Advice for Computer Science degree at TESU

[5050]

Your Location: Rhode Island, United States
Your Age: 26
What kind of degree do you want?: Comp Sci, tho I guess SWE or something like that wouldn't be different.
Current Regional Accredited Credits:  about 70 or so from a CC. see attached excel.

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0

Any certifications or military experience? Nope

I'm a sysadmin currently trying to upskill and maybe move to SWE or DevOps or something so here I am finally finishing my degree.


I guess the best choice is to go to TESU so I already applied and was accepted. I just sent in my transcripts so I need to wait for them to get evaluated. Now, I'm not sure if that was a good idea or if I should have waited to do all the sophia/study.com courses beforehand.

I definitely already have Calc and intro to programming but I'll update after evaluation.

 
I was trying to use the Degreeforum CS plan but I'm not so sure about a couple of things in Part G. I guess I have 70 RAs so does that mean I should still get the ULs at Oregon State U? or is there a study.com alternative? or do the ULs need to be RAs as well?

Can I transfer in 120 credits if I already have the RA requirements out of the picture? also, is there a course I should start out with?

Advice is much appreciated,

Thank you!

[LevelUP]

Your Location: Rhode Island, United States
Your Age: 26
What kind of degree do you want?: Comp Sci, tho I guess SWE or something like that wouldn't be different.
Current Regional Accredited Credits:  about 70 or so from a CC. see attached excel.

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0

Any certifications or military experience? Nope

I'm a sysadmin currently trying to upskill and maybe move to SWE or DevOps or something so here I am finally finishing my degree.


I guess the best choice is to go to TESU so I already applied and was accepted. I just sent in my transcripts so I need to wait for them to get evaluated. Now, I'm not sure if that was a good idea or if I should have waited to do all the sophia/study.com courses beforehand.

I definitely already have Calc and intro to programming but I'll update after evaluation.

 
I was trying to use the Degreeforum CS plan but I'm not so sure about a couple of things in Part G. I guess I have 70 RAs so does that mean I should still get the ULs at Oregon State U? or is there a study.com alternative? or do the ULs need to be RAs as well?

Can I transfer in 120 credits if I already have the RA requirements out of the picture? also, is there a course I should start out with?

Advice is much appreciated,

Thank you!

Sending in your transcript was a good idea to see how your courses will transfer.

You would take Study.com for your UL's, which would be the easiest and cheapest.

You would transfer 114 credits since you take the SOS-110 cornerstone and Capstone at TESU.

Start out with Sophia, do all you can, then do Study.com

Also, the Associate in Math is free to add on. It looks like you only need 1 extra course for that degree
https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/asnsm/mathematics

I suggest making a spreadsheet degree plan of all the courses you plan to take.

[bjcheung77]

@5050, in addition to what was mentioned by LevelUP, you missed the addendum, I highly recommend you completing it to provide a better overall picture of your situation. By filling in the budget, commitments, tuition assistance or reimbursement, study habits, we'll know which options would be better for you, either doing a 15 credit flat rate or paying for the residency waiver fee. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

[5050]

@5050, in addition to what was mentioned by LevelUP, you missed the addendum, I highly recommend you completing it to provide a better overall picture of your situation.  By filling in the budget, commitments, tuition assistance or reimbursement, study habits, we'll know which options would be better for you, either doing a 15 credit flat rate or paying for the residency waiver fee.  Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

Sorry about that.

Budget: I have enough saved up to go to my local in-state college out of pocket but I'd prefer to do something cheaper and faster. so it's not a problem.
Commitments: Nothing
Dedicated time to study: I can study as much as I need to during the weekends and fortunately due to the nature of my work, I usually I have good amount of down time which I can commit to studying if needed.
Timeline: Finishing the courses required for the degree as fast as possible would be ideal. I'm thinking 2 courses a month at SDC. so it should probably take like 6 or so months to finish if I have 12 courses left to do. which is what I think I have left.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Yes, my workplace gives me about $5,250 or so a year for tuition reimbursement.

---

Your Location: Rhode Island, United States
Your Age: 26
What kind of degree do you want?: Comp Sci, tho I guess SWE or something like that wouldn't be different.
Current Regional Accredited Credits:  about 70 or so from a CC. see attached excel.

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0

Any certifications or military experience? Nope

I'm a sysadmin currently trying to upskill and maybe move to SWE or DevOps or something so here I am finally finishing my degree.


I guess the best choice is to go to TESU so I already applied and was accepted. I just sent in my transcripts so I need to wait for them to get evaluated. Now, I'm not sure if that was a good idea or if I should have waited to do all the sophia/study.com courses beforehand.

I definitely already have Calc and intro to programming but I'll update after evaluation.

 
I was trying to use the Degreeforum CS plan but I'm not so sure about a couple of things in Part G. I guess I have 70 RAs so does that mean I should still get the ULs at Oregon State U? or is there a study.com alternative? or do the ULs need to be RAs as well?

Can I transfer in 120 credits if I already have the RA requirements out of the picture? also, is there a course I should start out with?

Advice is much appreciated,

Thank you!

Sending in your transcript was a good idea to see how your courses will transfer.

You would take Study.com for your UL's, which would be the easiest and cheapest.

You would transfer 114 credits since you take the SOS-110 cornerstone and Capstone at TESU.

Start out with Sophia, do all you can, then do Study.com

Also, the Associate in Math is free to add on. It looks like you only need 1 extra course for that degree
https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/asnsm/mathematics

I suggest making a spreadsheet degree plan of all the courses you plan to take.

I'll update my spreadsheet for what I need to take after TESU gets back with the evaluation.

I guess I'll get an Associates in Math as well, that will look fancy on my resume lol. Thanks!

[bjcheung77]

Hmm, you're at least two decades younger than me, at that age with such a good amount of tuition assistance, I would recommend not only recommend the Associates in Math, but you may want to do the BSBA CIS to max out the tuition assistance in two flat rate terms, plus, you can do the free TECEPs now, 5 of them towards the BSBA CIS.  

Quickly apply before that fund runs out!  Does your workplace tuition assistance/reimbursement work with Bright Horizon's (EdAssist) or Guild Education?  If you started from scratch, it would only take an extra 4 courses for the BACS to add the BSBA CIS as the free electives would have been all the business core...  See WIKI here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

[rachel83az]

A few things:

1. For ONLY the BACS, it is possible to complete an edX course instead of SOS-1100 at TESU. This allows for 117 credits of transfer instead of 114.
   
2. If you transfer in 114/117 credits, you must pay the residency waiver fee. This is usually not covered by tuition reimbursement (though you can ask; sometimes fees are covered).
   
3. Because of the residency fee, taking a 15-credit flat-rate term works out to be cheaper than doing the maximum transfer. If you're okay with paying the residency waiver fee, however, that's fine. But a lot of students aren't aware that the maximum transfer winds up costing more.
   
4. TECEPs do not count toward residency credit.
   
5. You have RA credits, you don't need to worry about that aspect. Everything else can be filled with Study.com/Sophia credits. Maybe Coursera and/or Saylor, depending on personal preferences. You definitely do not need OSU or any other RA credit unless you want to do so.
   
6. The free TECEPs are a good option if they're still available AND you want to do the BSBA CIS. But because you already have so many RA credits, I wouldn't bother with them otherwise. 
   
7. For the ASNSM Math, I think you actually need 2 math, as of right now, not one. Required classes are gen ed math, Calculus, and 15 credits of math electives. I'm counting gen ed/calculus and 11 credits of math electives. You could do the Liberal Arts Mathematics TECEP or College Mathematics at Sophia, plus something else. But if you want the BSBA CIS, you'll still need Statistics and CSM Learn, so you'd actually need 0 additional math if you went with the BSBA CIS.
   

[dfrecore]

Degree Plan:
*TESU will not bring in your College Writing course since it's below the level of English Comp I

WRITTEN COMM II - CLEP (College Comp w/Essay), or Sophia, SDC or Coopersmith
ORAL COMM - Sophia Public Speaking or SDC Presentation Skills (easier)
CORNERSTONE - edX or TESU
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT - American Gov - Sophia or CLEP, or Comparative Politics at SDC

SDC
COMPSCI 201: Data Structures & Algorithms
MATH 108: Discrete Math
COMPSCI 105: Intro to Operating Systems
COMPSCI 306: Computer Architecture (UL)
BUS 303: Management Info Systems (UL)
COMPSCI 302: Systems Analysis & Design (UL)
COMPSCI 303: Database Management (UL)
COMPSCI 307: Software Engineering

Saylor
Software Engineering (UL)

Free Electives - 3 add'l courses (9cr) of almost anything (use CLEP or Sophia)

[rachel83az]

If you can get the currently-free TECEPs (not sure), you could also give the English Comp II TECEP a shot instead of CLEP or anywhere else.

[allvia]

If you can get the currently-free TECEPs (not sure), you could also give the English Comp II TECEP a shot instead of CLEP or anywhere else.

That is a great idea, it would enroll the OP for a year (which grants unlimited evaluations and full access support from TESU) - and if for some reason they fail it has no impact on their transcripts or GPA. @5050 sign up quickly as the free TECEP is for a very limited time - I actaully think you only have a few days left to sign up - but the whole term to take the exam. Here is the thread on the free TECEP offer - https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ilable-Now

[5050]

Thank you all!!

so I got my courses evaluated, 69 were accepted see attached. I have the following left:

Sophia/TECEP - Written Communication 3
Sophia - Oral Communication 3
TESU - Information Literacy 3
Sophia - Civic Engagement and Awareness 3
SDC - Data Structures 3
SDC - Discrete Math 3
SDC - Operating Systs 3
SDC - Cmp Architecture 3
SDC - AOS Electives Group (1) 12
TESU - Liberal Arts Capstone 3

So that makes 39 credits that I need to complete for the requirements. after I complete these I'll have 108 credits, that leaves me with 12 credits I need to complete. Does that mean I can take anything?

Also, if I read correctly I need 15 credits to not pay the extra amount correct? I would have 6 credits from TESU so maybe its not a bad idea to take some of the computer courses at TESU? I'm not sure if my tuition reimbursement would work for that.

Thanks again!