Help Degree in IT

[Shadow Chill]

I have been searching and reading online how to get an affordable degree which let me to Jay Cross's DIY Program and then more research led me here. I was so tempted to sign on with Jay Cross until I found all the great information and knowledgeable people in this forum and I am more motivated then ever to get my degree.

I have a high school diploma from another Country and did not have the opportunity to go to College. I have worked in IT for 27 years and how I moved from job to job is through dedication and self taught knowledge.

I hate to admit I knew absolutely nothing about attending college or studying, except what I have learned through the last 6 months online.

I have a fantastic consulting job in IT but I work very long hours and cannot get anything permanent because I do not have a degree. My goal now having found this forum is to start as soon as possible. I have read about the big 3 and I was leaning towards an IT degree in Excelsior but think I may be better off with TESC.

I need someone that can help me understand what credits I should at least start out with, what to study and any other tips to get started. Do I register at a College first then study and test out. I have not been able to piece everything together, I dont mean to make myself sound like an idiot, its just alot of information to figure out.

Thank everyone in this forum and look forward to receive some good feedback to at least start me off.

[dfrecore]

I've spent some time looking at the IT degrees because my husband is interested and works in IT. I personally don't like the IT degrees from the Big 3 because I think the classes they require are too difficult or expensive to find. You need to look at the degrees for each to understand what I mean.

Anyway, I lean heavily towards the IT degree at WGU instead. It's self-paced, but you can get through it quickly if you work hard. You could conceivably finish the UL/IT courses in the 6-month term, so it would only cost $2890. That means that you need to go in with as many credits earned as possible, especially the general education courses you can easily and cheaply get through testing out. If you go to their website and look at a specific degree, and scroll down to "View more details about your course of study" and click on it, you can see exactly what courses you need for the degree program. Then, I would go take all the non-IT courses that you could, probably grabbing an AA at TESU along the way. For example, the BSIT-Security has 33 courses, 16 of which could be tested out of. If you added a few courses to get the AA in Liberal Studies, and made sure to get 4 TECEP's in there, you would spend about $2000 on the AA. Then you could start the BS at WGU and get it done in 6 months. That's just an option, but I think it's a good one.

If you want the BSAST at TESU, You would still need the $2000 towards the AA, plus an additional $1560 for the capstone. You're at $3,560, and haven't even started taking your UL courses. Some are not easy to find, so you're looking at several thousand more dollars just to take the requirements.

Anyway, I think you should check out WGU in addition to the Big 3 and see what you think.

[sanantone]

Another option is Hodges University. They're a little cheaper than WGU, but WGU also includes certifications at no additional cost.

[ajs1976]

Shadow Chill,

Do you have any IT Certs? you may be able to get some credit for them.

Are you interested at all in general Business topics? The BSBA:CIS at TESU is the easiest IT related degree to test out of, but it has more Business requirements then CIS requirements. It only made sense for me because I had previously taken a number of business classes.

Do you want the cheapest degree possible? Do you want one as fast as possible? Are you a programmer / developer (would lean towards a CS degree)?

[Shadow Chill]

Thank you for the great feedback, I am thrilled I found this forum.
Dfrecore - Thank you I have a few questions for you, what does UL mean ?
The general education courses, how many are there ? do all degrees the same GE courses or does it depend on the degree ? if i was to start with the general education courses how would i get started ? do i have to apply to a college first ?
I looked at WGU and the courses that are needed however here is my confusion, as your example just using BSIT-Security 33 courses, 16 can be tested out of, how do I know what 16 can be tested out of ? I am not interested in that degree but if I was to start with that, what is the first activity with all the non IT courses.
You mention grabbin an AA at TESU on the way, what does that mean, what do I need to do to accomplish this ?
how can i add a few more courses to get the AA in liberal arts, i assume you mean add to the 16, how do i know what classes to add or do i go with what is required of the college ?
I see there are alot of different named courses, CLEB, Straighliner etc is this just a matter of preference ? or is the requirement to study all of them in the the courses that are required ?
4 TECEP's what is 4 TECEP's ?
I am sorry if some of these questions are repeated, I am just trying to figure it all out.
Thanks
Shadow

[Shadow Chill]

Hi Andy,
My CERTS are outdated, however I do have some Project Management Training Certs.
I am interested in any related degree, at this point it has become a requirement and of course I need to get it completed quickly because these are the kinds of demands we place on ourselves :-)
I am really looking for a mixture of what you mentioned, I am not a good tester not a good person to study either meaning a little A.D.D (self evaluated) however I really need this degree also for personal growth. So I am really trying to figure it al out, I personally want to take the fast route but I realize that might compromise the IT degree I actually want, however my thought is if I start with the General Education classes, that would be a start, my struggle Andy is I dont have the fainest idea where to start. I will take a look at the BSBA: CIS as I have been in management positions for quite some time now which does not requite me to have all the technical details just a high level understanding. I am currently in a senior IT Project Management role. Any advise you give me I will research and I very much appreciate your opinion and direction.
Shadow

[Shadow Chill]

Everyones feedback helps so Thank you, I did also take a look at Sanantone’s BSBA in General Management, I might struggle with the Math/Accounting. Not that I am not willing to give anything a try before deciding I will fail :-)

[dfrecore]

Thank you for the great feedback, I am thrilled I found this forum.
Dfrecore - Thank you I have a few questions for you, what does UL mean ?
The general education courses, how many are there ? do all degrees the same GE courses or does it depend on the degree ? if i was to start with the general education courses how would i get started ? do i have to apply to a college first ?
I looked at WGU and the courses that are needed however here is my confusion, as your example just using BSIT-Security 33 courses, 16 can be tested out of, how do I know what 16 can be tested out of ? I am not interested in that degree but if I was to start with that, what is the first activity with all the non IT courses.
You mention grabbin an AA at TESU on the way, what does that mean, what do I need to do to accomplish this ?
how can i add a few more courses to get the AA in liberal arts, i assume you mean add to the 16, how do i know what classes to add or do i go with what is required of the college ?
I see there are alot of different named courses, CLEB, Straighliner etc is this just a matter of preference ? or is the requirement to study all of them in the the courses that are required ?
4 TECEP's what is 4 TECEP's ?
I am sorry if some of these questions are repeated, I am just trying to figure it all out.
Thanks
Shadow

So, my first thought is that you need to spend some time on this forum, just reading, and reading, and reading. I think a solid month (if not two) of reading posts as they come up each day, and starting all the way at the beginning of each one, will help you tremendously. There is a lot to learn, and you will not learn it all from your one post - we couldn't possibly tell you everything there is to know right here! But that's ok, if you're willing to learn, then you will be pleasantly surprised when you spend some time on here how much you will learn in a short time.

That being said, I think you should spend some time looking at some different degree plans at all of the Big 3: Thomas Edison State Univ (TESU), Excelsior (EC) & Charter Oak State College (COSC). Plus take a look at the IT degrees at WGU (there are several) and Hodges University. Look at the technical degrees like IT or Computer Science, and the Business Degrees.

I will give you an example of the courses that can be tested out of for the BSIT at WGU. Intermediate Algebra, Effective Communication, English Comp I & II, Critital Thinking, College Algebra, Intro to Geography, Intro to Humanities, Integrated Natural Science, Intro to Statistics, Intro to Physics, Into to IT, Networks, Organizational Behavior, Principles of Management, Project Management, and Technical Writing. Some of these will have very specific things the college is looking for (Intro to Statistics or Tech Writing or Org Behavior), while some are general categories of courses and there are several optiohs (Critical Thinking, Geography, Humanities, Natural Science). So you have to figure out what they will accept in those categories (they have some on their website).

To grab an AA at TESU on the way to a BS at WGU, you would plan out your degree at WGU, then use those same courses you have to take anyway, to plan an AA at TESU. Then you would fill in the blanks with the rest of the courses an AA would require. It is not a necessity, but WGU does say that having an AA/AS can help pave the way for their GenEd's to get waived and just move on to your core requirements. In this particular instance, you would only need 4 additional courses to get the AA, so it would probably be worth it.

If you decide to get a different degree though, it's not always helpful to get the AA first, especially if you're at the same school. I'm almost done with my BSBA in HR at TESU, but I did not get my ASBA because it didn't seem important. But sometimes if you can spend not a lot more to get the AA from a different school than you're getting your BA/BS from, it may be worthwhile.

You should not enroll at any of the schools until you are quite a bit into the degree program, because for most schools you pay per each enrollment period, and you don't want to start paying when you're not close to graduation. At least, I don't. For TESU, there is no fee, and you lock in your catalog (which could be important before July 1 when the catalog changes each year), so you might want to do it there, but I'm not certain even then.

The different options for testing out or taking courses is mostly a matter of preference. Some courses will only have 1 option, but most will have several. For instance principles of Management can be taken through Saylor, CLEP, UExcel, SL, study.com, or Propero. Project Management, on the other hand, can only be gotten through Sophia. There is something for everyone, and some people will do Saylor (a free course, you don't have to go through it if you don't want to, and then you take the proctored final for $25), some people don't like their setup and would prefer SL (a course where you have to go all the way through and take quizzes along the way which all count towards your grade) or CLEP tests (true testing out, just go to a testing center and take the exam). UExcel is true testing out, study.com is a course that you have to go through, but the quizzes along the way do NOT count towards your grade, Sophia is more like SL but all video-based, etc. Every method has their pros and cons.

If you scroll down to post #26 in this thread, there are some good places to start getting free and/or cheap credits: http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...inner.html

But first, you really need to figure out which degree you want to get and get a plan; and all of this after doing some reading, and researching so you get the best plan for yourself.

Good luck!

[davewill]

Thank you for the great feedback, I am thrilled I found this forum.
Dfrecore - Thank you I have a few questions for you, what does UL mean ? ...

UL stands for "Upper Level" at most schools they will have course numbers in the 300 or 400 range, and will often need to be in you area of study for your degree.

GenEds are usually similar at all schools. Typically all degrees of the same general type at a school will have the same GenEd requirements. For instance, all BAs will have the same GenEds, BSs will have a slightly different set of GenEd requirements. You can take things like English Comp, English Lit, and College Algebra with confidence that they will be needed for any bachelor's degree anywhere...but you will want to settle on a school before going too far down the GenEd path.

I did my GenEd over 20 years ago, and when I decided to finish up, my old credits covered all but three of the GenEd requirements at TESU, and I was able to test out of those. The rest of what I needed were either area of study requirements or electives I could fill any way I wanted.

[Shadow Chill]

Thanks again I did not for a minute think my one post would provide a solution and I would be on my way, I realize I have quite a bit of research and work to do in order to plan for the degree. I really appreciate the efforts put into the responses and dfrecore, I will take your advise and continue my research however I will be back with questions.
Regards SC