need help on degree planning

[emoleo]

I’ve been following all the advice here for almost a year, and I have to say, this feels like such a wonderful community with so many helpful people! I never imagined something like this was possible before. 

Now I had my first post here as I’d really appreciate some help with planning my degree, along with any recommendations for great resources, universities, or providers. Thanks a mil!

Your Age: 26
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor/Masters in Computer science/IT/cybersecurity - (I had two degrees from non-technical majors but now working software risk related stuff)
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 
BSc in Marketing in USA with 140 RA credits, GPA 3.6

ENG 1300 composition for ELL  I  
ENG 1430 composition for ELL  II. 
ENG 2403 world literature
GE 1000 transition/research I
GE 2021 research II
CPS 1032 microcomputer applications
MATH 1044 Pre calc for business
ECO 1020 Principles of economics I
ECO 1021 Principles of economics II
COMM 1402 SP Com as critical citizenship
ACCT 2200 Principle of accounting I
ACCT 2210 Principle of accounting II
BLAW 2051 Business Law I
BLAW 3052 business law II
MGS 2150 Business statistics
FIN 3310 MGT of Corporate finance I
HIST 1062 worlds of history
SPAN 1101 basic Spanish I
SPAN 1102 Basic Spanish II
MGS 3040 Management Information System
PS 2300 Intro to comparative Politics
BIO 1011 biology I

(only 100/200 level courses here as most of my 300/400 courses were Management/marketing courses)

a Master degree with Management in Ireland with 90 ECTs, GPA 3.85 First class honor

ENEB - Big data and BI

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 10 (two google certs)

Any certifications or military experience?: Not a US resident, live in Europe, Non-EU citizen. ongoing Comptia A+ and APM PFQ 

Budget:  3K-4K USD per year, would prefer degree/certificates that were cheaper and faster to complete (12-18 months)
Commitments: chill work full time - available time during work/off work for study 
Dedicated time to study: 40-50 hrs per week
Timeline:
a bit complicated as our employer reimburse 2000 euro only before 31 January every year. So short term I'm looking for any degree/certificate that are from accredited university. (i.e. I have to complete micro-creds, partial, or full courses before 31 Jan, 2025) Long term looking for a master degree for two to three years to finish, like OMSCS so I can use around $2500 for three years

Tuition assistance/reimbursement: 2000 Euro / 2500 USD per year, any degree/certs from accredited university.

some degrees that I'm researching now:

Purdue Global BSc in IT/cybersecurity (software programming concentration) 
UMPI BLS in Project Management with MIS 
micro creds from Oxford https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/online-courses 
micro creds from Open University https://www.futurelearn.com/microcredent...operations

OMSCS - HCI route, applied but no decision yet for Jan 2025 entry

I'd also like to use the reimbursement on some transferable credits, but not sure if there's any good one that's from accredited university.

Thanks in advance!

[bjcheung77]

@emoleo, Welcome to the board, great into post with the addendum and template... Great job so far with your education. For starters, I'm just confused why you're adding the UMPI BLS PM/MIS minors as an option? You have a BS Marketing and Masters in Management, having the BLS PM&MIS minors is redundant as it's not an IT degree at all, they're all business classes!

You're just 26 years old and in the EU, you can go for the Metropolia 579 Euro IT classes option and ladder up to a degree from the EU instead... I'm not sure if the Purdue BSIT is going to be helpful, as I regularly recommend people to go for a balanced mix/match of certs, degree, experience. You've got the degrees, you should get certs and experience to make a balanced portfolio instead.

Heck, another option would be to do a Level 7 UK CS/IT related diploma that is OfQual regulated, be it CMI, OTHM, Qualifi, or another provider. You can then ladder to a Masters in CS/IT related subjects, such as Data Science. Last but not least, you can try going for the Patten University double Bachelors in Computer Engineering and Data Science for under $3K USD

[emoleo]

@emoleo, Welcome to the board, great into post with the addendum and template... Great job so far with your education. For starters, I'm just confused why you're adding the UMPI BLS PM/MIS minors as an option? You have a BS Marketing and Masters in Management, having the BLS PM&MIS minors is redundant as it's not an IT degree at all, they're all business classes!  

You're just 26 years old and in the EU, you can go for the Metropolia 579 Euro IT classes option and ladder up to a degree from the EU instead... I'm not sure if the Purdue BSIT is going to be helpful, as I regularly recommend people to go for a balanced mix/match of certs, degree, experience.  You've got the degrees, you should get certs and experience to make a balanced portfolio instead.

Heck, another option would be to do a Level 7 UK CS/IT related diploma that is OfQual regulated, be it CMI, OTHM, Qualifi, or another provider.  You can then ladder to a Masters in CS/IT related subjects, such as Data Science.  Last but not least, you can try going for the Patten University double Bachelors in Computer Engineering and Data Science for under $3K USD

Thank you @bjcheung77 for the reply! 

You have a BS Marketing and Masters in Management, having the BLS PM&MIS minors is redundant as it's not an IT degree at all, they're all business classes!  

This is true actually.. before I was thinking to dig abit deeper in project management and possibly getting a bit "technical" on management so I thought this would be a great fit. Now I focused on IT degree more so I made Purdue as my first choice.

 you can go for the Metropolia 579 Euro IT classes option and ladder up to a degree from the EU instead... I'm not sure if the Purdue BSIT is going to be helpful, as I regularly recommend people to go for a balanced mix/match of certs, degree, experience.

unfortunately I'm non-EU so not eligible for Metropolia courses. I'm working mostly with software and web design now and I really want to make a career switch in two years so hopefully Purdue BSIT will be helpful on CV (please correct me if I'm wrongon this). Another reason is that this will push me to do some certs as they have many transferable credits for it.

another option would be to do a Level 7 UK CS/IT related diploma that is OfQual regulated, be it CMI, OTHM, Qualifi, or another provider.  You can then ladder to a Masters in CS/IT related subjects, such as Data Science.

I'm not too sure if CMI, OTHM, Qualifi will be approved by our company for reimbursement as its not from accredited university. but yeah you're right that eventually I'd like to have a ladder courses/degree for master in CS/IT. I applied for OMSCS but I'm not too confident that I'll get admitted with my current background.

[findableSEOteam]

@emoleo, welcome to the board! Great intro post and impressive work so far. I'm curious about your decision to add the UMPI BLS PM/MIS minors, given your BS in Marketing and Master's in Management—those minors seem a bit redundant since they're business-focused rather than IT.

Considering your background and location in the EU, you might find more value in pursuing the Metropolia IT classes, which can lead to a degree from the EU. Alternatively, focusing on certifications and gaining more experience could help balance your portfolio. Another option could be a Level 7 UK CS/IT-related diploma, which could lead to a Master's in fields like Data Science. Or, you might look into the Patten University dual Bachelor's in Computer Engineering and Data Science for a cost-effective route to specialized IT knowledge.

[bjcheung77]

@emoleo, welcome to the board! Great intro post and impressive work so far. I'm curious about your decision to add the UMPI BLS PM/MIS minors, given your BS in Marketing and Master's in Management—those minors seem a bit redundant since they're business-focused rather than IT.

Considering your background and location in the EU, you might find more value in pursuing the Metropolia IT classes, which can lead to a degree from the EU. Alternatively, focusing on certifications and gaining more experience could help balance your portfolio. Another option could be a Level 7 UK CS/IT-related diploma, which could lead to a Master's in fields like Data Science. Or, you might look into the Patten University dual Bachelor's in Computer Engineering and Data Science for a cost-effective route to specialized IT knowledge.

@findableSEOteam, Hmm... Am I the only one thinking you did something with my response... Which AI did you use to paraphrase my writing? Interesting indeed... There's no added value to what you're doing with the paraphrasing. Are you trying to get your alias out there for people to know?

[emoleo]

Well I guess not many replies instead of clever web crawling AI’s
Anyway: an update on this, I got my acceptance letter from OMSCS today (Jan 2025 intake) so I’ll now put all focus on OMSCS preparation!