Questions From Future Student Looking to Enroll at TESU, Excelsior, or WGU

[bjcheung77]

Kalpa, you're looking at too many things all at once, in other words, you're overthinking too much. My suggestion is, get the prerequisites done for the Masters program you're looking for at whichever respectable/reputable school you're referring to...
But to answer your questions, you may have things mixed up and too cautious of extra recognition of specific program.

1) Most schools limit the amount of second degrees, from all levels, and require you to get the deans approval before you begin a second associates or bachelors. A second bachelors degree at TESU requires at most 144 credits. If you're looking at multiple degrees for the cost/utility, TESU is the ticket...

For example, I think COSC doesn't award second associates, for a second bachelors, they require dean approval as most of their Bachelors are in General Studies with a concentration in something, it's like having two Bachelors of General Studies unless you go for a specific Bachelors they offer. Further to that, a second concentration is 30 credits, so you will need 150 credits at minimum for two degrees or one degree with a double concentration.

COSC Second Bachelors Link: https://www.charteroak.edu/prospective/a...degree.php

2) You're mixing up the ABET accreditation, currently only Excelsior and TESU have ABET accredited program, WGU's in candidacy but not yet accredited by them. Excelsior has a BSIT, BSEET, and BSNET. TESU has similar programs, except no BSIT that's ABET... Each school has some type of programmatic/secondary accreditation for their degree offerings.

WGU: https://www.wgu.edu/about/accreditation.html
TESU: https://www.tesu.edu/about/accreditation
Excelsior: https://www.excelsior.edu/about/accreditations/

3) You're referring to the secondary recognition of Excelsior's Cybersecurity program, the reason Excelsior has it is because their program is probably the longest running (oldest) of the Big 3 and/or WGU's program. I think the other Big 2/WGU just added their programs in 2016 or later. The recognition isn't that great or useful in this regard, employers will look at the Excelsior degree the same way - I would only go for the BSIT Cybersecurity track as it has the extra ABET, otherwise, they're all the same.

Excelsior 2015 Link: https://www.excelsior.edu/article/excels...editation/

4) For WGU, I only recommend them if you're going for a degree in Business, IT, Nursing or Teaching as that's all they offer, if you want something specific other than those offered, well then - you'll have to look elsewhere. They are very good options for those 4 types of degrees, the main difference is, they're not test-out but competency based. The max transfer is up to 90 credits before you enroll. If you can finish in a term, it's under 4K/term - I actually really recommend them for grad school as they are exclusively online vs a state university or if you're going for a Bachelors/Masters combo and not going any further.

5) As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, you're taking in too many things at once. You haven't decided on your final Masters or your end goal, getting all of these is a waste of energy/money and time. The reason I would do this is because it will take the same amount of courses - Yes, at TESU, you can have two associates/two bachelors with exactly 120 credits, but the utility of the associates would be pretty useless as the Bachelors will be looked at instead, you can use the associates as an ego booster or show your progression from A to B.

6) Certifications you're referring to from WGU are included in the cost of tuition for most if not all of them, that's the main reason I would recommend them for people going for one of the 4 types of degrees. I tell people to work on 3 things, degree, experience and lastly, certifications. If it's bundled into the degree, great. If you can get the certs free from work, that will do as well... For me, I don't get tuition assistance/reimbursement for school, but I do get reimbursement for business/it exams as long as I pass.

7) Read #5 again, hahaha, it'll be worth it... yes, if you're getting the Associates en route to your Bachelors FREE and if it doesn't take any extra courses, energy, money, or time, sure... I would go for it since it's just perfect planning of your classes towards your Bachelors degrees, if you can plan that like I did for my cousin, you can do it without the need for any extra classes.