Good Path for Computer Science: Social Work to Tech

[25BangBang]

This is for my partner, Brittany, who wants a career change. She is interested in keeping cost low and would like to get a degree in the year. More importantly, she would like to build a foundation in CS that will lead to a internship. She learns best through reading a textbook and taking notes. She plans to do leetcode and follow along through a textbook while passing classes. Not a super strong test taker.



Your Location: North Carolina, USA
Your Age: 33
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor's in Computer Science, primarily looking at TESU or WGU but open to other options (especially with the new WGU curriculum bringing uncertainty).
Current Regional Accredited Credits:

BA in Journalism from DePaul in 2013.
Master's in Social Work (MSW) from University of Southern California in 2018

5 classes at local community college (Wake Tech) in past 6 months: Fundamentals of Web Development, Fundamentals of UX, Web Design 101 and 102, Intro to Programming
This was done to search for interested in "tech" career. Liked programming in Java the most.

Also took 7 classes at LSUS's MBA program before dropping out because of difficulty with 'Accounting' class. "Management Information Systems" may transfer from LSUS.

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:
None so far but interested. 

Any certifications or military experience? Has unrelated LCSW, no military experience.
Budget: Preferably under $12k
Commitments: Works full-time remotely.
Dedicated time to study: About 15-25 hours / week. That is what she is comfortably spending on her local CC classes
Timeline: Preferably around 12 months
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Chapter 35, or "spouse GI Bill". She gets around $1.5k/month to take classes full time. She has around 24 months left of this benefit. No plans for more grad school at this time.


We were leaning towards WGU at first but once we realized how difficult it would be to test out in 6-12 months (especially with the new curriculum), started leaning towards TESU. TESU's RA requirement should be easy to reach with DePaul's degree which leaves lots of easier credits. She is also interested in the associate's in math that people talk about. I am also partial towards TESU because my BA in History is from TESU but I also had very different circumstances.

What's a good plan for her? I was thinking of Sophia (two classes) for Intro to IT and Calculus and SDC (7 classes) for CS-103, CS-201, CS-240, Discrete Math, CS-330 (UL), CS-302 (UL), CS-303 (UL). Then taking a 5 class fixed semester of CIS-351, two math classes, capstone, and cornerstone. This would keep cost to around $5k. But that would be a super intense semester (I imagine 30-40 hours of week of work) so interested in other options as well. Has anyone done something similar while working full-time? 



Thank you for your help. Again, open to other options for Computer Science.

[ss20ts]

What courses does she have from her bachelor's degree?

[allvia]

I would recommend she applies to TESU, they will waive all Gen Eds because she already has a bachelor. Since she may already have some courses that fall into the BACS AOS, so it is best she gets an official evaluation. It is certainly within her budget, and they are military friendly. Also, the credits that sound like they could fall into the AOS were earned after her last degree conferred (2018) so she is good with them applying as 'new' credits - https://blog.tesu.edu/the-secret-to-earn...ond-degree

It wouldn't hurt to apply to WGU as well, they will evaluate and then she can see where she is before committing. With WGU you cannot transfer in any other courses once you Enroll, and they require that 25% of the degree be completed with them. Again with the budget you've listed it too is a good option.

[thornytumbleweed]

Another way to get some CS credits is Coursera. Google's Cloud Data Analytics, will get you CIS 3110 and CLD 4300. Google Data Analytics and IBM's Data Science Professional are also recommended as they get you Python programming, R Programming, and SQL. Lastly IBM's Full Stack will get you CLD 4200. You also get a bunch of other assorted credits that will definitely fill up any extra electives.

As an aside, TESU's BACS does not count ITS and CYB courses in the AOS. So some of the excess credits from Coursera aren't useful to the BACS.

[louise]

I'm also a social worker (MSW, LCSW) and I've been working towards a CS degree at TESU. I highly recommend it. The complete waiver of everything but AOS has been great. I take alternative credits at Coursera and Study.com which is more affordable and transfer them in. This has been great because social work can get really stressful and busy and it allows me to pause for a bit and then pick right back up. Now some of the Study courses aren't great, but you get out what you put in. Some people will fly through them, but if the intent is to learn it's still doable in a reasonable amount of time while actually learning.

I only plan to do the capstone at TESU and pay the waiver fee so I can keep flexibility with classes. My estimated total cost will end up being like $7k. Because she already has a bachelor's she shouldn't need the cornerstone class, btw. I've been using the Wiki to guide my class choices: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ience_Plan

I've actually slowed down my graduation so I can hopefully do any internship next summer. I'm focusing more on data though as opposed to software so the Intro to SAS, Advanced SAS, and Google Data Coursera certs have been great with learning.

[bjcheung77]

Basically, +1, I agree with applying to TESU and WGU to see where she's at with the credits, you can take the alternative credits that will work towards both degrees as there will be overlap. When you've max your transfer to both, you'll know where you stand and can see which one would be a better fit. I suggest creating a spreadsheet and have both degree plans side by side to compare, you'll also be able to use this as a reference plus progress tracking...

[25BangBang]

I'm also a social worker (MSW, LCSW) and I've been working towards a CS degree at TESU....

This is encouraging. Brittany enjoyed learning that someone else has gone down a similar path that she is considering. 

We have applied to TESU (transcripts waiting) and have stalled on WGU due to a misunderstanding. Considering that she will need to take one class (the capstone) at TESU making it $7k, 12 months at WGU would be comparable price so both are decent options. However, we are leaning towards TESU due to only taking one traditional class and the ease of understanding the credit transfer.


Brittany really likes the Cousera courses because she has had a subscription with them before. The 'IBM Full Stack Professional' cert is the one she has her eye on, particularly for the UL credit. Will she earn any other 'AOS LL elective' credit from that Coursera course? She likes the Coursera option because it gives her an opportunity to get ACE credit for a full-stack project she wanted to work on anyways.

I really enjoyed studying for the Microsoft AI-900 cert and have heard that you can get TESU BACS credit for it. Can anyone confirm this? Would be great for her to earn credit, even LL, and to have a cert on her resume. Also, I heard students can get a free or reduced priced voucher for the Azure Fundamental certs, has anyone heard about this?

As her CC classes wind down, she will be focusing on knocking out the two Sophia classes first. Will keep this thread updated. Thank you all for your input and encouragement.

[jg_nuy]

Coursera equivalencies here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Coursera

[25BangBang]

Coursera equivalencies here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Coursera

I guess my question is which ones apply to the AOS or degree requirements? Pasted from the 

CLD-1100 Intro to Cloud Computing, ITS-2310 Database Programming, CLD-4200 Architecting Cloud Solutions, ITS-2999 Special Topics in Information Technology, COS-2050 Python Programming (15 credits total)

Does CLD-4200 count as a UL AOS? COS-2050 seems to be an LL AOS elective. What about the other 9 credits? If anyone here knows, that'd be great. We expect to hear back from the TESU counselor before the end of the month so will update this thread when we know as well.

[louise]

I'm also a social worker (MSW, LCSW) and I've been working towards a CS degree at TESU....

This is encouraging. Brittany enjoyed learning that someone else has gone down a similar path that she is considering. 

We have applied to TESU (transcripts waiting) and have stalled on WGU due to a misunderstanding. Considering that she will need to take one class (the capstone) at TESU making it $7k, 12 months at WGU would be comparable price so both are decent options. However, we are leaning towards TESU due to only taking one traditional class and the ease of understanding the credit transfer.


Brittany really likes the Cousera courses because she has had a subscription with them before. The 'IBM Full Stack Professional' cert is the one she has her eye on, particularly for the UL credit. Will she earn any other 'AOS LL elective' credit from that Coursera course? She likes the Coursera option because it gives her an opportunity to get ACE credit for a full-stack project she wanted to work on anyways.

I really enjoyed studying for the Microsoft AI-900 cert and have heard that you can get TESU BACS credit for it. Can anyone confirm this? Would be great for her to earn credit, even LL, and to have a cert on her resume. Also, I heard students can get a free or reduced priced voucher for the Azure Fundamental certs, has anyone heard about this?

As her CC classes wind down, she will be focusing on knocking out the two Sophia classes first. Will keep this thread updated. Thank you all for your input and encouragement.

After my TESU transcript evaluation was done I ended up making a spreadsheet of what I had left and made a plan with the Wiki of what classes I would take. Most of my credits have been completed at Study.com (Intro to Programming, Discrete Math, Operating Systems, Computer Architecture, Database Management, Data Structures, MIS, and Systems Analysis and Design) because Coursera doesn't have a lot of the classes needed. 

That left me with 2 lower levels electives, 1 upper level elective, calculus, and the capstone. I'm doing my 3 electives left through Coursera (because I think they are better for learning and offer me the data-related courses) and I used the link someone posted above to choose what would transfer in. I plan to do calculus at Sophia.

So my cost break down will end up being about $3222 for courses (including the capstone at TESU), $3354 for the TESU residency waiver fee, and $298 graduation fee. There's probably a way to do it cheaper and she probably won't have as many classes to complete since she is transferring some in from a CC.