CLEP program for Bachelor degree in Computer Science, International Students

[afidegnum]

I would like to pursue a bachelor's degree program by examination, I live in Togo, West Africa. 

I had a Certification in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technology from city and guilds 20 years ago, but I couldn't further up due to financial constraints. 

I also tried enrolling on other certification programs but was limited by my financial constraints to pass the tests and obtain my certification. 

During these 20 years, I worked as a freelance programmer and a system admin and a company is proposing to recruit me but requests to upgrade my educational portfolio. 

I came across the CLEP test to be able to obtain the bachelor's degree, after enquiring at Achievetestprep, they informed me I needed to be a US resident and also submit my high school diploma. 

Due to my work schedule and family constraints, I don't see myself sitting in class for another 4years and I'm currently 43years of age. 

Can you recommend a quicker and easier roadmap?

[rachel83az]

CLEP exams are NOT available to international students if you do not have a local, public, testing center nearby. I do not believe that there are any public testing centers in all of Africa.

But do not despair! There are other options besides CLEP for getting a degree both fast and inexpensively. Please fill out the information from this thread so that we can help you better: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Depending on your answers, the fastest and cheapest options for degrees are probably either UMPI or Excelsior. A degree from one of these schools can be obtained in under a year, using credit from places like Sophia.org, Study.com, etc. The speed is very similar to CLEP exams (once you account for study time), but they are open to international students.

What language(s) do you speak (major ones, like French, Spanish, Arabic, etc.)? How comfortable are you with the thought of writing academic papers in English?

[afidegnum]

Thanks a lot for your quick response.

I fluently speak English and French, and I will be glad to write my papers in any available.

[rachel83az]

If you speak French and can write papers in English, that makes you a good candidate for a degree from UMPI. UMPI will cost approximately:

• $200-$300USD for Sophia.org
  
• $300 for Study.com
  
• $51 for a French ACTFL exam https://www.languagetesting.com/lti/prod...ng_id/7130?
  
• Either $2800 or $4200 for UMPI itself, depending on how quickly you are able to work. A small number of students have been able to finish a UMPI degree in 2 months (after completing the Study.com/Sophia/ACTFL courses) for a cost of $1400 to UMPI.
  

You can see degree plans for UMPI here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI

The basic idea is to:

• Complete as much as possible (except English Composition; do not attempt Sophia's English Composition courses) at Sophia. Check the degree plans for suggestions.
  
• Take an ACTFL exam. Since you say you are fluent in French, it should be very easy for you to score at least 3 credits.
  
• Take Biology 101L from Study.com. You may want to take a 2nd Study.com course (check the degree plan) because 2 courses in 1 month are the same price at Study.com.
  

This process takes most students 2-3 months to get enough credits to officially start at UMPI.

Depending on what degree you want, this should leave you with 10-15 classes to complete at UMPI. This will probably take 4-6 months, but could be as few as 2 months if you are a fast worker.

End result: American degree completed in 8-10 months or less.

[afidegnum]

Thanks for the valuable information.

However, I noticed, UMPI does not offer any related degree in Computer Science which has strong coverage in programming or any related field.

Can you please assist with a syllabus I can start brushing through till I register at Sophia or Study.com?

[rachel83az]

If you want a Computer Science degree, your most affordable option would be TESU. A TESU degree would cost a bit more than a degree from UMPI, but they do have a Computer Science degree. You can see plans for TESU here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap

The most expensive part of a TESU degree would be that they require at least 30 credits from an actual college or university (Sophia, Study.com, etc. do not count). A good way to meet this requirement would be to get FREE credits from the Finnish university XAMK and then have them evaluated for transfer to TESU. The evaluation would cost approximately $200. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/XAMK

[dfrecore]

Are you able to get your old credits certified as college credits here in the US, using a service like WES or ECE? If so, you're even closer to getting a degree.

If you post your credits here, that would be really helpful. We can then tell you what you need to finish at Sophia/Study in order to finish at TESU.

[bjcheung77]

I would like to pursue a bachelor's degree program by examination, I live in Togo, West Africa. 

Due to my work schedule and family constraints, I don't see myself sitting in class for another 4years and I'm currently 43years of age. 

Can you recommend a quicker and easier roadmap?

1) Strange, Togo isn't showing in the list when I search City & Guilds on the webpage, I guess they haven't updated it yet.
It should be fine as long as you do the academic evaluation as mentioned earlier.  Link: https://www.cityandguilds.com/international/africa

2) Review the link in post #2, You need to complete the template and last post addendum, the more details the better so we can help you easier.  You don't have to sit in a classroom, you can follow the steps we will provide later.

3) I also highly recommend the roadmap link to the degree plan for a TESU BACS on post #6, the reason is UMPI doesn't have a Comp Sci option and TESU would be your best bet.

[afidegnum]

Thanks a lot for your reply. 

So to start, let me get the funds ready for the tests.

I noticed there is one CLEP testing centre available in Dakar, Senegal. I will have to book a flight to that place for it. 

Meanwhile, can you suggest a syllabus or a course package I can upgrade myself with in order to help me get credits from either one of the universities or anywhere I can get some credits? 

My area of interest is Computer Science and a bit of Electronics.

[rachel83az]

Thanks a lot for your reply. 

So to start, let me get the funds ready for the tests.

I noticed there is one CLEP testing centre available in Dakar, Senegal. I will have to book a flight to that place for it. 

Meanwhile, can you suggest a syllabus or a course package I can upgrade myself with in order to help me get credits from either one of the universities or anywhere I can get some credits? 

My area of interest is Computer Science and a bit of Electronics.

Please, please do NOT go to Senegal for CLEP testing! I'm showing that is $600+ round-trip, PLUS hotel costs. PLUS CLEP exam fees. And you would only be able to take a few CLEP exams per day (I think the most anyone has ever done is 4 or 5 per day), most students only manage 2 or 3 exams. That's very, very expensive. There are much, MUCH, MUCH better options for you than CLEP exams.

You can do the exact same courses, at home, on Sophia.org. You are allowed to complete as many courses as you are able to and the total cost for Sophia.org is only $99/month. Sophia courses can be completed in 1 day or less. Once you take into account travel times, etc., Sophia will be both faster and cheaper than flying to another country. 

You do not need CLEP exams.

You should not take CLEP exams.

Please read the wiki regarding what you need to take to get a degree from TESU.

CLEP exams would only cover SOME of these requirements: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap

CLEP exams do not cover these requirements: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ience_Plan