed/quality of the program. 
Commitments: Family + Full-time work, I would be dedicating an hour or two in the evenings to school with more time on the weekends. 
Dedicated time to study: I could comfortably say 18-20 hours/week dedicated to school, perhaps more. 
Timeline: I would like to finish as fast as possible. 
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None

Note: I suggest you have a short list created, then shrink that list to a top 3 choices of yours and top 3 backup options. The ones you listed are great options, are you planning to go for a Masters down the road, if so, which ones? 
That's exactly what I'm here for! I'd love to have some help with narrowing things down a bit. I am also definitely open to doing a masters at some point, although most of my research so far has just been the Coursera ones (Colorado/ASU- CS, Illinois - Management)

Definitely open to any and all options. 

I asked because you cannot transfer in additional courses while you're enrolled at WGU. I believe you have to wait 6 months after you leave to be able to transfer in courses. Did you enjoy WGU? Do you like the CBE format?

---

Maybe consider UMPI's BLS with Project Management or MIS minor and then move onto a master's degree in STEM. The BLS is probably going to be the quickest to finish unless you go back to WGU and crank out courses and finish in less than 1 term which is a lot for more people.

For the BLS at UMPI, right off the bat I can see you need Environmental Science, Art History 1 or 2, US History 1 or 2, Eng Comp 2 (many peopel complete this at UMPI), Intro to Soc, and Spanish 1 from Sophia to finish off the GEC. Your electives are done except for the 24 UL required. The minor would need to be completed as well. If you have the time and energy, you could finish in around 4 months with 2 sessions at UMPI and the courses needed from Sophia which you could work on and apply for UMPI's next session which starts in July, but I'd apply now if that's where you want to go. You can work on Sophia courses while you're at UMPI. You just need to let your academic advisor know which classes you're taking from Sophia and that you want to transfer them in. Not a big deal.

Got it, makes total sense and I had no idea that was the case. For the record, I've been out of WGU for over 6 months so I could transfer in new courses it sounds like. 

I like the idea of CBE for sure, the only real negative for me was issues with the third party proctoring. Sometimes they just... wouldn't even show up lol, but that's not a dealbreaker as it let me accelerate pretty quickly. I think a mistake I made was going straight for CS where I couldn't transfer anything in, rather than just finishing a degree I was much closer to getting. Are there any WGU degree programs I should consider? I would assume I would be closer to one of the business degrees, although I guess I've taken enough CS courses now that they may be similar. 

Thank you SO much by the way, this is exactly the kind of guidance I need. 
So essentially for UMPI, if I did the BLS it would look like: 
Sophia - Environmental, Sociology, Art History, Us History, English Comp 2, Spanish 1
UMPI - 18 hours for the minor

So 24~ hours total, with a target of 2 UMPI sessions + whatever time is needed for Sophia

[rachel83az]

UMPI has no proctoring needed. It's almost all papers or projects.

TESU needs some proctoring, with Study.com classes mostly, but the SDC ones would be though RPNow. Recorded vs. live proctor. Whole different ballgame. TESU does have Comp Sci, if that's what you really want.

[origamishuttle]

UMPI has no proctoring needed. It's almost all papers or projects.

Surprisingly, I was able to take exam finals for 7 out of 10 courses at UMPI in this past session, so it's still possible, but the window could close at any time when Brightspace finally arrives for YourPace students.

[ss20ts]

UMPI has no proctoring needed. It's almost all papers or projects.

Surprisingly, I was able to take exam finals for 7 out of 10 courses at UMPI in this past session, so it's still possible, but the window could close at any time when Brightspace finally arrives for YourPace students.

I didn't even know there were 7 exams available!   I need a laughing guy with ??? over his head.

[bjcheung77]

OP, I have something to tell you!  You've got so many ways of getting to your educational goal and completing this journey.  Here are two options for your undergrad and graduate degrees, if you mix/match them up, you can get BOTH for roughly 8K total and won't take you too long either, you can be done before you hit the big 30!  UMPI undergrad & WGU graduate...

1) UMPI BLS or another option that may suit you better, the PM+IS.  Add that to the WGU MSITM or if you prefer, the MBAITM, it's almost the same thing and the same price for this, or another WGU degree that has ACBSP such as the MSML or MBA with a different concentration, etc.

2) WGU "one and done", accelerated BSIT plus MSITM, since you're familiar with WGU, you can try to max in the rest of your transfers before you begin again in the program.  Here's more info, on post #24 and the last post in the thread:  https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid390212