Question about Thomas Edison's Computer Science degree.

[nvm12]

Hi all. I just found out about credit-by-exam options, and I'm seriously considering a Computer Science degree at Thomas Edison State University.

However, my only problem with it is that it's a BA as opposed to a BS. Has anyone done their CS degree? I really wanted my CS degree to be a BS, as it makes much more sense and for some reason it sounds superior. I would very much appreciate it if anyone can give some advice regarding Thomas Edison's CS degree.

I came across Jay Cross's website, and he was saying that a degree this way could cost $5000-10000. I had previously been considering a local distance-education university that offers a BS in Computer Science (as opposed to a BA), and $10000 is about as much as a degree costs where I live, so I wouldn't really be saving much, if anything at all.

What do you guys suggest? Provided the stuff I've said, would it be better for me to go the Thomas Edison way or the traditional way and attend classes and all?

I live in Israel by the way.

[Synicaal]

Hi all. I just found out about credit-by-exam options, and I'm seriously considering a Computer Science degree at Thomas Edison State University.

However, my only problem with it is that it's a BA as opposed to a BS. Has anyone done their CS degree? I really wanted my CS degree to be a BS, as it makes much more sense and for some reason it sounds superior. I would very much appreciate it if anyone can give some advice regarding Thomas Edison's CS degree.

I came across Jay Cross's website, and he was saying that a degree this way could cost $5000-10000. I had previously been considering a local distance-education university that offers a BS in Computer Science (as opposed to a BA), and $10000 is about as much as a degree costs where I live, so I wouldn't really be saving much, if anything at all.

What do you guys suggest? Provided the stuff I've said, would it be better for me to go the Thomas Edison way or the traditional way and attend classes and all?

I live in Israel by the way.

Even if you go elsewhere you can still test out of some credits. You just have to check with your institution. Most colleges will accept at least CLEP exams. A lot also except ACE credit. The difference between TESU and other places is TESU will accept just about any ACE credit. For example my CC has declined every request I have made to them for ACE credits but they claim they take them. Then they tried telling me the TESU's TECEP for Federal Income Taxation (a 400 level course) wouldn't meet there 200 level course requirements). I think this school is just very very greedy. I am going to send in my ACE transcript to them when I am done and see if they award me any of the courses that could be used there. Just to see and be able to help out people thinking about HVCC in my area.

[nvm12]

Even if you go elsewhere you can still test out of some credits. You just have to check with your institution. Most colleges will accept at least CLEP exams. A lot also except ACE credit. The difference between TESU and other places is TESU will accept just about any ACE credit. For example my CC has declined every request I have made to them for ACE credits but they claim they take them. Then they tried telling me the TESU's TECEP for Federal Income Taxation (a 400 level course) wouldn't meet there 200 level course requirements). I think this school is just very very greedy. I am going to send in my ACE transcript to them when I am done and see if they award me any of the courses that could be used there. Just to see and be able to help out people thinking about HVCC in my area.

Thanks for your reply.

I tried looking online, and the university I was considering doesn't seem to offer CLEP exams. I think the only case they acknowledge credit is if you've already actually done those courses and passed them successfully, and not always. This sucks so much. Even if I went the Thomas Edison way, I would barely be saving anything. Maybe a bit of time, but that's arguable since I will have to learn the material either way. Going the local university way could possibly take me anywhere from 3 to 5 years. I don't understand how Thomas Edison would save any time, as I will have to study the material anyway. What do you think?

[TrailRunr]

TESU is for someone who already has work experience in computers and just wants a quick degree in computer science for HR purposes. If you want to really learn true theoretical CS, I would suggest a traditional program at the local university. My TESU program (in my signature) consists of test-out options with MIS content and minimizes the number of actual CS courses. You can complete it very quickly, but you won't learn much CS at the upper level.

[dfrecore]

Jay Cross' plans are outdated and useless. You can get a non-CS degree from TESU for around $6k. For something like CS, it will be more, as it's harder to test out.

But, if you wanted to get the CS degree at TESU, but really wanted to learn the course material in the Area of Study (which is probably recommended), then you could do a combination: test out of everything that you can, but take the AOS courses that you need through another program.

Whichever way you go (TESU or somewhere else), it's going to take you time to get through the AOS if you actually want to learn this stuff. TESU just gives you the ability (for this degree in particular) to do the rest of the degree quickly through test-out. Most other schools don't give you this option.

Here is the TESU plan for the BA in CS, but the cost looks high, mostly because I put the UL CS courses as $1000 each. Obviously, if you could get those costs lower, it would lower the cost of the degree by a lot.

For the GE course, plus Free Electives, you're looking at $2600 (or less if you do more courses in a month, or use less expensive options like Saylor), and then of the LL requirements, you're looking at $2000. So if you can find less expensive UL courses, you can get the degree for a pretty decent price.

[davewill]

BA or BS doesn't really make much difference. What really matters is how well you learn your CS material. As far as jobs go, it's all about the interview. I went with TESU because I could test and PLA my way through most of it quickly. If your local school is good, and the time to complete works for you, I'd say to go with it... Especially if they have good ties to the employers you might like to work for.

[anthony24]

I'm also considering a CS degree from TESU but does anyone know if you can fulfill the UL course requirements through Saylor/SL/Study.com/TECEP/DSST? I saved another spreadsheet that listed this as an option making the overall costs of the degree much cheaper than dfrecore's sheet.

[amalgamate]

If you have a first bachelors, consider Oregon State University's post bacc cs program, its a second bachelors and 60 credits. I just finished and really enjoyed it. There is no testing out but it is a solid CS program with no calculus. You can finish it in a year if you go all out on their 1 year track. I'm now a software engineer and the job market is amazing. If you test out of a CS degree, be sure that you already know object oriented programming at a deep level or are prepared to learn it in the process. Being a strong programmer is more valuable than a CS degree because this is one of the only fields where they can fully evaluate your skills in an interview (via coding samples, whiteboard problems, logic problems, etc). On that same note..... if you do not already have a cs and you want to be a developer, just learn to code and get the degree afterwards. I got a job early into my CS degree and it made the classes way easier.