Can I petition university to give me the college degree I initially enrolled in?

[BSITinCali]

I agree with dfrecore, but it doesn't hurt to try. Typically you get to "keep" your catalog as long as you are enrolled- even if it's one course at a time. Once you break your enrollment, you generally come in new, and that can certainly be a problem if they make changes in the meantime.

So, if you end up having to follow the new catalog, I understand you probably will have requirements added- but are they saying you're going to LOSE anything? That would be part of the pros/cons I'd consider if I were in your shoes. But yeah, go ahead and make a pitch.

The only thing that can be done is to give me an undergraduate certificate in IT and I have no other choice than to be granted a BS in Business. According to mednat, it might not be so bad after all. I guess I'm thankful they're giving the IT cert in addition to my BS cause IT was the whole reason why I went back to college.

[BSITinCali]

I'm an IT director at a small company. I'm 31 now and really had no intentions to go into management, but i do love designing the systems holistically. I went towards management mostly because I wanted to control the ability for my projects to get pushed through or not. I became frustrated with having to rely on others to justify technical projects that made business sense, so more and more I found myself creating business cases and doing my own cost benefit analysis. Once you're into that territory, managing the department is a matter of managing, and building teams. I enjoy that my company is small enough to where I can work on technical projects that interest me, but I have a team that will answer support calls and do the other activities that do not interest me technically, but are extremely important for the business.

My satisfaction with the move to management comes and goes depending on the day. I still love technical problems and solving them, but I also have come to enjoy designing the larger systems that involve more than just technology. I found that my focus on designing and building technical systems can translate into business process design fairly easily.

Masters degrees in technical fields I'm on the fence about. I still don't value them as an indicator of technical ability. In the IA field, I would say look to the CISSP certification. With that being said, I don't think it's a bad idea to get a masters in a technical field(and I actually may end up doing the same) IF you can do it 1) inexpensively and 2) while keeping a job in the field.

Once I complete my MBA, if i have time left in my 6 month period, I may try to knock out a masters in IA at WGU. At their price and the speed I can achieve using previous knowledge, it doesn't hurt to have the degree. If I didn't have experience in security positions, I would probably look at the Dakota state program (or if I wanted to make it my primary job focus). I've heard good things about the school and the IA program specifically. The NSA and DHS have designated DSU as a national center of excellence in IA education. Link: Master of Science in Information Assurance and Computer Security | Dakota State University

Brick and Mortar masters programs are definitely worth looking at too for the alumni benefit and local name recognition. These factors can be extremely important for those early in their career. For me (and likely you), it isn't worth paying extra for.

Wow! You have tons of experience and sounds like you're in a very good place for being so young. In regards to a Masters program, Fort Hays is a brick and mortar school and it seems to have a good reputation. The cost if masters is rather cheap compared to some other schools I looked into.

[mednat]

Wow! You have tons of experience and sounds like you're in a very good place for being so young. In regards to a Masters program, Fort Hays is a brick and mortar school and it seems to have a good reputation. The cost if masters is rather cheap compared to some other schools I looked into.

Thanks! I didn't mean to sound down on FHSU. I've heard good things about the school and the price is definitely right. I'm not against FHSU by any means, i think they're a great choice. Definitely want to hear how their masters program is once you get in.

[BSITinCali]

Thanks! I didn't mean to sound down on FHSU. I've heard good things about the school and the price is definitely right. I'm not against FHSU by any means, i think they're a great choice. Definitely want to hear how their masters program is once you get in.

I will definitely keep you informed. I'm thinking about applying next year. :-)