Stressing about school choices and could use some advice.

[dfrecore]

WGU also has BS IT Security option. Online IT Security Degree | Information Security Degree | WGU College of Information Technology

In the IT field I don't believe a degree in security will be valued more or less highly than a regular IT degree, but it does market you as less flexible (or as a specialist). Initially I'd say this is a negative in your career, because it limits the entry level jobs you may be considered for.

The primary thing I like about the wgu program is that it includes certifications (which are valued in the IT World). I don't put much weight on the CompTia certs, but the CCNA and CCNA security could provide you more benefit than the actual bachelors in finding a job within the field. I would recommend these certifications regardless of where you get your degree. In the IT field we tend to show our specializations with certifications and job experience rather than degrees. I couldn't even tell you what my colleagues in the security field majored in because it never mattered, but I can tell you they all have atleast a CCNA and a CISSP. You likely won't have the experience to sit for the CISSP yet, but other strong networking/technical certifications will help you get in the door.

I totally agree with this. When my husband was in IT (rather than sales as he is now), he never had a job where a degree of any kind was required (which is good because he doesn't have one), but they were certainly going to require specific certifications for particular jobs. For many years, he was diligent in making sure all of his certs were up-to-date, and continually working on new ones if he found them valuable (including CCNA & CISSP). He is currently a sales engineer (the tech half of a sales team), and none of his old certs are current at this point, because he hasn't needed them. But, when a new division opened up at his work, he went and got another certification - which led to a transfer/promotion at his company. In addition to his experience, the cert was a requirement for the new job - they wouldn't have even looked at him without it, no matter what kind of degree he might have had.

I think this is one field where a degree may or may not be worth much, but certifications are VERY valuable (and a lot less expensive than a degree) - AND many employers are more than willing to pay for their IT people to keep their certs up-to-date or even get new ones. I don't think he has paid for a cert in 10+ years, his employers have always paid for them. Many times, in order for them to be a certified seller of a product, the IT team has to have a certain number of certified people working there (has been the case for him), so not only do the companies pay, they require the IT staff to get and keep those certs.