Finding a quick AA

[user-101010]

Your Location: Nevada, United States
Your Age: 20
What kind of degree do you want?: Eventually Computer Science, fine with general studies/business for AA/AS or BA/BS depending on whether I go associates -> bachelors or bachelors -> masters
Current Regional Accredited Credits:

Community College: 9
Pre Calc, 3, B
Web Design 1, 3, A
Web Design 2, 3, A

State School: 5
French 103, 5, Pass

ASU EA: 4
AST 111 + Lab, 3, B

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

Sophia: 12
Art History 2, 3, 79%
Intro to Ethics, 3, 76%
Intro to Psych, 3, 82%
Macroeconomics, 3, 76%

AP: 6
World History, 6,

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In addition to these I'm also working on

Sophia:
Microeconomics
US History 1
US History 2
Public Speaking
Environmental Sci

Saylor:
Chem 101

Unsure:
Eng 101
Eng 102

In the hopes of putting these towards an associate's degree, I had originally planned to take these, as well as any residency or corner/capstone @ COSC, TESU or Excelsior depending on cost.

My goal is to get an RA AA/AS (not applied) degree so that I can take that and transfer into a state school to finish my bachelors there. I understand that many here are fans of getting a bachelors online, especially when it can be so similar in cost to an associates, and taking that and getting their masters. I wouldn't necessarilly be opposed to that, but I would like to be finished up and moving on, or in the position to start applying to an in-person, state school within the span of a few months.

The reason why I've found myself using alternative credit/education is because I tanked my GPA early on, at multiple schools, and at this point my best bet is to have at least an AA when I go to apply, hopefully showing that my academic performance has come to a point where I am taking it more seriously. Better yet, any degree programs that have some graded, rather than pass/fail courses, would allow me to again show a change in academic performance on what'll be my most recent transcript.

Additionally, if any CCs on the west coast (WA, OR, CA, ID, AZ) would take a significant amount of my credits, most importantly the ACE credits, I'd be open to that so long as the cost isn't something too high. This would be preferred if the credits would transfer, being that it'd be somewhat local it'd give me more options on where I end up going for my next two years, based on AA transfer requirements.

Another option I have is picking up a job at target, and taking advantage of their paid bachelors degrees in either computer science or business from the list of approved schools. My only concern here is that my absurdly low GPA (1.1) will prevent me from being accepted to any of the schools.

I appreciate any help, thanks!

[rachel83az]

FWIW, Associate degrees often do NOT transfer as block credits. They will evaluate each course individually. So, if the school doesn't accept ACE credits, you'd still be out of luck. That said, check out this Associate degree from Purdue Global: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ity-Global Total cost would be about $2700.

But, I'm also going to suggest something a bit radical. If you don't need the Associate right now for work purposes, skip it. Save that money for the instructions below. If you DO need an Associate for work purposes, get the free Pierpont one instead while you're enacting the other instructions: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pierpont_C%26TC

Now, go to UMPI. https://online.umpi.edu/programs/ You'll want to transfer in 80-90 credits; the degree you choose will determine which courses you should take to transfer. Do NOT do English Comp elsewhere; it's SO much easier at UMPI. IMO, you either want the BLS - Management Information Systems or the BABA - Project Management degree. You'll need a science-with-a-lab (Study.com BIO-101L) and foreign language (InstantCert Spanish) This will get you at least 30 graded credits and cost somewhere between $2800 and $4200 for 4-6 months (2 or 3 sessions) at UMPI. But you want Comp Sci!? No problem.

For Comp Sci, TESU. Because you'll have the UMPI degree already, you'll skip the gen ed requirements. No cornerstone, only capstone. Complete the AOS requirements as listed here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ience_Plan Cost for Comp Sci degree: $1557 capstone + $3100 for residency waiver = approx $4700 for your TESU degree.

This will get you TWO degrees, 30-40 more graded credits (depending on how you procede with UMPI), and should take less than a year of your time. If you are wanting to get a Master's degree, this should show academic improvement and make your application that much stronger.

[dfrecore]

First, transferring to a school with an AA is ONLY good if that school accepts an AA as a block transfer, with a 60cr-for-60cr trade - which almost never happens. If you can find this unicorn, let us know (some schools will do an AA-to-GE transfer, but it will only come out to something like 60cr-for-30cr or 60cr-for-45cr trade). So I'm going to skip this and go straight to the Bachelor's degree since that's what you want.

Second, ACE credit will not improve your GPA; the only way to do that is to get a lot of graded credit, with all high grades to counteract. Your best bet for this is UMPI, where you'll get at least 30 graded credits. But that is not a guarantee, since we don't know what your GPA is or how many credits that includes. For every F you get, you need the same number of credits as an A just to have a 2.0. Enough F's and there's just not enough you can do to get your GPA high enough for some programs. That being said, you do not have to have a high GPA at all schools to get in, or get a degree, or even get a master's degree. So it may not matter.

For UMPI, it looks like you have a lab science and foreign language, so I wouldn't go for more than that (not sure if the course info was in there before rachel83az replied). You COULD get the BLS degree, but I honestly think you're better off stopping all the Sophia courses, and planning a degree at WGU instead.

WGU has a CompSci bachelor's. Going straight to this and skipping the UMPI/TESU combo that rachel83az is suggesting would save you time and money. You can transfer in 90cr (generally) and many do the degree in a single term. A single term is $4,000, and even if you needed 2 terms, you'd be at $8,000 and wouldn't have to spend any time doing anything that didn't apply directly to CompSci (they only require 30cr of GE, the rest is all major-related). The UMPI/TESU combo would require many more credits (120+39) and would cost $7,500 if you finished UMPI in 1 term, or $8,900 in 2 terms, plus the cost of courses. I think that's too much time and money.

[rachel83az]

I'm not sure that a competency-based computer science degree from WGU is appropriate for someone with little/no experience in the field. Others, who have attended WGU, have advised against it under similar circumstances.

[LevelUP]

I agree with rachel83az's recommendations.

I know with TESU/UMPI earning A's and B's in those courses is pretty easy.  UMPI only issues A or B grades, nothing lower.

[dfrecore]

I'm not sure that a competency-based computer science degree from WGU is appropriate for someone with  little/no experience in the field. Others, who have attended WGU, have advised against it under similar circumstances.

I didn't see anywhere that the student has little/no experience in the field.

[rachel83az]

I'm not sure that a competency-based computer science degree from WGU is appropriate for someone with  little/no experience in the field. Others, who have attended WGU, have advised against it under similar circumstances.

I didn't see anywhere that the student has little/no experience in the field.

Someone who is only 20 years old and who wants a CS degree almost certainly has little/no experience in the CS field. Of course there are exceptions, but they're still fairly rare.

[bluebooger]

I'm not sure that a competency-based computer science degree from WGU is appropriate for someone with  little/no experience in the field. Others, who have attended WGU, have advised against it under similar circumstances.

how would they fulfill the CS requirements at TESU ?

• Introduction to Programming
  

• Data Structures
  

• Calculus I
  

• Discrete Math
  

• Operating Systems
  

• Computer Architecture
  

through study.com and straighterline ?   
is self studying through study.com and straighterline that much easier and better than self studying at WGU ?

[natshar]

I don't see any point in getting an associates degree given your situation. You are young and fully plan on getting a bachelors so just go straight to the bachelors and skip the AA.

If you want a quick AA that meets the requirements you stated your best would probably be your local community college. Especially when you consider transferability. But to me it still wouldn't make sense to get one either way.

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And you say your GPA is 1.1 do you mean High School GPA?

[rachel83az]

I'm not sure that a competency-based computer science degree from WGU is appropriate for someone with  little/no experience in the field. Others, who have attended WGU, have advised against it under similar circumstances.

how would they fulfill the CS requirements at TESU ?

• Introduction to Programming
  

• Data Structures
  

• Calculus I
  

• Discrete Math
  

• Operating Systems
  

• Computer Architecture
  

through study.com and straighterline ?   
is self studying through study.com and straighterline that much easier and better than self studying at WGU ?

For all but one class, it's almost certainly easier to take the non-WGU options. At least, if you are starting from scratch. It's certainly cheaper! But, for the sake of argument, let's say that SDC is somehow exactly as difficult and it takes exactly as long to complete the average class. A year of SDC costs between $720 and $2400 (depending on how long you spend on "premium" and how many exams you take with "college accelerator"). A year of WGU costs $7250 for a year. 

With the lack of gen ed requirements at WGU, and more comp sci courses, a student who isn't as familiar with comp sci is going to go slower and I really doubt that they'll be able to accelerate much faster than finishing in 2-3 years. That's $14,500-$21750 for a WGU degree, vs. less than $10k combined for two degrees from UMPI and TESU.