Please help me decide on an academic path

[ss20ts]

Are you recommending the ACE courses for an UMPI degree? CMSLearn doesn't transfer to UMPI. Only 1 Saylor course has been transferred to UMPI so far. I also wouldn't say to take just any 30 courses at Saylor. They would need to be courses that would be accepted by UMPI and fill a degree requirement. With the BLS you also have to complete the majority of UL courses at UMPI.

[bjcheung77]

No, that was just an example I was thinking that would generate 90+ credits for an affordable price. The OP hasn't decided on which degree or school and because of their younger age, it's best to take courses to see what interests them as they seem to be pulled into three different directions of Business, Computer Science, and Software Development. It's hard to decide specific on the degree/school at this juncture, but I would recommend doing so... even if you don't decide, you can still take some courses I mentioned to see if those courses interest you or not...

[LevelUP]

Are you recommending the ACE courses for an UMPI degree? CMSLearn doesn't transfer to UMPI. Only 1 Saylor course has been transferred to UMPI so far. I also wouldn't say to take just any 30 courses at Saylor. They would need to be courses that would be accepted by UMPI and fill a degree requirement. With the BLS you also have to complete the majority of UL courses at UMPI.

I agree.

There is no UMPI equivalency list for Saylor. And Saylor takes much longer than Sophia, so Sophia is the way for UMPI.

[origamishuttle]

3) Complete 30 Saylor.org courses for 90 credits at $5 each, total is just $150 for 90 credits

This is a resourceful plan, although it's important to note that Saylor is a very large tradeoff between money and time, and a risky one at that. The content takes much longer to consume and prepare for the final, and 30 finals is 30+ chances to fail, effectively doubling, at least, your cost if you have to re-take the exam a second or third time. Although it wouldn't be exactly 30, given IC Spanish/Gov and CSMLearn, it would only be 27, I think?

In contrast, Sophia has at least 16 3-credit courses with either zero, or minimal, touchstones, all of which can be completed in a month. I know because I completed 18 in two months while working 50+ hours at a full time job, completing the Google IT certificate, and passing 4 IT certifications. If you can complete 20 3-credit courses in one month with Sophia, and then complete the 7 easiest Saylor courses, that would only be $115, and it would be much, much faster. If you can pre-game your Sophia courses, that will help also. However, most people don't, and many have gone very quickly to fit it all into a single month.

[pranav_upd]

Hello everyone. I'm Pranav from India. I'm 24, started working as a junior Developer shortly. I do not have a undergraduate degree and I'm pretty confused. Tried to do the TESU and Sophia+Study.com route but since I wasn't earning back then (not earning enough now to fund a degree either) dad said he couldn't afford it. Finally after lot of research, I joined BCA at uni mysore as they'd said they would provide an accelerated mode if I paid the fee upfront but I'm sure it's illegal by Indian University commission (UGC) and they said the exams are self paced but haven't allowed me to exams for the past 2 months. Other online Indian universities seem to just want your money upfront and then the support goes downhill. I've heard of UoPeople but it doesn't have RA accreditation yet. I'd also enrolled in ENEB MBA Masters in big data just to see how the courses were and not as a serious academic path but now I'm really considering doing ENEB since I've heard their MBA was recognised as an RA bachelor's degree by one of the NACES accreditors and I read on degree-inf that the Big data Masters was accepted as equivalent Masters in Belgium by Belgium Naric, so it would help me in doing a PHD sometime later if I wanted to go into academia. Any reply would be helpful. Thanks

I am NOT sure this will work.. but it may.

Your budget is very tight, but you have started the ENEB Big Data, finish it up.

Then see if you can get accepted into this free masters of science in communications https://www2.daad.de/deutschland/studien...gistration

While the ENEB doesn't "exactly" meet the prerequisites, I "think" you could make an argument for admission given work history/skills. Especially if you found some cheap MOOCS classes in the stuff they want to see a basic understanding of 

Basic knowledge in the following subjects is required:

• information theory and communications engineering
  
  
• digital signal processing
  
  
• signal and system theory
  
  
• telecommunications and networks
  
  
• linear algebra
  
  
• random processes, stochastics
  

Basic programming skills (Matlab/Octave or Python):

• variables, basic operators, conditional statements, loops, arrays, functions, etc.
  
  
  
  Taking a  quick look, EdX.org has courses that aren't terribly expensive and also Coursea like this for Fundamentals of network Comms https://www.mooc-list.com/course/fundame...n-coursera for 32 Euro a month
  

At the end of the day, it's really just computer type stuff but geared towards communications systems, and that is an in demand field.

It may not be EXACTLY what you are looking for, but if you could get admitted based on the ENEB MBA Big Data and some additional courses from MOOCS, you would never beat the price, and can be done online from home.

Good luck, and I bet you can do it!

This looks awesome. I was also looking towards Coursera msee when I hopefully earn more and save up enough to fund it and since it's performance based admission, hopefully my undergraduate degree wouldn't matter.

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Hello everyone. I'm Pranav from India. I'm 24, started working as a junior Developer shortly. I do not have a undergraduate degree and I'm pretty confused. Tried to do the TESU and Sophia+Study.com route but since I wasn't earning back then (not earning enough now to fund a degree either) dad said he couldn't afford it. Finally after lot of research, I joined BCA at uni mysore as they'd said they would provide an accelerated mode if I paid the fee upfront but I'm sure it's illegal by Indian University commission (UGC) and they said the exams are self paced but haven't allowed me to exams for the past 2 months. Other online Indian universities seem to just want your money upfront and then the support goes downhill. I've heard of UoPeople but it doesn't have RA accreditation yet. I'd also enrolled in ENEB MBA Masters in big data just to see how the courses were and not as a serious academic path but now I'm really considering doing ENEB since I've heard their MBA was recognised as an RA bachelor's degree by one of the NACES accreditors and I read on degree-inf that the Big data Masters was accepted as equivalent Masters in Belgium by Belgium Naric, so it would help me in doing a PHD sometime later if I wanted to go into academia. Any reply would be helpful. Thanks

If money is tight, then UMPI is your best option.

As long as you can do 10 courses in one term, then it's only $1400 for a degree at UMPI. Possible if you can put 30-40hrs a week of work into your studies for 2 months.
https://online.umpi.edu/what-is-your-pace.aspx
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI

UMPI has the BA business admin concentration in project management which is really the management of information systems.

UMPI seems like a good choice but I guess i contribute a bit, my dad would probably help me fund BACS at tesu while transferring credits from Sophia/study.com/straighterline and EDX microbachelors. I'll ask my dad if it's possible to go ahead with tesu

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Cost shouldn't be holding you back, that $75 USD/month will go a long way.  I've had people from developing countries ask about starting when they don't have access to much either.  Technically, you can have over 90 credits and 3 years done with just under $200!  We're all here to provide you the cheap, easy, fast method of gaining credits, and some people like to play things that will generate more ROI/Value.

My suggestion is the following, to start you off.  A) 90+ ACE credits  B) ENEB MBA/Masters combo
1) Start off with investing in a second monitor, do the CSM Learn course $35 ($39 if you don't sign up for the newsletter)
2) Complete InstantCertCredit American Government and Spanish I, each is $20/month plus $15 proctor fee, $70 total
3) Complete 30 Saylor.org courses for 90 credits at $5 each, total is just $150 for 90 credits

This will get you enough credits to transfer into UMPI as that would be my first choice as well, however, I would delay this entry and use the money towards an ENEB MBA/Masters first so you can save up enough for the UMPI BLS MIS and complete within two terms to finish out the Bachelors.  Entry into ENEB just requires you to have "some" credits and working towards a Bachelors...

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There are a few examples, but I'll use Supermind since he's from India.  Basically start with taking inexpensive credits first to round out your "max" transfer, then take the courses at the school to finish it off.  Depending on the degree/school you're looking at, you can save money along the way by working and slowly completing courses towards your degree.  It took him about a year to finish a TESU BALS Psych concentration and then another two terms (less than 6 months) at Walden to finish a Masters in Psych.

Hello Sir. I'm happy you replied. I've been reading your posts on degreeinfo and degreeforum and I'd built a sample degree plan by reading your posts. I'm a big fan.
ENEB allowed me to enroll since I was pursuing a bachelor's degree. TESU seems like the most logical option otherwise is doing a level 7 diploma in IT, Since a company is offering a special OTHM Diploma in level 7 in India and they said they accept people with a high school diploma. I was thinking if I can apply it for MSC Applied computing learning at work by university of Port since they accept credits from a level 7 diploma.

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3) Complete 30 Saylor.org courses for 90 credits at $5 each, total is just $150 for 90 credits

This is a resourceful plan, although it's important to note that Saylor is a very large tradeoff between money and time, and a risky one at that. The content takes much longer to consume and prepare for the final, and 30 finals is 30+ chances to fail, effectively doubling, at least, your cost if you have to re-take the exam a second or third time. Although it wouldn't be exactly 30, given IC Spanish/Gov and CSMLearn, it would only be 27, I think?

In contrast, Sophia has at least 16 3-credit courses with either zero, or minimal, touchstones, all of which can be completed in a month. I know because I completed 18 in two months while working 50+ hours at a full time job, completing the Google IT certificate, and passing 4 IT certifications. If you can complete 20 3-credit courses in one month with Sophia, and then complete the 7 easiest Saylor courses, that would only be $115, and it would be much, much faster. If you can pre-game your Sophia courses, that will help also. However, most people don't, and many have gone very quickly to fit it all into a single month.

I was a bit worried taking credits from Saylor since I've heard some complaints about it.

[bjcheung77]

3) Complete 30 Saylor.org courses for 90 credits at $5 each, total is just $150 for 90 credits

This is a resourceful plan, although it's important to note that Saylor is a very large tradeoff between money and time, and a risky one at that. The content takes much longer to consume and prepare for the final, and 30 finals is 30+ chances to fail, effectively doubling, at least, your cost if you have to re-take the exam a second or third time. Although it wouldn't be exactly 30, given IC Spanish/Gov and CSMLearn, it would only be 27, I think?

In contrast, Sophia has at least 16 3-credit courses with either zero, or minimal, touchstones, all of which can be completed in a month. I know because I completed 18 in two months while working 50+ hours at a full time job, completing the Google IT certificate, and passing 4 IT certifications. If you can complete 20 3-credit courses in one month with Sophia, and then complete the 7 easiest Saylor courses, that would only be $115, and it would be much, much faster. If you can pre-game your Sophia courses, that will help also. However, most people don't, and many have gone very quickly to fit it all into a single month.

This ^^, OP is open to options and suggestions. That was just an example, I too would recommend the Sophia.org/Study.com combo due to Saylor.org course content and the way their courses are made, it's not a very good option. Having said that, Saylor does have an interesting LL/UL course set for Comp Science that Sophia.org doesn't. If TESU BACS is the one OP wants, I highly suggest getting Sophia.org/Saylor.org and Study.com down that list, along with the CSM and ACTFL for language courses. Further to that, since they're in their twenties and paying for a degree at TESU, might as well get the BSBA CIS/BACS combo for the same price (I suggest the TECEP/16 credit residency combo to get the RA requirements).

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Hello Sir. I'm happy you replied. I've been reading your posts on degreeinfo and degreeforum and I'd built a sample degree plan by reading your posts. I'm a big fan.
ENEB allowed me to enroll since I was pursuing a bachelor's degree. TESU seems like the most logical option otherwise is doing a level 7 diploma in IT, Since a company is offering a special OTHM Diploma in level 7 in India and they said they accept people with a high school diploma. I was thinking if I can apply it for MSC Applied computing learning at work by university of Port since they accept credits from a level 7 diploma. I was a bit worried taking credits from Saylor since I've heard some complaints about it.

Woo, I have another fan! Haha... yeah, I suggest the Sophia.org/Study.com combo, but Saylor has about 3 LL and 1 UL computer science course you can use towards your BACS, these courses are not available on Sophia.org or StraighterLine.

[pranav_upd]

3) Complete 30 Saylor.org courses for 90 credits at $5 each, total is just $150 for 90 credits

This is a resourceful plan, although it's important to note that Saylor is a very large tradeoff between money and time, and a risky one at that. The content takes much longer to consume and prepare for the final, and 30 finals is 30+ chances to fail, effectively doubling, at least, your cost if you have to re-take the exam a second or third time. Although it wouldn't be exactly 30, given IC Spanish/Gov and CSMLearn, it would only be 27, I think?

In contrast, Sophia has at least 16 3-credit courses with either zero, or minimal, touchstones, all of which can be completed in a month. I know because I completed 18 in two months while working 50+ hours at a full time job, completing the Google IT certificate, and passing 4 IT certifications. If you can complete 20 3-credit courses in one month with Sophia, and then complete the 7 easiest Saylor courses, that would only be $115, and it would be much, much faster. If you can pre-game your Sophia courses, that will help also. However, most people don't, and many have gone very quickly to fit it all into a single month.

This ^^, OP is open to options and suggestions.  That was just an example, I too would recommend the Sophia.org/Study.com combo due to Saylor.org course content and the way their courses are made, it's not a very good option.  Having said that, Saylor does have an interesting LL/UL course set for Comp Science that Sophia.org has.  If TESU BACS is the one OP wants, I highly suggest getting Sophia.org/Saylor.org and Study.com down that list, along with the CSM and ACTFL for language courses.  Further to that, since they're in their twenties and paying for a degree at TESU, might as well get the BSBA CIS/BACS combo for the same price.

Thank you so much. I guess I'll renew my Sophia subscription and start to polish off the gen eds.

[origamishuttle]

Having said that, Saylor does have an interesting LL/UL course set for Comp Science that Sophia.org doesn't.  If TESU BACS is the one OP wants, I highly suggest getting Sophia.org/Saylor.org and Study.com down that list, along with the CSM and ACTFL for language courses.

Great points. Saylor is a somewhat forgotten resource, but it can play an important role for those with the talent and the time, but not the money.

Further to that, since they're in their twenties and paying for a degree at TESU, might as well get the BSBA CIS/BACS combo for the same price (I suggest the TECEP/16 credit residency combo to get the RA requirements).

I love this concept, although I still don't fully understand the procedure - is it BSBA first, then BACS, or is it more complicated than that?

[bjcheung77]

I love this concept, although I still don't fully understand the procedure - is it BSBA first, then BACS, or is it more complicated than that?

That's technically how I would recommend it, basically think of it as doing one degree, the BSBA CIS concentration. The BACS is just a set of extra Computer Science courses in addition to the ones in the CIS, some of the courses overlap anyways. I would make sure to get the BSBA CIS completed before continuing onto a BACS just in case of time constraints, the student can graduate and then come back for the second degree... it's best of course to graduate both at the same time.

[davewill]

Even though University of the People is not RA, it is accredited by a DOE approved organization. It would likely be sufficient for ENEB, for example, and many employers.