New Goal: BS IT-Security at WGU.

[Ideas]

I am interested in WGU's IT program (General, not Security in my case) and need to learn more about it. So far it looks more appealing to me than IT at Excelsior or TESU.

Wow, I looked at WGU's IT program and apparently you get 8 certifications during it? (Unless you already had some of them, or comparable ones.)

This program incorporates several industry recognized IT certifications as part of your degree program. You will study for and complete the following certification exams (which are all included in your tuition—a huge cost savings for you):

CompTIA A+
CompTIA Network+
CompTIA Security+
CompTIA Project+
CompTIA Linux+
CIW Site Development Associate
CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS Specialist
CIW User Interface Designer

[jsd]

Yeah, depending on which particular IT degree you go for, you could end up with more or less certs (for example my plan replaces two of those useless CIW certs with much more useful -- but intimidating -- CCENT, CCNA, and CCNA Security certs). All rolled into the price of tuition. The certification exams are the "final" exams for their respective courses. You pass the exam to prove competency and move on to your next course. It's the primary reason I'm going after this degree.

[sanantone]

I am interested in WGU's IT program (General, not Security in my case) and need to learn more about it. So far it looks more appealing to me than IT at Excelsior or TESU.

Wow, I looked at WGU's IT program and apparently you get 8 certifications during it? (Unless you already had some of them, or comparable ones.)

Excuse me while I throw a temper tantrum. How come you get the CIW Site Development Associate certification in the IT program, but it's not on the list of transferable certifications? When I applied for the health informatics program (now HIM), they told me that my CIW certification wouldn't qualify me for admission to the program.

Let me go write them a nasty email. I spent over $100 sending them transcripts.

[jsd]

Yeah, they still don't accept it as it's not a "high level" certification.

And to be honest, it's a pretty dumb cert.

[sanantone]

Yeah, they still don't accept it as it's not a "high level" certification.

And to be honest, it's a pretty dumb cert.

I know, but it's in my nature to argue until I get my way. It's been quite successful with TESU and COSC. I should have been a lawyer.

[Ideas]

The TEEX cybersecurity courses, as I suspected, were not accepted for this program (and really shouldn't be, tbh -- they're fine as some electives for an unrelated field, but shouldn't really be taken seriously for a degree program in the direct area of study).

Do you know if they're not accepted for the General IT degree at WGU too? (A non-security one).

Also, do you know if it makes sense to get the certifications before enrolling, to reduce the number of terms enrolled? I would not want to spend over 1 year on the IT core+electives if possible.

CompTIA A+
CompTIA Network+
CompTIA Security+
CompTIA Project+
CompTIA Linux+
CIW Site Development Associate
CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS Specialist
CIW User Interface Designer

[jsd]

It makes sense if you want to spend the extra money on those certs, I suppose. One of the draws for me was that all of those certs were included in the cost of tuition so I didn't have to come out of pocket for them.

But if you have the money and don't mind paying for them, you'd knock out a lot of courses. A+ is worth 2 courses, Linux+ is another 2 courses, and the others are all worth one course each. The CompTIA are all 4 CUs per course, I imagine the CIW stuff is probably only 3 CUs each.

I don't believe the TEEX stuff will count towards anything in the general ed stuff because there's no real correlation, however I don't know for sure since I came in with a AA/BA and that knocked out all of my gen ed stuff in a block-transfer type manner.

[dfrecore]

Also, do you know if it makes sense to get the certifications before enrolling, to reduce the number of terms enrolled? I would not want to spend over 1 year on the IT core+electives if possible.

I think you need to add up the costs of getting all of these certs, and then seeing if it's worth it to spend that, or do an additional term at WGU if you need to. For instance, if it's $1000, then it's probably worth it to get them. If it's $2500, then it's not.

[jsd]

I think you need to add up the costs of getting all of these certs, and then seeing if it's worth it to spend that, or do an additional term at WGU if you need to. For instance, if it's $1000, then it's probably worth it to get them. If it's $2500, then it's not.

CompTIA A+ exam 1 - $205
CompTIA A+ exam 2 - $205
CompTIA Network+ - $294
CompTIA Security+ - $320
CompTIA Project+ - $294
CompTIA Linux+ exam 1 - $200
CompTIA Linux+ exam 2 - $200
CIW Site Development Associate - $150
CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS Specialist - $150
CIW User Interface Designer - $150

So if you're paying full retail, you're looking at $2168 without any study material (and assuming you nail all of them on your first try without any need for retakes -- WGU will pay for your first and second attempts if you fail your first).

Of course, you can find discounted vouchers. I think you can cut the CompTIA cost in half with academic pricing.

[dfrecore]

I think you need to add up the costs of getting all of these certs, and then seeing if it's worth it to spend that, or do an additional term at WGU if you need to. For instance, if it's $1000, then it's probably worth it to get them. If it's $2500, then it's not.

Just looked up the prices, it's ~$2000 to pay for all of these certs, and none of that includes any study materials. So unless you already know them all well enough to pass, or your company will pay for them and study materials as well, it's actually going to be a much better deal for you to take them as part of your term, even if you need to do an additional term.