Newly admitted, 24 credits remain for a BA Comp Sci!

[dfrecore]

I'm not sure why you'd get a CS degree when you already have a SWDev degree? Maybe if you told us what your ultimate goal was career-wise, we'd be able to help more.

If you can't parlay a SWDev degree into something, I don't think a CS degree will be of much use. You aren't really going to learn a lot that will help more than what you've already done.

[bjcheung77]

@vividpixel, hahaha, you're trying to get the best deals for your current credits... You know what, I was going to say that! Your BSSD should have eliminated the required general education and also electives (even though it shouldn't as you don't have many general education courses in the BSSD). With that, you should only need to do the Major/AOS for the BACS.

Because you're a lifelong learner, feeling extra studious, and like to get the ROI/Value, plus have tuition assistance, instead of taking all the courses at TESU, you can take the 16 credits or more using the flat rate tuition in multiple terms. Now get this, you should get all the alternative credit you need to complete the BACS, then use their Bachelors to Masters option to take the residency credits.

The kicker is, you can add a second degree the BSBA with CIS AOS, overlap 3 AOS courses with BACS, and also take an extra Bachelors to Masters. With this done, you'll have 24 graduate credits for use later and have two Bachelors degrees in fields you're looking into, Business/Comp Sci, and you can add the ASU Grad Cert Freebie while you're at it.

[davewill]

I'm not sure why you'd get a CS degree when you already have a SWDev degree?  Maybe if you told us what your ultimate goal was career-wise, we'd be able to help more.

If you can't parlay a SWDev degree into something, I don't think a CS degree will be of much use.  You aren't really going to learn a lot that will help more than what you've already done.

I had the same initial reaction. It sounds to me like it's more likely that the OP needs development experience more than he needs another degree. That may mean doing open source or hobby work to start. It may also mean finding a lower level dev job, perhaps as a test engineer, before trying to get a full fledged software engineering job.

Finally, I think the OP knows this, but any courses you take from TESU, WGU, or the alt credit providers, will be you teaching yourself the material. The TESU mentors are of limited help, and there's no lectures.

[ss20ts]

I'm not sure why you'd get a CS degree when you already have a SWDev degree?  Maybe if you told us what your ultimate goal was career-wise, we'd be able to help more.

If you can't parlay a SWDev degree into something, I don't think a CS degree will be of much use.  You aren't really going to learn a lot that will help more than what you've already done.

I had the same initial reaction. It sounds to me like it's more likely that the OP needs development experience more than he needs another degree. That may mean doing open source or hobby work to start. It may also mean finding a lower level dev job, perhaps as a test engineer, before trying to get a full fledged software engineering job.

Finally, I think the OP knows this, but any courses you take from TESU, WGU, or the alt credit providers, will be you teaching yourself the material. The TESU mentors are of limited help, and there's no lectures.

I'm wondering how their networking is. LinkedIn profile? Consider working as a consultant to gain experience. Experience is a big deal in the tech sector.

[rachel83az]

If you can't find any consulting gigs, consider using https://www.volunteermatch.org/virtual-volunteering or something similar to find a volunteer opportunity that will showcase your skills. Don't get taken advantage of, obviously, but temporarily working for free in a volunteer capacity may help boost your resume. And open up networking opportunities.

[fmsoa]

Transferred a completed WGU Bachelor of Science degree in Software Development over to TESU recently, as I'm very interested in getting a CS degree and have been exploring all my options for some time. That degree was my first and took two years to complete, August 2017 to July 2019. It didn't help in becoming a professional software developer but did get my foot into Information Technology, changing my life path in a majorly good way and letting me qualify to buy a house in 2020, then meet the love of my life. I worked up to an IT Admin position and chose to return to desktop support. The WGU BSSD is listed on my transfer evaluation as a BSIT, which is accurate. The WGU program was more a concentration than a major.

WGU would've previously been the quickest and cheapest choice for the second Bachelor's due to how much overlap there was between SD and CS. I had quite a disappointing experience trying to deal with their admissions/returning alumni employees (if you're going to be rude, at least give people correct information). I decided to walk away, a lot less likely to ever recommend WGU to anyone due to whatever changes have happened since I left. The math requirements may have been a little over my head, anyway, so CSU Global had become my plan until discovering TESU.

TESU maximized my transfer credit as much as they could and the evaluation shows me only needing 24 more credits, making it a reasonable $12k or so, which will be fully covered by tuition assistance through my employer. My first degree through WGU only required me paying for two terms. In the end, I think $20,000 for a BSIT and a BACS is a good bargain.

I want to share my experience which is very similar to yours. Not much money concern as employer reimburses my tuition. Time is not an issue as I already got degrees under my belt (a BA Math from TESU and a B.S. in engineering from a brick-and-mortar college). That's how I am working on my GT OMSCS and TESU BA CS simultaneously:

I am taking 2 courses a semester at GT. The graduate credits I earned from GT would then be used for my BA CS degree at the same time. As long as I finish my BA CS earlier than my GT masters degree I would have earned 2 degrees for the efforts of one + Lib-4950 Capstone + residency waiver!

If I were you, I would enroll in MAT 2070 Discrete Math, COS 2410 Data Structures, COS 2400 Operating System, COS 3300 Computer Architecture and an Analysis of Algorithms course from Oregon State or Colorado State this Summer and Fall and apply for the OMSCS Spring 2024 cohort. Do not try the SDC route. It is an easy and cheap shortcut for degree but will not prepare you for Graduate Algorithm properly. Calculus is not very important if you are not into machine learning.

GT is the most welcoming program for alternative educational institutions such as WGU and TESU. Programs like UT-Austin are very theory-heavy and frown upon competency-based or alt-credit-earning schools and I have not seen a single successful applicant to this date

[origamishuttle]

I am taking 2 courses a semester at GT. The graduate credits I earned from GT would then be used for my BA CS degree at the same time. As long as I finish my BA CS earlier than my GT masters degree I would have earned 2 degrees for the efforts of one + Lib-4950 Capstone + residency waiver!

We often talk about bachelor's degrees with add-on associate's degrees here, but a master's degree with an add-on bachelor's degree is new to me. Very clever!

[vividpixel]

My reasoning for wanting a CS degree is 1) personal pride 2) when job postings say "Bachelor's in CS or equivalent" they often do not consider Information Technology degrees to meet that requirement. I no longer live there, but in Seattle I knew some software engineers who would back that up.

The degree certainly won't be a magical job fairy whether it's a person's 1st or their 3rd. But this way I can knock out this minimum requirement without too much investment, then move on to the building of practical skills. I do work an IT job where I have the freedom to create applications when I find a need, though in a non-tech non-profit it can be hard to find those opportunities. But I know projects are good.

[rachel83az]

My reasoning for wanting a CS degree is 1) personal pride 2) when job postings say "Bachelor's in CS or equivalent" they often do not consider Information Technology degrees to meet that requirement. I no longer live there, but in Seattle I knew some software engineers who would back that up.

Fair enough! TESU is certainly a good way to get the paper that says you can do the job. I still vote for adding the ASNSM in Math if you continue with TESU, because it'll be (almost) free and look good on your resume.

[origamishuttle]

I still vote for adding the ASNSM in Math if you continue with TESU, because it'll be (almost) free and look good on your resume.

So if you go the GT OMSCS route, then your TESU BACS would be an add-on bachelor's degree, and your TESU ASNSMM would be an add-on associate's degree. All three levels in one shot!  

By the way, my ASNSMM only needed the free College Mathematics CLEP to round out the requirements. However, TESU was only willing to waive the cornerstone requirement because I already had an associate's degree. If they require you to take the cornerstone only for the ASNSM add-on, then it's not really worth it.