WGU BS-CS in 1 term?

[THEBLASTFUN]

Hello All,
Bear with me please. Posting here for the first time.

Goal:
I need a Bachelors degree before the end of November 2020 for an unrelated but a very important opportunity that I am pursuing.

Some background info:
I am currently in a community college (its on a quarter system)Pursuing AS-T(Associates for Transfer degree) in Computer science. I opted for AS-T because I was told by my counsellors that If I have an AS-T, I would get a guaranteed admission in one(not "any") of the California State University(CSU). I have been at this community college for a long time(since 2012). I was directionless and also changed my major a ton of times until I was set on CS and that too has taken a lot of time. My grades are not stellar(2.5gpa) so far. 

Cut to present:
My original plan was to transfer to a California state university and finish my degree whenever possible in a traditional way(Like all my friends who are working in big silicone valley companies now while I am at a cc). BUT I have found this newfound purpose now and to be closer to living that purpose I really need the Bachelors degree before the end of November 2020. Although, It does seem like all these years of slacking off is gonna hurt me now.
Because Speed of earning the degree was important, I searched exactly that on youtube and I came across WGU. Apparently everyone on youtube have been mentioning WGU. With this I discovered that WGU is self paced. Hence, If I can finish my courses faster I might be able to achieve my goal of getting that degree by 11/2020. So that gives me some hope. I do not know what the Big 3s are but they are being mentioned a lot on this forum. Pardon my ignorance.

The Plan so far:
De anza(CC)'s Academic calendar:
I just finished my Fall 2019 quarter at my CC. 
My Winter 2020 quarter will be from January 6 2020 to March 27 2020 (Total- 81  Days   -- or --   11  Weeks and  4  Days).
My Spring 2020 quarter will be from April 6 2020 to June 26 2020(Total - 81  Days   -- or --   11  Weeks and  4  Days)

Classes remaining to complete my Associates degree from De Anza community college:

1. Calculus 1C
   
2. Physics 4A - Mechanics.
   
3. Physics 4B - Electricity and Magnetism.
   
4. CIS 22C - Data Abstraction and Structures.
   
5. CIS 21JA - Intro to x86 processor Assembly language and computer Architecture.
   
6. (If I dont pass Calculus 1B I will have to retake that one before i can take Calculus 1C - was 40 mins late on the final exam due to car breaking down. Grades will be released around Christmas time)
   

These are all the classes remaining at De anza college. All the GE requirement is done. So If I finish these courses by the end of the spring 2020 quarter I will Have my associates degree then.

So If everything goes right (pass calc 1b), The plan would be to take:
Calculus 1c and physics 4A in winter quarter and,
Physics 4B, CIS 22c, and CIS 21JA in spring. This will give me the degree after june 26. 

Then I can send my transcripts for evaluation to WGU. My school is partnered with wgu so With an associates degree, I would be able to transfer 61 semester credits to wgu. Source: https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/Single.as...34&pid=86# 

According to my knowledge, The total amount of credits that WGU allows to be transferred to is 90. My associates degree will give me 61. 
Someone on reddit told me that I can also take Study and Saylor courses to max out my transfer credits. They both are also partnered with wgu according to the following links:
Study's transfer agreement with WGU: https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/Single.as...142&pid=86
Saylor's transfer agreement with WGU: https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/Single.as...769&pid=86

So while doing my deanza classes if I also take: Saylors or Study's equivalent of the following WGU courses I might be able to get more credits to transfer into WGU:

1. Business of IT- Applications.(Saylor/Study)------------------------------(4)
   
2. Business of IT - project management (Saylor/study)------------------(4)
   
3. Computer Architecture(saylor/study)-------------------------------------(3)
   
4. Software engineering(saylor/study)---------------------------------------(4)
   
5. Fundamentals of information security(Study)----------------------------(3)
   
6. Data management - Applications(Study)----------------------------------(4)
   
7. Structured querry language(Study)-----------------------------------------(4)
   

Total credits transferrable from Study and saylor ------> (26) [which one of the two is better for the classes that are offered at both sites?]

If I manage to pull this off, total credits I would ideally transfer when I get my Associates degree would be: 87

They told me that If I send my transcripts in june end my start date would be August 1 because it would take them a month to evaluate my transcripts. So if I start on August 1, credits remaining to get my bachelors degree would be: 120 - 87 = 33. 
So if all goes well I would still have 33 credits to finish before the end of November.(4 months).

Bunch of questions and readiness: 
Ok so this is all very scary!!!! And also seems super hard! 
Is this doable? Is there a better plan? Should I be doing this differently? Is there a possibility to pull this off? 
I dont have prior CS knowledge. All I know is from my couple introductory coding classes. But I am willing to put in over 60 hours of work per week to make this happen. Although there will be 2 weeks in may when I wont be able to put in so many hours and one week in july where I wont be able to work on this.
I dont know what else to ask you guys. Any help regarding this matter would be very appreciated.
Really hoping to pass that calc 1b. otherwise it seems like a lot of my plans would stumble! Cant afford to go an extra quarter at Community college. I am on a tight deadline here and I want to give my best shot at this.

ThankYou so much for reading and I will appreciate any response!

[natshar]

You got this!! I think what you have seems doable.

Saylor is free to try out so you can look through the courses and see if you like it. The final exam costs $25 and your grade is based solely on this exam. Saylor is tricky and a lot of people on this forum prefer others to Saylor (myself included). That being said the price is unbearable and since it is free to study at course, I suggest you at least look through a course.

Study.com has a zillion little quizzes, and a final exam. Also some of the upper level courses require a project or essay. They have videos to go with each quiz which you dont need to watch, but should unless you know the subject. A lot of people in this forum prefer study.com due to the fact they offer more variety than anyone else and your whole grade isn't jsut one exam. Also worth study.com there is a limit of 5 a month, so as you are on a time crunch you might want to not do only study.com.

Other options include clep and dsst which I doubt would be useful since you probably have most of your gen Ed's done. There is a dsst on cybersecurity and another in ethics in technology. These are exams you take at a test center (usually a college). You study for these on your own.

Another thing to look into are the free TEEX cybersecurity courses. Not only are they free but they might count somewhere towards your degree, I'd ask.

[bjcheung77]

Realistically it is doable - I would look out for courses at Study.com, MS/CLEP that can get credit for WGU until you hit the max of 90 credits. I would also recommend doing all the free credits as well, it'll prepare you for Cybersecurity courses if you decide to get into that field.

Providers you want to look at are all ACE, no NCCRS as WGU doesn't accept them, so don't look at Coopersmith, Davar, Onlinedegree.com - keep working on the MS/CLEPs if you're close to a testing center. If you got the extra cash to spill, get down on the CSM Learn course and Saylor/StraighterLine/Study.com combos or even Sophia courses when there's a special.

[natshar]

Realistically it is doable - I would look out for courses at Study.com, MS/CLEP that can get credit for WGU until you hit the max of 90 credits.  I would also recommend doing all the free credits as well, it'll prepare you for Cybersecurity courses if you decide to get into that field.

Providers you want to look at are all ACE, no NCCRS as WGU doesn't accept them, so don't look at Coopersmith, Davar, Onlinedegree.com - keep working on the MS/CLEPs if you're close to a testing center.  If you got the extra cash to spill, get down on the CSM Learn course and Saylor/StraighterLine/Study.com combos or even Sophia courses when there's a special.

I'm not sure how much sophia/straighterline will have to offer as they will already have all their gen eds done and just need cs courses. I believe SL has a java course though. Also, if you do 4 wgu courses and transfer you get a scholarship for WGU, you maybe it wouldn't hurt to do that even if you end up duplicating courses.

But I doubt sophia would be helpful at this point since all that is needed is courses in the aos and they mainly just have gen eds. Same with CLEP I am not sure if or where CLEP will fall in.

[dfrecore]

Your main issue is going to be that you're not actually transferring 61cr to WGU - you will have the GE waived (about 30cr) and they will apply your credits to the major requirements on a course-by-course evaluation. So you may get more or less credits than you think - this listing shows what the max is, but you may have additional credits due to taking some courses or not.

So if you took 7 courses you needed through Study.com (maybe 2/mo for mo1, 2/mo for mo2, 3/mo for mo3), you'd be done in 3 months, for a cost of $667, and then have exactly 31cr left to finish at WGU, which is definitely doable in 6 months or less.

Also, you might want to consider skipping the AA, and just going straight to Study.com/Saylor and then WGU sooner. Many of the courses you're taking aren't required. Calc 1B and 1C for instance. Physics will get your credits, but you could also taking something else through a course provider. If you stopped the AA entirely, and just switched to course providers who would give you what you needed, you could complete these in a few months, and start at WGU MUCH sooner, making it easier to graduate sooner.

[allvia]

I'm going to 2nd dfrecore suggestion. If I were you once you have this semesters grades posted (Dec 2019) I would apply to WGU and send over your transcripts ASAP. WGU evaluates very quickly and then you'll know where you stand with them - that will not only make it easier to know what you need to earn the bachelor, it will likely make it quicker and cheaper too. Once the WGU evaluation is complete come back and report - we can guide you on how to get the most credits (90) before starting WGU so you can finish in the single term (before Nov 2020).

[bsimi]

I believe that you cannot take outside credits after enrolling at WGU, so be careful about your approach. I think you can apply and get credits reviewed, but don't enroll and just keep taking Study.com or other courses.

[Merlin]

I believe that you cannot take outside credits after enrolling at WGU, so be careful about your approach. I think you can apply and get credits reviewed, but don't enroll and just keep taking Study.com or other courses.

That is correct. Once your term begins, WGU will no longer accept credits earned for courses taken outside of WGU. At least not until you graduate or withdraw. Therefore, it is always prudent to ensure that you've transferred as many credits to WGU as possible before you begin your first term.

WGU accepts up to 90 transfer credits towards a bachelor's degree, but you just need to make sure they are the "right" credits for your degree program to get them all accepted. WGU publishes its equivalencies for most courses in the transfer guide for each degree program. Note that some courses cannot be transferred in or satisfied by a previous degree. For the BSCS this means:

• Data Structures and Algorithms II
  
• Discrete Mathematics II
  
• Capstone (of course)
  

Everything else is fair game, so make sure those three courses are among the 30 credits not transferred in.

[THEBLASTFUN]

I believe that you cannot take outside credits after enrolling at WGU, so be careful about your approach. I think you can apply and get credits reviewed, but don't enroll and just keep taking Study.com or other courses.

How many times can the credits be reviewed or evaluated?
Do i just keep sending transcripts as I clear courses?


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[Merlin]

How many times can the credits be reviewed or evaluated?
Do i just keep sending transcripts as I clear courses?

I am not sure what the limit is, or if there is one at all, but as a matter of courtesy, you don't want to waste their time by sending in a new transcript every time you finish a course. I'd recommend that you either wait until you finish everything, or only send an update like once a quarter or twice a year. Unlike TESU, WGU doesn't change their evaluation criteria very often, so you can typically be safe to assume that what is accepted today will still be accepted in a few months.