TESU - Apply now or later?

[anthony24]

Any reason not to pay the application fee and wait to apply until after you've earned credits from other sources? I thought I read something about minimum credits needed while enrolled for a year somewhere. Anyone have tips on the best way to proceed for a newbie to TESU

Thanks

[davewill]

Some people say wait, but I always encourage folks to apply and enroll as soon as they decide to go for it. If you wait, the danger always exists that TESU will change requirements on you, causing you to have to take more courses. If you become enrolled and maintain that enrollment, the catalog is locked in. To become enrolled you have to apply ($75) and register and pass a TECEP ($114). That will keep you enrolled for a year, before your enrollment expires you either need to graduate, or take another TECEP.

I also feel that taking a positive step like enrolling helps with feeling committed to the process.

[anthony24]

davewill, thanks so much for your reply. Your posts and accomplishments have encouraged me to pursue the TESU CS degree. I'll take your advice and while I have your ear I'd like to get your input on my path. I'm currently an IT sysadmin looking to change to software engineering and possibly going on to OMSCS after TESU. I know you have lots of industry experience and PLA'd some classes but do you have any recommendations on best ways to complete the UL CS courses. What were your thought on the CS classes you did take at TESU and do you think the TESU classes would sufficiently prepare someone for OMSCS?

[davewill]

The TESU courses I took were a mixed bag. Discrete Math I thoroughly enjoyed. The prof was fully engaged in the course. Artificial Intelligence was decent and I enjoyed the subject matter, but we had ZERO actual programming assignments for it. I did some just to play with the concepts. The Database Management course wasn't too bad, either...at least you actually got to do some SQL. Unfortunately, I could have taught the course in my sleep. The OS course was a bit painful, but if the concepts were new to someone, it would have been quite a challenge. The mid-term in that one was ridiculously hard with 8 essays and a 90 min time limit. I miscounted and spent too long on the first half, and this caused my only B.

The UL courses are the hard part of doing this. I sidestepped a couple of them with my PLAs. As far as being ready for OMSCS, the TESU courses are fine as far as they have them. Here are all the CS electives TESU offers:

C Programming (COS-116)
Python Programming (COS-205)
R Programming (COS-206)
C++ Programming (COS-213)
Assembly Language (COS-231)
Data Structures (COS-241)
Computer Architecture (COS-330)
Operating Systems (COS-352)
Artificial Intelligence (COS-451)
Management Information Systems (CIS-301)
Database Management (CIS-311)
Software Engineering (CIS-351)


As you can see they only have 6 UL choices and you need 5 for the degree (4 if you take Linear Algebra). Not a lot of choice. I would be sure to take Discrete Math or Linear Algebra, Computer Architecture and Operating Systems. I think that Artificial Intelligence is also a good one to get under your belt for OMSCS. I would be tempted to take BOTH Discrete Math and LinAlg, even though they only require one of them, as they are both really useful. However I'm not sure Discrete Math would then fit anywhere else besides free electives in the degree. Unfortunately, TESU doesn't seem to offer a algorithms course, which would be VERY useful for OMSCS.

In addition, I think that CSU-Global has a System Analysis and Design course that comes in as UL. There are two DSSTs that come in as UL, Management Info Systems and CyberSecurity, but they aren't great OMSCS prep choices.

[anthony24]

I legitimately want to take the classes that best prepare me for success so I really appreciate your input.

The electives on the requirements page list quite a few more options but based on your list I'm assuming these are just listed as potential options to transfer in from other sources.

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science at Thomas Edison State University

Artificial Intelligence
Assembly Language
Comparative Programming Languages
Compiler Construction
Computer Architecture
Computer Arithmetic Algorithms
Computer Information Systems
Computer Organization
Computer Statistical Techniques
Computer Simulation
Operations Research
Problem Analysis and Solution
Programming Languages
Software Engineering
Switching Theory and Automata
UNIX

Do you have to be enrolled to see the actual TESU courses available or am I missing something I can reference. Thanks again davewill

[davewill]

No, here's the degree requirements:

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science at Thomas Edison State University

The CS electives section lists many courses that TESU doesn't offer, so keep that in mind.

And here's the undergrad course list. These are the courses you can actually take at TESU. Scroll down to Computer Science. A couple of the choices are under Computer Info Systems:

Thomas Edison State University | Undergrad Course Offerings

[anthony24]

Great, thanks for the link