Fast Masters Degree?

[ryoder]

NCU has a 10 course MBA program that can be completed in as little as 6 months.

[valsacar]

My BS in IT from EC is conferred on the 17th, already set up to have them overnight my final transcripts to WGU. Plan is to start WGU in March (company paying the whole thing, but WGU is cheap). My goal is to finish within a year, with hopes of 6 months. It is an MS in Information Security and Assurance, a subject that I have a lot of experience in, hence I think I may be able to do it in 6 months (but with work you never know). I chose them because they are RA, they have the first level of NSA approval (important for IT security degrees, the 2nd level would be better though) and because they use some big IT certifications as final exams. I think they have one of the best deals around for those in IT security/assurance.

[ryoder]

Keep us updated on your progress valsacar.
I was very close to enrolling in that program and I even bought the books necessary for most of the certifications required. I studied and passed Network+ and then the school changed to requiring the CCNA exam. So I bought those books and read a few and even have the Boson network simulator that allows one to configure Cisco routers and switches in a virtual lab environment.
So you can start studying now for the CCNA and that will help you to finish in 6 months.

[rhapsodyinblue]

Just curious about the cost?

I am currently active duty military so the total is $11,880. Civilian cost is $18,000 if going to a satellite campus but around $24,300 if done all online. These are the graduate rates. The undergrads are lower. I researched many options and this was the fastest and most convenient for me. I just wanted to post in case someone wanted to look at this as one of their options. They also have an option to take courses on the Air Force base but they only offer certain degrees that way. The cost of civilians to do that route is $15,120. If anyone has questions feel free to pm me.

[valsacar]

Keep us updated on your progress valsacar.
I was very close to enrolling in that program and I even bought the books necessary for most of the certifications required. I studied and passed Network+ and then the school changed to requiring the CCNA exam. So I bought those books and read a few and even have the Boson network simulator that allows one to configure Cisco routers and switches in a virtual lab environment.
So you can start studying now for the CCNA and that will help you to finish in 6 months.

I'm actually trying to finish CCNA in the next few days. With WGU you can have the classes "cleared" IE passed if you already hold the cert when you enroll. Only those classes that end in taking the certification exam. They recently changed the program to go with CCENT instead of CCNA (they said it fit better with the intended goal of the degree, a little less network tech), but of course CCENT is half of CCNA so they'll accept either.

[ryoder]

valsacar, that is good news. I bought materials for the CCENT and CCNA. I studied my but off and learned enough to pass the CCENT pretty quickly since I had recently passed the Network+ and passed all 6 MCSE tests a long time ago. The CCNA, however is a lot of information to cover.
If I have time, I will go back and complete studying and then pass that CCENT test. Just in case I decide to enroll in the WGU MSIA again.
I am going as slow as possible on my NCU education now so I could might be able to do 2 degrees at the same time. Especially if its just a matter of me taking the tests as time permits.

Please let me know how it goes.

[lumpylump]

I'm actually trying to finish CCNA in the next few days. With WGU you can have the classes "cleared" IE passed if you already hold the cert when you enroll. Only those classes that end in taking the certification exam. They recently changed the program to go with CCENT instead of CCNA (they said it fit better with the intended goal of the degree, a little less network tech), but of course CCENT is half of CCNA so they'll accept either.

Last time I checked, WGU also dropped the horrid(*) EC-Council Enterprise Disaster Recovery Professional (EDRP) exam from the curriculum so the degree is 32 units at the moment. This leaves the CCENT, Certified Ethical Hacker v7 (CEH), Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI), and the GIAC Certified ISO-27000 Specialist certifications to earn. I believe that's 11 units that could be earned ahead of time and transferred in.

* EDRP was "horrid" because the study materials provided by EC-Council were.. ah... not so good and the exam had a high first-time failure rate. EDRP was still in my program and I felt fortunate to pass it on the first attempt.

[ryoder]

Very cool. They also dropped the wireless cert too. I studied for that for a while and my head was spinning with acronyms. WiFi security is semi-interesting, but it has really been commoditized with WPA-2 available cheaply.

[valsacar]

Yeah, actually wasn't happy to see they took out the EDRP as I wanted to take it... didn't know about the study material though. If you've done stuff with them, for the CEH I assume it's all the official EC-Council stuff so you are qualified to take the test without doing the painful "prove experience" part?

[lumpylump]

Yeah, actually wasn't happy to see they took out the EDRP as I wanted to take it... didn't know about the study material though. If you've done stuff with them, for the CEH I assume it's all the official EC-Council stuff so you are qualified to take the test without doing the painful "prove experience" part?

Actually I'm not sure if the experience waiver is due to using the EC Council material, or due to some arrangement with WGU, but there is no 'prove experience' component to fret over. The school took care of the fees and registration for the three EC Council exams I've had to take so all I had to do was learn the material and pass. I hope WGU will find some other business continuity certification as the subject definitely belongs in the curriculum.

The official EDRP study material was pretty bad. Over 900 pages of business continuity minutiae in dire need of a refresh if not a major overhaul.