Quickest path to a BS

[itstime2011]

Please help! I am currently a contractor and have been told that I need a bachelor's degree in order to become a full time employee and avoid being laid off. I truly love this job.

I have 2.5 years of college. General credits, foreign language, some math, some science.

I have an active CCNP & ITIL certs. I also have 12 years of IT experience.

I would like to get a degree related to or applicable to IT. My only hopes are that the degree be accredited and quick.


What additional information can I provide to help you point me in the right direction?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to begin?

[burbuja0512]

Please help! I am currently a contractor and have been told that I need a bachelor's degree in order to become a full time employee and avoid being laid off. I truly love this job.

I have 2.5 years of college. General credits, foreign language, some math, some science.

I have an active CCNP & ITIL certs. I also have 12 years of IT experience.

I would like to get a degree related to or applicable to IT. My only hopes are that the degree be accredited and quick.


What additional information can I provide to help you point me in the right direction?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to begin?

I would say that TESC sounds like your best bet because you can choose a degree there that doesn't require a Capstone course, which can add 8-15 weeks.

However, before you rush into a very quick decision and try to just throw all of your credits into the quickest degree possible, there are a few questions.

First of all, if you can show that your degree is in progress and that you are an enrolled student, do you have any leeway?

Secondly, would an associates help at all? It's quite possible that you have enough to get an associates degree right away and maybe that could help save your job while you spend the next 6 months or so working on your bachelors.

Don't get me wrong, if you have the motivation and the dedication to spend the time, it's possible to get credits very quickly. (note: I said quickly, NOT easily) Just look at forum member bkahuna who did like 90 credits in 90 days. I myself had a "hell month" where I did nothing but study in my free time and did 30 credits in 30 days, but it's not fun AND there are only certain topics that you can test out of. To get the degree you truly want, not just the fastest one, you'll have more options if you have at least a few months to work with.

I don't know anything about IT degrees, so I won't comment on that, but it will still help the others who will add to the thread to know a little bit more about your situation.

Thanks!

[itstime2011]

An associate's degree may be a help. I will ask them tomorrow, thanks for the idea!

I have only attended Brick & Mortar schools in the past. How do schools like TESC operate? Am I able to get my credits transferred, assess my situation, and then transfer additional credits as I take new certifications / CLEP tests? Is TESC an expensive choice?

[burbuja0512]

An associate's degree may be a help. I will ask them tomorrow, thanks for the idea!

I have only attended Brick & Mortar schools in the past. How do schools like TESC operate? Am I able to get my credits transferred, assess my situation, and then transfer additional credits as I take new certifications / CLEP tests? Is TESC an expensive choice?

That would be great!! You only need 60 credits to get an associates and if you're short, it would be easy to make up a few here and there depending on what you need.

Schools like TESC, COSC, and EC are fully accredited (two of the 'big 3' are state colleges) and specialize in adult learners. They recognize almost all credit from other schools that you've attended and will accept almost anything without making you take a ton of their own classes. Most other colleges will have a certain residency requirement, which means that you HAVE to take a given number of credits from them, from what I hear, it's usually at least 30.

The residency requirement alone is a great reason to choose one of the big 3. After all, adults in a lifetime of stop-and-go learning can accumulate many credits. The time and effort should not go to waste. When I was at my graduation ceremony at COSC, all the people that I met had a TON of credits. One girl I was chatting with was actually a former Yale student that had switched schools a bunch and had 160+ credits. She chose COSC because they weren't going to make her take 30 more credits just to get a diploma.

Anyhow... back to the associates degree. Find that out and let us know. If you're close to the 60 credits, I can almost guarantee that if you post what you've got, someone here could help you fit those into an associates plan.

Regardless, don't stop there. Definitely go for the bachelors! Just find out what steps you need to take to show that you're in progress.

TESC is not expensive compared to a traditional school. After all, if you were to go from start to finish at most universities, you would be spending in the tens of thousands... some people even top 100k for a four year degree. TESC will cost you 2800 for tuition unless you live in NJ. Each CLEP/DSST you take costs roughly 100 bucks, plus you'll want to allocate some $$ to study materials. My younger brother graduated from COSC several years ago and didn't spend a penny more than the monthly fee for Instant Cert. That's ALL he used. IC was the main starting point for my study, but I did spend a little more on some tests. Figure maybe 30 bucks extra for each test on study supplies. That's a high estimate. Most people here don't spend nearly that much.

If this seems too expensive, don't worry... COSC and EC (I think, sorry don't know a lot about EC) can be cheaper, BUT they will also take longer as they both require some classwork. It may not matter if your employer will let you go 6 months or so, but you'll need to know that first.

Also, a bit of unsolicited advice. I wouldn't recommend that you go into work tomorrow totally excited and tell everyone that you're testing out of your degree. Many of us have made the mistake of telling people and very few people get it. Your employer will just think that you're cheating your way through school or going through a diploma mill. Best case scenario is that they think that the tests are easy. Some are, but most require quite a bit of study. If your employer thinks you're doing something simple, they won't respect the amount of time and effort you put in. If I were in your shoes, I would say something like "I have quite a few credits and am pretty close to my degree. I believe I have enough for an associates and think I'm a semester away from a bachelors." Or something like that... anyhow you don't have to take that advice if you don't want to.. If you do talk to people about testing, the best way I can explain it is that it's like skipping an entire semester, yet walking into class on the day of the final and passing the class because you aced the final.

Hope this helps so far.. I'm sure others will have more to add

EDIT: I realized that I didn't answer your question about CLEP/DSST. In the moment that you take the test, you have to specify the recipient. They will send your score directly to your school. TESC will keep it and add it to your transcript if you're an enrolled student. You do know the minute you take the test what your score is though, so even though you may need to wait a few weeks before it actually appears on your transcript, you'll have no doubt that you've passed the moment you leave the testing center.

[itstime2011]

Thanks for the great feedback! I'm open to any advice on direction.


I have the following professional certifications:

CCNP

ITIL v3 Foundations


These are my college courses along with semester credit hours:

*DSPM0850P01 INTERMEDIATE ALGEBRA 5.00

*DSPW0800P61 WP-DEVELOPMENTAL WRITING 5.00

*THEA1030P02 INTRODUCTION TO THEATRE 3.00

*PSY 1010PK1 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 3.00

*SPH 2100P02 PUBLIC SPEAKING 3.00

*BIOL1110P04 GENERAL BIOLOGY I W/LAB 4.00

*ENGL1010P61 ENGLISH COMPOSITION I 3.00

*HIST1010PH1 WESTERN CIVILIZATION I 3.00

*HIST1020PK1 WESTERN CIVILIZATION II 3.00

*PHED2010P01 ARCHERY 1.00

*CSIT1020P01 INTRO TO COMPUTER SCIENCE 4.00

*ENGL1020P24 ENGLISH COMPOSITION II 3.00

*HPC 2900P01 HPC:WIRELESS WAN INTERNETWORKING 4.00

*MATH1730P01 PRECALCULUS 5.00

*SPAN2010P02 INTERMEDIATE SPANISH I 3.00

*SPAN2020P91 INTERMEDIATE SPANISH II 3.00

*CHEM1110P02 GENERAL CHEMISTRY I W/LAB 4.00

*OST 1211P03 WORD/EXCEL/POWERPOINT I 3.00

[dcan]

Also, a bit of unsolicited advice. I wouldn't recommend that you go into work tomorrow totally excited and tell everyone that you're testing out of your degree. Many of us have made the mistake of telling people and very few people get it. Your employer will just think that you're cheating your way through school or going through a diploma mill. Best case scenario is that they think that the tests are easy. Some are, but most require quite a bit of study. If your employer thinks you're doing something simple, they won't respect the amount of time and effort you put in. If I were in your shoes, I would say something like "I have quite a few credits and am pretty close to my degree. I believe I have enough for an associates and think I'm a semester away from a bachelors." Or something like that... anyhow you don't have to take that advice if you don't want to.. If you do talk to people about testing, the best way I can explain it is that it's like skipping an entire semester, yet walking into class on the day of the final and passing the class because you aced the final.

I have to concur with this. I've tried mentoring a couple people at work about TESC/etc and they just don't seem to get it. Someone else warned me that I was risking not being able to get a Master's, which has already been proven very wrong by many people here and on other sites.

[rebel100]

Your actually really close to an AA from Charter Oak. While I agree TESC might be a better choice for your BS there would be no real downside to picking up your AA at COSC, it would likely be your cheapest route and it only requires 1 8 week class in residence (cornerstone, which I believe fulfills your info lit credit).

Fit what you have into this list: General Education Requirements at Charter Oak State College (TESC/EC, most colleges have a general education list that looks more or less like this, some variation, these with electives to 60 credits = AA)

Quick glance says you need the folowing:

Literature (Analuzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP, your education indicates this would likely be an easy test for you

Ethics (there is a DSST or CLEP for this)

US Government (CLEP, not the easiest one but very doable)

Global Understanding (Culture and Geography DSST or World Religions)

Not sure about Math I don't know how they view pre-calc (If you need it, ALEKS is a great option)

That might be it......4-5 cleps and the cornerstone. Your looking at around $1500-$1600 and you could be done in half a semester...if you apply yourself.

TESC will look similiar for the AA, their fee is pretty large...might be worth it, will be slightly different requirements

With the above complete and your existing credits you would need around 30 UL credits and about 9 LL for a BS Liberal Studies. You could test out of that at around $1300, could be done by the end of the year if you hustle. Need to explore the best route, TESC has a lot more to offer in the IT realm than COSC.

[NAP]

Hi!

If you decide to get an Associate degree in Liberal Arts, it looks like you have already completed the requirements for an AA or AS at Excelsior except Information Literacy. (I am assuming they will accept all of your credits.) Information Literacy can be completed through EC or less expensively through Penn Foster or LSU.

Also, look closely at the associate degrees at TESC. Since they allow students to earn more than one degree per annual enrollment fee. You may be able to get both degrees for one fee, if you can complete the second degree within a year.

[bkahuna]

Speaking from recent experience, and also being an IT professional I can tell you what I did in your shoes.

I had MCP certifications also similar to your CCNA and ITIL. The CCNA may count for between 1-3 credits, likely as free electives, same thing for ITIL, just depends on the college.

I chose to go to Excelsior but I didnt research the other schools. Buburja had a great experience at COSC. The capstone at excelsior can be 8 weeks, just depends on what the schedule is there.

Now all that being said, you have strong science and math, along with computer stuff in there, and written english and history...

If I were you I'd go for a Bachelors in Business Admin. You're nearly there on all of the foundational stuff. Plus I find that increasingly employers are looking for that rather than IT degrees, its really the best option in my case and probably yours as well. The IT degrees usually have some requirements that cant be completed quickly by exam, and transferring in microsoft exams will depend on your advisor at the college where you enroll.

Right off the top you'll need to take these FOR SURE:
CLEP Microeconomics -3.00
CLEP Macroeconomics - 3.00
CLEP Principles of Management - 3.00
CLEP Business Law - 3.00
DSST Principles of Statistics - 3.00
DSST Intro to Business - 3.00
DSST Principles of Finance - 3.00
Straighterline Accounting I & II (online courses) - 6.00
CSU Operations Management (correspondence course done through email) - 3.00
Excelsior Information Literacy (quick online class) - 1.00
(31 lower level)

DSST Mgmt Info Systems - 3.00 UL
DSST Business Ethics and Society - 3.00 UL
DSST Business Law II - 3.00 UL
DSST Money and Banking - 3.00 UL
Excelsior Business Strategy 495 - 3.00 UL (capstone course)
(15 upper level)


That puts you at 108. So you'd have 12 more credits you'd need.
Id suggest
CLEP Natural Science - 6.00 (mostly biology)
CLEP Analyzing & Interpreting Literature - 6.00

That gets you to 120 not including credit for your certification exams. You might find that some courses are duplicated, so you might have to add a few electives like:
DSST Here's to your Health
CLEP Intro to Sociology

You can get a concentration in MIS, but it requires specific things like a programming language (C#, C++ etc) and you'd have to take either a Microsoft Certification Exam or an online class.


Depending on what your work experience is will depend on how quick you can knock these out. You already have Calculus so I dont think you'd have a hard time with the accounting, finance or statistics, but you would need to study.

If you were motivated and could find the time to study, and find a testing center with a good schedule, I'd say 90-120 days to finish the exams and then the 8 weeks for the capstone course. However thats only an estimate based on my experience. I only had 21 credits to start out and you have 62 plus the certs. I'd imagine you could do the capstone course in conjunction with a few of the exams just judging on the class requirements I just went through.


If you decide to go this route I can help you with what materials you need to study, and I could offer to just pack up what I have and sell it to you, so all of the books you'd need (except for the capstone, its gone already), the business calculator for the finance exams, and you'd need to pay for instantcert and noodletools' noodlebib for the capstone. (thanks to burbuja, that was a LIFE SAVER for the written portions on the capstone!!)

First things first, choose a college. Then figure out your best guess as to what will or wont transfer, anything you know you dont have like Economics, Statistics, etc get cracking on that while the college does the eval which can take a month. Anything in the 'gray' area as far as transfers, wait until you get the eval. You'll need to get your official transcripts sent to the college directly, not through you unless you just take the envelope you are sent and put it in another envelope and send it over there (i.e. ITIL and CCNA transcripts)

When you take the CLEP / DSST exams you can send the scores to that college, or you can just bank them and when you're enrolled you can send them a transcript from CLEP and DSST (they cost like $20).