Please help review my study plan for completing TESU BS.INFOTECH

[celerius]

Hi all,

I have a 3-year college degree in IT from Australia and would like to complete a 4-year degree in IT and so I've applied to TESU, got my transcripts evaluated and received my academic evaluation (attached).

It would seem that I still have quite a few classes to be completed based on the academic evaluation and would like to request for some advice on courses (from ALEKS, Sophia, SDC, SL, Saylor, etc) I can take to satisfy the requirements.

The attached Excel is my intended study plan that I've created after doing some research by searching and reading the forum.

I'm also new to the whole big 3, testing, ACE, online courses for ACE credit concept for please forgive me if I'm asking something that's been asked before and buried in the many posts and pages within the forum. Some immediately questions that I have below.

1. In my academic evaluation under "5: Information Technology Electives (12SH)", it says that I require 12 credits but lists that I have 3 courses that have transferred over from my foreign credentials for a total of 15 credits. Why do I still have a "Group 4"? Wouldn't I have already satisfied the requirement of 12 credits?
   
2. Are there any strategies for completing the section "B: Gen Chem OR Physics" in my evaluation? I could only find "Chemistry 111L: Chemistry I with Lab" from SDC which transfers to TESU's "CHE-121 General Chemistry I with Lab" but there doesn't seem to be any other external courses that would transfer in for TESU's "General Chemistry II with Lab (CHE-122)". I welcome any ideas for completing this requirement including taking physics which I actually prefer over chemistry. Community college is not an option because I'm not in the US nor am I a US citizen. I also do not have any testing centers in my country. I'd have to fly to a nearby country just to test CLEP.
   
3. I was accepted 26-Feb-2020, sent out my foreign transcripts for evaluation and my academic evaluation from TESU was ready on 15-May-2020. I've not enrolled in any courses yet at the moment so I guess my status is accepted but not enrolled as a student? How long can I stay in this status and will it 'expire'? Can I take my own sweet time E.g 2 - 3 years to complete the courses to accumulate the ACE credits before I start doing my TECEP and capstone? Is there a fee to stay accepted but not enrolled?
   

Thank you for anyone who has taken time to read my post.

[rachel83az]

1. I'm not sure. I think you can fill that in by running through Sophia's Intro to IT course. Maybe. It'd be free (until the end of the month, at least) and shouldn't take you much time at all. Might as well give it a shot.

2. It's not necessarily going to be cheap (considering your location), but StraighterLine has Physics I with lab and Chemistry I with lab: https://www.straighterline.com/online-co.../sciences/ Unfortunately, I don't know of any Chem II or Physics II alternate providers. I don't think that there are any.

ASU Earned Admissions also has Chem I with lab (CHM 114): total cost $99; start date August 18th.

NMJC has Chem I & II as well as Physics I & II. I don't know if they are fully online or how it works with you not in the US but it'd be worth inquiring about: https://www.nmjc.edu/resource_service/ca...tions.aspx

Honestly, given your location and the difficulty of getting alt credits, you might want to switch to BA Computer Science or BS Cybersecurity.

3. You get to stay in that status for 1 year from your application date. The easiest way to prolong this is to register for a TECEP. Medical terminology is only $50. You needn't actually pass, it's just to keep you enrolled. As a bonus, full enrollment means you get unlimited evaluations for sending in transcripts.

[LevelUP]

This looks like a lot of extra work for nothing.  Kind of like a dog chasing its own tail.

You have a lot of college credits that aren't being applied.  You are better off going for the BA Computer Science degree IMO.  

All you need for the Computer Science degree is these 5 courses + the Capstone vs 13 courses for IT degree:
Data Structures
Calculus I
Discrete Math
Operating Systems
Computer Architecture

Log into student services, https://www.tesu.edu/current-students/on...t-services then go to Academic Evaluation and find the BA Computer Science and print us out a pdf for us to look at.  

Also, General Education 60CR waived??? I never have seen that before.  I guess that is because you have a completed Bachelors degree although its 3yrs.  So then you avoid having to take the cornerstone which saves a bunch of money.

An IT degree + another IT degree seems redundant.

Honestly, given your location and the difficulty of getting alt credits, you might want to switch to BA Computer Science or BS Cybersecurity. 

Agree you got enough credits to start the Capstone now and be done with this in like 3 months vs grinding through those difficult science courses and working through all the other stuff.

[celerius]

Log into student services, https://www.tesu.edu/current-students/on...t-services then go to Academic Evaluation and find the BA Computer Science and print us out a pdf for us to look at.  

Here you go. The number of courses required doesn't look very good either.

An IT degree + another IT degree seems redundant.

Just trying ensure I have a 4-year degree that will meet admissions requirement if I ever want to go to grad school.

[Merlin]

Just trying ensure I have a 4-year degree that will meet admissions requirement if I ever want to go to grad school.

Well, if that is your goal, this probably is not the right approach.

What you need to do first is figure out what grad programs you are interested in. Once you have identified those, you need to work backward from there to make sure you can meet the entrance requirements and be competitive for entry. Each program will generally have its own requirements, so you will need to understand what specific courses they require as pre-requisites, the minimum entrance GPA you'll need to qualify (and how it will be calculated), and any other co-requirements you may need to have GMAT/GRE, academic references, research experience, etc.

Next, you can try to figure out what you need to do in order to meet those requirements. This may not mean a new degree, but perhaps enrolling in a completion program to take the last year of courses required to convert your 3-year degree into a 4-year degree. You could also look at international schools (UK schools for example) that will accept a 3-year degree to begin a master's program.

That said, you should be aware that if you're interested in a competitive US grad school program, using alternative credit providers to provide the bulk of credits in a bachelor's degree may not be the best approach. Those courses don't provide graded credits, which will make it more difficult to gain admittance when schools want to see the 60 most recent [graded] credits to derive the GPA. Additionally, if they have specific course requirements, ACE credits will generally NOT meet those requirements (particularly if the college itself doesn't accept ACE credits). This means that you may need to go back to retake those courses at a RA college or take leveling courses as part of the grad degree.

Using alternative credit providers is a great way to earn a degree to get a promotion at work or meet the minimum requirement for jobs that require a bachelor's degree, but they are generally not the best option for people whose ultimate goal is to attend a good grad school. That isn't to say that you cannot get into grad schools with a degree built around alternative credits, but it will make the road harder--unless you focus only on schools with low entry requirements and/or schools that accept a lot of ACE credits in their undergrad program (like WGU, which meets both criteria).

[celerius]

Hi Merlin,

You're absolutely right. I don't think there's a need for me to do this since having a 4-year degree doesn't open any new opportunities for me in any way at this point in time. And without a concrete plan of attending masters, there's no need for one as well.

If for some reason I decide to go for my masters in the future, I'll probably work with the university's admissions and see if I can take some form of post graduate diploma/certificate from that university that may help with the application package.

Thank you for your advice.