(04-19-2020, 09:18 PM)AwardTour Wrote: WGU will give you an automatic 3.0 GPA after you graduate, right? Would it be faster to earn TESU's BA in Computer Science and get a higher GPA through TESU's capstone? I know this comes down to personal preference, but is TESU's BACS degree a possible way to get into Georgia Tech's OMSCS?
While GA Tech says 3.0 GPA, they don't specify what that means. Most schools will be looking at your transfer GPA (the blended GPA of the courses taken to date) and not your institutional GPA (the GPA that shows on your diploma). Each school calculates your transfer GPA in their own way, but for schools that have a specific degree requirement (CS in this case), this usually means the school requires a certain amount of graded credits in the core of the degree they are looking for. For schools that don't offer grades (WGU for example), they appear to support the school's GPA recommendation. For WGU students that each completed course is treated as being equivalent to a B. That is great since at some other schools, ungraded credits are often treated as a C (2.0) or ignored for purposes of GPA.
Assuming you have completed your degree, the balance of your GenEds and electives can come in as PASS/CR from ACE, but they are very likely planning to calculate your transfer GPA from your core CS courses, so you're going to want graded credits there at least.
(04-19-2020, 09:18 PM)AwardTour Wrote: I see your above post on ACE credits, is it really a roadblock at Georgia Tech? If my degree is in CS from a regionally accredited school and I have a GPA at 3.0 or higher then I am meeting their admissions criteria as it is stated publicly. I understand that admissions has discretion but is this a known roadblock with Georgia Tech for people who have a degree primarily made up of ACE transfer credits? I understand you say that it is something you suspect, but is there any way to confirm this or at least have a discussion with them before going back to WGU?
I don't know that anyone has gotten a definitive decline from GA Tech because their core CS courses were from ACE, but I expect it to happen. There is a thread on Reddit where people who apply to the OMSCS list their academic credentials are and the result of their application. According to that, people are denied on the basis of a lack of sufficient academic background on grounds less than ACE credits.
For example, some people have been declined because they completed the core courses via non-accredited sources (which includes places like Study.com as well as MOOC courses and workshops) or they graduated from an NA school rather than an RA school.
(04-19-2020, 09:18 PM)AwardTour Wrote: Arizona State University has an online masters in computer science, you don't have to have an undergrad in CS to get in. The problem, it is more than twice as much as Georgia Tech.
Technically you don't need an undergrad in CS to get into the OMSCS either, but you still need to have taken the requisite CS courses with a GPA of 3.0 or better. Those courses don't have to have been completed as part of your degree, they just need to have been completed at a RA school with a B or better.
If you just want an MCS degree, I'm sure there are cheaper places to get it, but they're not going to have the same reputation as GA Tech, or even ASU.
Working on: Debating whether I want to pursue a doctoral program or maybe another master's degree in 2022-23
Complete:
MBA (IT Management), 2019, Western Governors University
BSBA (Computer Information Systems), 2019, Thomas Edison State University
ASNSM (Computer Science), 2019, Thomas Edison State University
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Complete:
MBA (IT Management), 2019, Western Governors University
BSBA (Computer Information Systems), 2019, Thomas Edison State University
ASNSM (Computer Science), 2019, Thomas Edison State University
ScholarMatch College & Career Coach
WGU Ambassador