Cybersecurity Degree Question

[ambull01]

There are a couple of people on here who amazingly keep track of just about everything (dfrecore is one of them) and are able to make you a more customized plan. The prefixes (COM/ENG/ITS/CYB/etc.) don't necessarily mean much in terms of what will fall where. This is why Public Speaking comes in as COM-209 but will satisfy the oral communication requirement (ENG-202). 

Outside that, you have to contact your advisor and/or simply transfer a class in and see where they put it. The advisors aren't always correct, unfortunately.

Great, I really have a lot of work ahead of me then lol. I was hoping for a dummy proof site that would tell me transfer equivalencies. Although I guess if there was such a site/resource there would be no need for this forum. I can't believe the advisors screw up too, I would have thought they would be the experts at this stuff.

[rachel83az]

It is a lot of work. But it does help keep the cost of any given degree down. After all, they could say "you must take all your classes here" instead of letting you transfer credits from (almost) everywhere.

[todointernet]

Thanks for the info

[tallpilot]

There are a couple of people on here who amazingly keep track of just about everything (dfrecore is one of them) and are able to make you a more customized plan. The prefixes (COM/ENG/ITS/CYB/etc.) don't necessarily mean much in terms of what will fall where. This is why Public Speaking comes in as COM-209 but will satisfy the oral communication requirement (ENG-202). 

Outside that, you have to contact your advisor and/or simply transfer a class in and see where they put it. The advisors aren't always correct, unfortunately.

Great, I really have a lot of work ahead of me then lol. I was hoping for a dummy proof site that would tell me transfer equivalencies. Although I guess if there was such a site/resource there would be no need for this forum. I can't believe the advisors screw up too, I would have thought they would be the experts at this stuff.

Lots of good advice here.  I worked in IT before I ran off to be an airline pilot.  Given the current situation I may be back in IT at the end of the year.

You can basically finish the BA in Comp Sci at TESU with SDC.  That would be fast and economical if you dedicate yourself to it.  It would make the math you are scared of pass/fail as well so that's less stress.

Then try to get into GA Tech's masters program.  If that doesn't work do WGU's master's.

I think that's going to lead you to an actual job in cybersecurity instead of ending up on the helpdesk.

[Merlin]

You can basically finish the BA in Comp Sci at TESU with SDC.  That would be fast and economical if you dedicate yourself to it.  It would make the math you are scared of pass/fail as well so that's less stress.

Then try to get into GA Tech's masters program.  If that doesn't work do WGU's master's.

I think that's going to lead you to an actual job in cybersecurity instead of ending up on the helpdesk.

FYI, people may have trouble getting into a competitive master's degree program with a TESU degree that is mostly made up of alternate credit sources like SDC or SL since ACE courses are usually not accepted directly. Ultimately it will depend on the entire application package (particularly the statement of purpose, academic recommendations, and in some cases, professional resume and graduate entrance exam scores), but having a lot of ACE courses in your degree core may hurt your acceptance chances. To have the best chance of entry, you always want to make sure your core courses are coming from a regionally accredited college or university. Your GenEds are fair game for ACE providers though since nobody really cares about them. Well, they may care about the math and/or science courses depending on the program, but the rest are usually ignored.

While GA Tech mostly focuses on pre-requisite courses (which means core CS courses for entry into the OMSCS or core Cybersecurity courses for entry into the OMS Cybersecurity program), many other graduate programs will want to look at the most recent 60 credits when calculating your transfer GPA.

WGU is mostly open-entry and they accept ACE, so getting in there isn't a challenge if you have the professional experience and/or certifications necessary to meet the entrance requirements.

[ambull01]

Lots of good advice here.  I worked in IT before I ran off to be an airline pilot.  Given the current situation I may be back in IT at the end of the year.

You can basically finish the BA in Comp Sci at TESU with SDC.  That would be fast and economical if you dedicate yourself to it.  It would make the math you are scared of pass/fail as well so that's less stress.

Then try to get into GA Tech's masters program.  If that doesn't work do WGU's master's.

I think that's going to lead you to an actual job in cybersecurity instead of ending up on the helpdesk.

I really do not want to end up on a helpdesk. That makes me a bit nervous actually and I'm starting to think maybe something like data analytics would be more inline with my current career. I don't want to take a huge paycut along with working at a helpdesk where the road to a cyber job will be really long.

You can basically finish the BA in Comp Sci at TESU with SDC.  That would be fast and economical if you dedicate yourself to it.  It would make the math you are scared of pass/fail as well so that's less stress.

Then try to get into GA Tech's masters program.  If that doesn't work do WGU's master's.

I think that's going to lead you to an actual job in cybersecurity instead of ending up on the helpdesk.

FYI, people may have trouble getting into a competitive master's degree program with a TESU degree that is mostly made up of alternate credit sources like SDC or SL since ACE courses are usually not accepted directly. Ultimately it will depend on the entire application package (particularly the statement of purpose, academic recommendations, and in some cases, professional resume and graduate entrance exam scores), but having a lot of ACE courses in your degree core may hurt your acceptance chances. To have the best chance of entry, you always want to make sure your core courses are coming from a regionally accredited college or university. Your GenEds are fair game for ACE providers though since nobody really cares about them. Well, they may care about the math and/or science courses depending on the program, but the rest are usually ignored.

While GA Tech mostly focuses on pre-requisite courses (which means core CS courses for entry into the OMSCS or core Cybersecurity courses for entry into the OMS Cybersecurity program), many other graduate programs will want to look at the most recent 60 credits when calculating your transfer GPA.

WGU is mostly open-entry and they accept ACE, so getting in there isn't a challenge if you have the professional experience and/or certifications necessary to meet the entrance requirements.

Okay so definitely WGU. I don't care where I get the degree as long as I actually learn and can perform on the job. Just have to finalize my degree plan now.

[rachel83az]

If you're pretty sure you're going to go to WGU, you might want to look at WGU Academy. Relatively cheap way to get at least some of the prereqs out of the way.

[ambull01]

If you're pretty sure you're going to go to WGU, you might want to look at WGU Academy. Relatively cheap way to get at least some of the prereqs out of the way.

That sounds like it's for a bachelor's right? I have most of the prereqs complete from previous courses I have taken. I think WGU is the way/only way for me to go if I decide to pursue a graduate degree in the future. Right now though I need to focus on the 20 meter target and finally finish my bachelor's lol.

[rachel83az]

That sounds like it's for a bachelor's right? I have most of the prereqs complete from previous courses I have taken. I think WGU is the way/only way for me to go if I decide to pursue a graduate degree in the future. Right now though I need to focus on the 20 meter target and finally finish my bachelor's lol.

Yeah, sorry, lost track and thought you were talking about planning out your degree at WGU; that you hadn't started your bachelor's yet.