Computer Science, then Masters

[to-the-Masters!]

Hello, I’m hoping you can help guide me to earn my degree. I’ve read a number of threads so I’ve picked up bits and bobs. This site, and its members, are fantastic! I’ve tried sticking to the recommended format, if you want any more information I’ll be happy to provide.


Your Location: United Kingdom
Your Age: 22
What kind of degree do you want?: Computer Science
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None
Current ACE, CLEP Credits: 72
Course, Credits

Writing for success 3

English Composion II 3

Public speaking 3

College algebra 3

Ethics and Business Professional 3

American Government 3

Intro to Physical Oceanography 3

Precalculus 3

Special topics in religion 3

Std Jw. Lw: Interpersonal Cm. 3

Special tiopics in religion 3

Immigration and the economy 3

Topics in Chassidic thought 3

Survey of Jewish history II 3

Special topics in religion 3

Festival Cycle of Jewish Year 3

Std. In Jw. Law Shabbat II 3

Survey of Jewish History 3

microeconomics 3

Special topics in psychology 3

American history II 3

Special topics in religion 3

Macroeconomics 3

Special Topics is Psychology 3

TECEPS

I signed up to a few with Thomas Edison when they were free, but I haven’t taken anything yet.

Any certifications or military experience? None

Budget: I have a max of about $10,000. In truth, getting a decent degree that can get me into a good masters is more important to me (see below), and I’ll go over this if I have to.
Commitments: I do some religious studies in the morning and some of the afternoon / evening. I also attend the gym a few times a week, for a couple of hours. I have other commitments a few times a week for about 2 hours each.
Dedicated time to study: I would like to put in 20-25hrs a normal week, but I can probably put in as much time as I need to, especially over a short-ish period.
Timeline: Finishing the courses required for the degree as fast as possible would be ideal. I would like to finish within 1-1.5 years (12-18 months.)
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None
The aim of the game here, for me, is to use the credits that I have to get a degree, and then get myself into a masters program in a related field (such as data science or AI.) I’m not looking to get into an incredibly prodigious masters, such as an ivy league college or Cambridge University, rather something more along the lines of University of Texas online, or Manchester university. Basically a tier or 2 down from the really competitive uni’s. And with a price of $15,000 or preferably less, (going over that only if its really worthwhile.)

(A few that I’ve been looking at are:

U of Texas: https://cdso.utexas.edu/apply

Georgia Tech: https://pe.gatech.edu/degrees/computer-science (not strictly AI but quite a lean towards it)

Edinburgh University: https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgradua...iew&id=906

York University: https://online.york.ac.uk/study-online/m...ce-online/

Manchester Uni: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/maste...anagement/

Leeds University: https://courses.leeds.ac.uk/d052/data-sc...istics-msc

University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign: https://cs.illinois.edu/academics/graduate/professional-mcs/online-master-computer-science-data-science

etc.)

As such, what path do you recommend for me? I believe that in order to enter into some of the schools I’m looking at I’ll need graded credits on my transcript for the relevant courses, such as the computer science courses and maths. I’m not sure study.com and sophia will do the trick. I’m currently looking into doing a computer science BA at Thomas Edison, and taking a couple of flat terms where I take all my relevant courses and get them graded. I’ll learn the course content online myself first, so it hopefully won’t be too overwhelming. And do the literacy today via Edx, and fill in any remainder with sophia or SDC.

I test well, but I prefer to have coursework, and even projects. It would be a massive plus for me if I can actually learn useful skills from my degree, not just tick the boxes, so to speak.

I also understand that masters are based off more than just a degree. I did well in my high school exams, and I hope to create some projects and take some MOOC’s on Coursera and Udemy to spice up my resume. Other ideas are welcome.

I would greatly appreciate feedback and suggestions, to get the easiest, fastest, most effective route to gaining about 30 graded credits in relevant areas. Thank you all so much!

p.s. I know these requirements vary based on the school. I’ll email all the uni’s above to double check their policies – if they accept a gpa that is based off very few courses and the rest are transferred in.