CompSci Degree Outline Help

[ProgrammerGo]

Hello,

I was hoping to get some help constructing a course outline for a computer science degree. I've heard of using a mix of things like Study.com, sophia.org and a few other resources in tandem. Not sure where to start, and some of these options are paid. I don't want to pay anything until I'm sure of what I need.

Computer science subjects aren't knew to me if that helps. I know how to code in python(some pygame too), and I'm currently about 30% through TheOdinProjects web dev course(HTML, CSS, JavaScript). Adding a CompSci degree would be extremely beneficial to not only my learning, but future opportunities as well. 

Decided to step away from work to invest time into a career switch, so I have nothing but time to study. I am aware that most of these course outlines are a mix of paid and free courses, which I am entirely okay with. Hoping to start ASAP! I appreciate any and all help I can get. Thank you!

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board, you may want to provide us more details by following this thread, the more information beyond the template would provide us more details to assist you in your situation, such as your budget, commitments, dedicated time to study, time line you want to accomplish this educational journey, etc...: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

[dfrecore]

For a CompSci degree, there are really only 2 options on this board that we discuss:
1) TESU BA in CompSci, where most of the Major courses are from Study.com, and the remainder of the credits can be done through ACE/NCCRS providers
2) WGU BS in CompSci, where most of the Major will be done at WGU (it's a CBE program), and you can do about 90cr through a combination of ACE credit providers (SDC, Sophia, Saylor, DSST, CLEP, etc)

Both are good options, and both have lots of people on this board who have completed the program, so there's lot of good info on here for them.

Your best bet, IMHO, is to look at both, and make a degree plan for each, and take courses that will work for both degrees (for instance, both will take the College Composition w/Essay CLEP (FREE through ModernStates) as their Written English requirement; both will take the Ethics of Technology DSST exam as their ethics course (it's required at WGU, and the only place to take it outside of WGU is as the DSST); both will take the American Gov CLEP exam; both will take a Public Speaking course (required for WGU, and accepted for the Oral Comm portion of the GE at TESU).

Once you go through each degree to determine where you can take the credits (do WGU first), you can compare and figure out where you want to get everything, and then go about doing that. Once you've taken those credits, you'll have a better understanding of what it takes to get credit, which provider you like best, and whether you're going through fast enough to go the CBE route or want to go a bit slower and do TESU.

Again, either option is good, so you can't go wrong no matter what you decide.

[ProgrammerGo]

Welcome to the board, you may want to provide us more details by following this thread, the more information beyond the template would provide us more details to assist you in your situation, such as your budget, commitments, dedicated time to study, time line you want to accomplish this educational journey, etc...: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Hello there! Thank you for responding to my thread. Below I'll list a bit more info to help specify my situation as you've asked.

Budget: I'd like to go the cheapest route possible, but I can cover whatever the cost ends up being for exams, courses, and whatever else is necessary. 
Commitments: Currently none. Quit my job to take time to study (did this responsibly with years of saved income), and I don't have a spouse or children. right now, I'm free all days of the week at any given time.
Dedicated time to study: I can study as much as is needed since my schedule is free. I have been doing about 5 hours on average a day of TheOdinProject while using the pomdoro timer technique. I plan to cut that down slightly to make time for the incoming coursework. 8 hour days wouldn't be an issue I don't think based what I've already been doing. 
Timeline: Finishing the course as fast as possible would be ideal. From what I've read, some of it will be time gated? Outside of those restrictions, I'd take up a more accelerated pace. I'm taking the same approach with TheOdinProject (not time gated at all) and its been the best for me.

Your Location: Hawaii, United States. 
Your Age: 26
What kind of degree do you want?: Computer Science 
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None

If theres any other info I can provide, please let me know!

[dfrecore]

Budget: I'd like to go the cheapest route possible, but I can cover whatever the cost ends up being for exams, courses, and whatever else is necessary. 
Commitments: Currently none. Quit my job to take time to study (did this responsibly with years of saved income), and I don't have a spouse or children. right now, I'm free all days of the week at any given time.
Dedicated time to study: I can study as much as is needed since my schedule is free. I have been doing about 5 hours on average a day of TheOdinProject while using the pomdoro timer technique. I plan to cut that down slightly to make time for the incoming coursework. 8 hour days wouldn't be an issue I don't think based what I've already been doing. 
Timeline: Finishing the course as fast as possible would be ideal. From what I've read, some of it will be time gated? Outside of those restrictions, I'd take up a more accelerated pace. I'm taking the same approach with TheOdinProject (not time gated at all) and its been the best for me.

Your Location: Hawaii, United States. 
Your Age: 26
What kind of degree do you want?: Computer Science 
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None

If theres any other info I can provide, please let me know!

Sounds like WGU would be a great fit for you.  I'd probably do a couple of months of CLEP, Study.com and Sophia, and then plan on 2 terms at WGU.  You may be able to do 1 term, but I wouldn't plan on it unless you brought in more credit, which would take longer.
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Another option: take a single term at Snow College if they'll do it for the in-state price of $1743; that's a much smaller time- and money- commitment than WGU, and you can try a CBE model on for size (they won't be exactly the same of course, but it will give you a taste).  If you can complete an AA in that 16 week term, great; if not, at least you'll be able to get all of the courses you need for the GE done.

If you find that you don't love the CBE model, you may still be able to get 24cr out of the deal, and that would make TESU a great option at that point.

[LevelUP]

Check out the wiki for current degree plans:
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ience_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/SN...egree_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/PU...egree_Plan

[ProgrammerGo]

Budget: I'd like to go the cheapest route possible, but I can cover whatever the cost ends up being for exams, courses, and whatever else is necessary. 
Commitments: Currently none. Quit my job to take time to study (did this responsibly with years of saved income), and I don't have a spouse or children. right now, I'm free all days of the week at any given time.
Dedicated time to study: I can study as much as is needed since my schedule is free. I have been doing about 5 hours on average a day of TheOdinProject while using the pomdoro timer technique. I plan to cut that down slightly to make time for the incoming coursework. 8 hour days wouldn't be an issue I don't think based what I've already been doing. 
Timeline: Finishing the course as fast as possible would be ideal. From what I've read, some of it will be time gated? Outside of those restrictions, I'd take up a more accelerated pace. I'm taking the same approach with TheOdinProject (not time gated at all) and its been the best for me.

Your Location: Hawaii, United States. 
Your Age: 26
What kind of degree do you want?: Computer Science 
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None

If theres any other info I can provide, please let me know!

Sounds like WGU would be a great fit for you.  I'd probably do a couple of months of CLEP, Study.com and Sophia, and then plan on 2 terms at WGU.  You may be able to do 1 term, but I wouldn't plan on it unless you brought in more credit, which would take longer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Another option: take a single term at Snow College if they'll do it for the in-state price of $1743; that's a much smaller time- and money- commitment than WGU, and you can try a CBE model on for size (they won't be exactly the same of course, but it will give you a taste).  If you can complete an AA in that 16 week term, great; if not, at least you'll be able to get all of the courses you need for the GE done.

If you find that you don't love the CBE model, you may still be able to get 24cr out of the deal, and that would make TESU a great option at that point.

Thank you for the replies! WGU also sounded like the right choice for me in my mind. How would i go about structuring the learning curriculum? You say a few months of CLEP, SDC, and Sophia, but what would those classes be? How do I know when I'm ready to move on to WGU?

---

Check out the wiki for current degree plans:
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ience_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/SN...egree_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/PU...egree_Plan

This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much! Appreciate everyone's help so far

[allvia]

Sounds like WGU would be a great fit for you.  I'd probably do a couple of months of CLEP, Study.com and Sophia, and then plan on 2 terms at WGU.  You may be able to do 1 term, but I wouldn't plan on it unless you brought in more credit, which would take longer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Another option: take a single term at Snow College if they'll do it for the in-state price of $1743; that's a much smaller time- and money- commitment than WGU, and you can try a CBE model on for size (they won't be exactly the same of course, but it will give you a taste).  If you can complete an AA in that 16 week term, great; if not, at least you'll be able to get all of the courses you need for the GE done.

If you find that you don't love the CBE model, you may still be able to get 24cr out of the deal, and that would make TESU a great option at that point.

Thank you for the replies! WGU also sounded like the right choice for me in my mind. How would i go about structuring the learning curriculum? You say a few months of CLEP, SDC, and Sophia, but what would those classes be? How do I know when I'm ready to move on to WGU?

LevelUp provided you that information with the wiki links above -
this is the WGU one previously shared: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan

[rachel83az]

If all you know is Python and TheOdinProject, I'm not sure that WGU would be good. Not unless you're willing to spend 2 terms (1 year) on it. You're still a relative newbie to computer science and it's not going to be easy to accelerate the UL courses if that's all you know. I would probably suggest TESU or SNHU, depending on your actual budget. Possibly leaning more towards SNHU, because the future of TESU's CS degree is a little up in the air right now.

[dfrecore]

Sounds like WGU would be a great fit for you.  I'd probably do a couple of months of CLEP, Study.com and Sophia, and then plan on 2 terms at WGU.  You may be able to do 1 term, but I wouldn't plan on it unless you brought in more credit, which would take longer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Another option: take a single term at Snow College if they'll do it for the in-state price of $1743; that's a much smaller time- and money- commitment than WGU, and you can try a CBE model on for size (they won't be exactly the same of course, but it will give you a taste).  If you can complete an AA in that 16 week term, great; if not, at least you'll be able to get all of the courses you need for the GE done.

If you find that you don't love the CBE model, you may still be able to get 24cr out of the deal, and that would make TESU a great option at that point.

Thank you for the replies! WGU also sounded like the right choice for me in my mind. How would i go about structuring the learning curriculum? You say a few months of CLEP, SDC, and Sophia, but what would those classes be? How do I know when I'm ready to move on to WGU?

So WGU makes their degree plans very clear, and they have agreements for the courses with several partners.  Make a spreadsheet to organize your info:

Column 1) all of the courses required for the degree
(you can get this from here: https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/BSCS.aspx and I always use this to organize my courses of GE vs. Major as well)

Column 2) the different ways you can get courses (there may be more than 1 way for a lot of courses): 
 - Study.com: https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/Single.as...142&pid=86
 - Sophia: https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/Single.as...062&pid=86
 - Saylor: https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/Single.as...769&pid=86
 - WGU Academy (for A+ Cert): https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/Single.as...097&pid=86 (they are thru Straighterline)
 - CLEP and DSST are also accepted but they don't have the courses on the website for whatever reason

Column 3) credits taken (this is when you'll put a number when you complete the course)

Column 4) credits needed (this is the number of credits needed for that course and not yet complete)

Column 5) Total - I put a subtotal for the GE, then another subtotal for the major.  Then, at the bottom, I add the subtotals in columns 3, 4, and 5.  That way I can always make sure I'm at 120cr, and can see column 3 going up as 4 goes down.

With WGU, there is a tradeoff: the more alt-credits you do, the fewer the ones at WGU; BUT (and this is a big but), you're paying for those credits and you have to keep that in mind.  You want to take as many credits as you need to finish in 1-2 terms, but you don't want to pay so much that you could have done an extra term to do the same credits for less.  Not sure if I'm saying that correctly.  But you want to look at what you're paying for credit vs if you can just do them at WGU.  There is a balance there, and only you can figure out what it is.

The best way to do this is to add another column to your spreadsheet with costs.  Keep track of what you are paying for credits/courses, and stick to that budget.  So, if you only have a certain amount, you're going to want to use some CLEP exams if you're a decent tester (free through ModernStates).  If you hate testing, you may want to do some Sophia before Study.com.  You may want to self-study for the A+ certification before you enroll at WGU (taking the exams is part of the degree, and they will eat up a lot of time if you're not careful; but at the same time, you may not want to pay for them ahead of time since they're not cheap).  You can see what I'm talking about when you start getting into the different ways to get credit.

Good luck, and come back with questions as you are figuring this stuff out.