Hello Everyone,
Any suggestion about the South College The Dotcor of Education? Any one has an experiane to finish their degree in term?
For example, thanks to the board i was able to finish my BLS UMPI Degree (15 courses) in 5-6 weeks. I wanted to check if South Collge force you to take another session (2nd Term) before you can submit the dissertation/capstone?
I'm in my second term at TESU, and although it's okay, there are very few classes I want to take before my capstone in April. Since I got my BOG from Pierpont, I researched the RBA Program at Shepherd University (which is down the road from my house.) I spoke to the RBA advisor today and will get my transcripts together and send everything in.
I know many people want a "check the box" degree, but I also want to learn things while I am in college. That's why I am considering Shepherd. The advisor told me I could get an RBA with an Area of Emphasis in Human Services if I wanted, which is cool. Another thing I like is that the advisor herself has an RBA degree so I was able to get her perspective as a student in that program as well as the administrative perspective.
I would probably get more financial aid (additional state grant) by going to a West Virginia school as an in-state student. (Next week, I'll officially be a WV resident for one year.) That is a big consideration for me. In addition, Shepherd has some on-campus activities that I would like to be involved in. I could have the online experience AND the on-campus experience, which I think would be good for me.
Texas A&M University-Commerce is offering FREE winter mini semester 2025 classes for students in the US this upcoming term between fall 2024 and spring 2025 term. To take advantage of the free class, you would need to formally apply for spring semester as an undergrad or graduate student; it doesn't matter if you choose degree seeking or not; admittance is faster with a non-degree seeking application. Some of the classes require you to be admitted into a specific program. A lot of the listed classes are core classes for undergrads and business classes. Once admitted to spring, you need to connect with a staff member to express interest in the free winter mini class.
Recently graduated with both a AALS and a BASc from UMPI. I received the confirmation email about the BASc degree being confirmed to be complete, and the parchment email about the AALS, but nothing on the BASc degree from parchment yet.
Has anyone else received their Bachelors digital diploma yet?
I’m an international student completing my Associate's Degree in Computer Science from UoPeople. I’d like to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree at UMPI or another regionally accredited university (EU universities are also an option as long as they accept credits from UoPeople but I am not a non-EU student, so keep that in mind).
Age: 25 Degree Goal: Bachelor’s Degree related to Computer Science or IT Current Regional Accredited Credits: None Current ACE Credits: Google IT Support Professional Certificate (via Coursera), planning to do some Sophia courses Budget: Around $5,000 Dedicated time to study: 40 hours/week Timeline: I’d like to complete the degree within 6 months. Tuition Assistance: None.
I’m looking for advice on the best way to finish my degree as quickly as possible.
I would like to seek your guidance and advice on a few items. First off, let me tell you about my circumstances:
I moved from the Philippines to Colorado 2 years ago for work.
I currently work for a big tech company, and basically in my dream company. I currently work as part of the vendor management team.
I would like to be able to get into other teams within the organization, and right now I'm thinking of going into supply chain.
I did not finish my degree in the Philippines, but I studied BS Chemistry there.
I'm thinking that I would like to speed through the non-major courses, but I would like to really learn the major subjects since supply chain is not a field that I am in right now, and I will be completely new to it.
I've been working for 20 years now, and 5 years with my current company -- (3 years in the Philippines, 2 years and going in the US).
Your Location: Colorado (but not a US citizen; moved from Philippines)
Your Age: 42
What kind of degree do you want?: Supply Chain Management
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: None
Any certifications or military experience?: I have COPC certification but that was from 2016.
Commitments: I have a full-time day job. No spouse or kids.
Budget: Quite flexible but hoping it would be less than $6k.
Dedicated time to study: 10-14 hours per week.
Timeline: Whenever it can be possible
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: I can get reimbursement for 1/3 of the cost.
Here's where I may need your guidance:
(1) Is there any way that I can get credits for some of my courses from the Philippines?
(2) If I want to pursue a masters degree from a traditional/ more prestigious institution in the future, should that limit my options for where I should get my bachelor's?
(3) Are there any scholarships/ grants at all that I can take advantage of as a non-citizen?
(4) What online university would you recommend given my circumstances and future plans?
(5) What kind of preparations should I be making before enrolling? Should I be taking any third-party tests already?
I promised myself when I started working through these threads that I would post my final degree plan. Now that I've received my TESU diploma in the mail I figure I'm due to make this post.
My background:
American who went to school in Canada and then moved back to the US
Got a BA in a humanities subject (with a minor in statistics, which wound up being a major plus for the BACS)
Fell into a career in tech
Hitting a ceiling in my career because I have no technical credentials or formal education
Wanted to use this degree as a ladder to OMSCS
This degree cost me just under $11k, which is WAY more expensive than most BACS degree plans here. It cost this much because I went for primarily RA credit. I have my reasons for this, which I lay out below.
Overall I am very satisfied with my experience. I feel like I learned a lot, it didn't take forever or break the bank (especially relative to those $30k CS postbacc programs out there), and I've come to greatly enjoy this style of online learning.
Why on earth did you do mostly RA credit?
Three reasons:
I tailored this degree plan to the expectations of the OMSCS admissions committee, who say they like to see graded RA coursework. As such, I tried to cover their recommended prerequisite areas with graded RA coursework, and then used ACE credit to plug the gaps.
I had a feeling (which was quickly vindicated as I took Sophia and SDC courses) that I would not learn a damn thing from my ACE courses. Could I have, had I taken the time to sit with the material? Yes, but I knew I wasn't going to do that, and instead go as fast as I can through the course material. I like the structure that RA courses provide, and I do feel like I learned more doing it this way. It also definitely prepared me for OMSCS coursework, which has a similar structure to most of the courses I've taken.
I wound up doing, like, ten times the number of projects this way. Really got my reps in.
Can you get into OMSCS without CS coursework being RA?
Maybe. I dunno. Other people on this forum have, but they all seem to have had more work experience than I.
Why the BACS, and not something else?
I didn't want the UMPI BABA PM & IS because it didn't seem technical enough, and WGU (which, despite not having grades, does seem to be reliable for getting into OMSCS if you do the BSCS there) wouldn't have waived my gen eds because I don't have an American degree. I also wanted something that would cost around $10k total and take around a year. So, the BACS it is. Just as well because I wanted to take structured coursework with set schedules and grades.
Why Washtenaw CC for so many of your courses?
They're my local community college, and I got a good rate going there, especially considering that courses there are 4 credits, not 3. Despite being my local CC, all the coursework is online, and you could hypothetically complete it from outside the US (WCC takes international students). Their non local rates aren't that much higher.
The 3 WCC courses I took were all part of the so called "Advanced Certificate in C++ Programming". The advantage of this program is that the courses are all condensed, 4 week, back to back and async, so I knocked all my courses for more advanced CS courses out in a single summer semester instead of having to spread them out over 3.
WCC automatically awarded me the certificate after I completed my coursework. I should note that I sent in my WCC transcript to TESU before the certificate award appeared on it. It doesn't seem like this should cause an issue with which credits count as "new" because TESU doesn't seem to see certificate programs as degree programs, but worth noting.
Anything to look out for?
Yes!
The Berkeley X course in C was kind of a waste. Would try and find an OSes course instead.
The Colorado State Analysis of Algorithms course, on the other hand, was genuinely great! Very, very expensive at over $1500, but I learned a ton about algorithms and got practice writing them to predetermined big O targets. I would highly recommend this course if you have the budget for it.
The Oakton College computer architecture course, while a good course overall that I did learn a lot from, transferred as LL. The BACS curriculum has comp. arch. as a UL course, so if you follow this path, you'll need another UL elective, and those are already hard to come by.
SOS-1100 is indeed waived for students pursuing a 2nd BA
What was your OMSCS application like?
OMSCS, while not literally open admission like most of the schools we talk about on this forum, is not hard to get into. I had recommenders from work, my previous BA, and my WCC courses, and once those were squared away I filled out the application in a single night.
Even though I hadn't completed the BACS when I applied in March 2024, I took the capstone in the summer, and I wouldn't technically be awarded the degree until September, they let me in, conditional on me sending in a transcript that showed the degree awarded in my first semester. I did that a few weeks ago and they've officially given me the big thumbs up.
Would you like to brag?
Yes. I got straight As in every graded class (including the capstone), was given High Honors at WCC, and was made a Presidential Scholar at Oakton. Oakton even sent me a certificate for it. Very kind of you to ask this question in this post that I am writing by myself.
I feel like I must be missing something. I am signed up for a couple TECEPS. They have 12-week terms. TESU says the dates of the TECEP term are listed in the "course space." When I go to "My Courses" and click on the relevant TECEPs, there's lots of information, but I can find the term dates nowhere.
I have the email saying when the term started, so I can calculate 12 weeks from that, but it would be nice to actually see the date confirmed somewhere in My Courses. What am I missing?
Hello all, I'm Aaron from Shanghai, due to depression I dropped out from a fulltime university and my major is CS, I have an AA in public management from CUC in China. I know there's CU Boulder and Ball State MSCS that does not require a bachelor's degree on Coursera, but my budget is kind of tight.
My plan is to get a BS first then MS from GT as quickly and affordable as possible so I have already completed about 40 credits from Sophia and SDC, most of which are CS related and want to transfer my associate's into bachelor's to make the best use of the transfer policy. I'm currently enrolled in Excelsior and Charter Oak, but Excelsior only admitted half of my credits, is there any pathway that could follow or other college that matches my preferences? Thank you so much!
Your Location: Shanghai - China
Your Age: 26
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelors, Computer Science
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 0
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 40
Any certifications or military experience?: No
Budget: Below 10 thousand USD
Commitments: Work full time - but remote
Dedicated time to study: I can study as long as my work is finished
Timeline: Complete BSc within 9 mo
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None that I know of
