BACS BSCIS plan guidance

[LAMi]

Location: not from us 
Age: 24
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor's in CS or Software Engineering  
Current degrees: not related to cs and probably not recognized in the us , but I have a  bachelor and a masters in medicine and I am 6 months away from completing my MD .
Current Regional Accredited Credits: none
Completed RA classes of note: none

I am 6 months away from finishing my MD , and I didn't really like medicine from the start but kept going just to get the degree , I really like everything programming and tech related , so I decided to be serious about it and get a degree in cs . I first found the WGU program and it was a dream , especially that it could be done in a short period of a time (I need to get this degree in the next 6 months to a year otherwise I ll have to go back to practicing medicine ) . But then WGU is not open for international students . 
 I tried looking at other alternative with the same price and duration options , I found TESU but it was a mess trying to understand all the credit transfer options and trying to calculate how much time and money it will take me since I have no credit . And I also have to take english certification exams to prove that I can speak english that will also take time . what are some options available for students like me ?

[bjcheung77]

@LAMi, Welcome to the board, great initial post with some info, but not as much as required to assist you much. We can only recommend what's already available and what you've already indicated you've researched or reviewed, other than the couple of institutions you mentioned, there is PUG, SNHU, and some others if you're alright with the budget, ease, speed to completion. Your best bet is to complete the missing addendum and edit/update us with the info on the template. If you're "Not in the US", where are you located currently or a citizen of? As per my addendum, it's best to provide more info so we can better assist you: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

[LAMi]

@LAMi, Welcome to the board, great initial post with some info, but not as much as required to assist you much.  We can only recommend what's already available and what you've already indicated you've researched or reviewed, other than the couple of institutions you mentioned, there is PUG, SNHU, and some others if you're alright with the budget, ease, speed to completion.  Your best bet is to complete the missing addendum and edit/update us with the info on the template.  If you're "Not in the US", where are you located currently or a citizen of?  As per my addendum, it's best to provide more info so we can better assist you: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Here is some extra information about me:

Your Location: north Africa
Your Age: 24
What kind of degree do you want?: BS CS / BS software dev / Open to relevant IT options
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 0 , I want to be sure which uni I want to go to before I start earning credit .

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: none

[b]Budget: I would prefer to keep my total budget under 8k. [/b]

Commitments: not so many at the moment , .

Dedicated time to study: I would be able to commit around 40-50 hours of study time a week. 

Timeline: As quick as possible. Maximum time would preferably be 9 months - 1 year . 

[b]Tuition assistance/reimbursement: as mentioned I have 6k saved up , anything else I have to ask my parents for[/b]
School: any recommendations for schools that would allow me to graduate as fast as possible would be appreciated. 

Why do you want to complete University this way? I want to make a smooth career transition and this degree will give me the confidence to leave my current job or at least take a break and see where this takes me 
Goals: After completing my degree, I would like to start working on personal projects or maybe find internships in health tech startups since I have a significant experience in health , but most of these startups don't need doctors as much as they need developers .

Feel free to give recommendations or ask questions. 

[Jonathan Whatley]

You do have equivalent-to-regionally-accredited credit, from your international medical degree. You would have your medical school (and any pre-medical degree-level postsecondary school, if applicable) send your transcript likely to a foreign education evaluation agency acceptable to your destination school. The credit could meet some of general education and elective requirements towards your new CS-related bachelor's (and would likely meet the entire "RA credit" requirement at a school with such a requirement like TESU).

[bjcheung77]

That's the thing, you're going in all directions, I would highly recommend finishing off your MD first as the highest priority. You can take your 'free time' to decide on TESU BACS/CIS combo as that should be your best bet to get the Comp Sci degree and also get a BS CIS along with it for "free" as it will be within your budget and time line.

You can't and shouldn't start from scratch... You must submit your credits (even the MD) for evaluation, that will speed up everything, you'll have your BACS and CIS degrees general education and electives completed, you'll just need to do the Comp Sci major and the BSBA professional business requirements to get the two degrees...

[homeschoolmom1]

I would second the advice to complete your Medical Degree, even if you do not envision ever working in patient care. There is a huge need in medicine for people combining both medical and informatics knowledge. You will have your choice of jobs, I am sure.

[davewill]

I can also vouch that a combo MD and CS would prove very valuable in the medical device field as well.

[LAMi]

That's the thing, you're going in all directions, I would highly recommend finishing off your MD first as the highest priority.  You can take your 'free time' to decide on TESU BACS/CIS combo as that should be your best bet to get the Comp Sci degree and also get a BS CIS along with it for "free" as it will be within your budget and time line.  

You can't and shouldn't start from scratch... You must submit your credits (even the MD) for evaluation, that will speed up everything, you'll have your BACS and CIS degrees general education and electives completed, you'll just need to do the Comp Sci major and the BSBA professional business requirements to get the two degrees...

Is there a way to predict how much credit my MD will get (since I don't have yet ), so that if it doesn't cover the general education and electives requirements I can use the free time to complete the credit I need ?

[davewill]

If you were to list your credits, we could make a pretty good guess. You should cover nearly all of the GenEds, and almost certainly all of the general electives. Depending on exactly what you took, maybe even a bit of AOS. From a transfer credit point of view, it won't matter that you haven't completed the MD degree as you will likely have all of the courses that could possibly apply done at this point, mostly during your undergraduate work.

If you wanted to just have the bachelor's and master's evaluated at this point, that could make sense as they likely contain all of the useful credits you have towards the BACS, anyway.

[LAMi]

If you were to list your credits, we could make a pretty good guess. You should cover nearly all of the GenEds, and almost certainly all of the general electives. Depending on exactly what you took, maybe even a bit of AOS. From a transfer credit point of view, it won't matter that you haven't completed the MD degree as you will likely have all of the courses that could possibly apply done at this point, mostly during your undergraduate work.

If you wanted to just have the bachelor's and master's evaluated at this point, that could make sense as they likely contain all of the useful credits you have towards the BACS, anyway.

I m sorry this is all new to me because we have a totally different college system , I went straight from high school to medical school , no undergrad , med school here is 7 years , where we study mostly all things related to medicine , I ll try to give a detailed view of the curriculum. I also was wondering if it would be a problem that I didn't take most of this classes in english but in french ? : 
1st year = 
-public health = community medicine + biostatistics 
-communication and languages = information and communication technology + documentary research + medical english 
-learning methods 
- medical terminology 
-history of medicine 
-psycho sociology 
-communication techniques 
- anatomy 
-biology
-chemistry 
-bio chemistry 
-biophysics
-histology 
-embryology 
 
2nd year =
-anatomy II 
-histologyII 
-Immunology 
-bacteriology 
-virology 
-hematology 
-physiology 
-experimental medicine 
-first aid 
-clinical biochem 
-semiology 

3rd year =
-radiology 
-pharma 
-infectious disease 
-pathology 
- and then cardio , GI , respiratory 
at the end of third year we get a bachelor in medicine 
then 4th and 5th years we study mainly pathology of all systems(neurology , rheumatology , kidney , dermatology) , surgery , pediatrics , OBGYN I doubt any of these would count as credit... at the end of 5th year we get a masters 
then 6th and 7th year are just clinical rotations where we work as interns in the hospital , and at the end of 7th year we have our MD .

So basically I'm counting on calsses that I took in the 1 st year to get me some credit .