Sanity Check - WGU BSITM

[echondo]

Hello everyone,

TL;DR footnotes;

• Mid-20s
  
• No college until now
  
• Have 4 CC classes done, and 8 Sophia classes done. 36 units.
  
• Degree wanted: WGU's B.S. BA degree in IT Management(BSITM)
  
• Goal: Latest next summer, June 2023. Earlier is better, but not needed.
  
• Time commitment: Have a wife, no kids. Full time job, but flexible hours and 24/7 schedule, trying to get on night shift to work on school more while at work(supervisors encouraging).
  
• Why WGU?: I am open to more options, however I am more comfortable with WGU due to all of my managers for the past 10 years have gotten degrees from WGU and my wife is doing her MBA through WGU right now.
  
• Financials: Cash flowing, no need for loans or anything. But cheaper the better, obviously.
  

Background info;


I am in my mid-20s and I have about 10 years of professional IT experience. I recently started going back to school due to having zero college since graduating high school, also when trying to get a promotion at work I was denied due to "not having a degree" even though I had experience in the area they wanted. I want to eventually get into "Manager" and "Director" roles in IT, so my end goal is a B.S. in Business Administration IT Management via WGU. And maybe get my MBA or a IT Masters degree in the future(5-10 years from now). I have been admitted to WGU, but not enrolled. I did this years ago so my mentor has changed since I last called, but I figured once I am done with CC and Sophia/Straighterline/SDC(SSS) I'll call and get everything back online and transfer my stuff in.

College experience so far;

Local CC classes completed(computers does not transfer into WGU from what I can find, might be able to get the spreadsheets class knocked out by it):

• Accounting I 
  
• Art History I
  
• Intro to Computers
  
• United States History I
  

Sophia classes completed(still in my first month):

• CA1001 (Algebra)
  
• STAT1001 (Statistics)
  
• ENVS1001 (Env. Science)
  
• ECON1001 (Macroecon)
  
• BUS1001 (Intro to Business)
  
• FIN1001 (Principles of Finance)
  
• PM1001 (Project Management)
  
• CS1011 (Intro to Relational Databases)
  

I have a running spreadsheet of classes that I can transfer from SSS(per WGU's partner pages) and I am checking them off as I complete them. I have 4 more classes from Sophia to do(not including English I and II, thinking of Straighterline or SDC due to grading times at Sophia). So far I have been focusing on non-essay classes at Sophia since I can sit down and knock them out one at a time really quickly instead of juggling an essay class here and there.

So, let me know if I am doing anything wrong or if I am missing something. I was doing CC classes before I found out about SSS and this forum, but once I heard of Sophia on the WGU sub-reddit I fell down the rabbit hole and stopped doing CC classes completely. Just too slow and too much money per unit, didn't make any sense to continue doing CC classes in my eyes.

Let me know if anyone has any questions! Thanks everyone!

[bjcheung77]

@echondo, Welcome to the board, that's a very good plan.  I would recommend doing a slightly different degree at WGU, their newest Accelerated Bachelors & Masters IT combo!  Yes, continue on the plan you have currently, but tweak it to the new degree plan they recently announced.  You are pretty young, by going this route - it'll get you the certs, degrees, experience... We have a template on the wiki for it already:  https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan

[echondo]

@echondo, Welcome to the board, that's a very good plan.  I would recommend doing a slightly different degree at WGU, their newest Accelerated Bachelors & Masters IT combo!  Yes, continue on the plan you have currently, but tweak it to the new degree plan they recently announced.  You are pretty young, by going this route - it'll get you the certs, degrees, experience... We have a template on the wiki for it already:  https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll definitely consider it, I've seen it mentioned once or twice and it does seem interesting.

[LevelUP]

If you want to learn how to hack the matrix, then you found a home here on DegreeForum.

You seem motivated, and your plan looks solid.

It looks like are on track to start WGU between Nov-Jan if you can keep the pace up.

Let us know if you have any questions. 

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan

[origamishuttle]

Welcome!

It looks like you're making good progress toward BSBAITM. You may want to consider CLEP or WGU for some of the remaining courses. For CLEP, College Composition (one test to knock out Comp I & II) and Intro to Sociology have high pass rates, and you can take them for free through Modern States. Intro to Comms may be easiest/fastest at WGU now.

The suggestion to switch to the accelerated BSIT/MSITM track is intriguing this early in the process, but note that they are fairly different: https://www.wgu.edu/resources/degree-com...baitm.html
However, if you do decide to switch, there are some classes that are much easier at WGU, such as Natural Science Lab and Scripting and Programming Foundations.

[echondo]

If you want to learn how to hack the matrix, then you found a home here on DegreeForum.

You seem motivated, and your plan looks solid.

It looks like are on track to start WGU between Nov-Jan if you can keep the pace up.

Let us know if you have any questions. 

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan

Thanks! I do plan on starting WGU as soon as I am done with anything outside. Jan/Feb was my target window at the latest to start.

And thank you for the link, I couldn't find the wiki's degree plan when I first looked(though I didn't look that hard to be honest haha).

Welcome!

It looks like you're making good progress toward BSBAITM. You may want to consider CLEP or WGU for some of the remaining courses. For CLEP, College Composition (one test to knock out Comp I & II) and Intro to Sociology have high pass rates, and you can take them for free through Modern States. Intro to Comms may be easiest/fastest at WGU now.

The suggestion to switch to the accelerated BSIT/MSITM track is intriguing this early in the process, but note that they are fairly different: https://www.wgu.edu/resources/degree-com...baitm.html
However, if you do decide to switch, there are some classes that are much easier at WGU, such as Natural Science Lab and Scripting and Programming Foundations.

Thanks for the info! I am not 100% sold on doing English at Sophia, so I may end up doing those outside of it. Good tip on CLEP, didn't think of it for the English requirements.

BSIT/MSITM is indeed interesting, but I am not particularly fond of doing certifications that are outside my current career path. I am mostly a Linux administrator, so the A+ and LPI certs are not worth it to me. I guess I am looking for more of a focused/direct path and I see the certs as a "monkey wrench" being thrown at me. The certs don't look particularly hard at all, but seems way more generalized than what I would like.

[dfrecore]

Something to keep in mind as you go forward - WGU changes their degree requirements more often than other schools, so be prepared for that. I'd check often to make sure you're on track.

The degree plan linked is already wrong - although minor:
1) Principles of Economics is not a GE, it's business core
2) Quantitative Analysis for Business is not a GE, it's business core
3) Principles of Financial & Managerial Accounting requires BOTH Financial Accounting AND Managerial Accounting (not 1 or the other) (and Sophia's Accounting course will not transfer in here)

[echondo]

Something to keep in mind as you go forward - WGU changes their degree requirements more often than other schools, so be prepared for that.  I'd check often to make sure you're on track.

The degree plan linked is already wrong - although minor:
1) Principles of Economics is not a GE, it's business core
2) Quantitative Analysis for Business is not a GE, it's business core
3) Principles of Financial & Managerial Accounting requires BOTH Financial Accounting AND Managerial Accounting (not 1 or the other) (and Sophia's Accounting course will not transfer in here)

Good tip here, I had no idea that WGU changed often. I will keep an eye on the requirements every few months then and adjust going forward. Thanks!

As for the degree plan point outs, in the grand scheme of things, does it matter what the GE's and core classes are exactly in the plan? I personally plan on doing everything I can outside of WGU and then transfer it all in. So I don't care specifically if X is in GE and Y is in core, it is going to get done regardless.

As for #3, this is a good heads up and it is weird that most places(CC's and SSS) offer these two subjects separately into two different 3 unit courses, while WGU wants both subjects in one 3 unit course.

I do primarily follow WGU's partner pages first, which do say that Sophia doesn't offer an accounting class that qualifies for a transfer. But following the Study partner page they do have courses that qualify.

SDC courses that qualify for that WGU requirement(per WGU's partner page):

• Accounting 101 (SDCM-0075)
  
• Accounting 201 (SDCM-0124)
  
• Accounting 202 (SDCM-0152)
  
• Accounting 302 (SDCM-0078)
  • and
    

• Accounting 102 (SDCM-0076)
  
• Accounting 301 (SDCM-0077)
  
• Accounting 303 (SDCM-0105)
  

I already did the "Principles of Financial" part at my local CC, so I will just need to do the "Managerial Accounting" side at SDC. Which will more than likely be the SDCM-0076 course.

This should be fixed in the Degree Plan page on the wiki though going forward.

[dfrecore]

As for the degree plan point outs, in the grand scheme of things, does it matter what the GE's and core classes are exactly in the plan? I personally plan on doing everything I can outside of WGU and then transfer it all in. So I don't care specifically if X is in GE and Y is in core, it is going to get done regardless.

As for #3, this is a good heads up and it is weird that most places(CC's and SSS) offer these two subjects separately into two different 3 unit courses, while WGU wants both subjects in one 3 unit course.

It doesn't matter for you, but it might matter for someone in the future who looks at the wiki (because GE's are waived with an AA/AS/AAS, while core courses are only waived by an AA/AS in Business).

Yes, it's odd that they combine Financial & Managerial Acctg into 1 course, the vast majority of schools have those courses separate.

[LevelUP]

Good tip here, I had no idea that WGU changed often. I will keep an eye on the requirements every few months then and adjust going forward. Thanks!

As for the degree plan point outs, in the grand scheme of things, does it matter what the GE's and core classes are exactly in the plan? I personally plan on doing everything I can outside of WGU and then transfer it all in. So I don't care specifically if X is in GE and Y is in core, it is going to get done regardless.

As for #3, this is a good heads up and it is weird that most places(CC's and SSS) offer these two subjects separately into two different 3 unit courses, while WGU wants both subjects in one 3 unit course.

I do primarily follow WGU's partner pages first, which do say that Sophia doesn't offer an accounting class that qualifies for a transfer. But following the Study partner page they do have courses that qualify.

SDC courses that qualify for that WGU requirement(per WGU's partner page):

• Accounting 101 (SDCM-0075)
  
• Accounting 201 (SDCM-0124)
  
• Accounting 202 (SDCM-0152)
  
• Accounting 302 (SDCM-0078)
  • and
    

• Accounting 102 (SDCM-0076)
  
• Accounting 301 (SDCM-0077)
  
• Accounting 303 (SDCM-0105)
  

I already did the "Principles of Financial" part at my local CC, so I will just need to do the "Managerial Accounting" side at SDC. Which will more than likely be the SDCM-0076 course.

This should be fixed in the Degree Plan page on the wiki though going forward.

The Wiki degree plan should be accurate now.

You should still double-check everything with WGU's partner page.

I would try to transfer in all the credits you can. Then you can finish WGU in one term. (6 months)