Confused Boomer, Help Needed Please

[PolloPolo]

LOL, you don't have any UL and that's the issue... The easiest option is to follow through with the Study.com options and couple them with the Coursera/TECEP/TESU courses. You need to 'mix and match' as I mentioned... You don't have a specific spreadsheet or plan you're following and just jumping to the AOS... Since you're going for some Coursera/TECEP/TESU classes anyways, you want to maximize on the learning/knowledge gaps and also fill the trifecta of certs, degree, experience.

You need to do all the Study.com classes that will fit the BACS/BSBA CIS major, three courses will overlap within the degree AOS, you add to that with the TECEP or TESU classes to hit the 15 RA residency credits. The screenshot you have just shows you what you have for lower level and the missing 11 credits for upper level. Review the LevelUP/Rachel83AZ double BACS/BSBA CIS and complete the UL Study.com ACE credits listed.

I have COS-300 which satisfied the CS A: Programming requirement for 3sh. I'll take CIS-351 from TESU along with the Lib Arts capstone for 6sh. ITS-399 and CLD-420 from the Coursera cert for another 6, I guess the ITS-299 will not suffice for UL. Then Comp Architecture from SDC will give me the rest of the 18 UL sh I believe.

I'm not doing the double degree, just the BACS but I have the two wiki degree plans bookmarked. I think I got it now. I'm slightly worried about the calculus 1 from Straighterline and the discrete math requirement but I'll think about it later. Trying to get through this Coursera specialization, I think I'll be able to complete it within a month. I'll save the harder classes for later lol.

[rachel83az]

Do not do Straighterline Calculus. Do Calculus at Sophia. Sophia is open-book. It'll be much easier/faster/quicker than Straighterline.

For Discrete Math, you've already done Statistics. That's most of what Discrete Math is. If you're especially worried, you can also pay for Metropolia's Discrete Math course to "pre-study" for the Study.com course. You shouldn't have to, but some students do have issues with Discrete Math and need alternative options.

[PolloPolo]

Do not do Straighterline Calculus. Do Calculus at Sophia. Sophia is open-book. It'll be much easier/faster/quicker than Straighterline.

For Discrete Math, you've already done Statistics. That's most of what Discrete Math is. If you're especially worried, you can also pay for Metropolia's Discrete Math course to "pre-study" for the Study.com course. You shouldn't have to, but some students do have issues with Discrete Math and need alternative options.

Thanks! I'll check out Calculus from Sophia. I read SL was recommended due to the quality of the taped instruction but open book testing sounds good to me.

[rachel83az]

Before Sophia's Calculus, SL was definitely the recommended one. Now, though, Sophia wins.

[bjcheung77]

That's right, for the most part, I took everything at StraighterLine as they were just a monthly fee and pay per course, it was still cheapest when I took courses through them versus at Study.com and Penn Foster, etc, or even Sophia.org (they were charging $329/course). When Sophia.org changed their pricing structure, they leapfrogged both StraighterLine and Study.com as my number one recommendation. So, basically, do all the Sophia.org first, Study.com second, and if any missing courses that aren't available through them, take it at Saylor.org or StraighterLine.

[PolloPolo]

No, not really. Operating Systems and Computer Architecture aren't easy classes at TESU. They should probably be taken by themselves. Doing that would, of course, negate any monetary savings.

You're better off taking the capstone, cornerstone, Software Engineering, and two easy 100-level courses or ePacks. It's a tiny bit nonsensical, I admit, but it works out to be easier and cheaper to take classes that have little, if anything, to do with your degree than it does to actually fill out your degree with TESU classes. The random class(es)/ePack(s) will likely go into your free electives.

I have one more quick question for you if you don't mind. I recently received an email from TESU saying I've been selected for the $1k PSEG Military and Veteran scholarship for the upcoming February term. It's kind of weird since I don't recall signing up for the scholarship lol. 

Assuming that's legit and not just a marketing thing to get people enrolled in courses, is there any negatives to taking those courses you listed above in the February term even though I still have to knock out the other classes through Study.com/SL/Sophia/etc? I thought I read something about waiting and taking the TESU courses to satisfy the residency requirement as the very last step but now I can't find the source of the info. If that's wrong I'll email my TESU veteran advisor to sign up for the courses and hopefully reduce my out of pocket expense by $1k.

[davewill]

We usually recommend waiting until the end because you can't take the Capstone until you're almost done. In addition, people are often trying to do a 15cr fixed price term to save money, so they wait until they can take the capstone before taking the rest of the 15cr.

If you're going to end up taking a fixed price term later anyway, then taking something now, even with the scholarship, won't save you money. It'll cost you the $635 you have left over to pay for one course in the Feb term. On the plus side, you'd only have 12cr left to do later. Conversely, you could use the scholarship for a fixed price term of 12cr now, but then you'd have to pay $1635 for the Capstone later. It comes out the same, costing you $635 over waiting to do 15cr later.

If you qualified for military tuition or were planning on paying the residency waiver, then you could probably use this now.

You might inquire whether the scholarship can be used later.

[bjcheung77]

An option is to take the flat rate for 15 credits now, and this would include anything that you can't transfer in with Sophia.org or Study.com and any other classes you want for residency purposes. You can then take the final class capstone by itself, if you're going for the dual degree, the final capstones by themselves...

[PolloPolo]

Okay that makes sense. I should have known the capstone was meant to be taken as a final item hence the name of it lol. I'll keep knocking out these other courses and wait on taking the TESU classes later in a fixed price term. I think I'll see if they'll let me use the $1k scholarship later as well. I'm holding off on using the rest of my GI Bill, hoping to use it while doing a masters. Thanks for the info