Confused on best way to start

[xsephia]

In my experience all job listings for cyber sec(even like lvl 1 soc analyst) require job experience and having the cyber degree does nothing in terms of making you a better pick for those roles.

As Bryan says, the mix of experience, certs, and degree is what you want. While any particular degree is not a ticket to a job, having a cyber degree should not be a hinderance - it should only help you. You never know when your degree, or something you learned in your degree, may be the edge in landing an internship, or your first IT job, or pivoting from helpdesk to a role more focused on cyber.

There is a decent amount of overlap between BSIT and BSCSIA, but if you compare how they differ, the BSIT has things like web dev, UI design, spreadsheets, management, and organizational behavior, which are either non-technical or likely not related to most IT roles, whereas the BSCSIA is basically all cyber:

BSCSIA - https://www.wgu.edu/online-it-degrees/cy...ogram.html
BSIT - https://www.wgu.edu/online-it-degrees/in...ogram.html

Then there are certifications. The BSIT has the following, plus the very low-level AWS CCP:
ITIL
A+ 
Network+ 
Security+ 
Project+ 
LPI Linux Essentials

BSCSIA has all of the above list, plus these:
CySA+
PenTest+
Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) – Optional Voucher
Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) – Associate of (ISC)² designation

Basically, everything relevant from the BSIT is also in the BSCSIA.

thank you so much for the in depth reply, the more i hear you out, the more im interested in the cyber degree at WGU!!  especially because i already have an excel showing me which courses to do on study.com for that degree as well.  Seriously your reply has helped me stick with cyber sec i think