Fastest method for AS Generals?

[xicovu]

I've just completed the TEEX courses, and in the next month or two should finish Comp Sci II, MTA HTML5 for 3 credits, MTA Software Development for 2 credits, and soon after that the Google Support Cert to finish of the 30 degree electives for a COSC associates. The goal is to make it a "de facto" A.S. Cyber Security degree even though it is an ASGS that I can hopefully use for an BS Information Technology from WGU, or at least knock out enough credit to make getting the missing credit fairly easy.

Next will come Generals, where I'm planning to mostly use Davar, The Institutes for Ethics, a handful of Onlinedegree.com, and Study.com for Biology Lab (unless I don't HAVE to do a lab). For math I'm taking statistics, planning on Khan Academy and Saylor's test. I'm mostly going for speed and/or time commitment, but cost is a fair concern. Is the above plan a good mix of the two, or would SL or SD be recommended even though there is a higher price cost? Is online degree more time consuming despite the cheap cost?


Thank ahead everyone, you guys have made my life SO much easier.

P.S. by "de facto" Cyber Security degree, this is how I would put it on my resume:

Associate of General Study Charter Oak State College
Cyber Security, Security Administration, Computer Forensics
• A.S. Cybersecurity equivalent ASGS
• Network & Computer Security, Computer Forensics, Ethical Hacking, Cyber Law (TEEX)
• Linux, Windows, Networking Configuration & Administration (Google IT Support Cert.)
• Web & Software development: Java, C++, C#, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS (Comp Sci II + MTA certs)

[natshar]

I've just completed the TEEX courses, and in the next month or two should finish Comp Sci II, MTA HTML5 for 3 credits, MTA Software Development for 2 credits, and soon after that the Google Support Cert to finish of the 30 degree electives for a COSC associates. The goal is to make it a "de facto" A.S. Cyber Security degree even though it is an ASGS that I can hopefully use for an BS Information Technology from WGU, or at least knock out enough credit to make getting the missing credit fairly easy.

Next will come Generals, where I'm planning to mostly use Davar, The Institutes for Ethics, a handful of Onlinedegree.com, and Study.com for Biology Lab (unless I don't HAVE to do a lab). For math I'm taking statistics, planning on Khan Academy and Saylor's test. I'm mostly going for speed and/or time commitment, but cost is a fair concern. Is the above plan a good mix of the two, or would SL or SD be recommended even though there is a higher price cost? Is online degree more time consuming despite the cheap cost?


Thank ahead everyone, you guys have made my life SO much easier.

There is no point in getting an associate's degree it is pointless and will cost you almost as much money (if not more) than your bachelor's a minimum of 4k for a pointless degree. Also, Davar is NCCRS and WGU doesn't accept NCCRS credit. Even by taking Davar and putting it on a Charter Oak transcript they wouldn't accept it.  

If I were you, assuming you like the idea of Davar (one test and done) I would do CLEP, DSST and Saylor. Getting an associate's degree doesn't make anything faster at WGU than just transferring in a bunch of credits. In fact, transferring a bunch of credits would be faster because you wouldn't have to wait around and take the charter oak capstone and deal with their transcripts. Start with CLEP, DSST and Saylor as these transfer to WGU fairly well and have well-known equivalencies and then do Study.com and Stargtherline. Also make sure to do 4 StraighterLine courses if you want to get an automatic scholarship for doing so. Onlinedegree.com also NCCRS and not accepted by WGU. If you are doing study.com make sure it is ACE and not NCCRS.

As far as lab science goes, I am not a WGU student, but I have heard from multiple people that you are better off just doing the lab at WGU it is faster and easier. So just save that as one of the classes to take there.


TLDR

-Skip the associates all together
-If you like the Davar style of exams start with CLEP, DSST, Saylor
-No NCCRS credit at WGU (Davar and od)
-Use Study.com but only if ACE and not NCCRS
-Take lab science at WGU
-Do 4 StraighterLine for a scholarship


PS if you really want an associate's degree just for vanity sake get a degree from Pierpont. Basically you just send in your transcripts and if you meet the requirements you get an associate for like $300. However, it is painfully slow and I don't think it works for WGU since if you don't take a course with them they don't give you a transcript. And even if it did work, honestly I've heard it is slow in that time you could just knock out a bunch of credits and already been enrolled at WGU. Just search this fourm for information about Peirpont however, I believe they do require some credits be from an actual college though.

[xicovu]

I've just completed the TEEX courses, and in the next month or two should finish Comp Sci II, MTA HTML5 for 3 credits, MTA Software Development for 2 credits, and soon after that the Google Support Cert to finish of the 30 degree electives for a COSC associates. The goal is to make it a "de facto" A.S. Cyber Security degree even though it is an ASGS that I can hopefully use for an BS Information Technology from WGU, or at least knock out enough credit to make getting the missing credit fairly easy.

Next will come Generals, where I'm planning to mostly use Davar, The Institutes for Ethics, a handful of Onlinedegree.com, and Study.com for Biology Lab (unless I don't HAVE to do a lab). For math I'm taking statistics, planning on Khan Academy and Saylor's test. I'm mostly going for speed and/or time commitment, but cost is a fair concern. Is the above plan a good mix of the two, or would SL or SD be recommended even though there is a higher price cost? Is online degree more time consuming despite the cheap cost?


Thank ahead everyone, you guys have made my life SO much easier.

There is no point in getting an associate's degree it is pointless and will cost you almost as much money (if not more) than your bachelor's a minimum of 4k for a pointless degree. Also, Davar is NCCRS and WGU doesn't accept NCCRS credit. Even by taking Davar and putting it on a Charter Oak transcript they wouldn't accept it.  

If I were you, assuming you like the idea of Davar (one test and done) I would do CLEP, DSST and Saylor. Getting an associate's degree doesn't make anything faster at WGU than just transferring in a bunch of credits. In fact, transferring a bunch of credits would be faster because you wouldn't have to wait around and take the charter oak capstone and deal with their transcripts. Start with CLEP, DSST and Saylor as these transfer to WGU fairly well and have well-known equivalencies and then do Study.com and Stargtherline. Also make sure to do 4 StraighterLine courses if you want to get an automatic scholarship for doing so. Onlinedegree.com also NCCRS and not accepted by WGU. If you are doing study.com make sure it is ACE and not NCCRS.

As far as lab science goes, I am not a WGU student, but I have heard from multiple people that you are better off just doing the lab at WGU it is faster and easier. So just save that as one of the classes to take there.


TLDR

-Skip the associates all together
-If you like the Davar style of exams start with CLEP, DSST, Saylor
-No NCCRS credit at WGU (Davar and od)
-Use Study.com but only if ACE and not NCCRS
-Take lab science at WGU
-Do 4 StraighterLine for a scholarship

PS if you really want an associate's degree just for vanity sake get a degree from Pierpont. Basically you just send in your transcripts and if you meet the requirements you get an associate for like $300. However, it is painfully slow and I don't think it works for WGU since if you don't take a course with them they don't give you a transcript. And even if it did work, honestly I've heard it is slow in that time you could just knock out a bunch of credits and already been enrolled at WGU. Just search this forum for information about Peirpont however, I believe they do require some credits be from an actual college though.

Skipping the Associates is not going to happen. A Bachelor's isn't going to change my life much more than an AS anyways. An associates degree by the end of the year is all I need for the next 4-5 years. Pierpoint is going to be a no-go as they need credit from a B&M or a RA school minimum. I don't see how an AS isn't worthwhile when I'm already coming up on 30 credits and just need 30 general ed by the end of the year to hit my goal. Getting certifications for credit allows me to get actually useful certs for credit instead of the crap WGU gives you even if they take longer. I've got industrial automation training to complete for work that I makes committing to WGU difficult.

That being said, If there is no way that OD & Davar, even with a completed AS won't do me any good I'll have to stick with SL & SD and line them up with WGU's lower level. I don't really like the CLEP format so Davar is probably out. It's down to Saylor, Onlinedegree, SL & Study.com at this point with presence given to speed/time commitment. I can't dedicate hours and hours a week for the next couple years to do this. All I need is information on the most effective way to get this done.

 I've been over this before that it is worth it for me to have just an Associates. As far as my career goes, an Associates + MCSA Microsoft, Cisco, SQL Server certs are more worthwhile and added to my experience will likely get me farther than WGU's generic BS and crap certs. No degree hasn't hurt my employment prospects even for jobs that "require" a BS because recruiters usually contact me on LinkedIn directly.  It's worth having an associates in the immediate term <= a 1 year, and as long as I can at least erase the generals off of a WGU degree, as the certs that are required LL are nearly identical to the certs I want anyways for UL credit so doubling certs isn't an issue accept cost.

Another PS:
A technical college in my home town can only give out AAS in General Technology, even for the IT program and I don't think students had issues transferring to WGU as they had posters all over the place. The IT certificate program there didn't give direct college credit so it's worth a shot to try it for WGU transfer. https://catalog.weber.edu/preview_progra...&poid=8467.
One of my AS Cybersecurity templates for ASGS: https://www.franklin.edu/degrees/associa...ersecurity, which could be argued to be the "or equivalent"

[terryd5150]

I've just completed the TEEX courses, and in the next month or two should finish Comp Sci II, MTA HTML5 for 3 credits, MTA Software Development for 2 credits, and soon after that the Google Support Cert to finish of the 30 degree electives for a COSC associates. The goal is to make it a "de facto" A.S. Cyber Security degree even though it is an ASGS that I can hopefully use for an BS Information Technology from WGU, or at least knock out enough credit to make getting the missing credit fairly easy.

Next will come Generals, where I'm planning to mostly use Davar, The Institutes for Ethics, a handful of Onlinedegree.com, and Study.com for Biology Lab (unless I don't HAVE to do a lab). For math I'm taking statistics, planning on Khan Academy and Saylor's test. I'm mostly going for speed and/or time commitment, but cost is a fair concern. Is the above plan a good mix of the two, or would SL or SD be recommended even though there is a higher price cost? Is online degree more time consuming despite the cheap cost?


Thank ahead everyone, you guys have made my life SO much easier.

P.S. by "de facto" Cyber Security degree, this is how I would put it on my resume:

Associate of General Study Charter Oak State College
Cyber Security, Security Administration, Computer Forensics
• A.S. Cybersecurity equivalent ASGS
• Network & Computer Security, Computer Forensics, Ethical Hacking, Cyber Law (TEEX)
• Linux, Windows, Networking Configuration & Administration (Google IT Support Cert.)
• Web & Software development: Java, C++, C#, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS (Comp Sci II + MTA certs)

Sounds like you should look at Ashworth College or Penn Foster College.

Both will accept ACE credits; Ashworth will also accept at least some NCCRS credits (they have a matriculation agreement with Onlinedegree.com).

Both schools are NA, so you need to decide if they'll meet your current needs; however, if you find yourself needing an RA Bachelor's in the future, WGU will accept credits from both schools - just be mindful of the NCCRS credits you're using.

[xicovu]

I've just completed the TEEX courses, and in the next month or two should finish Comp Sci II, MTA HTML5 for 3 credits, MTA Software Development for 2 credits, and soon after that the Google Support Cert to finish of the 30 degree electives for a COSC associates. The goal is to make it a "de facto" A.S. Cyber Security degree even though it is an ASGS that I can hopefully use for an BS Information Technology from WGU, or at least knock out enough credit to make getting the missing credit fairly easy.

Next will come Generals, where I'm planning to mostly use Davar, The Institutes for Ethics, a handful of Onlinedegree.com, and Study.com for Biology Lab (unless I don't HAVE to do a lab). For math I'm taking statistics, planning on Khan Academy and Saylor's test. I'm mostly going for speed and/or time commitment, but cost is a fair concern. Is the above plan a good mix of the two, or would SL or SD be recommended even though there is a higher price cost? Is online degree more time consuming despite the cheap cost?


Thank ahead everyone, you guys have made my life SO much easier.

P.S. by "de facto" Cyber Security degree, this is how I would put it on my resume:

Associate of General Study Charter Oak State College
Cyber Security, Security Administration, Computer Forensics
• A.S. Cybersecurity equivalent ASGS
• Network & Computer Security, Computer Forensics, Ethical Hacking, Cyber Law (TEEX)
• Linux, Windows, Networking Configuration & Administration (Google IT Support Cert.)
• Web & Software development: Java, C++, C#, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS (Comp Sci II + MTA certs)

Sounds like you should look at Ashworth College or Penn Foster College.

Both will accept ACE credits; Ashworth will also accept at least some NCCRS credits (they have a matriculation agreement with Onlinedegree.com).

Both schools are NA, so you need to decide if they'll meet your current needs; however, if you find yourself needing an RA Bachelor's in the future, WGU will accept credits from both schools - just be mindful of the NCCRS credits you're using.

Penn Foster might not be a bad idea, especially if I can roll it into WGU. I could use an AS Industrial Automation degree more than anything else. An Associates will get me a raise at work, and I'm almost certain they won't take a NA degree. As long as I can spin the degree to be a IT/Automation related degree I'll be good. Charter Oak seems to be the cheapest and I'm pretty comfortable with it, although after looking at Penn Foster it seems like a good source of credit. I could even use some of the electrical courses for the Industrial Automation part of my job (I manage VMware, Cisco, and Industrial SCADA in a copper mine) for ace credit. Few IA guys have BS degrees so AS is perfect for me for now.

It appears that I can transfer up to 75% of credit to Penn Foster, meaning all of my generals. Having to get 20 extra credits for WGU LL wouldn't be bad for the added benefit of an AS Industrial Automation degree. If need be I could roll into a COSC degree if i do need a RA AS. Thanks for the lead!

For AS LL credits, Straighterline seems to be the best shot for speed & cost. Maybe a few from Study or Saylor and Online Degree seems to take the longest but the cheapest, and aren't ACE. It appears to me, and I might be wrong, that an A.S./A.A degree of any kind will count for all of the LL generals requirements almost guaranteed. Am I real off the mark on that one? If not I'd be forced to use SL, SD, Saylor and OnlineDegree would be out of the picture entirely.

I can line up courses from SL, Saylor, and SD for COSC & WGU as well for 27-30 generals credits. My electives and a basic cert would cover 20 or more credits, so that would put me at 50 credits. That's enough for me to not sweat getting a AS in the immediate term. If I drop some of the other courses, I might be able to cover nearly all of the LL technical requirements like Networking & Database from Saylor for direct transfer credit. My TEEX & Google Support Cert would be the only weak ones if WGU won't count the degree as AS IT OR they decide to accept that as "Requirement Met".

My goal is an AS by the end of the year. If I can strategically line up Straighterline I think should be my focus, followed by SD and then Saylor (probably only for math, but maybe networking). It seems like this is an easily attainable goal.

[xicovu]

Another question/thought:
If I just have to do ACE credit without them limiting it by provider, I'm assuming I could use Schmoop or Coopersmith (or others) that the Big3/WGU may not take? If WGU takes any Associates Degree for LL general's credit, aren't those two a little quicker? This might be a nice degree hack to get credit done quickly and easily and roll the whole thing somewhere else.
Those additional 20 credits of WGU wouldn't be that difficult.

[xicovu]

Got off the phone with Penn Foster regarding the AS Industrial Electronics program, and it's $49 a month and sounds like course work is comparable to Study/SL/OnlineDegree. Transferring it to WGU to cover generals coupled with 20 or so easy LL IT credits sounds like a killer deal, assuming everything goes smooth.

@terryd5150 thanks a bunch for the lead...an AS Industrial Electronics + BS IT would be the perfect degree setup to advance in my current role. Maybe in the future tack on a Bsgs Biology/Chemistry or look into SNHU on work's dime for Geoscience.

[natshar]

Another question/thought:
If I just have to do ACE credit without them limiting it by provider, I'm assuming I could use Schmoop or Coopersmith (or others) that the Big3/WGU may not take? If WGU takes any Associates Degree for LL general's credit, aren't those two a little quicker? This might be a nice degree hack to get credit done quickly and easily and roll the whole thing somewhere else.
Those additional 20 credits of WGU wouldn't be that difficult.

It doesn't work like that. WGU does not take Schoomp, Coopersmith or any NCCRS. This means no onlinedegree and no Davar as well.

Look if you really want an associate's degree then have at it, but just be aware that it will cost almost as much and take almost as long as your bachelors. That is why I personally would be against going this route.

An associate's degree would cost almost as much money as a bachelor and once the bachelors is earned the associates would be useless. Plus if you earned an associate's degree you would have to take at least one course at the college (if COSC) and if you choose some other school you would have to take more probably 15 credits worth. This takes up extra as the courses from the colleges are not self-paced and have specific start and end dates. If you did all ACE you could set your own schedule and possibly get through everything quicker.

Financially speaking and time-wise the quickest option would just be to do 90 credits worth of alt credit and then do 30 credits at WGU. And as far as StraighterLine goes here is an exact chart of how it transfers https://www.straighterline.com/colleges/...uivalency/

EDIT: I misread. If you are going for your bachelors later like years down the road. then yes an associate's degree makes sense. I'm saying is that if you are wanting to earn your bachelor's soon immediately than an associate makes no sense. I personally did something similar and earned my associates 5 years ago and am now finishing my bachelor's. So yes if you are waiting to finish your bachelor's then go for the associates.

However, if you are particularly fast at ACE credit and can do 30 credits in one term at WGU then earning your bachelors might be almost the same time and cost as the associates which is why it might make sense to skip the associates and go straight to the bachelors. To be clear it would be more time actually studying and work (30 credits vs 90) but the time frame (about 1 year if you work at it) until degree in hand might be about the same for both as well as cost.

[allvia]

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Got off the phone with Penn Foster regarding the AS Industrial Electronics program, and it's $49 a month and sounds like course work is comparable to Study/SL/OnlineDegree. Transferring it to WGU to cover generals coupled with 20 or so easy LL IT credits sounds like a killer deal, assuming everything goes smooth.

@terryd5150 thanks a bunch for the lead...an AS Industrial Electronics + BS IT would be the perfect degree setup to advance in my current role. Maybe in the future tack on a Bsgs Biology/Chemistry or look into SNHU on work's dime for Geoscience.

You might want to read the fine print - the Penn Foster $49 a month is a payment plan, not an all inclusive competency like WGU (do as much as you can in a set amount of time); Penn Foster still charges per credit. https://www.pennfoster.edu/programs-and-...ee/tuition

Also, COSC does not take The Institutes free ethics course to cover their ethics requirement (TESU does) - https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...cs-to-COSC

[xicovu]

---

Got off the phone with Penn Foster regarding the AS Industrial Electronics program, and it's $49 a month and sounds like course work is comparable to Study/SL/OnlineDegree. Transferring it to WGU to cover generals coupled with 20 or so easy LL IT credits sounds like a killer deal, assuming everything goes smooth.

@terryd5150 thanks a bunch for the lead...an AS Industrial Electronics + BS IT would be the perfect degree setup to advance in my current role. Maybe in the future tack on a Bsgs Biology/Chemistry or look into SNHU on work's dime for Geoscience.

You might want to read the fine print - the Penn Foster $49 a month is a payment plan, not an all inclusive competency like WGU (do as much as you can in a set amount of time); Penn Foster still charges per credit. https://www.pennfoster.edu/programs-and-...ee/tuition

Also, COSC does not take The Institutes free ethics course to cover their ethics requirement (TESU does) - https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...cs-to-COSC

I'll be enrolled in the AS and Penn Foster, not getting ACE. I'm pretty certain Tuition is $59-$79 monthly depending on the program. with a discount if you prepay:
https://www.pennfoster.edu/programs-and-...ee/tuition

When my work finally gets around to my Tuition assistance that'll pay the rest off of a $4k degree. I'm hoping I can get a solid awnser on whether the AS will clear the 42 GE credits in the BS IT program, if not I'll have to use SL/Study for both.