Old man now a newbie...

Discussion in 'IT and Computer-Related Degrees' started by ioniancat21, Jul 17, 2017.

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  1. ioniancat21

    ioniancat21 New Member

    I work in the field of Information Technology for over 20 years and I'm currently working in Information Security. I started my degree over 20 years ago at one of the CUNY schools and earned around 70+ credits and then just stopped there since I earned my MCSE for Windows 2000 back then and my certification at that time was more valuable than the degree and it earned me a ton of accolades and I continued that course and added A+, N+, MCDBA and MCITP in both Enterprise and Server Administration so I have a ton of certs. I am still employed but figured it would be a plus to have the degree and further, it may open some additional opportunities consulting.

    Getting to my quetion, I wanted you all to advise me on what would be the fastest path to completing the degree with an online degree program. I wanted to use a regionally accredited school so my thoughts were to look at the Big 3 as they have put it all these years as it seems to offer the quickest path to that goal. I don't believe I need a degree in CS but it would be nice if it's available.

    Sorry for the long winded post, just wanted to give as much info so people could evaluate my boat in the easiest fashion. Thanks for any help you all can provide.
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I was in almost the exact same situation in 2003 -- had MCSE and about 69 credits from various schools. I took some CLEPs and a few (two?) courses and wrapped it up into a BS from Charter Oak. I did the Information Systems concentration rather than Computer Science, it made a lot better use of the credit I'd accumulated. It took maybe a year, but once I had a competition path I wasn't racing through it.
     
  3. ioniancat21

    ioniancat21 New Member

    Thanks for the information!!! Let me ask you, does COSC actually give courses or are they a credit bank like Excelsior and others. I'd like to keep it simple and not have to go school to school hunting for courses. Thanks again!!!
     
  4. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    IIRC, the Big Trey all have time limits on credit acceptance and the techie courses/certs time limit may be as little as five years.
     
  5. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    That's true. I suppose it makes deciding among them a lot easier if one says yes and the others say no....
     
  6. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    You might also want to look at the self-paced programs at WGU, Hodges, Northern Arizona University, Brandman University, or (God forbid) Capella. I think University of Wisconsin might have something self-paced and in IT, but they're a lot more expensive for out-of state students. WGU includes certs in the cost of tuition if you're interested in earning additional ones.
     
  7. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    All of three schools have their own courses.
     
  8. ioniancat21

    ioniancat21 New Member

    I think the one good thing in my favor is that the courses I did complete in college were mostly required ones where things haven't changed much such as English. At that time I didn't start a major since I still was undecided on what I would do in life. It is disheartening to see there are time limits on these things though and hopefully I don't have a situation where they don't accept any of those 70+ credits which would force me to go back to that school to complete it or redo it all again.

    I'll look around at their requirements and figure it out. Worst case, there may be a tradeoff and perhaps get my degree some a university where they have another accreditation that is less strict. My experience will far outweigh my degree as it always has but there are some jobs that list degreee as a requirement and just buying the paper allows me to apply which opens up more opportunity...
     
  9. jhp

    jhp Member

    Look into Wilmington University of Wilmington, DE.

    They are regionally accredited (Middle States Commission on Higher Education)
    Reasonably priced ($363/credit)
    Accept several certificates as equivalent - (have taken three certs)
    Allow to challenge courses for a fraction of the full course rate - did three so far
    Have accelerated online courses (7 weeks) - done most of my classes like this
    Took my credits from 1983 (about 40 of them)
    They ake CLEP, ACE, etc.
    If you are nearby, they also offer "module" courses. Two full (Fri afternoon, all Sat, all Sun) weekends over 4 weeks for the entire class (did two classes)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 18, 2017
  10. ioniancat21

    ioniancat21 New Member

    Great information, thanks for this!! I've been very lucky with my career to have the ability to get my degree not under pressure like some who need their degree or they have no career. I'll be satisfied just completing this since it always bothered me that I didn't back then...
     

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