Purdue University Global - BA Information Technology [Review & Advice]

[ss20ts]

Someone on the forum said the Capstone is no longer on a fixed schedule, so maybe you could complete 8 courses in one term now.

I'm pretty sure with talking with PUG recently (I'm starting in early June) that the capstone is still on a fixed schedule. What HAS changed, though, is that you can now take the capstone in the same term as other classes. That said, I think it's hard to imagine you would be able convince PUG to sign you up for the capstone right off the bat in the first term, having not passed any other classes before. So I would say the reasonable minimum is two terms for a BS IT.

Being able to take the Capstone in the same term with other courses is huge. My husband had to be on a fixed schedule and on fixed tuition (more than the ExcelTrack tuition) in a separate term for his BS in Analytics at PUG. Made no sense why it took the full term to complete the Capstone. There were 3 people completing it in his class including him. He was way ahead of everyone else. The other people rarely participated. I have no idea how they could have passed that class. It's definitely set up very differently than the other courses. There were weekly deadlines and a Zoom every week with mandatory participation.

[walruspanda]

What I was told today about the W3Schools PHP credit: They won't know officially for another month or so what the new course credit equivalencies will be, but according to a higher-up, it "may be eligible for IN253 and IN257". Unfortunately, I think wherever it ends up, it won't be quite the avalanche of credits that it was before.

Since I start in early June, I've had to rejigger some things around for maximizing credits, so here's my current plan. Actual credits I've received from PUG in blue, things I've submitted and fully expect to receive credit for in red, up-in-the-air classes in green.



There isn't a list of IT Management concentration electives on PUG's website (and I haven't been able to obtain one), but at one point IT303 was listed as eligible for that, so fingers crossed. IT401 is on my degree plan for the concentration, so I know that one will work. I'll delay taking the two software classes as long as I can in case the credit comes in for IN253 and IN257.

[LevelUP]

There isn't a list of IT Management concentration electives on PUG's website (and I haven't been able to obtain one), but at one point IT303 was listed as eligible for that, so fingers crossed. IT401 is on my degree plan for the concentration, so I know that one will work. I'll delay taking the two software classes as long as I can in case the credit comes in for IN253 and IN257.

I thought to see a list of what was accepted for IT Management, you go to this page and click on IT Managment/course outcomes
https://www.purdueglobal.edu/degree-prog...ntrations/

Then match up the courses to the certifications.
https://www.purdueglobal.edu/alternative...ion-exams/

List of courses IT management
Certified Ethical Hacking I
Certified Information Systems Security Professional I
Certified Information Systems Security Professional II
Certified Information Systems Security Professional III
Linux Security
Windows Enterprise Administration
Intrusion Detection and Incidence Response
Certified Ethical Hacking II
Project Management II
Digital Forensics
Information Systems Security
Routing and Switching II

As far as anything else working, ya it would be nice if there was a list somewhere.

You would think a course like SDC MIS would work.  (MT300)

Let us know if you find something.

[walruspanda]

There isn't a list of IT Management concentration electives on PUG's website (and I haven't been able to obtain one), but at one point IT303 was listed as eligible for that, so fingers crossed. IT401 is on my degree plan for the concentration, so I know that one will work. I'll delay taking the two software classes as long as I can in case the credit comes in for IN253 and IN257.

I thought to see a list of what was accepted for IT Management, you go to this page and click on IT Managment/course outcomes
https://www.purdueglobal.edu/degree-prog...ntrations/

That's what I originally thought, but of the four courses PUG randomly signed me up for to meet that requirement on my degree plan, only two of them are on that list. So I dunno

[walruspanda]

A couple weeks into my first PUG term, with a lot of talking to my helpful advisor, this is what I ended up transferring over:



I could have gotten down to 45 except for a technical issue I won't get into right now, but I'm happy with 50 credits to go. Important takeaway: Azure Fundamentals is a great way to knock out most of the IT Management Concentration.

I'll talk more about my initial PUG experience when I have a bit more time.

[walruspanda]

PUG thoughts two weeks in:

• Finished 13 credits in the first two weeks. I'm aiming for everything but the capstone this term, which would be 44 credits, so for now I'm ahead of the pace I'd need. I do have a decade of IT experience, though, so your speed may vary.
  
• I did try to see if I could take the capstone this term as well, but I was told there's a hard rule against taking the capstone first term, at least in the IT school.
  
• Transferring in certs for credit was a pain. Over half of them didn't give credit correctly initially, even though PUG is super upfront about what credit you should be getting. But with help from my great advisor Hayley, it (almost) all eventually got resolved. I've read stories from PUG students that have mediocre advisors, so I'm grateful that I didn't.
  
• Sophia credits were fine, however -- all came in the way it should have.
  
• Vast difference in difficulty between modules, even in the same class. In IN250, I finished the first two modules in a combined 90 minutes, but the third (which has essentially four parts) will take probably five hours by the time I'm done. Not really a ramp up in difficulty, just a lot more assignments.
  
• There are some parts of some courses (e.g. IT331) that are way out of date – I assume they haven't changed the modules since the Kaplan era. Others are fine and definitely have been updated recently, making references to things within the last year or two.
  
• Also there's also been a disconnect a few times between the assignment directions and the rubric – they don't ask you to do the same thing. I could have asked for clarification, but I just submitted based on the directions and have done fine so far.
  

Overall, I'm happy with my experience so far. A few hiccups, but for those who can come in with a bunch of cert credits (and don't mind writing papers/creating PowerPoints), I think it's a nice option.

[rachel83az]

Unfortunately, I don't think future students are going to be able to transfer in any MS credits/certificates like the Azure Fundamentals. They're being discontinued, AFAIK.

[walruspanda]

Unfortunately, I don't think future students are going to be able to transfer in any MS credits/certificates like the Azure Fundamentals. They're being discontinued, AFAIK.

Microsoft is retiring a bunch of certs, but for now Azure Fundamentals/AZ-900 isn't on the chopping block. 

It's an easy cert for those with any Azure knowledge -- I work for a Mac org with little Azure experience, and I easily passed with 5 hours of study.

[LevelUP]

I could have gotten down to 45 except for a technical issue I won't get into right now, but I'm happy with 50 credits to go. Important takeaway: Azure Fundamentals is a great way to knock out most of the IT Management Concentration.

I'll talk more about my initial PUG experience when I have a bit more time.

You did a great job of getting near the max credits.

Great find with that Azure cert for the IT Management concentration.  As I hear, someone with no technical background can pass that cert in around 20 hours.

I added Azure cert to the degree plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/PU...egree_Plan

PUG thoughts two weeks in:

• Finished 13 credits in the first two weeks. I'm aiming for everything but the capstone this term, which would be 44 credits, so for now I'm ahead of the pace I'd need. I do have a decade of IT experience, though, so your speed may vary.
  
• I did try to see if I could take the capstone this term as well, but I was told there's a hard rule against taking the capstone first term, at least in the IT school.
  
• Transferring in certs for credit was a pain. Over half of them didn't give credit correctly initially, even though PUG is super upfront about what credit you should be getting. But with help from my great advisor Hayley, it (almost) all eventually got resolved. I've read stories from PUG students that have mediocre advisors, so I'm grateful that I didn't.
  
• Sophia credits were fine, however -- all came in the way it should have.
  
• Vast difference in difficulty between modules, even in the same class. In IN250, I finished the first two modules in a combined 90 minutes, but the third (which has essentially four parts) will take probably five hours by the time I'm done. Not really a ramp up in difficulty, just a lot more assignments.
  
• There are some parts of some courses (e.g. IT331) that are way out of date – I assume they haven't changed the modules since the Kaplan era. Others are fine and definitely have been updated recently, making references to things within the last year or two.
  
• Also there's also been a disconnect a few times between the assignment directions and the rubric – they don't ask you to do the same thing. I could have asked for clarification, but I just submitted based on the directions and have done fine so far.
  

Overall, I'm happy with my experience so far. A few hiccups, but for those who can come in with a bunch of cert credits (and don't mind writing papers/creating PowerPoints), I think it's a nice option.

Excellent feedback.

It looks like you are on track to finish in 2 terms.

Glad to see you are having a positive experience with PUG.

[walruspanda]

A quick rundown of my first PUG BS IT term at the midway point:

• Of the 44 1-credit modules I'm trying to complete this term (everything but the capstone), in the first five weeks I've finished 32 of them: 28 As, 1 B, 3 waiting on grading.
  
• On average, I'd estimate I'm spending between 3-6 hours on most of the modules, although some have been as quick as 45 minutes for me (IN250 M1 and M2), and one took north of 10 hours (I'm trying not to remember). Per class, that's around 20-30 hours. Keep in mind I have 10 years of IT experience and am a pretty quick writer, so my guess is these are low times compared to most.
  
• The major assignments seem to be the same between the module classes and the traditional classes. Since there are 10 weeks for the traditional classes but only 5 or 6 modules per class, that means most of the modules have two major assignments (although some have had three).
  
• I knew coming in there were lots of writing assignments, but I didn't know how many Powerpoint assignments there would be. Oof.
  
• There have been assignments where nothing in the assignment instructions matches the published rubric (IT402 M1, for example). Email quote from one of the professors: "I submitted several tickets about the inconsistency," but still not fixed. I'd say about half the modules have some sort of issue on this front, although most are minor. Not exactly a professional look, though.
  
• In the times I've interacted with professors (about half the classes), my general perception of them has been mixed, to say the least. Some have been kind and helpful. Some...have not. Probably par for the course at any school, though.
  
• If you're doing the IT Management concentration, and you're trying to complete this degree as quickly as possible (which is why you're here, right?), I strongly recommend against taking IN300 as one of the classes. I'm an experienced programmer, and it's slow tedious going for me -- much of it programming the same thing in three different languages. I don't know what to recommend instead, but it may end up as my most time-consuming course.
  

Anyway, happy that I'm ahead of my expected pace and should be able to finish in two terms without too much trouble, after which I'm going straight into my PUG IT Masters.