Smart.ly & WorldQuant - Initial DEAC Application

[bjcheung77]

Woo Hoo... we have some changes coming along with these two providers...

1) Smart.ly changed their name to Quantic School of Business & Technology and offers a FREE MBA and Executive MBA
There are also FREE certificates and Executive Certificates, check the site for more details here: https://smart.ly/

2) WorldQuant University is completely FREE for a Masters of Science in Financial Engineering and a Data Science CEM (Continuing Ed Module - think of it as a free certificate in introductory data science).  I want to take a crack at this program.  https://wqu.org/

Both of these FREE degrees are somewhat hard to get into, you need to apply to their program and do well with the requirements.  Especially WQU, it requires a 75% on the entrance exam.  I want to take a crack at this when it actually becomes NA!

Actually, I should do it early so I can complete most of the program and when it does become NA, i'll finish the last requirements then.... hmm...

[SweetSecret]

WorldQuant would be the better option. Smartly is not accredited regionally, nationally, or with DEAC. Additionally, they do not accept students from:

Alabama
Alaska
Arkansas
Delaware
Georgia
Maryland
Minnesota
Montana
New Mexico
New York
North Dakota
Oregon
Rhode Island
Wyoming

[asianphd]

Woo Hoo... we have some changes coming along with these two providers...

1) Smart.ly changed their name to Quantic School of Business & Technology and offers a FREE MBA and Executive MBA
There are also FREE certificates and Executive Certificates, check the site for more details here: https://smart.ly/

2) WorldQuant University is completely FREE for a Masters of Science in Financial Engineering and a Data Science CEM (Continuing Ed Module - think of it as a free certificate in introductory data science).  I want to take a crack at this program.  https://wqu.org/

Both of these FREE degrees are somewhat hard to get into, you need to apply to their program and do well with the requirements.  Especially WQU, it requires a 75% on the entrance exam.  I want to take a crack at this when it actually becomes NA!

Actually, I should do it early so I can complete most of the program and when it does become NA, i'll finish the last requirements then.... hmm...

I once applied to WorldQuant, but failed to pass the entrance exam. The entrance exam is quite hard honestly.

[armstrongsubero]

Thanks @bj! This is great information! I'll start this after my MTS!

It's hard to resist a free accredited masters with Math and CS combined into one!

Free, Math and CS all in the same sentence! Thats amazing!

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@asianphd what's your background?

[jsd]

I'm glad they are changing their name. Smartly sounds so awful!

WorldQuant would be the better option. Smartly is not accredited regionally, nationally, or with DEAC. Additionally, they do not accept students from:

Neither are currently accredited, but they have started the process with DEAC.

[asianphd]

Thanks @bj! This is great information! I'll start this after my MTS!

It's hard to resist a free accredited masters with Math and CS combined into one!

Free, Math and CS all in the same sentence! Thats amazing!

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@asianphd what's your background?

I have a Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering, I am currently revising to pass the entrance exam.

If you never applied yet, let me give you some info from the student portal.

The Mathematics section comprises 20 questions, covering differential calculus, integral calculus, matrices and linear algebra, set theory, differential equations, complex numbers, sequences and series, logic and proofs, multivariate calculus, convergence of sequences and functions, and partial differential equations.

The Statistics section comprises 20 questions, covering exploratory data analysis, elementary probability, univariate random variables, bi-variate random variables, generating functions, statistical estimation theory, hypothesis testing and confidence intervals, and simple linear regression.

This test will determine your mathematical and statistical proficiency and eligibility for admission to the Master of Science in Financial Engineering (MScFE) program. You have three (3) hours to complete the test. Before you start, make sure you have sufficient time to complete it in one sitting.

The passing grade for this test is 75%. Upon successful completion, you will be conditionally accepted into the MSc in Financial Engineering program and receive an email with access to the Student Orientation Course and further instructions on the next steps. 

If you fail the first attempt, you will have the opportunity to retake the test immediately. If you fail on your second attempt, you will have to wait for 30 days before you can attempt it again and complete your application. Your application progress will be saved.

Before you reattempt the test, we highly recommend that you make use of the following free online resources we have curated to help you prepare for the successful completion of the test:

Mathematics
MIT Mathematics Course
Varsity Tutors Mathematics Practice Tests
MIT Calculus 1A: Derivatives
Microsoft: Essential Mathematics for Artificial Intelligence

Statistics
Harvard edX: Data Science Probability
Harvard edX: Statistical Inference and Modeling
Harvard edX: Statistics and R
MIT edX: Introduction to Probability Part I
MIT edX: Introduction to Probability Part II
Columbia edX: Statistical Thinking for Data Science and Analytics
Varsity Tutors Statistics Practice Tests
US San Diego: Python for Data Science

My comment: This university is a serious one.   So, you need to prepare it from now at least and apply soon, we don't know if suddenly they charge for tuition.

[armstrongsubero]

@asianphd Thanks! I'll prep for it while working on the MTS. I planned to start the MS in managment at TESU, but this WQU university seems more up my alley.

[videogamesrock]

If one thing this board has taught me is that things get harder with these schools throughout the years.  I would suggest signing up now and completing the modules today before they get harder.  Then graduate once they are DEAC accredited.

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Here is the list of schools who are going through accreditation. https://www.deac.org/Public-Notices/Inst...dered.aspx

I personally would love a credential from Unmanned Vehicle University, Phoenix, AZ

[Merlin]

That free Masters of Science in Financial Engineering sounds like a pretty amazing deal for a cool sounding degree, but I don't think it would be a good time investment to me. While a free accredited degree sounds like a good deal, for me it comes down to the effort of getting accepted into the program coupled with the fact that it isn't going to be well recognized. Regional accreditation isn't required, but that is still the gold standard for degree recognition by other academic institutions.

Of course, from a professional perspective, if the degree isn't a degree from a top-tier school it usually doesn't matter where it comes from as long as it is accredited. Though there are some businesses that are picky and want to see specific accreditations.

[eriehiker]

I applied for the free MBA a few years ago. I was accepted and interviewed with the CEO - seems like a great and serious guy. I also think that the program is serious and moving in the right direction. I was offered a half scholarship on the EMBA and that wasn't good enough for me to say yes. I also have young kids and my window for a move is two years away, so the networking/placement services were not compelling.

One thing that I have noticed from Smart.ly/QSBT is that they now offer a free? business foundations concentration. I took pretty much all of the free courses and ended up with 17% of the free MBA finished. They have been repackaging the free courses and now a group of them have been packaged into a "Business Foundations Concentration." Given that this is an MBA, the concentration is presumably at the graduate level and ends up being some kind of low-level graduate business certificate. The courses are Finance, Accounting I, Microeconomics I, Marketing Fundamentals and One-Variable Statistics.

I put free? with a question mark because I took these a few years ago and I am not sure how they appear to new students on the web site. They were free for me. I am hoping the QSBT gets the DEAC accreditation and I can transfer the 17% into the Excelsior onetranscript.