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[TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - Printable Version

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[TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - scorpion - 06-08-2020

I accidentally yeeted my first draft of this post, so this is a short and sweet abbreviated version of my current degree plan.

My background:
I work full-time in a software engineering related field at a Big N. I have a 2013 associate degree from a Texas community college. I'm not a NJ resident.

I tried to start the WGU BSCS when it first opened (2017-2018?), which started a years-long transfer debacle that is still ongoing. I'll probably write a post about it later, because there's really no brief way I can express just how shady and incompetent WGU is.

At the end of April, I decided to try to finish my degree by 2020. I started taking Study.com and Sophia courses during the quarantine promos and I enrolled for a BA Computer Science at TESU. I later added a Psychology AOS and I'm tracking October 1st as my goal to have everything complete for a December graduation at TESU. Only time will tell how badly this turns out.

I'm currently enrolled in my first (and hopefully only) semester at TESU, taking 16 credits on the non-resident flat-rate tuition plan ($4928). My corporate tuition reimbursement will pay for it all as long as I pass.

My final degree plan looks like this:
[Image: uVgV6AS.png]
I keep a fancier Excel version of my plan and course costs, feel free to PM me if anyone's curious about it.

Here's how my initial CC transfer to TESU came in:
Code:
Course/Section and Title                                    Grade     Credit
MAT-129 Precalculus                                         A         4
BIO-241 Human Genetics                                      A         3
CHE-121 General Chemistry I W/Lab                           A         4
ITS-231 Database Programming                                A         4
SOC-210 Marriage and the Family                             A         3
BIO-114 Biology II With Lab                                 A         4
LIT-206 American Literature II                              A         3
PHI-190 Formal Logic                                        A         3
PSY-232 Intro to Human Sexuality                            A         3
PSY-213 Child Development Psychology                        A         3
PSY-211 Developmental Psychology                            A         3
BIO-113 Biology I With Lab                                  A         4
COS-241 Data Structures                                     A         4
ENC-102 English Composition II                              A         3
ENC-101 English Composition I                               A         3
MUS-148 Musicianship I                                      A         3
POS-211 State & Local Government                            A         3
HIS-113 American History I                                  A         3
PEA-199 Special Topics in Physical Ed                       A         1
PSY-101 Introduction to Psychology                          A         3
AST-201 Stellar Astronomy                                   A         4
COM-209 Public Speaking                                     A         3
MAT-121 College Algebra                                     A         3
POS-110 American Government                                 A         3
PHI-180 Introduction to Ethics                              A         3
CIS-107 Computer Concepts and Appl                          CR        4
HIS-114 American History II                                 A         3
All these courses were taken as regular in-person/online classes, except for the "Computer Concepts and Applications", which was a very old (2011?) Info Systems CLEP. I didn't send any CLEP transcripts to TESU, but they took it straight off the CC transcript.

I also held Microsoft certifications and sent in my MCP transcript for evaluation. I had to massage this one a bit, because they initially added only the courses from the TESU Professional Learning Review. I got them to accept the NCCRS recommendations for Microsoft, and they came in as CIS- courses which didn't apply to my CS AOS. I successfully appealed this and had them add it to satisfy my CS AOS electives, saving me some UL credits.
Code:
Course/Section and Title                                    Grade     Credit
ITS-130 Database Fundamentals                               CR        3
CIS-399 Special Topics Comp Info Syst                       CR        4
CIS-299 Special Topics Comp Info Syst                       CR        4

Here are the other SDC/Coopersmith courses I've completed and transferred in so far:
Code:
PSY-374 Physiological Psychology                            CR        3
PSY-229 Intro Research Methods in Psyc                      CR        3
COS-111 Intro to Programming                                CR        3
COS-240 Operating Systems                                   CR        3
SOS-216 Ethics in the Social Sciences                       CR        3
COS-116 C Programming                                       CR        3

Some cool takeaways:
  • Contact, contact, contact! I was perpetually just under the cutoff for both AOS'es and nearly missed getting my capstone in time for June. With enough emails/calls and pressure TESU was extremely helpful and I got everything evaluated and approved by the Heavin associate dean in time to enroll.
  • Despite what many advisors and the program requirements on the academic eval say, you only need 97, not 100, credits in your AOS to unlock the capstone.
  • Remember that applicants only get two free evaluations, and you're not considered an enrolled student until the 10th day of your first term. I nearly missed my capstone by sending in SDC transcripts as they came in, hitting the two eval limit, and then having to petition for a 3rd eval to get enough credits to unlock the capstone.
  • I prefer collecting grades than CRs, so I took the ASU-EA Calculus instead of doing it through SL/SDC. Because the ASU-EA model lets you choose whether to convert the grade for credit, I'm going to try for an "A" there if I can make it, and if not, I'll use one of my SDC tests to just get an ungraded pass.
  • I didn't use the SDC affiliate or my corporate discount because they prevent the full-time flat-rate tuition from kicking in.
Here is my current + planned course costs, hopefully finishing under $1600.

[Image: ybaXV31.png]

RE: [TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - LevelUP - 06-08-2020

Azure devops engineer expert certification that is something new for UL credit for BA CS. I haven't heard of anyone having that in their degree plan.

RE: [TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - scorpion - 06-08-2020

(06-08-2020, 03:58 PM)LevelUP Wrote: Azure devops engineer expert certification that is something new for UL credit for BA CS.  I haven't heard of anyone having that in their degree plan.

Thanks for reminding me, I meant to make a thread about it. Here you go:
(06-08-2020, 05:43 PM)scorpion Wrote: Microsoft technical certifications are a potential source of credit. Many older Microsoft MCP certifications were ACE recommended until 2017; the newer, cloud-related certifications are NCCRS recommended. The expert-level certifications are even recommended for graduate credit, so you could theoretically use them in a Masters in Cloud something-or-other.

There's quite a few, so it's worth checking out the ACE/NCCRS pages. I've successfully used these in a BA Computer Science at TESU.

Here's the Azure certifications with their NCCRS recommendations mapped out:
Code:
Certification                                                       Credits     Categories
                                                                   LL  UL  GR  
Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate                    1   -   -   "Information Technology, Business Administration, Computer Technology, Cloud Computing, Software Engineering or Web Services"
Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate                 1   -   -   "DevOps, Information Technology, Computer and Information Science, Software Engineering, Database Administration, Data Science, or Data Analytics"
Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator: Associate Certification    4   -   -   "Cloud Computing, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Science, and Web Design"
Microsoft Certified Azure Developer: Associate Certification        4   -   -   "Cloud Computing, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Science, and Web Design"
Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate                  4   -   -   "DevOps, Information Technology, Computer and Information Science, Software Engineering, Database Administration, Data Science, or Data Analytics"
Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate              4   -   -   "Cloud Computing, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Science, and Web Design"
Microsoft Certified Azure DevOps Engineer: Expert Certification     -   4   4   "Cloud Computing, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Science, and Web Design"
Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect: Expert Certification -   4   3   "Cloud Computing, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Science, and Web Design"


RE: [TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - rachel83az - 06-09-2020

(06-08-2020, 01:35 PM)scorpion Wrote: Here is my current + planned course costs, hopefully finishing under $1600.

[Image: ybaXV31.png]

What about the MS certs? Did your employer pay for those?

RE: [TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - scorpion - 06-09-2020

(06-09-2020, 03:00 AM)rachel83az Wrote: What about the MS certs? Did your employer pay for those?

Yeah, they did. I'm hoping to substitute one of the SDC courses with another Azure cert if I can, since I can take the MS exams for free.

The ones that I transferred in were taken back in 2019, so they were already done and paid for by the time I started.

RE: [TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - scorpion - 07-19-2020

Just an update, the plan seems to be working well. My work went through a reorg right as I started my 16 credit semester at TESU (along with the Calculus ASU-EA course), so it's been pretty hectic. I just finished midterms week and I feel confident that I'm over the hump.

In the meantime, I've been taking advantage of as many free Sophia courses as I can finish without duplicating anything that I already have as RA. So far I have:
  • Ancient Greek Philosophers
  • Introduction to Statistics
  • Approaches to Studying Religions
  • Microeconomics
  • Macroeconomics

With these courses registered and active before Sophia implemented their two-course limit:
  • Art History I
  • Art History II
  • Environmental Science
  • Human Biology
  • Accounting
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Developing Effective Teams
  • Introduction to Business
  • Introduction to Information Technology
  • Introduction to Sociology
  • Project Management
  • Essentials of Managing Conflict
  • Visual Communications

I don't plan to start the second round of SDC until I'm near the end of my TESU term, so I can dedicate all my attention to it and avoid paying the College Accelerator subscription longer than I need to. Since I'm trying to finish everything by Oct 1st for a December TESU graduation, that will give me around a month to finish my five remaining SDC courses, a Coopersmith Abnormal Psychology, and Calculus (if I'm still not finished by then).

RE: [TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - gams007 - 07-19-2020

(07-19-2020, 01:40 PM)scorpion Wrote: Just an update, the plan seems to be working well. My work went through a reorg right as I started my 16 credit semester at TESU (along with the Calculus ASU-EA course), so it's been pretty hectic. I just finished midterms week and I feel confident that I'm over the hump.

In the meantime, I've been taking advantage of as many free Sophia courses as I can finish without duplicating anything that I already have as RA. So far I have:
  • Ancient Greek Philosophers
  • Introduction to Statistics
  • Approaches to Studying Religions
  • Microeconomics
  • Macroeconomics

With these courses registered and active before Sophia implemented their two-course limit:
  • Art History I
  • Art History II
  • Environmental Science
  • Human Biology
  • Accounting
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Developing Effective Teams
  • Introduction to Business
  • Introduction to Information Technology
  • Introduction to Sociology
  • Project Management
  • Essentials of Managing Conflict
  • Visual Communications

I don't plan to start the second round of SDC until I'm near the end of my TESU term, so I can dedicate all my attention to it and avoid paying the College Accelerator subscription longer than I need to. Since I'm trying to finish everything by Oct 1st for a December TESU graduation, that will give me around a month to finish my five remaining SDC courses, a Coopersmith Abnormal Psychology, and Calculus (if I'm still not finished by then).
Did you start the Capstone already?

RE: [TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - scorpion - 07-19-2020

(07-19-2020, 05:46 PM)gams007 Wrote: Did you start the Capstone already?

Yes, I'm taking both the cornerstone and capstone. My current schedule looks like:
  • PSY-379 Social Psychology
  • SOS-110 Critical Information Literacy
  • COS-451 Artificial Intelligence
  • LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone
  • ENG-298 Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice


RE: [TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - MrBossmanJr - 07-21-2020

(07-19-2020, 06:39 PM)scorpion Wrote:
(07-19-2020, 05:46 PM)gams007 Wrote: Did you start the Capstone already?

Yes, I'm taking both the cornerstone and capstone. My current schedule looks like:
  • PSY-379 Social Psychology
  • SOS-110 Critical Information Literacy
  • COS-451 Artificial Intelligence
  • LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone
  • ENG-298 Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice

That looks rough, but you got a solid plan. Good luck.

RE: [TESU] BA Computer Science & Psychology - June 2020 - ajs1976a - 07-22-2020

What lead you to add the 2nd AOS in Psych? Do you see a way that it applies to your career or is it for personal interest? I've consider CompSci + Psych and CompSci + CJ. Psych for personal interest and CJ for some personal interest but also because I see some connection between it and Cyber & Risk Management.