New to the game: PUG questions

[housecat]

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...

Does WGU have scheduled classes? Like for example, 7PM EST every Thursday? Also can anyone confirm if PUG has scheduled time classes? This is also called synchronous teaching in Canada.

---

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.

Interesting, perhaps that would work too. Yeah of course there is no more ExcelTrack for MSIT and is above my pay-grade right now, considering they want me to take the bachelors. Also an recommendations on which NAECS member company to use to evaluate my Canadian credentials for the USA? I may just use WES but any ideas on this?

Tbh, I may have to wait a year to do this as it's looking more and more like self-funding, as my provincial student funding only does partial-funding outside of Canada, although I'm still looking into other options.

My background is Software Development in community college, lots of programming/freelance before that, then I want back to do AI. So I've done most of the rudimentary stuff like data structs and algos, linear algebra, etc, plus the actual AI stuff like deep learning. I have dabbled in networking, and know some basics, and I've been using computers for longer than I care to admit, so I know my way around Windows 3.1 to Windows 11 and NT to Server 2019. In addition I know Linux, but I prefer my Windows desktop for desktopping because when I get home I just want it to work. Yeah I would say my networking skills are lacking and of course I have zero patience for resetting people's password and fixing their printers so I trended toward development. If you ask me about Active Directory, I can't see the forest for the trees. Permissions in AWS are wild to me, and not a fan of Docker, but I can sure launch an Azure VM no problem. So yeah more or less a mixed bag.

However, I like analytics, data cleaning is a bit of a bore but it works and it's part-and-parcel of the job so gotta do it. AI methods are interesting to me. I am comparing it to Abertay University (https://online.abertay.ac.uk/) and Wrexham University (https://online.wrexham.ac.uk/) in the UK because I am an international student to the USA and to UK. So far I've learned that Wrexham has asynchronous (no scheduled classes) which is a huuuuuuuuge bonus for me.

Back to PUG, I love the Purdue brand, but I would have to do a bachelors, scheduled classes maybe? and ~13k USD for SlowTrack with all credits transferred in at 75% transfer.

I suppose I am in no rush to dive in before looking, because I need a good experience, and I want to know almost everything before I jump in so there's no more gotchas...

[walruspanda]

Also can anyone confirm if PUG has scheduled time classes? This is also called synchronous teaching in Canada.

For PUG standard track, it's synchronous: Classes all have one scheduled class time, one hour a week. For PUG ExcelTrack, every class but the capstone is asynchronous, no scheduled classes. The capstone class is still synchronous in all tracks, however -- it's the same class regardless of what track you're in.

Back to PUG, I love the Purdue brand, but I would have to do a bachelors, scheduled classes maybe? and ~13k USD for SlowTrack with all credits transferred in at 75% transfer.

The cost is more than that, unfortunately, for the BSIT on standard track: 45 credits times $371 per credit is ~$16,700, plus minimum four terms paying the resource fee of $345/term, so $18k is the minimum on standard track. That's why I strongly recommend ExcelTrack for BSIT, which can be done for under $6k if you speed through it in two terms like a couple of us have done. (Well, unless PUG decides in the future to drop the BSIT ExcelTrack, too.)

[LevelUP]

Does WGU have scheduled classes? Like for example, 7PM EST every Thursday?

WGU doesn't have scheduled classes.

[Duneranger]

@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!

Purdue Global, isnt the real Purdue. The diploma reflects that as well. It's similar to Arizona Global

[bjcheung77]

That's what I think as well, if you're OK with that diploma and the school being a different part of the institution system, then you should be fine as you get alumni benefits and can walk with the other Purdue grads. You may want to review this thread again, my post #19 and response to that by a recent PUG grad in post #20. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...T-from-PUG

[housecat]

That's what I think as well, if you're OK with that diploma and the school being a different part of the institution system, then you should be fine as you get alumni benefits and can walk with the other Purdue grads.  You may want to review this thread again, my post #19 and response to that by a recent PUG grad in post #20.  Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...T-from-PUG

I think I have to accept less-than-perfect in some regards, but still, being able to walk with other Purdue grads sounds noble enough for me to sell it to a potential employer.

I re-read #19 and #20, I feel this is fine, maybe I can afford to attend convocation this time (heh a Spirit airlines flight). That was a good thread too!

---

Does WGU have scheduled classes? Like for example, 7PM EST every Thursday?

WGU doesn't have scheduled classes.

Thank you, this is also good news. WGU is a strong contender for me in the arena of WGU versus PUG. It's going to be interesting to see which I choose.

Just a bit of background, I once attended an out-of-province university who taught in all Canadian provinces by renting classrooms in community colleges and teachers would fly-in/fly-out or employ teachers from the local community college who were well qualified to teach the subject matter. Instruction was great.

Anyway half of the way through the masters, I got a call from my head of department saying "...oh sorry the student funding was cut by the funding agency, but we'll try and get it back..." I found out later on that the university had lied to the student funding agency (run by the provincial and federal governments) on the official document between university and funding agency, and I was left with paying high interest for half of a masters for nothing except possible transfer credits in the future.

As fate would have it, I managed to go on a transfer agreement into a masters between community college and a university in Scotland, and I really enjoyed the experience.

This lesson in due diligence has made me impervious to "...uh oh, don't miss your start date, just apply now" kind of marketing E-mails, so I take my time and look into everything first.