BS for Masters Degree Plan

[senior_dev]

Hi everyone,

First, I would like to thank you all for the valuable information in this forum/wiki.

I am looking for some advice/help to plan my degree. My info:

Your Location: International

Your Age: 42

What kind of degree do you want?: Quickest bachelors so I can ultimately enroll in a CS Master’s program or, failing that, a post-baccalaureate.

Budget: Looking to stay below $10k for the bachelor’s but flexible.

Commitments: Kids/spouse, work full time (WFH/flexible).

Dedicated time to study: I can dedicate 25-30 hours/week if the degree takes less than 8 months total.

Timeline: Finishing the courses required for the degree as fast as possible would be ideal. I would like to finish within 8 months.

Current Regional Accredited Credits: 54 from community college

Code:

CS     213     JAVA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE   3
CS     270     INTRO TO ORACLE             3
HE     100     PRIN HEALTH LIVING         1
AS     101     INTRO TO ASTRONOMY         4
EN     101     TECH OF RDNG & WRTG I         3
FR     101     ELEM FRENCH I                 3
MA     181     CALCULUS I                 4
MU     136     AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC         3
EC     201     PRIN OF ECON I                 3
EN     109     WRTG/TECHNOLOGY & BUSINES   3
MA     182     CALCULUS II                 4
AN     105     INTRO PHYS ANTHR/ARCH         3
GE     101     INTRO GEOGRAPHY         3
SP     108     FUNDAMENTALS OF SPEECH         3
CS     204     COMPUTER SCIENCE II         4
CS     256     DISCRETE STRUCTURES         4
HS     114     THE WORLD IN 20TH CENT         3

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: none

Work Experience: I have been working as a software engineer for the past 20 years even though I have never graduated.

Goal
My goal is to earn a bachelor’s degree as fast as possible so that I can either apply to a CS Master’s or, failing that, to a post-baccalaureate. I attended a CS program at a CC 20 years ago with the goal of eventually transferring to a 4-year university but, because of a health problem, I had to go back to my home country with only 7 credits remaining to graduate (AA in CS).

Not having a CS degree has never been an issue for any of my employers, but I have always felt self-conscious about it - avoiding education-related conversations at the workplace and constantly doubting my abilities. I’ve felt like a fraud even when holding senior positions, which ultimately has led me to avoid applying to top companies. I’ve also felt that at any moment my colleagues would realize that I didn’t qualify to be there, I’d get fired and never get a job again. TL; DR I need the confidence boost of a diploma to feel validated.

Why a Masters? Given my experience in the field and my age, at this point I’d rather focus on CS courses rather than spend my time doing GenEd classes.

I got in touch with my old CC, was able to reactivate my student account and, surprisingly enough, found out that the curriculum remains pretty much the same so, in order to graduate, I’d only need 2 more courses (they can be taken online).

After spending several weeks researching my options, I’ve come up with the following plans:

Plan A

UMPI BLS/BABA -> Masters CS

Plan B

UMPI BLS/BABA -> OSU CS post-baccalaureate -> Masters

Plan C

UMPI BLS/BABA -> UMass Lowell IT post-baccalaureate -> Masters

Plan D

??

Given the above, a few questions that I'd appreciate help with:

1. Is UMPI the best option in this case?
2. If so, should I go for a BLS or BABA?
3. Given that I’m only 2 (online) classes away from finishing my CS AA, should I? My concerns are
    A. an AA in CS isn’t going to a game changer and might actually be counterproductive since my GPA at the CC was very low (2.7). Maybe leaving it in the past, focusing on transferring my credits and earning a BS would be better.
    B. Being out-of-state, I’d be paying $530/credit.
4. If I pursue this AA, I’m considering retaking all D and F courses to try to raise my GPA a bit (3.2 at least).

[LevelUP]

Welcome to the forum!

UMPI, I would do the BABA as it's not much more time than the BLS. Cost is $1400/$2800 (1 or 2 terms)

TESU has a computer science degree and also a BSBA CIS. You could do one or both for around $5000 if you do the flat rate 16 credit 3-month term.

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

https://www.tesu.edu/academics/online-degrees

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ience_Plan

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

[bjcheung77]

@senior_dev, it's great you've filled in the template and addendum partially... why are you not providing us more details? Where is "International"? What's the home country? Which state/school did you almost complete your AA? Where/which masters have you looked at enrolling in the near future? There are too many variables at play, knowing more would be easier to make a final choice on your plans... I suggest D! See below...

Basically, without all of these details and variables, it's going to be harder to provide a better answer. If you were in Russia, Spain, UK, Ukraine or whatever, it depends, there would be "top up" options for the UK schools you look at, etc... So, you a beaver or a cowboy? OSU can be OK State U or Oregon State U, maybe something else? Your "plan options" are sound, but I wouldn't go for any of those plan A, B, C and D which you don't yet have.

For graduate level, entrance requirements vary for each degree, institution, and school of choice. You really need to bump up your GPA by re-taking the failed courses and bring up your GPA by completing the AA and Bachelors. I highly recommend looking at possible programs that interest you and look closely at their requirements, upgrade your application package to make a stronger one. You can really bump D-F grades by retaking the course at the AA.

[rachel83az]

Seconding the option for a TESU BA CS and/or BSBA CIS. Since your goal is a Master's in CS, having a Bachelor's in CS is going to make things much easier and cheaper, in the long run, than going with a Liberal Studies or Business degree from UMPI. UMPI is a great school, I just don't think it fits your situation.

[senior_dev]

Welcome to the forum!

UMPI, I would do the BABA as it's not much more time than the BLS. Cost is $1400/$2800 (1 or 2 terms)

Thank you!

Yes, the BABA does seem to be the better option. Thank you for confirming my choice.

TESU has a computer science degree and also a BSBA CIS. You could do one or both for around $5000 if you do the flat rate 16 credit 3-month term.

There are 2 (very personal) reasons I’ve forgone the TESU option:

• The OSU curriculum, if I get accepted, is much more in line with my technology choices and tastes; I think I’d enjoy much more doing the OSU classes.
  
• While I understand they are accredited and legitimate (and a great school, judging by former students’ opinions online), their affiliation with online learning kinda puts me off. However, I’d be willing to revise my position in the future.
  

[rachel83az]

Pretty sure that going to TESU doesn't preclude one from going to OSU. TESU students have gone on to attend much more well-known schools for their Master's degrees.

[senior_dev]

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Pretty sure that going to TESU doesn't preclude one from going to OSU. TESU students have gone on to attend much more well-known schools for their Master's degrees.

The thing is, OSU's postbacc program is for non-CS degrees. I want to use OSU as a launchpad for a masters, all things failing.

[carrythenothing]

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Pretty sure that going to TESU doesn't preclude one from going to OSU. TESU students have gone on to attend much more well-known schools for their Master's degrees.

The thing is, OSU's postbacc program is for non-CS degrees. I want to use OSU as a launchpad for a masters, all things failing.

If your goal is a master's degree in computer science, I'd find out the prerequisites and make sure you'll have those completed.

Since you like the curriculum and don't already have a bachelor's degree, have you considered going directly for the BS in Computer Science at OSU? If all of your credits were to transfer (unlikely with older technology credits but possible), it would cost about the same as getting a first bachelor's degree and completing OSU's postbaccalaureate program.

[senior_dev]

If your goal is a master's degree in computer science, I'd find out the prerequisites and make sure you'll have those completed.

Since you like the curriculum and don't already have a bachelor's degree, have you considered going directly for the BS in Computer Science at OSU? If all of your credits were to transfer (unlikely with older technology credits but possible), it would cost about the same as getting a first bachelor's degree and completing OSU's postbaccalaureate program.

I have considered and ended up deciding on the UMPI path for 2 reasons:

1) Cost. The postbacc would cost me ~30k, the full program ~50k (I'd need to complete 180 credits).

2) I would like to rush through GenEd classes to be able to focus on CS content only. On the UMPI path, I'd be able to complete this part pretty quickly and move on to the postbacc.

So, in short, UMPI -> OSU postbacc would be faster and more cost efficient.

[dfrecore]

1st, you still didn't say which school OSU is. Oregon? Ohio? Oklahoma? It's important to know.

2nd, 180cr usually is a quarter-based school, so you may be comparing apples-to-oranges here. 54cr from a semester-based school equates to 81cr at a quarter-based school. So you may not be as far as you think. Keep that in mind.

3rd, it may cost quite a bit to go back and "fix" that low GPA (like eating up your entire budget); and it may not be necessary. You may want to look at several schools that have 30cr required, and take those to give your gpa a boost, and many schools will look favorably on a student who left school years ago with a low GPA, and then came back and finished with a high gpa. Many have a "fresh start" program where they only look at grades X number of years old when admitting you; things like that are common.

I would probably look at UMPI, WGU, SNHU, Franklin University; schools that will let you take 30cr for a decent price, with all graded credits. It might be worth it for you to do that rather than go the Big 3 route.