TESU or WGU? Advice needed, Ground 0, want to be as realistic as possible!

[OP88]

I would start by taking EVERYTHING Sophia has - spend a few months going through all of the courses.  That will let you see if you can do a competency-based thing at all - if you find that you're just not getting through courses quickly, and aren't completing 5, 6, 8 courses a month through Sophia, then you probably aren't going to do well with a CBE program, so don't want to drop a ton of money there.  OTOH, if you find that you are killing it on Sophia, then CBE may be for you.

Then, I would probably spend a couple of months on Study.com, doing a bunch of UL courses where you have to do papers/projects.  If you can kill it there, then you are probably 1) ready for a CBE program; 2) have some idea of what to expect in terms of coursework (not that everything will be as easy as Sophia and Study, but you'll have some background info, some courses under your belt, etc); and 3) you'll have a bunch of credits that you can apply to whatever school you end up at.

Now, you just make a list of everything you've completed, and you can figure out what you need to finish at both schools.  You create a degree plan for each school, and figure out what it will take to finish at that school (don't look at what you lose - look at what it takes to FINISH).  Both time and money.  And then make your decision based on good, up-to-date info, including costs and time and your learning style.

I literally would sign up for Sophia now, and see how it goes.  Like, today, now.

Also, if you spend a couple of months doing this, you will give UMPI's CS degree time to drop - and you can include that one in your list.

You can also go take some classes at your local CC if it's inexpensive.  I would also probably do a checklist of every single thing all 3 degrees require for GE's, and try to check them all off as you go, so that your decision is very easy at the end.

So for instance you need a physical science and a life science at UMPI, one of which must be a lab.  You need 2 Sciences at TESU.  You need a physical science and a lab at WGU.  So it's easy to see that you'd do a physical science and a life science, and one of those would be a lab course (so either Bio w/lab + physical science or Chem w/lab + life science and then you've covered all 3 schools.  You'll have more than you need for TESU, but that's ok.

You need a hands-on art class at UMPI, and you need 30cr of RA at TESU - so kill those birds with a hands-on art course (graphic design or photography if you need to do it online) at an RA CC near you.

You need English Comp I & II - easy enough to do them through TEL, and then you've covered UMPI, TESU, and you have more RA credits (and if you choose the right school for those 2 courses, you've created less work for yourself).

You need math at all 3 schools - I'd do College Algebra and Stats at Sophia - and then maybe take the Applied Liberal Arts Math TECEP at TESU and/or Finite Math at ONU.

There are lots of ways to get where you need to go, so you just start by listing all of the GE that's needed, and then figure out the best way to cover all of your bases.

Thank you, @Dfrecore, for the super detailed and helpful response, I really appreciate it!