My degree plan for TESU BA in CS; thoughts/recs?

[bruh]

I'm in a bit of a pickle right now too... Reading the last section of this post is pretty sufficient to understand what I'm trying to do next. Everything in the middle is just details.

I was trying to sign up for the capstone course, but the Student Portal stated that I need a granted petition. However, Academic Advising informed me that I need 100cr in order to qualify. I currently only have 88cr, and I'd need to get 12 more in the 1-3 week window I have before the late registration deadline of 8/25 to make it for the September 2023 term. 

Potential solution?

I could try to complete the following courses below, which I actually need to complete for my degree. However, I'm not too sure how realistic it could be to finish them within the next 1-2 weeks (allowing the remaining week as cushion time to let Study.com grade me, Academic Advising process my transcript(s), etc):
— [SDC] CS201: Data Structures & Algorithms
— [SDC] Business 303: Management Information Systems
— [SDC] CS302: Systems Analysis & Design
— [SDC] CS303: Database Management

So instead, I was thinking of switching the last 3 SDC courses with Sophia courses so that I can qualify for the granted petition.
— [Sophia] Introduction to College Mathematics
— [Sophia] Introduction to Information Technology
— [Sophia] Introduction to Programming in Python
— [SDC] CS201: Data Structures & Algorithms

To make the SDC/Sophia subscriptions a little more worth it too, I'd make sure to do these courses too before the 30-day window finishes:
— [SDC] Business 303: Management Information Systems
— [Sophia] Precalculus

I could also do some free TECEPs/CLEPs instead too, but I like the safety/surety of Sophia's open-book exams, especially since I may only have a few weeks to act.

My thought process for why this may (or may not) work

I reasoned that I could switch out those SDC courses (which are actually necessary) with those Sophia courses (which will ultimately be inapplicable, at least the two CS courses) since I still have 15cr of available room in my CS electives and 5cr of available room in my free electives, so they'd be able to apply. Additionally, I reasoned that I'd still be able to graduate since, even though the Sophia courses aren't residency/RA/UL credits that I need to graduate, I could theoretically still be able to sign up and take the residency/RA/UL courses I need later on, which I reasoned from what @rachel83az said to me earlier in this thread a few months ago:

For a TESU degree in Comp Sci, you're right that the ADMJ courses are not going to be used in the gen eds or AOS, which makes them seem useless. But they're not useless. TESU requires a minimum of 30 RA credits and they don't care where those credits are placed (except for the cornerstone and capstone, of course). The ADMJ courses can be put in electives and count toward your RA credit needs. TESU will always, ALWAYS favor RA credits over alternate credits. So your 9 credits of ADMJ courses will "bump off" 9 credits of Sophia and/or CLEP electives that you have listed.

However, during an extensive email conversation I had with Academic Advising*, I ultimately had this exchange:
* I very much remember that in another one of my threads, I was told that I should consider you all here at DegreeForum as my best TESU advisor since Academic Advising and etc often get things wrong, but I still went ahead... 

Me: May I temporarily drop the CIS-1070, PHI-1300, and MAT-1150 classes [i.e. TESU classes I needed in order to graduate; classes I had already registered for in anticipation for the upcoming term] in order to apply the Sophia credit toward the 100-credit requirement? Or after I take those Sophia courses, will it be impossible to take and apply the CIS-1070, PHI-1300, and MAT-1150 course credit from TESU?
AA: The courses you drop will not be able to be applied to the same requirements once the Sophia Courses are transferred in an applied to the degree requirements unfortunately.

Deciding on what term to begin class (Sep, Oct, or Nov)

The reason I've been so set on September 2023 is that I want to finish in time before the holidays. The September term will finish right before the week of Thanksgiving, but if I start during October or November, work may run real close to/run over Thanksgiving/Christmas time.

Also, TESU's Software Engineering class isn't available during October. It's only available during September and November. I heard that doing Saylor should be considered as a sort of last resort if you can't get UL CS credit any other way.

However, I'll ultimately still be graduating at the same time of March 2024. Additionally, I think we'll still be getting Thursday + Friday off for Thanksgiving and the whole week off for Christmas, so I probably won't be doing school on the same day of the big events. Plus, school is digital/asynchronous, so I may also go fast beforehand so that I can have more non-school time during those special weeks.

Also, perhaps the extra time could allow me more time to prepare for Saylor's SWE course. I could even attempt the Network Technology TECEP if I band together with those planning to do it soon since TESU's giving 5 free TECEPs to current students.

This is all to say, I could do October or November if it'd be more reasonable/realistic and still get me to where I ultimately wanna be.

What now?


After having that earlier exchange with AA, I gave up on trying to get credit quickly through Sophia, and after considering whether or not I should go for Sep. '23, I thought I should ask on here too for advice on what to do next.
These are the pathways I'm now considering: Beginning TESU classes during the ...
— Sep. '23 term, with 1-2 weeks left for 3 Sophia's + 1 SDC
— Sep. '23 term, with 1-2 weeks left for 4 SDC's, which will actually, ultimately apply towards my degree with very little time
— Oct. '23 term, with 5-6 weeks left for 4 SDC's, with reasonable amount of time to finish/learn everything properly
— Nov. '23 term, with 9-10 weeks left for 4 SDC's, still finishing in time to make it for March 2024 graduation
Thank you!