Need Help with Degree Completion Strategy

[rebel100]

Your best bet for acceptance outside the "big 3" is roughly as follows:

CLEP exams (2700+ colleges) most schools accept at least some CLEP
DSST (1400-1700 colleges)

Challenge exams like TECEP, EC, Uexcel, and CSU-Global will vary. but generally fewer schools will be familiar with them than CLEP or DSST

Straighterline and Penn Foster, much less, they will roughly follow the ACE Guidelines. This is becoming more accepted, but far from regular or normal.

AS to studying, it depends on you. I have seen mediocre students knock out SL courses in a long weekend. I managed to knock out a couple regular self paced CSU-Pueblo courses in a few days while other courses from the same institution took longer.

For CLEP/DSST read through this site: Clep Difficulty List - Free-Clep-Prep.com

You only need 9 UL courses plus the Capstone which is also UL at COSC....TESC might be even less. This is doable, the master list of exams link I gave earlier in this thread even shows which DSST, TECEP, and EC exams are UL.

[mr.wonderful]

Your best bet for acceptance outside the "big 3" is roughly as follows:
You only need 9 UL courses plus the Capstone which is also UL at COSC....TESC might be even less. This is doable, the master list of exams link I gave earlier in this thread even shows which DSST, TECEP, and EC exams are UL.

It sounds like I should apply at TESC and get the ball rolling with having them review all of my transcripts. At the same time, I can start knocking out the 9 UL (UL means upper level, right?) courses. What are the 9 that I need? I wasn't able to clearly discern that from your previous post.

Is the Capstone a TESC requirement?

[davewill]

...

Given I haven't taken that many UL courses, I'm wondering if I should invest in the BACS or go more management / business so that I can just "get it done". Not having an undergrad isn't really holding me back, other than it is preventing me from getting the grad degree that I think will add value to my credibility.

I read somewhere that TESU is charging $350 to review my transcripts and come up with a strategy. Is that true?
...

I think you have to ask yourself how much CS figures into your career plans. I did CS because no other degree would serve my needs. If you've made a permanent career change, then it might be better to do the BSBA.

No, you only have to pay the $75 application fee to be able to send transcripts.

[mr.wonderful]

I think you have to ask yourself how much CS figures into your career plans. I did CS because no other degree would serve my needs. If you've made a permanent career change, then it might be better to do the BSBA.

Hard to say. I've made it to the sr. software engineer, CTO and co-founder levels without the degree. And now that I've developed that track record and have about 10 years of hands on engineering experience, I'm not so sure it would open all that many doors. It would be great to have the CS just to solidify my technical experience, but I wonder if I'd go further by complimenting my experience with a business degree.

I'm less interested in having a career (aka job) and more interested in having my own business, which seems to be the path I'm headed down in my real estate development ventures.

By the way, thanks so much for fleshing this out with me. It's so refreshing to hear like-minded people making rational arguments for their opinions.

[davewill]

... I'm less interested in having a career (aka job) and more interested in having my own business, which seems to be the path I'm headed down in my real estate development ventures.

By the way, thanks so much for fleshing this out with me. It's so refreshing to hear like-minded people making rational arguments for their opinions.

I'm guessing you'll need 4-5 actual CS courses to finish a CS degree. People here can show you how to do the BSBA almost completely with tests or self-paced courses. Some of them have finished their degrees in under a year. Going for the BACS vs BSBA, if you take the CS courses at TESU, will probably cost you another $6-8K. Taken one at a time, it would take a year just for those. Plus you won't have the accounting and finance courses most MBA or similar business grad programs would expect. I usually figure that life's too short for half-measures. If you want to try to leverage the computer courses you've taken, an MIS/CIS concentration might help, but if you really need management, I would personally do management.

Unless you intend to continue to be a software developer, I wouldn't do the CS degree.

[bjcheung77]

I'm less interested in having a career (aka job) and more interested in having my own business, which seems to be the path I'm headed down in my real estate development ventures.

By the way, thanks so much for fleshing this out with me. It's so refreshing to hear like-minded people making rational arguments for their opinions.

Hmm, Here is a workable option, go for an ASNSM Comp Sci, and using those courses, you can ladder to BSBA General Management degree. You get to hit two degrees with one grad/residency waiver fee if you complete both at the same time. The ASNSM has the exact general education requirements as BSBA.

Furthermore, it requires 16 credits of comp sci studies. These comp sci courses can be used in the 16-20 credits you need as general education electives for BSBA, thus enabling you to finish the ASNSM without adding courses en route to the BSBA.

I pretty much was decided on doing a TESU double concentration in CIS and Marketing, before finally choosing the easier way out with General Management. The main reason is, I don't want to spend the extra on the second concentration. I would rather use that cash on a Patten MBA IT, or Hodges MIS.

Note: I am a bit on the crazy side with my goal, it is to actually finish what's on my signature.
All 3 degrees, and in two years to boot. Hope nothing dramatic happens, or any obstacles arise.

[TrailRunr]

Here is another vote for BSBA and dump the CS degree idea.

It seems unlikely you'll go back to work for the man as a software developer. If you need to learn tech stuff for your next venture, just take a free MOOC. High quality tech MOOCs are plentiful. None of my successful real estate friends would ever waste time on a computer class. They hire a computer pro to setup the real estate website and they're too busy raking in money. A college class in marketing is going to be a lot more useful than Java programming.

So look for the easiest and quickest way to get the BSBA, which may or may not be CIS. You will likely have all of your MBA foundation requirements met this way as well.

Edit to add: I would look at the recent Penn Foster strategic management threads and take the PF class sooner rather than later.

[dfrecore]

I also want to make sure that if I take one of these, they'll be accepted at other places in the off chance I change my strategy and decide to go with another school.

You need to do more research. I wouldn't take a single course until I knew where I was going to go for certain. If you jump in and spend several hundred dollars taking anything, and then decide to go to a school which won't accept the exams/courses, it is a complete waste of time and money.

For anyone who is new to this forum, or new to the idea of testing out of a degree, I highly recommend spending 2-3 weeks on this forum, reading each new post that comes up, start to finish. Look at the dates (sometimes old threads get resurrected), but even old information is valuable, as it may get you thinking, or give you insight into what kinds of changes take place over time.

Once you do the research, and make a decision (on both the school and the degree), then we can help you plan the degree. That is quick, and getting started on the plan can be done immediately. But wandering around taking random exams without having a solid degree plan is just frustrating.

[High_Order1]

Also, in general, how difficult and how much studying is required for CLEP vs. DSST vs. PLA vs. DSST vs. Straighterline? You guys make it sound like I can just start taking these exams and finish it up in a year. I'm a pretty busy person and I'd like to actually pass these things. I also want to make sure that if I take one of these, they'll be accepted at other places in the off chance I change my strategy and decide to go with another school.

I too have been researching these very things.

I zip through training relevant to my field. I am also an accomplished writer, among other things. That said, I am having trouble with the Straighterline Comp. I course. It's moodle based, if you're familiar with that, but SL is a different form of distance learning than what I am used to. Also, you appear to have spent some time in college. I haven't, and so doing things the 'college way' is proving to be problematic for me.

I don't know how some of these people are zipping through the courses. I can do that with, say, WMD or emergency management, but I am really slogging through something that aught to be simple to me. I know werdz, dammit!

I say all that to say this: SL is a good option if you already understand how to survive in academia, or if you really want to learn things. I am betting the credit by exam stuff is pretty straightforward if you are ok with computer proctor based testing (some people have test anxiety issues - I don't).

As far as acceptance, these people on here have a pretty good handle on an otherwise volatile topic. I have checked by asking the granting institution, as well as the gaining institution with variable responses. Once you start locking in your path, finding what you lack will become easier, at least in my case that is proving to be the case.

Welcome to the site from another seeker!

[rebel100]

I too have been researching these very things.

I zip through training relevant to my field. I am also an accomplished writer, among other things. That said, I am having trouble with the Straighterline Comp. I course. It's moodle based, if you're familiar with that, but SL is a different form of distance learning than what I am used to. Also, you appear to have spent some time in college. I haven't, and so doing things the 'college way' is proving to be problematic for me.

I don't know how some of these people are zipping through the courses. I can do that with, say, WMD or emergency management, but I am really slogging through something that aught to be simple to me. I know werdz, dammit!

I say all that to say this: SL is a good option if you already understand how to survive in academia, or if you really want to learn things. I am betting the credit by exam stuff is pretty straightforward if you are ok with computer proctor based testing (some people have test anxiety issues - I don't).

As far as acceptance, these people on here have a pretty good handle on an otherwise volatile topic. I have checked by asking the granting institution, as well as the gaining institution with variable responses. Once you start locking in your path, finding what you lack will become easier, at least in my case that is proving to be the case.

Welcome to the site from another seeker!

I thought you already had Comp 1 completed? I might be mixing up my posters.