Need help planning for a degree path please

[WDue]

Your Location: Ontario, Canada
Your Age: 29
What kind of degree do you want?: Anything, preferably in IT or CS

Current Regional Accredited Credits: 69 credits

Biology for Science Majors I - 3 cr
English I - 3 cr
Intro Physics I - 3 cr
Vertebrate Structure & Function - 3 cr
Principles of Genetics - 3 cr
Intro Physics II - 3 cr
Intro Chemistry I- 3 cr
Intro Chemistry II - 3 cr
Intro to Microbiology - 3 cr
(UL) Ornithology - 3 cr
(UL) History of the Earth - 3 cr
Intro to Ecology - 3 cr
Marketing - 3 cr
Intro to Management- 3 cr
Organizational Behavior - 3 cr

(I have split the psychology ones for ease of comparibility)

Intro to Psychology I - 3 cr
Intro to Psychology II - 3 cr
Intro to Cognition - 3 cr
Psychology of Personality - 3 cr
(UL) Drugs & Behavior Psychology - 3 cr
(UL) Psychology of Human Sexuality I - 3 cr
(UL) Forensic Psychology I - 3 cr
(UL) Forensic Psychology II - 3 cr

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 18 credits

Sophia:
 
College Algebra
Intro to Ethics
Visual Communications
Calculus I
Public Speaking
Lifespan Development


Any certifications or military experience?: No military experience, certs: Google IT Support, Cisco CCNA, CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+
Budget: $4k to $5k USD
Commitments: None, I've been applying but the current job market is really bad and I feel the lack of a degree is still holding me back.
Dedicated time to study: As much as needed
Timeline: ASAP, Ideally by May as the job listing will be on by then
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: N/A


Hi again all, I've come back with an update of sorts but I need some help deciding which degree to pursue. This forum is a lifesaver and I appreciate the effort people put in here to help others decide on a path after reviewing their credits. Basically, I did more research on TESU and ended up applying to the BA in Biology as I have a mix of biology and psychology credits, with a few business credits too, it appeared to be the fastest degree I could complete. It took quite some time for the credits to be processed and evaluated at the credential service and then eventually at TESU. Long story short, 54 credits transferred in to the BA in Biology and after meeting with the academic advisor, I learned that most, if not all Canadian institutions run on a 3 credit system. I was expecting my Biology/Chemistry and Physics to transfer in to eliminate the prerequisite science courses... but that didn't go according to plan. At TESU and I'm sure other U.S universities as well, a science course with a lab is equivalent to 4 credit hours. The advisor informed me that I could appeal the credential service and inform them that the science courses I have done had a lab component included as part of the 3 credits or appeal to the dean but he said either scenario was unlikely as they can't change a 3 credit to a 4 credit equivalent. So I would have to not only retake the prerequisite courses I'd also have to retake a microbiology course because of the same story, even though I've done the labs for all these courses. 

We then discussed an IT or CS degree instead, he asked me to send the current ACE credits I've completed from Sophia as well as my IT certifications. So I have sent those in for evaluation and will update when done. This will utilize my second evaluation after which I'll have to enroll for the courses to keep updating into my transcript as well as any further academic advisor meetings. The issue is, I have a friend who works at an IT company and said he could refer me but the organization requires a bachelor's degree, so now I'm looking to complete a degree as fast as possible. Concurrently, I've emailed UMPI and will apply just to get the ball rolling in case I need to switch. While I was waiting for my evaluation I managed to complete 6 courses at Sophia, I was using the degree map TESU gives and just going down the list to get gen-eds out of the way. The degree I want ideally is still something in IT or CS as it will be the best fit for my current field. However, the TESU IT degree has 2 courses apart from the Information Literacy and Capstone that don't have any transfer equivalents which are:  

ITS-3630 Windows Server Configuration
ITS-3400 Wireless and Mobile Networking

Not to mention, I haven't done the Data Analytics or Cloud Data Analytics certs off Coursera for transfer credit. The BACS degree at TESU is the one I want to do, as I've read it's possible to transfer everything in apart from the Information Literacy course and capstone, but I don't think it's possible in the timeframe. Though, I do have the RA credit residency requirement completed, I will most likely look to complete it as a secondary degree, I haven't done any of the CS courses and even if I start now, I doubt I can have it done in even 3-4 months.


UMPI seems to be the best fit, but rather than do a BLS, I was looking to do a BA in Psychology as I have a lot of the psychology credits they require, and I've read about how it's possible to complete a degree in one term. I will do the BLS if it's the best fit, but I've also read about the degree not being recognized on a resume. I'm open to a Business Admin/PM degree if it can be completed in one term. 

I hope all that information helps me find a path that best fits my situation and thanks for reading through it!

Edit: I forgot to add, because I have a few of the courses required at UMPI for a BA in Psych, if they're transfered in, and because I'd still need to do 30 credits at UMPI for the residency requirements could those 30 be used to fulfill the other portions of the program instead of the psychology portion?

[wow]

The TESU Psychology degree can be done completely through alternate credit sources (except for the cornerstone and capstone) so should be even more doable with your existing credits and some additional ones from Sophia and/or Study.com. That might be less work than doing the same degree at UMPI, although you would need to take some additional ACE credits to bring your total up.

[bjcheung77]

Hmm, not much has changed since you last posted, it seems the template was updated and the budget was lowered. Has anything more happened since then? I would investigate your options again (Degree & Institution). If not much changed in the last 6 months, then I suggest the same thing I mentioned earlier. Your previous post or thread is here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-CS-degree

[WDue]

@wow Thank you for the info and reply. I didn't have a visualization to see where my credits would map out, so using TESU's degree planner I clicked on the BA in Psychology (which had the most transfers completed out of Biology, IT and Computer Science) and created my own spreadsheet, I'l link it below! The Sophia courses and IT support certificate are preemptive transfers as TESU hasn't updated my evaluation yet.

@bjcheung77 Thank you for the reply. Not much has happened since, it took roughly a month and a half for my credits to get evaluated and I had the meeting with the advisor recently and so was at a crossroads once more. I read through your recommendation once again and most likely will be attempting the dual degree option. I have a few questions, so I'll be posting a link to my degree plan and those questions in a fresh reply.

[WDue]

Here is the link to the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

Regarding the spreadsheet, I still have a few Sophia Gen-eds to get out of the way so I'll resume my subscription and start knocking those out, I highlighted a few concerns I had.

One of my UL Psych courses (Intro to Human Sexuality) is satisfying a gen-ed requirement and all the UL courses I've listed I verified that they did count as UL courses on my third party evaluation. I will have to speak with an advisor most likely and get that mapped to fulfill elsewhere. I wonder if I can do the same for Cognition (LL) and the Intro to Psychology thats being used in my Gen-Elective section. Also Intro to Personality was a LL course at my college but it transfers in to satisfy a UL requirement at TESU (PSY-3790) no complaints there

In the degree planner, my Intro to Microbiology is being used as an "Additional Gen-Ed" and I'm not sure if it's even granting any credits for that.

I can't find the specific names of some of the UL credits I transfered in, I think the Drugs and Behavior course I took could count towards the required Physiological Psychology portion, but I'll have to see. Another thing I'm confused about is at the Canadian uni/college some courses were a Part I and Part II type deal. Regarding my Psychology ones, I took both parts for Forensic Psychology and only the first part for Human Sexuality. Does this mean that unless I complete both parts it wouldn't count as UL? Or if I do, then it counts as a single UL course, (I can't find Forensic Psychology II anywhere, for eg.)

That wraps up the confusion I have regarding the BA in Psych, initially, I had planned the psych degree to be done at UMPI, but since @wow's reply, I have to consider the BA in CS as well. I had planned to get this done at a later date, but after reading about the dual degree option it seems far more cost effective to do a dual degree in Psychology and Computer Science (albeit with more time and energy). I don't want to come back and do a secondary degree (BA in CS) which would mean a secondary capstone and another Residency Fee Waiver.
So after reading about a dual degree, I had a few questions:

-If I understood this correctly, this would mean 24 credits in another AOS, that being CS, 15 of those credits would need to be UL
-The capstone would be shared between the two because it's under the same school. Unless the CS capstone is different and it won't be able to be shared? Because I read that even though the CS degree falls under the Arts school, the capstone done is different.
-I looked over the degree plan for CS and saw three sections I'm confused about. The first being the list of required courses which is 18 credits. (I already have Calculus I completed, so one less course to worry about) apart from Computer Architecture (COS-3300) they're all LL. Would this mean I'll have to do these and then an additional 4 UL courses to meet the 15 credit UL requirement? Meaning I'd have to do 30 credits?
The second is the Computer Science Electives, in a dual degree format would I need to take the additional Computer Science Electives?
And lastly, Section C: Natural Sciences, Math, and Computer Science Electives, would the Social Sciences Electives satisfy the requirements for these too? I think 9 credits can be shared between the two AOS.

It's a bit of a unique situation, lol. I tried searching for anyone else who's done a dual degree in Psych and CS but it was a really old post from a few years ago and TESU has changed their requirements since.

Thanks for reading and I hope I can get some more clarity regarding this!

[WDue]

So I should update this a little bit, after researching the dual degree option it doesn't seem worth it, I forgot that TESU doesn't list the AOS on the degree, a dual degree would essentially mean 2 "Bachelor of Arts" diplomas (which I don't think is even possible given their "no two degrees of the same type will be awarded", if I interpreted that correctly). I think the dual degree option is more effective and worth for those who are earning two different degrees, like a BA and BSBA or BS in CIS. My questions still remain but now I'd be aiming to do two AOS in one degree which is essentially a double major.

[CenterSquarEd]

Here is the link to the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

Regarding the spreadsheet, I still have a few Sophia Gen-eds to get out of the way so I'll resume my subscription and start knocking those out, I highlighted a few concerns I had.

One of my UL Psych courses (Intro to Human Sexuality) is satisfying a gen-ed requirement and all the UL courses I've listed I verified that they did count as UL courses on my third party evaluation. I will have to speak with an advisor most likely and get that mapped to fulfill elsewhere. I wonder if I can do the same for Cognition (LL) and the Intro to Psychology thats being used in my Gen-Elective section. Also Intro to Personality was a LL course at my college but it transfers in to satisfy a UL requirement at TESU (PSY-3790) no complaints there

In the degree planner, my Intro to Microbiology is being used as an "Additional Gen-Ed" and I'm not sure if it's even granting any credits for that.

I can't find the specific names of some of the UL credits I transfered in, I think the Drugs and Behavior course I took could count towards the required Physiological Psychology portion, but I'll have to see. Another thing I'm confused about is at the Canadian uni/college some courses were a Part I and Part II type deal. Regarding my Psychology ones, I took both parts for Forensic Psychology and only the first part for Human Sexuality. Does this mean that unless I complete both parts it wouldn't count as UL? Or if I do, then it counts as a single UL course, (I can't find Forensic Psychology II anywhere, for eg.)

That wraps up the confusion I have regarding the BA in Psych, initially, I had planned the psych degree to be done at UMPI, but since @wow's reply, I have to consider the BA in CS as well. I had planned to get this done at a later date, but after reading about the dual degree option it seems far more cost effective to do a dual degree in Psychology and Computer Science (albeit with more time and energy). I don't want to come back and do a secondary degree (BA in CS) which would mean a secondary capstone and another Residency Fee Waiver.
So after reading about a dual degree, I had a few questions:

-If I understood this correctly, this would mean 24 credits in another AOS, that being CS, 15 of those credits would need to be UL
-The capstone would be shared between the two because it's under the same school. Unless the CS capstone is different and it won't be able to be shared? Because I read that even though the CS degree falls under the Arts school, the capstone done is different.
-I looked over the degree plan for CS and saw three sections I'm confused about. The first being the list of required courses which is 18 credits. (I already have Calculus I completed, so one less course to worry about) apart from Computer Architecture (COS-3300) they're all LL. Would this mean I'll have to do these and then an additional 4 UL courses to meet the 15 credit UL requirement? Meaning I'd have to do 30 credits?
The second is the Computer Science Electives, in a dual degree format would I need to take the additional Computer Science Electives?
And lastly, Section C: Natural Sciences, Math, and Computer Science Electives, would the Social Sciences Electives satisfy the requirements for these too? I think 9 credits can be shared between the two AOS.

It's a bit of a unique situation, lol. I tried searching for anyone else who's done a dual degree in Psych and CS but it was a really old post from a few years ago and TESU has changed their requirements since.

Thanks for reading and I hope I can get some more clarity regarding this!

I’ve been chipping away at (took a break, am currently back at it) finishing alt credits for a TESU double major in Comp Sci and Poli Sci, also with a fair amount of previous transfer credit, so this might be as close as you’re gonna get.

So you wouldn’t get a dual degree, you would get one degree with a double major. Your transcript would have both areas of study.

Really big thing to note is that the TESU website lists suggested gen ed courses for each major, but you don’t need to match those suggestions. You’ve likely got other courses that will fit into some of those categories with an official evaluation or a later email to an advisor.

The social science courses won’t count for comp sci additional AOS, but you have a lot of natural science coursework that would. Your Ornithology and History of the Earth (assuming that’s an earth science or geology course) ULs would both count as UL toward CS. Something else can take over the science gen ed.

The statistics course that you’d need for Psych would also fit into the CS additional AOS. A course can be in different places in two degree plans within one degree. You’ve already got a lot of third options though.

I think your Lifespan Development course is what TESU means by Developmental Psychology, but now I’m out of my area, so you’ll have to dig into that.

Social Psych and Thanatology are available as e-Pack courses, which might be a good fit for you. Then you could move your Personality course and not have to take Psychology of Gender (unless taking that course would be a personal project of interest).

You’ll only take one Capstone and it’ll count for both, but they are different. You pick one AOS to be your primary and that’s the Capstone you take.

I think you’ll have to decide if it’s worth it for yourself, but it’s definitely doable.

[WDue]

I’ve been chipping away at (took a break, am currently back at it) finishing alt credits for a TESU double major in Comp Sci and Poli Sci, also with a fair amount of previous transfer credit, so this might be as close as you’re gonna get.

So you wouldn’t get a dual degree, you would get one degree with a double major. Your transcript would have both areas of study.

Really big thing to note is that the TESU website lists suggested gen ed courses for each major, but you don’t need to match those suggestions. You’ve likely got other courses that will fit into some of those categories with an official evaluation or a later email to an advisor.

The social science courses won’t count for comp sci additional AOS, but you have a lot of natural science coursework that would. Your Ornithology and History of the Earth (assuming that’s an earth science or geology course) ULs would both count as UL toward CS. Something else can take over the science gen ed.

The statistics course that you’d need for Psych would also fit into the CS additional AOS. A course can be in different places in two degree plans within one degree. You’ve already got a lot of third options though.

I think your Lifespan Development course is what TESU means by Developmental Psychology, but now I’m out of my area, so you’ll have to dig into that.

Social Psych and Thanatology are available as e-Pack courses, which might be a good fit for you. Then you could move your Personality course and not have to take Psychology of Gender (unless taking that course would be a personal project of interest).

You’ll only take one Capstone and it’ll count for both, but they are different. You pick one AOS to be your primary and that’s the Capstone you take.

I think you’ll have to decide if it’s worth it for yourself, but it’s definitely doable.

Thank you for all the information and detailed post, it's much appreciated! As you said, your situation is as close as I'm going to get. And yep, after reading the award of degree policy I realized that it wouldn't be possible to do a dual degree anyway.

Regarding the evaluations, I've had one official evaluation done, I've sent in my credly transcript which has my IT certifications and the Sophia courses I've done so far. I'm currently waiting for that and will then book my second meeting with my advisor. Though this would complete the second free evaluation I can request. Is there anyway to keep sending in evaluations and meeting with the advisor without signing up for a course? Otherwise I will have to enroll in the Information Literacy course and just do it when I'm ready to do my capstone.

Ah, I see. That's still fine, like you said I'll use my Ornithology and History of Earth (it was an Earth Science course) to fulfill the UL Science course elective portion. Worst case scenario, I'll just do a science of nutrition from Sophia if I still need a gen ed science credit.

Cool! So possibly one less CS course to worry about given statistics is a requirement in Psych.

I did some digging into the degree plan that's been created here and unfortunately, as of September 2024, the Sophia course won't count for Developmental Psychology. Best case, it gets used as a gen ed science and I'll just do the lifespan development course off Study.com

Interesting, I'll have to consider that once I get a more solidified plan. My goal with the advisor will be to try and map out each of my UL psych courses to knock out as many of the AOS requirements, so I'm thinking Intro to Human Sexuality (which is sitting in my gen-ed section right now lol) can apply for the Psychology of Gender, and Drugs and Behavior for the Physiological Psychology component.

I'll most likely take the Liberal Arts Capstone and tie it into Psychology. But who knows, after all the CS courses I may want to do the CS one instead, haha.

Regarding the CS AOS (45 credits, 36 needed? since the capstone is being shared and the Science Electives will hopefully be fulfilled with my transfered courses), I see that I'll have to do 18 credits of required courses (Calculus is done, so 15 credits)
-Computer Science Electives (18 credits)

I'll need 5 UL courses to satisfy the UL requirement

-One of which will be the Computer Architechture course from the required courses section.
-I'm thinking I'll take the Network Technology TECEP (I've read it's really difficult but I have the Network+ and CCNA so I'm familiar with the OSI model, subnetting, port numbers etc.)
-Might do one of the coursera certificates that will transfer in a bulk of CS UL courses
The choice between:
-IBM Full Stack Software Developer Professional Certificate
and one of:
-Cloud Data Analytics Professional or IBM Generative AI Engineering (it is untested as the post for this was late January of this year)
-Possibly LL CS course(s) if the requirement isn't met, or the statistics course being shared as you mentioned above

9 credits can overlap so that would be the statistics course, Earth Science, and Ornithology. Unless the capstone being shared counts as the third and final course.

The reason I'd like to do the CS AOS is because I work in IT now, I'm doing the Psych AOS to maximize my transfer credits. I could do the CS as a primary and add Psych as an AOS but it's the same amount of work, the only difference is capstone at the end. A Psych degree fulfills the degree requirement, but I've seen some organizations require an IT or CS degree, the CS major covers that worry.

Good luck to you on your journey!

[wow]

I did some digging into the degree plan that's been created here and unfortunately, as of September 2024, the Sophia course won't count for Developmental Psychology. Best case, it gets used as a gen ed science and I'll just do the lifespan development course off Study.com

Interesting, I'll have to consider that once I get a more solidified plan. My goal with the advisor will be to try and map out each of my UL psych courses to knock out as many of the AOS requirements, so I'm thinking Intro to Human Sexuality (which is sitting in my gen-ed section right now lol) can apply for the Psychology of Gender, and Drugs and Behavior for the Physiological Psychology component.

I'll most likely take the Liberal Arts Capstone and tie it into Psychology. But who knows, after all the CS courses I may want to do the CS one instead, haha.

The Lifespan Development CLEP was accepted last time I checked.

In case this wasn't clear from the TESU description, you don't need to specifically have a gender or sexuality course in your AOS. They list Psychology of Gender because that is one of the courses they offer, but you can transfer in any psychology elective.

I thought you had to do a separate capstone for each major?

[WDue]

The Lifespan Development CLEP was accepted last time I checked.

In case this wasn't clear from the TESU description, you don't need to specifically have a gender or sexuality course in your AOS. They list Psychology of Gender because that is one of the courses they offer, but you can transfer in any psychology elective.

I thought you had to do a separate capstone for each major?

Perfect, most likely I'll do that then and good to know! Right now, my psychology transfers are all over the place at least in the degree plan, but I'm still enrolled as a BA in Biology so maybe the degree planner doesn't do a good job of placing them automatically. I used the option where you can view different plans... I have an upper level Sociology course which I'm certain is one of the Psychology courses, the Drugs and Behavior one is listed as Special Topics which I don't think can change.

That is what I'm still confused about too. In your current degree plan, does it have you listed in both AOS? If so, is it showing two capstones to complete? Once I meet with an advisor I'll update.