2nd Bachelors PLUS accountability thread

[ajs1976a]

BA in Computer Science with an Associates in Criminal Justice and a Certificate in Psychology

My end goal is the DSc in Cyber Security from DSU which requires either a Bachelors or Masters in Computer Science.  I have looked at a number of options and the BACS at TESU seems like the best one for me.  I'll take another look at options after I get through data structures.

BACS - Planning on classes from my local CC, alt credit options, and at least three classes at TESU.  UL AOS electives will be challenging since I will need to make up some of the 24 new credits with electives and I already have MIS, Software Engineering, and Cyber.  CSU-Global CBE seems like a good option along with classes from other schools and maybe grad credits.

AASCJ and PsychCert - one or both could be dropped or one even raised to a second AOS depending on timing and personal interest.

AASCJ - When I looked at the eval prior to graduating with the BSBA, I only needed one class.  I didn't add it because I didn't want to risk loosing TECEP residency or TECEP capstone.  With the CJ offerings from Study.com, it should be easy to get the 12 new credits needed.  Forensic Science interests me from the Computer Forensics / Cyber Security perspective and there is a lot of overlap between Intro to CJ and Crimonology.

PsychCert - TECEP, UEXCEL, and some Study.com.  Lower priority then the AASCJ.  This is for personal interest and if I find it is slowing me down to much I will drop it. 

Currently, I am working through two study.com classes.  Once I finish those then I will apply to TESU, wait for the eval, and work on two more from study.com.  Abnormal Psych TECEP for enrollment and a CSU global CSU in late spring and the summer.  Discrete Math in the fall.  See what else fits in around those courses.

[davewill]

If you're doing three classes at TESU, you may want to consider grabbing the study.com comprehensive tuition and doing at least 16 credits to gain residency. Here's the numbers:

No discount, three classes, residency waiver.
3 x 1498 + 2500 = 6994

Current Study.com discount, three classes, residency waiver
3 x 1098 + 1800 = 5094

Current study.com discount, comprehensive, take at least 16 credits.
$6,350

With the three class plan, you're probably going to end up with some fees under the current discount and some not under it, so your total will be somewhere in between the first two numbers. If you end up having pay for CSU Global or any other more expensive credit choices, you might be better off just getting them all for the one all you can eat comprehensive fee.

[ajs1976a]

Thanks for providing the numbers. It is something I am considering, just not sure what the study.com agreement will look like by the time I am able to take advantage of it.

Do you have any posts were your discuss your experience with the TESU Op Sys or AI courses?

[davewill]

That's one of the good things about the comprehensive plan, as long as you start by June, you get the current price. If you can't start by then, the idea kind of falls apart. There is a always a risk that life could get in the way, causing you to be unable to get all your courses done inside the year, something like that happened to me which caused me to have to pay for my capstone outside my comprehensive year. Part of that was my own ignorance, though. I thought I had to do my capstone last, so I worked on a TECEP before it. Had I realized, I could have registered for the capstone in the last month of the comprehensive year, then picked up the much cheaper TECEP later.

I think I've mentioned those courses before, but I'm happy to answer questions about them. The AI course was my favorite of the whole experience, although I was disappointed that there were no actual programming projects in the course. Operating Systems wasn't difficult, just tedious.

[Yenisei]

davewill, can you hazard a guess as to how many math and computer science courses someone without distractions could reasonably complete in a single calendar year under the comprehensive plan? By math, I mean calculus and above.

[davewill]

davewill, can you hazard a guess as to how many math and computer science courses someone without distractions could reasonably complete in a single calendar year under the comprehensive plan? By math, I mean calculus and above.

There's way too many simultaneous variables in that equation. Everything from how many hours week you can study to your aptitude for the subjects to the availability of tutoring. A standard "full load" is 24 units. Working year round should help, but if all the courses are tough ones it may be hard to sustain that.

My kids are having that kind of issue right now. The both did two years of community college, but that has left them with all the upper division requirements to do at once, which is really challenging. Their classmates who were regular full time students were able to spread them out a bit more so that even in their senior year, there are easier courses in their schedule. One professor asked my daughter why in the world she was taking all the hardest courses in the department at once, and she explained that she had no choice if she wanted to graduate in a reasonable amount of time.

The max that you can do in a year under the comprehensive plan is 36 credits. You would have to have 2-3 courses going during the whole year to achieve that. You can cheat a little by registering for courses in the last month that so that you actually take 14 months to do everything. However, in that last month, you have to pay for at least a TECEP to continue your enrollment. Yes it sounds weird, but you can be actively working on courses, but be unenrolled.

[Yenisei]

I guess I could study 40 hours a week. The math courses would be easier for me to handle than the CS classes (I've already had calculus and statistics and taught myself some linear algebra).

[ajs1976a]

Update: I was out of state for an unplanned trip, so I didn't accomplish much in the last week. Back at it today. Hoping to wrap up Study.com e-commerce this week and test next weekend. Then Intro to CJ the next weekend. I saw a post on here that e-commerce may transfer as CIS but not sure if it will work out. Content is mostly review for me but it is going fast and I'm learning some new things so it has been worth it so far.

[ajs1976a]

My plans for a 2nd Bachelors are now on hold. My manager and I have had a couple of discussions about graduate school and tuition reimbursement. Currently, I am looking into the CSU Global Cybersecurity cert and the IT Management degree. I started the Cloud Computing CBE to got some exposure to the school while I work on my application for admission and packet for tuition reimbursement.

[ajs1976a]

Time to get things started (again).

Unless something drastically changes, grad school is on hold until my kids are almost out of high school which will be 5-6 years. I do plan to work on some certs and other classes so the TESU BSCyber and something in CJ might make sense.

Current plans: final course at local CC for the Homeland Security cert I started a few years ago, prep to take the CISSP in early 2020.