New to the game: PUG questions

[housecat]

Hey everyone,

I'm getting more and more interested in (Purdue Global) PUG bachelor then PUG master perhaps, but other than the posted degree plans, is there another way to find X to PUG transfer credits such as Sophia to PUG or study.com to PUG? Or are these found by asking one at a time or something?


Thank you for reading my post!

Housecat 

[jg_nuy]

Main PUG pages for links:
https://www.purdueglobal.edu/alternative...sessments/
https://www.purdueglobal.edu/alternative...e-credits/

Sophia: https://purdueglobal.sophia.org/#courses
StraighterLine: https://www.straighterline.com/colleges/...ty-global/
Study.com: https://study.com/college/school/purdue-...lobal.html
Saylor Academy: https://www.saylor.org/partners/credit/purdue-global/
CLEP: https://www.purdueglobal.edu/alternative...ents/#CLEP

IT certifications including Coursera: https://www.purdueglobal.edu/alternative...ion-exams/

[bjcheung77]

@housecat, In addition to PUG, you should also look at WGU, even if you're in Canada. There are degrees offered to Canadians, it may be cheaper, easier, faster than some of the offerings compared to PUG. I would also get you to review their partners.wgu.edu and it'll show you each national partner they have, you can create a spreadsheet of the class requirements and which provider can transfer credit, mix/match them to max the number of credits for transfer.

[housecat]

@housecat, In addition to PUG, you should also look at WGU, even if you're in Canada.  There are degrees offered to Canadians, it may be cheaper, easier, faster than some of the offerings compared to PUG.  I would also get you to review their partners.wgu.edu and it'll show you each national partner they have, you can create a spreadsheet of the class requirements and which provider can transfer credit, mix/match them to max the number of credits for transfer.

Excellent! I'll check WGU as well. I've heard mixed reviews of WGU, but maybe I'll come out on the good side of it. Nice I see under the partner links it has a solid comparison of Sophia -> PUG.

PUG has my hooked initially because of the name-brand of Purdue, but also when I read the curriculum, wow it's one of the best I've read. However time and money is somewhat spicy at PUG...

Yep! Back to the spreadsheets! I have some credits already I think but I have to get a NAECS assessment firstly. Probably choose WES because I need to do a WES Canada assessment as well.

Anyway thank you!

[housecat]

As a follow-up I started making the spreadsheets, and then realised I was estimating on domestic PUG tuition, not international. Wow I think I'll dip on PUG for now...

[bjcheung77]

Hmm, the pricing is different for the PUG Exceltrack options than it is for other online options, that's the main appeal is for their Exceltrack degrees. For some reason, they dropped their Masters down to three, I wonder what happened to the MSIT and there may have been a couple or more that is not showing up anymore: https://www.purdueglobal.edu/student-exp...-learning/

[walruspanda]

For some reason, they dropped their Masters down to three, I wonder what happened to the MSIT and there may have been a couple or more that is not showing up anymore: https://www.purdueglobal.edu/student-exp...-learning/

Oh wow, that's very interesting. As of November, the ExcelTrack versions MSIT and MS in Cybersecurity Management were listed on that page. Now, they're both gone.  

In fact, here is the former link to the ExcelTrack MSIT page, which was working as of mid-January but now simply forwards to the regular MSIT page. And I just went through enough screens of the PUG application to verify there is no option for MSIT ExcelTrack there either (but the MBA and BSIT still have ExcelTrack options).

That looks pretty definitive to me: MSIT and MS in Cybersecurity Management ExcelTrack seem to have been killed off.

I gotta say, I'm pretty shocked. I just started MSIT ExcelTrack in the January 3rd term (which happens to end today), and I've heard nothing, not even any rumors (which there were about the change from 6-week to 10-week MSIT terms). My assumption is they'll let the current MSIT ExcelTrack students continue with their modules, at least for a while, but I wonder for how long. Fortunately, I only have one module left, and since I haven't gotten any notice about the term that starts tomorrow, i assume it's proceeding as normal.

This is a massive change to the value proposition for a MSIT at PUG. With my 28 credits of cert/UG credit, I'll be able to get my other 32 credits for under $4000 on ExcelTrack. Without ExcelTrack, those same credits would have cost about $14,000. For the full 60 credits, the cost would now be over $25,000.

[housecat]

For some reason, they dropped their Masters down to three, I wonder what happened to the MSIT and there may have been a couple or more that is not showing up anymore: https://www.purdueglobal.edu/student-exp...-learning/

Oh wow, that's very interesting. As of November, the ExcelTrack versions MSIT and MS in Cybersecurity Management were listed on that page. Now, they're both gone.  

In fact, here is the former link to the ExcelTrack MSIT page, which was working as of mid-January but now simply forwards to the regular MSIT page. And I just went through enough screens of the PUG application to verify there is no option for MSIT ExcelTrack there either (but the MBA and BSIT still have ExcelTrack options).

That looks pretty definitive to me: MSIT and MS in Cybersecurity Management ExcelTrack seem to have been killed off.

I gotta say, I'm pretty shocked. I just started MSIT ExcelTrack in the January 3rd term (which happens to end today), and I've heard nothing, not even any rumors (which there were about the change from 6-week to 10-week MSIT terms). My assumption is they'll let the current MSIT ExcelTrack students continue with their modules, at least for a while, but I wonder for how long. Fortunately, I only have one module left, and since I haven't gotten any notice about the term that starts tomorrow, i assume it's proceeding as normal.

This is a massive change to the value proposition for a MSIT at PUG. With my 28 credits of cert/UG credit, I'll be able to get my other 32 credits for under $4000 on ExcelTrack. Without ExcelTrack, those same credits would have cost about $14,000. For the full 60 credits, the cost would now be over $25,000.

Wow thanks guise, so much to learn. VERY interesting!

I can definitely see the appeal of speeding through. In my case they're all about me having a bachelor's degree and community college over lots of programs and having a master's degree isn't enough, so I was looking at BS in IT or BS in Analytics, but then I figured maybe I can do a bunch of transfer from my Canadian community colleges into Bachelor of Professional Studies.

This degree has a bunch of open-ended "you decide" slots which I could cram with transfer credits then use the rest of the slots with courses which would also qualify to BS in Analytics degree, AND get alum discount for the BS in IT/BS in Analytics. Then I do the master's in analytics (only open to PUG Alum I'm told) and/or MS IT.

I gotta go to Vegas again and really win big, because these are premiums, but the coursework... any comments on the coursework? From paper it seems solid in the BS or MS degrees?...

[walruspanda]

I can definitely see the appeal of speeding through. In my case they're all about me having a bachelor's degree and community college over lots of programs and having a master's degree isn't enough, so I was looking at BS in IT or BS in Analytics, but then I figured maybe I can do a bunch of transfer from my Canadian community colleges into Bachelor of Professional Studies.

This degree has a bunch of open-ended "you decide" slots which I could cram with transfer credits then use the rest of the slots with courses which would also qualify to BS in Analytics degree, AND get alum discount for the BS in IT/BS in Analytics. Then I do the master's in analytics (only open to PUG Alum I'm told) and/or MS IT.

I gotta go to Vegas again and really win big, because these are premiums, but the coursework... any comments on the coursework? From paper it seems solid in the BS or MS degrees?...

I would say the coursework for the ExcelTrack BSIT and MSIT is interesting and relevant without being overwhelming. Like practically every PUG degree, it focuses much more on writing, projects, and PowerPoint creation than tests and quizzes, which works well if you're a relatively competent and quick writer like me. Most modules I was able to complete in 3 to 7 hours -- some shorter (particular in the 200s), a few longer -- but keep in mind I had 10 years of IT experience and 20 certs when I started, so I already had a pretty comprehensive IT background, which definitely helps. There's a lot of directions you can go with the elective IT courses, which is nice. 

I think for someone who is willing to put in the work, the BSIT ExcelTrack is still a great program that I'd enthusiastically recommend, provided that you get as much credit as you possibly can from Sophia, Study.com, certs, etc. beforehand. Likely the same is true with the related BS ExcelTrack degrees. I'm not sure I can give the same recommendation for the MSIT without ExcelTrack, given the price increase and the time needed to complete it. If it were me today looking for a Masters, I'd likely either get the PUG MBA with the IT concentration (available through ExcelTrack, at least for now) or the Masters in IT from WGU.

[bjcheung77]

Again, it really depends on how you want to do things, one-and-done institution like PUG BSIT/MSIT or the WGU Accelerated BSIT/MSITM. Either one would work for you as both are competency based, it is up to you. I suggest deciding between the two and see which options are best, especially the classes you're interested in most...