BS Cybersecurity with Excelsior

[BobaFett2010]

As an excelsior student. I can say this. Excelsior is one of (if not the most) easiest colleges to transfer credits to. They will accept ANYTHING. For CLEP and DANTE'S they accept the minimum passing score as credit. They accept AP classes, military experience, cyber certificates, FEMA cources....etc. speak with a counselor or someone at the college to get a better idea. I am finishing my undergrad there then going for my masters the later this year.

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[sanantone]

I've noticed that a lot of people have heard of Excelsior because they happened upon Bain4weeks (no longer useful) or word of mouth from the military. They usually don't know that TESU and COSC are just as flexible, and for some degrees, more flexible. 

For cybersecurity, you're going to need to take several courses to finish at the Big 3. It's cheaper and faster just to take them at WGU. WGU will accept CLEP, DSST, and ACE-approved courses for gen ed. If you already have an AS or AA, your gen ed will be automatically satisfied. If you're new to the field, you'll likely want certifications, and they're included in tuition at WGU.

[dfrecore]

As an excelsior student. I can say this. Excelsior is one of (if not the most) easiest colleges to transfer credits to. They will accept ANYTHING. For CLEP and DANTE'S they accept the minimum passing score as credit. They accept AP classes, military experience, cyber certificates, FEMA cources....etc. speak with a counselor or someone at the college to get a better idea. I am finishing my undergrad there then going for my masters the later this year.

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Excelsior is the most expensive of the Big 3 to get your degree, and certainly to take courses.  I hardly ever recommend them, and certainly not for a Cybersecurity degree.

People shouldn't ever make the mistake of looking BACKWARDS at what the school accepted from transfer credits, but always look FORWARD as what's remaining of your degree and the price/ease of getting those requirements met.  A school that will take 102cr but costs $9000 to complete is not better than a school that will take 60cr but costs $3000 to complete.

[jsd]

A school that will take 102cr but costs $9000 to complete is not better than a school that will take 60cr but costs $3000 to complete.

Yes!

And particularly in the field of Cybersecurity, this kind of cost/benefit analysis should come naturally to you.

[BobaFett2010]

As an excelsior student. I can say this. Excelsior is one of (if not the most) easiest colleges to transfer credits to. They will accept ANYTHING. For CLEP and DANTE'S they accept the minimum passing score as credit. They accept AP classes, military experience, cyber certificates, FEMA cources....etc. speak with a counselor or someone at the college to get a better idea. I am finishing my undergrad there then going for my masters the later this year.

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Excelsior is the most expensive of the Big 3 to get your degree, and certainly to take courses.  I hardly ever recommend them, and certainly not for a Cybersecurity degree.

People shouldn't ever make the mistake of looking BACKWARDS at what the school accepted from transfer credits, but always look FORWARD as what's remaining of your degree and the price/ease of getting those requirements met.  A school that will take 102cr but costs $9000 to complete is not better than a school that will take 60cr but costs $3000 to complete.

Being military I pay 250 a credit at 750 a class....in reality i pay nothing. But if i did thats what it would cost. Between my experience and the amount of cleps and dsst i have taken, i took a total of 34/120 credits there. But thats just me. I am looking around for my grad still but excelsior is one i am looking at

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[sanantone]

As an excelsior student. I can say this. Excelsior is one of (if not the most) easiest colleges to transfer credits to. They will accept ANYTHING. For CLEP and DANTE'S they accept the minimum passing score as credit. They accept AP classes, military experience, cyber certificates, FEMA cources....etc. speak with a counselor or someone at the college to get a better idea. I am finishing my undergrad there then going for my masters the later this year.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Excelsior is the most expensive of the Big 3 to get your degree, and certainly to take courses.  I hardly ever recommend them, and certainly not for a Cybersecurity degree.

People shouldn't ever make the mistake of looking BACKWARDS at what the school accepted from transfer credits, but always look FORWARD as what's remaining of your degree and the price/ease of getting those requirements met.  A school that will take 102cr but costs $9000 to complete is not better than a school that will take 60cr but costs $3000 to complete.

Being military I pay 250 a credit at 750 a class....in reality i pay nothing. But if i did thats what it would cost. Between my experience and the amount of cleps and dsst i have taken, i took a total of 34/120 credits there. But thats just me. I am looking around for my grad still but excelsior is one i am looking at

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I was right. You are military! LOL

I also consider time when evaluating programs. I would probably choose to spend a couple of thousand extra to save a year or more of schooling because you also have to consider opportunity costs. Let's say you need a degree to get promoted to a position that pays $10k more per year. Each year you spend earning the degree, you're losing $10k. 

For those who are not paying tuition, then time will be higher than cost on the list of priorities. WGU and competency-based programs at other schools are self-paced allowing students to go as fast a possible. But, the self-paced, self-directed model is not for everyone. Some people require more structure.

We do have a good number of military members and veterans on this forum and a few in the private sector who have their employers paying for everything, but most here are paying out of pocket or taking out loans. Plus, many veterans like to save their educational benefits for graduate school since it's more expensive.

[BobaFett2010]

As an excelsior student. I can say this. Excelsior is one of (if not the most) easiest colleges to transfer credits to. They will accept ANYTHING. For CLEP and DANTE'S they accept the minimum passing score as credit. They accept AP classes, military experience, cyber certificates, FEMA cources....etc. speak with a counselor or someone at the college to get a better idea. I am finishing my undergrad there then going for my masters the later this year.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Excelsior is the most expensive of the Big 3 to get your degree, and certainly to take courses.  I hardly ever recommend them, and certainly not for a Cybersecurity degree.

People shouldn't ever make the mistake of looking BACKWARDS at what the school accepted from transfer credits, but always look FORWARD as what's remaining of your degree and the price/ease of getting those requirements met.  A school that will take 102cr but costs $9000 to complete is not better than a school that will take 60cr but costs $3000 to complete.

Being military I pay 250 a credit at 750 a class....in reality i pay nothing. But if i did thats what it would cost. Between my experience and the amount of cleps and dsst i have taken, i took a total of 34/120 credits there. But thats just me. I am looking around for my grad still but excelsior is one i am looking at

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

I was right. You are military! LOL

I also consider time when evaluating programs. I would probably choose to spend a couple of thousand extra to save a year or more of schooling because you also have to consider opportunity costs. Let's say you need a degree to get promoted to a position that pays $10k more per year. Each year you spend earning the degree, you're losing $10k. 

For those who are not paying tuition, then time will be higher than cost on the list of priorities. WGU and competency-based programs at other schools are self-paced allowing students to go as fast a possible. But, the self-paced, self-directed model is not for everyone. Some people require more structure.

We do have a good number of military members and veterans on this forum and a few in the private sector who have their employers paying for everything, but most here are paying out of pocket or taking out loans. Plus, many veterans like to save their educational benefits for graduate school since it's more expensive.

I have looked at WGU. I never heard of them and had I would have probably gone there instead of excelsior for my bachelors. I took 6 classes a semester at excelsior so i definitely would have gotten my money worth. Ill look into it for a masters but considering i might take my time with masters it might actually cost more. One of the other benefits of excelsior is no proctored exams (which was a major factor for me determining the college i would attend.)

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[sanantone]

One downside of WGU for an undergraduate degree is that it's pass/fail. If you don't have credits from other colleges that will give you a GPA, graduate schools might default your GPA to a 3.0. That could work out well if that's all you need for admission, but it can hurt you in highly-competitive programs. There are other competency-based programs that award a GPA, however. 

WGU is fine for a graduate degree if you want something quick and cheap. Some people want more prestige for their master's degree. I finished my first master's in 14 months, and I'm on track to finish my second master's at a Top 35 school in 12 months. A lot of master's programs don't take long if you can handle 12-15 credits per semester and attend year-round.

[MNomadic]

From my experience, excelsior and TESU are both very comparable for military and vets. Both accept the max transfer credits from military transcripts and alternative credits. Both have military pricing to utilize the military TA($250 per credit). Both have flexible online courses. Both have degrees designed for military members. I think excelsior gets more exposure and advertising from word of mouth in the military, though.
For my program, both colleges had nearly identical degrees that accepted nearly identical transfer credits from my military transcripts. Obviously both colleges have their minor differences.