My degree plan for TESU BA in CS; thoughts/recs?

[bjcheung77]

Discussions are graded, they just need you to post something and if no one responds to your posts, they leave it at that... Essentially, you and the professor work things out accordingly. Always get in contact with them if you come across any issues, especially on assignments when it involves other students.

[LevelUP]

In the past, people have even posted on here that they were the only student in a course. Discussions can get weird with limited students; hopefully the mentor will jump in to help out.

If nobody is posting in the forums, then there is nobody to respond to, which saves you work.

The professors don't post at all in forums for some courses or sometimes it's a pre-canned single post in the forum.

Doesn't that cost you points, though? Or do you automatically get those 5 or 10 points if there's nobody to respond to?

Well, I would suggest PMing the professor first, which is what I did. My professor said that since there was nobody posting in the forums (software engineering course), then I didn't need to worry about responding. I received 100% points for every forum.

The capstone and critical reasoning courses had the most lively forums. All the other courses were pretty dull and boring with not much interaction among students, as most were looking to do the bare minimum with no original thought.

When you are taking these courses online, you are kind of grasping at straws, trying to find some sort of realism and life for that extra motivation to get things done. Knowing that someone else is in the same boat as you offers some sort of mental support.

[bruh]

Good news: I've completed my 100th credit! (Here's my academic plan.) Not as good news: It's about time for Computer Architecture on SDC...

It's the final course on SDC for me to do. I've already used up my two exam registrations this month, and due to personal reasons, I have about 4 whole days left to work on it before it renews on 10/15. I'm really contemplating just putting it into my 15cr term instead of World Geography (GOG-2300) which was meant to be easy RA credits.

Based on the skimming/reading I've done through a few posts here in the forum and on Reddit, it looks like the quizzes and final exam are par for the course while the assignment is the big thing to worry about. I'm not too sure if I have enough time to dedicate to that, and I don't know about renewing my SDC subscription for another month.

Also, perhaps the TESU class won't be that bad despite that there are a few things I have going against me. I'm gonna be doing these classes at the same time: Software Engineering and the Liberal Arts Capstone. It also looks like the only 3 people who reviewed my prospective professor's class on RateMyProfessors didn't have a pleasant experience. It's only 3 people, so I can't be sure, and plus, at least one of them rated it 1/5 in difficulty..! (Edit: Perhaps I can go with the GS class instead of OL? I haven't looked into that yet.) I know that it's a UL CS class though, so the material could understandably be more difficult than expected.

However, I say that doing TESU's COS-3300 may not be too bad because there are a lot more resources nowadays compared to back then during 2015, 2018, 2019, etc. that can come in handy when there are many specific questions that can't be answered by the professor, online tutorials, etc. Also, I think I have the discipline to juggle these 3 UL classes during my 15cr term.

While I'm leading much towards TESU over SDC, I'm not 100% sure. Am I overestimating SDC's CS306? Am I underestimating TESU's COS-3300? (I'm not necessarily looking to excel in Computer Architecture, by the way; I'd be perfectly happy with a 70% on SDC.) Did I neglect to consider anything else?

[bruh]

Small edit: I thought about it some more, and I'm leaning toward SDC again. I'm thinking of getting all the points possible from quizzes, doing decently on the final exam, and then only doing Assignment 2 for however many points I have left until I get 210/300 overall. It seems that when there were comments on the difficulty of Computer Architecture's assignments, they were referring to Assignment 1.

[allvia]

Small edit: I thought about it some more, and I'm leaning toward SDC again. I'm thinking of getting all the points possible from quizzes, doing decently on the final exam, and then only doing Assignment 2 for however many points I have left until I get 210/300 overall. It seems that when there were comments on the difficulty of Computer Architecture's assignments, they were referring to Assignment 1.

Just remember with SDC you still need to hand in every assignment. Even if that means just something with your name on making it clear that 'this is my assignment' and take a zero.  I think you'd be better off staying with SDC even if you have to pay for an extra month. If the TESU course option turns out to be a 'bad' as reported, not doing well in it could impact your TESU GPA greatly (as a tough course could also impact your work performance in the other courses that you do need no matter what). I think it would be wise to spend the $235 on SDC now than risk your overall GPA - especially if you're leaning towards grad school (where GPA likely matters more than the cost of an extra SDC month now).

[Pats20]

I’d cough up the $235 and do all the assignments. I’ve heard of people turning in blank assignments but I’ve never tried it nor felt quite right about it. The syllabus usually states that all assignments must be completed.

[bjcheung77]

Completing it through Study.com would be better, you can use the extra month for anything else if needed, I would recommend keeping the flat rate term to 'easier' courses and e-packs, even if the e-pack duplicates your credit, or you can take an e-pack that you enjoy or have interest in the subject and use it as an elective instead.

[bruh]

Understood; SDC it shall be then. Thanks for all the heads-ups. Requesting a zero seems fine with SDC too.

I've sent emails in after finishing Systems Analysis & Design and Database Management saying this: "I'm currently taking the [so and so] course. My overall score so far totals up to more than 70%. I would like to request to skip the last assignment since my grade is sufficient to earn college credit."

And the reply both times were: "Thank you for reaching out. We have just posted your final course grade. You should get a confirmation email soon, if you haven't already. You are welcome to request your transcript whenever you are ready. Transcripts are not sent automatically; you will need to complete the transcript request form. You can read more about the transcript request process at this link (click here).

"If you change your mind, you may submit the missing project, and we will recalculate your final course grade.

"Please let us know if you have any questions."

[Pats20]

Understood; SDC it shall be then. Thanks for all the heads-ups. Requesting a zero seems fine with SDC too.

I've sent emails in after finishing Systems Analysis & Design and Database Management saying this: "I'm currently taking the [so and so] course. My overall score so far totals up to more than 70%. I would like to request to skip the last assignment since my grade is sufficient to earn college credit."

And the reply both times were: "Thank you for reaching out. We have just posted your final course grade. You should get a confirmation email soon, if you haven't already. You are welcome to request your transcript whenever you are ready. Transcripts are not sent automatically; you will need to complete the transcript request form. You can read more about the transcript request process at this link (click here).

"If you change your mind, you may submit the missing project, and we will recalculate your final course grade.

"Please let us know if you have any questions."

Sounds great !

[bjcheung77]

Just a note for those reading, I would probably only request a 0 in a course assignment if I absolutely need to and either strapped for energy/time or don't like the subject as much. Maybe do so for courses that you already have lots of experience/knowledge in the subject... Sometimes it's better to just go through the assignment to retain or review the subject matter, you don't have to give too much effort into the assignment.