Online Degrees and CLEP and DSST Exam Prep Discussion
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Request degree advice - emmaya - 12-14-2022

I have four years of experience studying computer science at an overseas university. Unfortunately, it is not qualified for WES credits to transfer to the US.
I read some of the posts in our forum. I believe I can find some guidance and help in our forum.
I did Bootcamp study in web development last year; As I keep looking for IT opportunities, I keep studying and have a degree, and obtain a degree to support better positioning.
I was always reading someone’s posts about how to get a degree quickly; Please give me some advice. Those are some requirements (They're not must to have , just personal thoughts )，

Degree: bachelor’s degree 
Graduation certificate: it’s not “global”; people easily recognize it’s an online degree.
Subject: computer science|data analyst | UI/ UX design | cyber security
Year to study: I hope to get a degree soon.
College credit:  I don’t have any helpful credits; I only have two IT certifications with Microsoft.
Budget: About Ten thousand dollars 
Additional Question :
1.   Can an online degree pass the WES evaluation? 
2.   For example, I’d like to enroll in TESU; the process is as follows:  make appointments with the consulter à complete as much as a credit on Sophia or study.comà register at TESU. Is this correct?
3.   One of my classmates who graduated from WGU mentioned he accomplished that degree in 10 months, which is useless …I’m not sure if he said that to help sell the Bootcamp or if it’s real.
4.   Can you recommend any college that allows work experience change credits?
Remarked: I’m not an international student but a US citizen.

Hope I can find guidance and answers in our forum to help me pursue my dream education; I appreciate you!

Wishing you happiness and good health this holiday season.

RE: Request degree advice - rachel83az - 12-15-2022

(12-14-2022, 09:53 PM)emmaya Wrote: 1.   Can an online degree pass the WES evaluation? 

If you get a US degree, online or not, you don't have to go through WES at all in order to use it in the US. If you want to go somewhere like Canada or Australia, the answer is "it depends". But, these days, online degrees are not (as) frowned upon in the English-speaking world as they once were. A lot of important universities now offer degrees that are at least partially available online. There is a lot of "it depends" for this. If you're looking to move to the US, you will probably want to get a Master's degree later to improve your chances of getting in. But definitely consult with an immigration attorney if this is your goal.

(12-14-2022, 09:53 PM)emmaya Wrote: 2.   For example, I’d like to enroll in TESU; the process is as follows:  make appointments with the consulter à complete as much as a credit on Sophia or study.comà register at TESU. Is this correct?

For TESU, no. Close, but not quite. We usually recommend that you do not talk to advising at all, unless you have no other choice. They will often give wrong or misleading information. To avoid confusion, it's best to avoid talking to TESU employees at all. The steps for TESU specifically would be:

  1. Apply to TESU, following the steps for an international student. If your high school diploma is from a country where the native language is not English (examples: China, Germany, Saudia Arabia, Brazil, etc.), you must include TOEFL or IELTS scores. OR if taking these exams is not possible due to needing to travel, take 3 Arizona State University Universal Learner classes for $425 each. Proof of language proficiency is NOT required for the ASU UL classes.
  2. Pay for the Medical Terminology TECEP for $52. This gets you full enrollment status and allows you to send in credits as you obtain them. This helps insulate you from any changes they might make in the future to the degree program.
  3. Decide which RA credits you will take, following our degree plan suggestions. TESU requires that at least 30 US credits come from an actual college or university. Credits from Sophia or Study.com do not count. The required capstone & cornerstone do count, which leaves 24 credits from somewhere. To save money and avoid paying the residency waiver fee, we often recommend that students complete a flat-rate 16-credit term at TESU (capstone, cornerstone, PLA-100, and 3 easy classes or ePacks of your choice). That would leave you with 8 credits needed. Assuming that your native language is not English, one possibility for your 30 credits would be the following:
    • SOS-110 Information Literacy, TESU flat-rate term, 3 credits
    • LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone, TESU flat-rate term, 3 credits
    • CIS-351 Software Engineering, TESU flat-rate term, 3 credits
    • CIS-107 Computer Concepts and Applications (ePack exam), TESU flat-rate term, 3 credits
    • ART-100 A World of Art, TESU flat-rate term, 3 credits
    • PLA-100 Introduction to Prior Learning Assessment, TESU flat-rate term, 1 credit
    • AST-111 Introduction to Solar Systems Astronomy or BIO-100 The Living World, ASU Universal Learner, 4 credits
    • ASM-246 Human Origins, ASU Universal Learner, 3 credits
    • MAT-117 College Algebra or MAT-170 Precalculus, ASU Universal Learner, 3 credits
    • CIS-194 Technical Support Fundamentals, ASU Universal Learner, 1 credit (unlike other ASU UL classes, this class is only $25 and not $425)
    • Any TECEP exam, except ones that overlap with the classes above. Example: do not take CIS-107 TECEP if taking the CIS-107 ePack. Suggested: English Comp II TECEP.
  4. Once you've filled in your degree plan with the RA credits, start taking classes at Sophia to fill in the gaps. English Comp I at Sophia can be okay, but we usually recommend against taking English Comp II there. Either take the TECEP exam or complete English Comp II at Study.com. Do not take Public Speaking at Sophia; Study.com has a much easier option for TESU students. Take Art History I & II to help prepare for ART-100 @ TESU.
  5. For easy elective credits, you may be able to take an ACTFL or two for your native language. If your native language is French, German, Spanish, Russian, or Portuguese, you can take all 4 ACTFL exams. If you speak something else, there may only be 1 or 2 ACTFL exams available.
  6. Fill in whatever is left with Study.com. This should be around 10 Study.com classes, I believe.
  7. You should have 16 credits left. Fill these by taking the flat-rate term.
  8. Graduate.
The ASU classes will get you into TESU, so you'd take those as soon as possible before even applying. 

The 3-credit TECEP should be taken 10-12 months after you become a fully enrolled student or once you have about 100 credits, whichever comes first. You need to pay for a TECEP about once per year in order to maintain enrollment. The first should be the 1-credit Medical Terminology TECEP to get you enrolled ASAP (you do not have to take this one, only to pay for it). The second should be a 3-credit TECEP of your choice (English Comp II is suggested); this one needs to be passed for the RA credit.

(12-14-2022, 09:53 PM)emmaya Wrote: 3.   One of my classmates who graduated from WGU mentioned he accomplished that degree in 10 months, which is useless …I’m not sure if he said that to help sell the Bootcamp or if it’s real.

It's real. Some WGU students are even able to graduate in 6 months or less when they have prior experience/credits. TESU can be completed in a similar time-frame, though I think most students complete their degrees in 12-18 months with the help of Sophia/Study.com/etc. Unfortunately, WGU isn't available to students outside of the USA.

Bootcamps are usually pretty useless for employment purposes these days. Definitely stay away from actual bootcamps in the future. 

(12-14-2022, 09:53 PM)emmaya Wrote: 4.   Can you recommend any college that allows work experience change credits?
If you're talking about what I think you are, this is usually referred to as a portfolio or PLA credits. At most schools, including TESU, doing an actual portfolio assessment for PLA credits is usually both time-consuming and expensive. With the way Sophia and Study.com work, it is both faster and easier to get the Sophia/Study.com credits and not worry about your portfolio. 


Which MS certificates do you have and when did you take them? Some of them are worth credit at TESU.

RE: Request degree advice - dfrecore - 12-16-2022

TESU has a CompSci degree that you can get for $10 or less; their Data Science degree costs more I think. The biggest hurdle I think is getting 30cr of RA (6cr from TESU and then 24cr have to be brought in from elsewhere).

If you want a true "test-out" degree because you have experience, WGU is going to be your best option, especially without prior credit - you can do all of your GE and some of your major coursework via alt-credit, and then finish quickly at WGU for 1-2 terms if you're motivated; this will cost you less than $10k (and possibly far less if you go really fast). The nice thing about a WGU degree is that they have far fewer GE courses to take, meaning 70-75% of your degree is in your major. They probably have what you're looking for in terms of an IT degree.

RE: Request degree advice - rachel83az - 12-17-2022

(12-16-2022, 09:29 PM)dfrecore Wrote: TESU has a CompSci degree that you can get for $10 or less; their Data Science degree costs more I think.  The biggest hurdle I think is getting 30cr of RA (6cr from TESU and then 24cr have to be brought in from elsewhere).

Oops, typo! I think you meant $10k. I wish it was only $10.  Big Grin

(12-16-2022, 09:29 PM)dfrecore Wrote: If you want a true "test-out" degree because you have experience, WGU is going to be your best option, especially without prior credit - you can do all of your GE and some of your major coursework via alt-credit, and then finish quickly at WGU for 1-2 terms if you're motivated; this will cost you less than $10k (and possibly far less if you go really fast).  The nice thing about a WGU degree is that they have far fewer GE courses to take, meaning 70-75% of your degree is in your major.  They probably have what you're looking for in terms of an IT degree.

OP is an international student. If not inside of the US, WGU is out of the question.

RE: Request degree advice - dfrecore - 12-17-2022

(12-17-2022, 05:20 AM)rachel83az Wrote:
(12-16-2022, 09:29 PM)dfrecore Wrote: TESU has a CompSci degree that you can get for $10 or less; their Data Science degree costs more I think.  The biggest hurdle I think is getting 30cr of RA (6cr from TESU and then 24cr have to be brought in from elsewhere).

Oops, typo! I think you meant $10k. I wish it was only $10.  Big Grin

(12-16-2022, 09:29 PM)dfrecore Wrote: If you want a true "test-out" degree because you have experience, WGU is going to be your best option, especially without prior credit - you can do all of your GE and some of your major coursework via alt-credit, and then finish quickly at WGU for 1-2 terms if you're motivated; this will cost you less than $10k (and possibly far less if you go really fast).  The nice thing about a WGU degree is that they have far fewer GE courses to take, meaning 70-75% of your degree is in your major.  They probably have what you're looking for in terms of an IT degree.

OP is an international student. If not inside of the US, WGU is out of the question.

Per the first post: "Remarked: I’m not an international student but a US citizen."

TESU - IT BA degree vs BS degree - emmaya - 01-25-2023

I saw a few BS degrees besides a BA degree in computer science at TESU. For example, BS Degree in Data Science and Analytics, Cloud Computing, etc. How do you choose between a BA degree and BS degree? Does a BS degree more challenging to graduate? I want to obtain a fast degree to support a career change. Please advise. Thank you.

RE: TESU - IT BA degree vs BS degree - rachel83az - 01-25-2023

For 90-99% of people, BA vs. BS simply doesn't matter. What matters is the subject. LinkedIn, for instance, doesn't even allow you to differentiate. It's all "Bachelor's degree in X". So, you should choose the subject degree that makes the most sense for your situation.

That said, most BS degrees are significantly more difficult and/or expensive to obtain from TESU. This is not because of the material itself, but is instead because of the classes that are required. For the BS in Data Science & Analytics, the AOS courses absolutely must come from Statistics.com. It is not a very good candidate for a 16-credit term and you still must fit in 30 RA credits somehow - Statistics.com is not RA credit.

The Cloud Computing and Cybersecurity degrees are very expensive, compared to the Computer Science degree, because you must take most/all of your AOS classes at TESU. Even transferring in courses from another RA institution isn't guaranteed to work.

You can see which degrees are easiest/cheapest here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sample_TESU_General_Education_Requirements_Roadmap

RE: TESU - IT BA degree vs BS degree - LevelUP - 01-25-2023

(01-25-2023, 01:52 AM)emmaya Wrote: I saw a few BS degrees besides a BA degree in computer science at TESU. For example, BS Degree in Data Science and Analytics, Cloud Computing, etc. How do you choose between a BA degree and BS degree? Does a BS degree more challenging to graduate? I want to obtain a fast degree to support a career change. Please advise. Thank you.

We have degree plans for the BS IT degree and the BA Computer Science.

BS IT degree
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sample_TESU_BS_Information_Technology_Degree_Plan

BA Computer Science
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sample_TESU_BA_Computer_Science_Plan

The BA in Computer Science will probably be less work overall and cheaper to get.

RE: TESU - IT BA degree vs BS degree - davewill - 01-25-2023

One difference between BA and BS is that BA requires a single science course, where the BS requires two science courses in a series, i.e. Physics I and Physics II. In this case, I would ignore the BA or BS debate and instead decide what I wanted to do for a career.

If you want to work in IT do the IT degree. If you want to work as a software developer or want to go on to do more schooling in data science, cybersecurity, or AI something like that, do the CS degree.

If you just want easiest/quickest, AND you are reasonably comfortable with computer programming, databases, etc... definitely do the CS degree.

RE: TESU - IT BA degree vs BS degree - jsd - 01-25-2023

(01-25-2023, 09:09 AM)rachel83az Wrote:  LinkedIn, for instance, doesn't even allow you to differentiate. It's all "Bachelor's degree in X". So, you should choose the subject degree that makes the most sense for your situation.

I 100% agree with your overall point, but just wanted to say that LinkedIn absolutely lets you select BA vs BS (or MA/MS/AS/AA/AAS/etc). I have mine all specificied on my LI profile.