Free Winter term for Sophia members, Strayer U

[jch]

Being able to take a challenge exam at any time would be amazing.

I am not super thrilled about their (lack of) communication, though. I keep getting emails to "finish my enrollment" but there is literally nothing more for me to do. I have not gotten the DocuSign things that I am supposed to go over. I have uploaded my ID, sent in my transcripts (even though they're supposed to request them on my behalf) and now I just... wait. Very frustrating.

I have completed my admission as of this week. I received and signed all the docusign stuff on Tuesday and got back my official letter of acceptance on Wednesday. I've sent in all my transcripts, and they've received them all (except high school, but they have seen my diploma). Still waiting for Sophia to be processed, but everything else has hit my degree plan. I had scheduled a call to do my class enrollments on Thursday just before they left for the holiday, but nobody ever called. Strayer requires that the first quarter enrollment be done with assistance, and the website won't let you sign up for anything yourself. Throughout the process I have continued to receive automated marketing emails about finishing my enrollment and related things, irrespective of where I actually was in the process. The whole procedure seemed to go pretty well for me, as it took less then a week from filling out the interest form to completing admission.

I'm hoping that they will let me take CIS 110 (Computer programming design) and CIS 111 (Intro to relational database management) this quarter. I think I've met the prerequisites. While I am strong with many general CIS and BUS topics, databases and programming have always been weak areas for me. I don't think I'd be able to personally pass any alt credit for these, and have always wanted to do them as an actual class. Per the TESU transfer tool, these classes should transfer in favorably. Maybe they'll make me sign up for some development class like WRK100 or something, but I can deal with that.

One significant benefit of Strayer for me is that they have free practice tests and discounted exam vouchers for many IT certs available for anyone in icampus. I have been planning to take all the CompTIA stuff for years. Back in high school, I participated in several competitions based on A+, Security+, and Network+, ranking in the top ten nationally. I just never got around to taking the real cert exams.

Also there's a link for a free digital subscription to the Wall Street Journal at the bottom left corner of the icampus home screen.

I have figured out how to sign up for the challenge exams at proctorU. Once my household quiets down this weekend and I have space/time to do so, I plan to attempt a few of the 100-level exams. If those go well, I will start picking my way through everything else. There are many upper level courses offered which look like they'll apply to a BSBA/CIS at TESU. Of course, I'll tell y'all how it goes.