B.A. CS from TESC or more traditional like a B.S CS from DSU?

[benjenkinsv95]

Hey there,

I am currently in the application process at TESC, I am under 21 so I had to get together a few credits first before applying If I wanted to get the "21 or over age policy" waived. I currently have 87 credits and am looking into their B.A. in Comp Sci as well(planning to start my first computer science related courses in March or April).

First thoughts. I have seen some computer science degrees that are very well geared towards web development, sadly I would say TESC isn't one of the better "applied"(actually learning web development languages and practices instead of theory) plans. TESC Computer Science courses themselves look about the same as any normal college, some of the courses cover hard useful material, and others are just blow off courses. I would suggest looking through their courses and finding the most rigorous courses they have to offer if you want to get a good education. In my own opinion, the following courses are the most rigorous and will teach me the most:
Artificial Intelligence
Switching Theory and Automata
Compiler Construction
Computer Architecture
Programming Languages
C++ programming
Systems Analysis and Design

I am an programmer intern at a local robotics company and have discussed with 4 other experienced programmers which courses were the most important to receive, and my boss personally looked at the course descriptions with me(Man did I get lucky).

With all this said, I believe you can get an on par degree from TESC as you could get at the majority of schools. But I would personally suggest ALWAYS supplementing your learning with free courses from Harvard Extension School, Udacity, MIT, Coursera, Codecademy, YouTube, and every freaking book you can find. Never stop teaching yourself!!! If you are always teaching yourself you should have no problem getting a good web development degree. Web development is taught everywhere and you can do amazing things if you just keep teaching yourself.

As for If the degree has as much merit as DSU. I live in Texas and have never heard of DSU so I am no help there, but if it counts for anything. If you move to Texas they will be equally as unknown so you can have the same non-existent Merit!

And it's worth stating, at TESC, 24 of my credits are 100% free. This is because they are FEMA Credits. I was then able to power through 14 DSST/CLEP tests in 4-5 months. Which cost me about $1600 between test's and study materials. The rest of my credits are AP/community college credits. But I expect to be able to finish my degree for about $13,000 in all. I mean you can't beat the price, and I dragged the price tag up with the community college credits.


In summary, I think the degree is fine. But you need to have a good grasp on your field when you walk in to apply for a job. If you want to be a PHP developer or whatever, don't stop studying on your own time. A college degree will not make you a programmer or a web developer (TRUST ME, i've seen terrible programmers who had bachelor degrees that have made me want to laugh... and i'm just a freaking intern). Your outside learning will make you a good programmer/web developer not the degree.

I wish you the best of luck, and hope my terrible grammar has still made some sense. If you do decide on TESC, I hope to talk to you again or see you in class someday.