Which school for CS?

[MNomadic]

Isn’t taking these cs courses through study.com and 3rd party sites cutting yourself short with knowledge and “legitness”?

OP defined their priorities for college choice as: "finish quicker/cheaper."

At the end of the day, they'll have an RA accredited degree. Will it be as rigorous/legit as say MIT? No. Will it meet their defined priorities? Yes. 

If one is prioritizing "legitness," there are other schools that accept fewer transfer credits but have cheaper classes. There are also higher-ranked schools that are more legit. It all depends on what you're prioritizing. As others have mentioned, one could go for the cheap/quick degree and then try to get into a more prestigious grad program to get the most bang for their buck. For example, spend sub $10k on an undergrad CS degree in under 2 years then spend $10k on GT or UT Austin MSCS in another 2ish years. Total time/cost = 4 years/$20k. Or one could spend that same amount of time and money(or more) pursuing a traditional BSCS at a B&M and only have an undergrad degree. Additionally, many people learn more beyond their course requirements with independent studies, portfolio projects, and work experience.

[supreme1995_a]

I understand the cheaper route and masters vs B&m online.. I’m challenging the level of legitness with the degree but that’s only part of it. The education aspect, if you don’t learn coding , Programming , data structures and experience through professors and lectures/courses then what good is that degree for? Most of these jobs see a degree and say “cool, now what’s the answer to x y and z or do this programming exercise”. If you cut the education aspect short (undergrad) are you ready for the grad program or a job? These are legit questions, idk what’s the right answer

[Pats20]

I understand the cheaper route and masters vs B&m online.. I’m challenging the level of legitness with the degree but that’s only part of it. The education aspect, if you don’t learn coding , Programming , data structures and experience through professors and lectures/courses then what good is that degree for? Most of these jobs see a degree and say “cool, now what’s the answer to x y and z or do this programming exercise”. If you cut the education aspect short (undergrad) are you ready for the grad program or a job? These are legit questions, idk what’s the right answer

Troll.

[bjcheung77]

Spend some time reading more and you'll know the answer to that question of yours. Knowledge/wisdom is subjective, you can be the book worm and do things exactly to the textbook, but in reality, you don't have the experience to know the practical things in life... this is exactly how my aunt who I totally disagree with in many things do her job! OMG, she is "textbook smart" and gets the best grades in her classes, but hot damn, she's the most stupid person I know! There is no logic in what she does and how dumb she is, don't get me started with her, it will never end...

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I should apologize, I am not like this in person or online, I don't mind people asking questions or anything, but when it comes down to what my aunt does, it gets to me... I believe I am a patient person, I just don't know what "kicks in" when ever she's around... It's different for everyone, each person's learning style and way they retain info is unique, some ways work and others may not..

For OP/supreme, if you really need to get an education, with alternative credit, you're not cutting corners, these are "equivalent" to college courses. Heck, an example of mine, I did the BSBA Capstone course at Penn Foster and transferred it in, I also took the TECEP just for the double credit (as they did not duplicate the course) and to retain my knowledge of the info better. Another example is, because Sophia had the free subscription, I took courses that I would otherwise never will take (and took duplicate courses just to review/renew my knowledge in that subject).

[MNomadic]

I understand the cheaper route and masters vs B&m online.. I’m challenging the level of legitness with the degree but that’s only part of it. The education aspect, if you don’t learn coding , Programming , data structures and experience through professors and lectures/courses then what good is that degree for? Most of these jobs see a degree and say “cool, now what’s the answer to x y and z or do this programming exercise”. If you cut the education aspect short (undergrad) are you ready for the grad program or a job? These are legit questions, idk what’s the right answer

Who said you're not learning those things?

[nyvrem]

I understand the cheaper route and masters vs B&m online.. I’m challenging the level of legitness with the degree but that’s only part of it. The education aspect, if you don’t learn coding , Programming , data structures and experience through professors and lectures/courses then what good is that degree for? Most of these jobs see a degree and say “cool, now what’s the answer to x y and z or do this programming exercise”. If you cut the education aspect short (undergrad) are you ready for the grad program or a job? These are legit questions, idk what’s the right answer

might i suggest considering Minot State U's online BS in CS program. it's done using live classes online.

https://www.minotstateu.edu/online/degrees.shtml

that way you can get your degree online, and get hands on learning + live instructor teaching.

[rachel83az]

I understand the cheaper route and masters vs B&m online.. I’m challenging the level of legitness with the degree but that’s only part of it. The education aspect, if you don’t learn coding , Programming , data structures and experience through professors and lectures/courses then what good is that degree for?

What? Seriously?

Most of these jobs see a degree and say “cool, now what’s the answer to x y and z or do this programming exercise”.

This is a huge issue no matter where or how you get your degree. In general, most Comp Sci graduates DO NOT KNOW HOW TO PROGRAM. It is up to the student to actually spend time outside of school on things like CodeWars, HackerRank, Exercism, etc.

If you cut the education aspect short (undergrad) are you ready for the grad program or a job? These are legit questions, idk what’s the right answer

With TESU's Comp Sci, you're leveraging what you already know so that you don't have to spend time in class "relearning" something for the 20th time. Quite a few of the alternate credit sources are actually MORE rigorous than an equivalent in-seat course. Their advantage is that they cost MUCH less (a class from TESU costs about 15x what a Study.com course does) and you can finish them at your own pace. 

As an example, if you understand algorithms, you don't have to listen to the lecturer explain them again for the students that don't understand. If you don't understand algorithms, you can listen to the lecture(s) again as many times as you need to in order to grasp the concepts being taught.

[bjcheung77]

I understand the cheaper route and masters vs B&m online.. I’m challenging the level of legitness with the degree but that’s only part of it. The education aspect, if you don’t learn coding , Programming , data structures and experience through professors and lectures/courses then what good is that degree for? Most of these jobs see a degree and say “cool, now what’s the answer to x y and z or do this programming exercise”. If you cut the education aspect short (undergrad) are you ready for the grad program or a job? These are legit questions, idk what’s the right answer

might i suggest considering Minot State U's online BS in CS program. it's done using live classes online.

https://www.minotstateu.edu/online/degrees.shtml

that way you can get your degree online, and get hands on learning + live instructor teaching.

Yeah, you can try that BS CS and then ladder to their MS CS for $10 grand and finish in an extra year. What we recommend is to accelerate/compact the education, not cut corners to your education. We advocate learning cheaper, easier, faster, not skipping anything in the process - that's where the value/ROI comes into play. You can finish these programs by laddering the BSCS to the MSCS and be "one and done" at this school. My previous thread for the MSCS Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...USD-1-Year?

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Err, it's an MSIS not MSCS...

[LevelUP]

Quite honestly. Even with transferring  in the max alt credit. If you don’t have a background in tech, Good luck completing in 6 months is all I’ve got to say. Especially if you’re working full time and have a home and family. Lol. 6 months to knock out discrete
Math , calculus, computer architecture, net work tech , linear algebra (if you want to go to grad school) , data structures, and Not mentioning the basic programming courses. And let’s not forget about the cornerstone and capstone. All after a few months of Sophia. I think six months for most people is a pipe dream. If you can get a bacs in start to finish in with max alt credit and 30 ra 2 years working full time consider it a job well done.

The struggle is real.  I think I have a slight case of PTSD from going through those courses!

For computer science..what school would allow you to finish quicker/cheaper ?

WGU vs TESU ?

Looking for a CS degree, but dont know which one to pick

Also, TESU is a BA whereas WGU is a BS..does that make a hiring difference?

Thanks

I know you said Computer Science, but you also said which you can finish quicker/cheaper.

Purdue Global has an ExcelTracxk Information Technology degree that could be done in 6 months for under $3500.  Once you bring in the W3Schools PHP Certificate and the AWS Practitioner certifications, you pretty much hacked the degree.  You only need around 20 more courses, and you're done compared to about 40 courses for a typical Bachelor's degree.

Some might worry that an IT degree might somehow be a pigeonhole degree, though I don't think that is the case.  Some free electives are available, so it may be possible to customize the degree to contain similar courses to a computer science degree.

I would think that Purdue has the highest brand recognition out of all the schools recommended on this forum. But, according to a recent speech given by Purdue's president, Mitch Daniels, they want Boilermakers attending the school, not Snowflakes!
https://youtu.be/LmkQDpK4Ngk

[bluebooger]

> Isn’t taking these cs courses through study.com and 3rd party sites cutting yourself short with knowledge

have you looked at some of the courses at study.com ?

Computer Science 323: Wireless & Mobile Networking
https://study.com/academy/course/compute...rking.html

https://study.com/academy/lesson/wireles...twork.html

https://study.com/academy/lesson/wireles...-labs.html


Computer Science 106: Introduction to Linux
https://study.com/academy/course/compute...linux.html

https://study.com/academy/lesson/introdu...ystem.html