I am a 21 year old Icelandic citizen and I have been working in computers for about 5 years specializing in programming, security and network related work. I run my own firm with KPMG consulting here in Iceland. It is a security related firm. I believe I have a high degree of skill in several fields in computers, especially C language programming, security and tcp/ip aswell as a high knowledge of most unix and gui operating systems. I have also taught at the local CTec school where I taught Linux administration for a few semesters and I have also taught specific classes on Linux and security specific issues. I have an RHCE(Red Hat Certified Engineer). I have completed the equivalent of an American highschool degree and I have an okay english verbal/grammar knowledge. I therefore meet the prerequisite for entrance into many collages and universities for online/distance education atleast according to my understanding of this. I have been wandering around the net for long time now on and off looking for information about online or distance education or whatever the correct term for it is and at first I was unable to find much information and not many schools. The first school I saw that fit some of my needs was Grantham College of engineering it seems okay and is accredited, however not RA accredited. I am still a bit confused about this RA and DETC but I gather from reading this board that DETC is not as good as RA and also I am wondering whether either of them can be used by me later say in the University of Iceland? I wrote this post because I have exhausted myself in looking for suitable collages/universites and just not knowing whether they are good or not. What I am looking for here is to get maybe a list from you folks about suitable collages/universites for getting a Computer Science or a similar degree. I would be profoundly happy if you were able to provide me with some recommendations for schools. My only specific desire in this is that the school is a not a fraudulent school. I dont really know whether an online school or a correspondance one is better for me but I would appreciate any recommendations from you folks. Also a thing to note is that I am not specifically looking for Americans schools, schools from CA,UK,OZ should be okay aswell. I was unable to find Bears' Guide to the Best Computer Degrees by Distance Learning in my country which many people here recommended and it takes about 3 weeks to get anything from amazon from Iceland. I apologize for the length of this post but I wanted to try to be thorough but if any more information is needed just ask for it and I will provide it as quickly as possible. Sincerely, Theodor Gislason -
Hi Theodor, You may want to get in touch with a fellow named Brian Bohrnstedt who is a member of Excelsior's (http://www.excelsior.com) alumni board ( http://www.alumni.regents.edu/board.htm). If my memory serves, he completed a BS CIS while working from Iceland and graduated in 1998. He's since completed an MBA at Wharton and is working for Ford. You should e-mail your situation to EC's alumni association and asked to be contacted by Brian ... Hope this helps. Pete
Theodor, I am a student (distance learning) at Touro University International, which is a branch of Touro College in New York. It is VERY student friendly and your books (which are on CD-Rom) are included. It is a very good format with allows a lot of student-student and student-professor interaction. Look to http//www.tourou.edu for more info. I am in the BSITM program, and they also have a BSCS program as well. I hope this is useful. Touro is regionally accredited and recommended by Bear's. Good luck, Shaun
Thank your for your replies Peter and Shaun. I have sent in my transcripts to ECE based on requirements from excelsior but I haven´t looked into sending the alumni association at EC yet but I surely will. It has been a few weeks since I sent the ECE my transcripts and they have not not replied yet. I did however fax over my transcripts to TOUROU and I thank you so much Shaun for pointing it out to me, the curriculum there looks very nice for the BSCS and I hope they allow me to enter. In case both schools accept me I wouldn´t know what to do. Both seem very nice and are recommended by many but EC credits work experiance which is a plus for me because I have pretty extensive experiance. However I will apply to both and see where that takes me. Thanks again for your replies, Theodor
Theodore, I am truly enjoying my experience at Touro U. It is an experience that is truly hassle-free, and if any difficulties are encountered, are minimal with rapid response by the support staff. I am not familiar with EC, and I am of course speaking from my own experiences with Touro U. I'm certain you would get in without difficulty. I hope you find the right college/university for you, please stay in touch and let me know what you decide, I would like to know. Best wishes, Shaun
Hey Shaun, My experiance with the people at Tourou in the last few days has been awesome. They have helped me with everything I asked about and need. I faxed them my transcripts aswell as some information about me and everything was done in a very speedy manner. I belive I will be allowed to enter and the faculty member that evaluates transcripts and more which I spoke to said the odds were very high. And she was very very helpful! couldn´t be more happy with the service so far and Tourou is definetly a school I want to attend thanks in part to your positive comments and the assistance I have received from them. I am just waiting for a confirmation letter from the dean´s office which I was assured would be positive and then fill out the application form on the net and then decide my schedule with the some of their faculty. Thanks again Shaun I really found something in Tourou that I genuninely have a good feeling about and I am excited about the next few years studying there. - Theodor
Helping out I'm glad I was able to help out. Please stay in touch, I would like to know how things progress for you. Who knows, maybe we will be in one of the classes together, and can debate on one of the threaded discussions. Good Luck! Shaun
More info Hi Shaun! I received early this confirmation that I was accepted into Tourou and they evaluated me for about 44 credits! I start in the next summer term starting in June and I hope to maybe see you there! I also took my toefl exam two days ago and I scored a 217-270 and they haven´t yet graded my written essay but I will probably land somewhere in 250-260 as a final score. Thanks again for your advice in this matter and if there is anything I can do for you, dont hesitate to ask. - theodor
Theodor's Post Theodor, I'm glad to hear the great news. This summer I will be taking ACC403 (Principles of Accounting), ITM412 (Management of IT), and ITM413 (Client/Server Systems and Network Administration). Let me know if you will be in one of those classes. Remember, classes begin 17 June. Best of luck. I know you will enjoy it, their program is really good. Shaun
