Next after WGU BSN with TESU credits banked

[cwendy111]

You misunderstand. An associates was never an option. It either Bachelors of one of the above, or disregard all my credits and shoot for a Masters. In typing this, I decided I cant disregard all those credits I took already, so I have decided that isn't an option for me anymore. 

SO we are at which Bachelors basically. I am heavily leaning toward NASM with CIS concentration and Cert vs BACS. Why? Because it is more readily obtainable and my interests are more CIS than CS

In that case, I am confused. I thought you meant this, which is an associate's: https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/asnsm/computer-science

The only NASM I see is not at TESU and is a certificate for personal trainers.

You are right. I am misstating my degree plan. It is a BALS with a NASM concentration which I planned to drop a CIS cert in. It makes no sense to do the CS concentration because I may as well go all the way and get the BACS. OMG, this gets crazy doesn't it!!! https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/ba/liberal-studies

[rachel83az]

You are right. I am misstating my degree plan. It is a BALS with a NASM concentration which I planned to drop a CIS cert in. It makes no sense to do the CS concentration because I may as well go all the way and get the BACS. OMG, this gets crazy doesn't it!!! https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/ba/liberal-studies

In that case, I would not do a BALS at all. I would either go for a BACS or skip and go straight to a master's. A BALS is going to be worth much less than a nursing degree, even with a CS concentration.

[cwendy111]

You are right. I am misstating my degree plan. It is a BALS with a NASM concentration which I planned to drop a CIS cert in. It makes no sense to do the CS concentration because I may as well go all the way and get the BACS. OMG, this gets crazy doesn't it!!! https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/ba/liberal-studies

In that case, I would not do a BALS at all. I would either go for a BACS or skip and go straight to a master's. A BALS is going to be worth much less than a nursing degree, even with a CS concentration.

I will have the BSN nursing degree either way. The BACS is obviously a steeper gradient, I guess I'm just trying to avoid. I know it is the best choice of the lot. I seem to be looking for the easy way out, not the best way forward. Yeah, I know, I know...in my Captain America voice. lol

[Merlin]

Personally, I think that pursuing a second bachelor's degree is only a realistic option if you have a specific need for it. Like it opens up a higher salary, a promotion, or is required to meet the entrance requirements for the graduate program you want, etc. The important bit, to me anyway, is that it supports new or improved career options, or otherwise meets a need that your existing degree on its own does not.

In almost every case, a master's degree is a better investment of time, energy, and money. Of course, that also assumes that the reason for a master's degree fills a niche that is important to your career or personal interests.

Also, as a FYI, if you're considering a BACS, you might as well just plan to stick with WGU for the BSCS. Once you finish your RN-BSN you can start taking courses from Straighterline and Study.com to cover the balance between the required courses and those you need to meet the residency requirement. By the time you're done with them, your term at WGU should be over or close to over so you can re-apply and have the new credits evaluated before the next term start date.

Of course, that begets the question of what you plan to do with the CS degree on top of the RN-BSN? Did you want to go into medical informatics, data modeling/analysis, or build medical software or something? Hopefully the two degrees have some overlap so you can justify why you did them both.

[cwendy111]

Hi Merlin the Wise!

I have been a consultant doing Electronic Medical Records implementations a long time ago and want to go back to that type of work. Nursing informatics or Clinical/Application Analyst. I lucked my way into Healthcare IT way back in 1998, just by being the young smart RN on the floor. Originally provided go live support, then over the years worked my way up to trainer then programmer analyst. Was too busy making bank to get a Bachelors. I left nursing and IT for a few yers and now everybody wants a degree. Having the BSN and an IT degree would make me a rockstar. I Could write my own ticket. I have banked mucho credits already towards what started out as a BSN at TESU, then turned into a BALS or BACS because the BSN seemed so far out of reach. I have already taken a slew of IT courses via SDC, a DSST, TEEX and Sophia. The downside of finishing fast at WGU is you cant start a new program until your term ends. Which wont be until November for me. I don't want to sit idley that whole time. I figure I would finish up a degree at TESU, then consider Masters at WGU. No way I go Masters anywhere else unless I decide to do it right after I graduate next week and then Walden looks the most like WGU's program. I don't want to waste all the credits I acquired and are sitting at TESU. So I was going to do the BALS NSAM and drop a CIS cert in it at TESU, because it is easier to complete than the BACS. That hi level math is scaring me. But then again, after dusting off this degree in 2 months, I feel i little supercharged!!!

[Merlin]

The downside of finishing fast at WGU is you cant start a new program until your term ends. Which wont be until November for me. I don't want to sit idley that whole time.

While you cannot begin the next degree at WGU until your current term ends, November isn't that far away in the grand scheme of things and you can begin working on banking credits towards a BSCS right away. You need to complete your courses by October to get them evaluated for a November start anyway, so that is only 3 months... which may be cutting it short depending on how many credits you want to complete from ACE providers like Straighterline/Study.com/Saylor and how many you are comfortable with completing at WGU directly.

It is unlikely that you will be able to complete things any faster via TESU anyway, and it definitely won't be cheaper.

For the TESU BACS you'll need at least 24 new credits earned after your most recent degree, but the BACS has 39 credits of required courses in the major. You're allowed 9 credits of overlap between your old coursework and the new one, so that will leave quite a few courses that still need to be completed via ACE providers. So you'll have the balance of courses to complete (up to 36 credits worth) via ACE, plus a month for evaluation, then time to register for and complete a 15-week capstone course. After you complete that, you'll need to wait up to 5 months for the next commencement ceremony to graduate. So you're looking at 6-11 months right there depending on how quickly you can complete the ACE courses and the timing on the commencement ceremony. Plus you're looking at at least 50-100% more in costs as well.

I'm fairly confident that after you finish the credits you want from SL/SDC/Saylor (many of which are the same for both degrees) you could complete the last few credits you need at WGU and graduate much faster than you can at TESU.

I figure I would finish up a degree at TESU, then consider Masters at WGU. No way I go Masters anywhere else unless I decide to do it right after I graduate next week and then Walden looks the most like WGU's program. I don't want to waste all the credits I acquired and are sitting at TESU. So I was going to do the BALS NSAM and drop a CIS cert in it at TESU, because it is easier to complete than the BACS. That hi level math is scaring me. But then again, after dusting off this degree in 2 months, I feel i little supercharged!!!

You're going to need Calculus and Discrete Math for either degree. So you might as well plan to take those from Straighterline (calculus) and Study.com (discrete math) before you begin. Discrete math is much less complex and you don't need calculus for it, so that could be taken first or after calculus.

The credits you acquired won't go to waste. They can be used for either degree. Well, you can use up to 9 credits of them towards a second degree at TESU since they were earned before your BSN was completed. TESU will still require at least 24 new credits to be earned after your BSN is awarded.

Either way I don't recommend a BALS as a second degree ever. It is a checkbox degree and won't offer any value considering you'll already have the BSN.

[cwendy111]

Thanks for your input. Just want to clarify the 9 credits thing. I was taking credits towards an IT concentration. Those credits are NOT being applied to the BSN. TESU will not allow me to use them even though they are already on my TESU transcript?

[Merlin]

Thanks for your input. Just want to clarify the 9 credits thing. I was taking credits towards an IT concentration. Those credits are NOT being applied to the BSN. TESU will not allow me to use them even though they are already on my TESU transcript?

I just checked the latest TESU catalog to verify the above, and it looks like TESU either changed things or, more likely, I was misremembering and mixing up people coming back for a second baccalaureate degree with people pursuing a second area of study in a single degree.

In any case, the 9 credit overlap rule does NOT apply for people coming back to pursue a second bachelor's degree. It only matters for people who are trying to earn a second area of study in the same degree. So you can ignore that bit above.

However, the 24 new credit requirement is accurate:

"To earn a second bachelor's degree at TESU you must complete a minimum of 24 credits including the required Capstone for the degree. These credits must be in the area of study and/or core of the degree. These credits must be earned after the date the most recent degree, regardless of academic level, was conferred. Additionally, students must complete all other degree requirements as listed in the current Thomas Edison State University Catalog."

For the BACS, this means you need to complete the required courses in section A (Intro to Programming, Data Structures, Calculus I, Discrete Mathematics, Operating Systems, and Computer Architecture), the Liberal Arts Capstone (LIB-495) aka section B, and the 18 Computer Science electives in section C, for a total of 39 credits. At least 18 of those credits must be upper level (300 level or above) and at least 24 of those credits must be new credits that were earned after the conferral of your BSN degree. This means you can reuse up to 15 credits (rather than 9) from prior coursework.

So, if you already have 15 credits from prior coursework at TESU or WGU that will meet the BACS section A or C requirements, that means you only need to complete 21 new credits (7 courses) and transfer them in to earn a BACS. This also assumes that at least 15 of the total credits in sections A and C are upper level (regardless of being new or old).

Hopefully, that makes sense. I apologize if you were confused since I apparently was. I felt like there was something I was missing so I'm glad I took the time to go back to check the requirements in the catalog.

Since I am also comparing second degree options between returning to TESU for a BACS or pursuing a BSCS at WGU, this does mean that I could potentially see a few more courses come in to meet BACS requirements than I had originally planned for. However, it doesn't change the time or cost requirements. I still think that WGU will be cheaper and faster, and probably a better option for the purposes of being used to support graduate degree entrance requirements.

[cwendy111]

Thanks for the additional info! I am def looking for cheap! I managed to find a loophole in WGU's process that allowed me to transfer into the RN-MSN Informatics program before I was conferred the BSN. The request was approved, but some knucklehead at WGU never cancelled my graduation request, despite my transfer being in progress and me asking them to. (received my congratulatory banner this morning) So now I have to fight with them Monday morning to get "UN-graduated", which I did not have on my Bachelors's degree BINGO card. Crazy!!

[Merlin]

Thanks for the additional info! I am def looking for cheap! I managed to find a loophole in WGU's process that allowed me to transfer into the RN-MSN Informatics program before I was conferred the BSN. The request was approved, but some knucklehead at WGU never cancelled my graduation request, despite my transfer being in progress and me asking them to. (received my congratulatory banner this morning) So now I have to fight with them Monday morning to get "UN-graduated", which I did not have on my Bachelors's degree BINGO card. Crazy!!

I may be missing something... why do you not want them to graduate you?

I don't think they will "ungraduate" you, but if they do, they will probably revoke your ability to enter the RN-MSN as well. As far as I know, all regional accreditors require that a student already has a bachelor's degree before entering a master's program (or at least, they must be approved to graduate with conferral within a term). So, they may have allowed you to transfer into the RN-MSN because you were already approved to graduate with the BSN. If not, I'm curious about what loophole it is that is allowing you to bypass the normal rules for entering a master's program.