itdegree.com and independent study Vs more traditional courses

I am leaning towards itdegree.com because I am planning to obtain MCSE certification and Excelsior will provide credit and the cost is low.

I have concerns about obtaining a degree completely via indepent study examinations with no instruction or support to keep motivated or help if there are questions with the material.
Even if it took 3 years to complete the degree program via itdegree.com, it would still cost less than $3,000 plus the cost of books. The complete degree would cost the same as just 3 or 4 courses at many schools providing online degrees.

Anyone here have personal experience with the BS CIS program and how to stay on track with independent study?

I have an AA degree in Business and in 2000, I got a credit review from Regents College stating I needed the following for completion of the BS CIS degree:

Calc 1 or discrete mathematics
17 semester units if Arts & Science electives
18 lower level units in CIS
15 upper levels units in CIS

Total of 50 units remaining. However, I may need more now because I think some of my transferrable courses will become over 10 years old this year.
I also remember very little high school level math, so I would need to refresh prerequisite math before I consider studying for a Calculus 1 examination
Also, I am considering selling my house and taking 2 years without working to see if I can whip out the MCSE certification and itdegree.com BS degree less than 2 years of intensive full time study. Is this feasible?

If I'm not working, would it be better to just go to a community college and state university full time for the next 3 years to complete a traditional degree or try to save a year doing independent study via Excelsior?

 

Just a few random comments -

- If you take tests reasonably well, the BSCIS degree makes a whole lot of sense. You can get it done quicker and cheaper than a traditional degree

- The only 10 year credits that may not transfer are technology credits. If you have additional technology credits since then, tehy may transfer the older ones anyway. Regardless, non-technology credits will transfer

- You can do the Excelsior BSCIS and still do traditional classroom learning. If you have a local community college or state university, it can be a relatively inexpensive classroom learning option.

- Again, if you take tests well, you may be able to finish your degree in less than 2 years without leaving your job. You have to look at the economic costs of leaving your job to go back to school. Aslo factor in that there is no guarantee you will get an IT job after you graduate. The lower risk approach is probably continuing to work and taking a little long to complete the degree.

 

How to sudy for Excelsior Exams?

The BSCIS program looks like the best thing, but my main concern is what support and assitance is available for earning credit by examination? I don't understand how you learn the material needed to pass the examinations if don't already have knowledge of the subject covered. Do they just tell you what will be covered on the exams and it's your responsibility to find a way to learn that material on your own or do they have a structured lesson plan you can follow to prepare if you need to?
I could take traditional courses and apply it towards the degree, but I might as well just get the degree from the traditional school if I do that.

I could get laid off this spring anyway, so it may not be my choice whether to keep my job or not. If I am laid off, I will not spend more than a couple months looking for a new job before deciding to go back to school full time.
If I sell my house and go to school fulltime, when I graduate, not only will I have both the IT certifications and a 4 year degree, but I will also be flexible to relocate to where the jobs are, so I am less concerned about my job prospects then than now.
I cannot imagine that in a year or 2 from now, that the job market will be much worse than now. Even if it was, that would be a good time to continue on with school and get a masters degree and just be done with it since I wouldn't have a mortgage or other major financial concerns to prevent me from continuing school.

 

If you are laid off, then doing school full time might make more sense. if you are laid off, you will possibly get severance (depending on how your company operates) and certainly get unemployment. If I thought I might get laid off, I might look for another job, but I would never pre-emptively just quit without another job already lined up.

Taking tests to get credit can be hard. CLEP exams have really good test prep books available to help you study. ICCP exams do not. For ICCP exams, take full advantage of Excelsior's EPN (Electronic Peer Network). Other students are pretty good about sharing information on good books to read.

 

It sounds as though you may be a person who needs structure and external motivators in order to learn. If this is the case then I would recommend that you stick with coursework rather than credit by exam, excepting exams that cover material you already know. Coursework can be taken online or through independent study/correspondence, but in general these methods still requires you to be highly motivated and keep yourself on track. Of course, it can be said that this is also true for traditional coursework, but my view is that having to physically show up to a class really is a different experience, and it provides more of a push to keep up with things. However, an online course that is synchronous can be very much like a traditional classroom experience. You may want to give each approach a try, just to see what works for you. Another thing to consider, especially since it sounds as though you are totally unattached, are the social aspects of physically attending a university. This could weigh positively or negatively, depending upon your perspective.

 

I'm in a similiar situation, in that my company will be moving about 100 jobs to Mexico by spring. Many people are going to wait it out in order to qualify for NAFTA benefits- which can include up to 2 years of school/job training.

It might be something to look into if you qualify for NAFTA benefits due to the lay-off.

-Eric

 

Excelsior BS-CIs

The posts above provide good info about working towards a degree via exam and/or independent study/DL at Excelsior.

One suggestion that I would make before you sign up for Excelsior is to pick a CLEP or DANTES exam that will fulfill one of your requirements and try preparing for it and taking it before you register. If you pass, great, you've earned some required credits and have a feel for what it will take. I would also suggest you look at www.iccp.org and the exams that are available from the ICCP. As pointed out in an earlier post there aren't any great study resourses for these exams. Again I would suggest you pick an exam that fulfulls one of your requirements, prepare for it and take it. Again if you pass, you've earned a few more credits which you can apply toward your degree and valuable experience on what it will take to complete a BS-CIS at Excelsior.

I am down to the last couple of exams required for my BS-CIS at Excelsior and understand your concerns about studying independently. It's not easy to figure things out on your own particularly when many of the best textbooks do not have solutions to the exercises posted anywhere. You'll have to get help from where ever and whom ever you can (co-workers, friends, fellow students and etc) Also, keeping focused and motivated as the years go by is another concern. I started working on completing my degree in 2000 and needed about 45 credits. I think knowing yourself and your strengths and weakness is a big help for keeping on track. I have a tendency to get interested in topics and get diverted from the primary objective of preparing to pass an exam. Knowing this makes me carry the exam outlines around with me and regularly ask myself how what I'm studying at the moment will help me pass the exam.

Of course, as pointed out in previous posts, you can always take courses to fulfull the most difficult requirements demanded by Excelsior but this will increase your per credit costs since you will effectively be paying two institutions.


Good luck and let us know what you decide.

 

I did get layed off now and I'm taking their severence package.
I was lucky enough to find a good-paying temporary job that starts next week, so I have the next 3 months to decide whether to look for a permanent job at the end of the assignment or plan on starting school full time in the fall.
I like the idea of selling my house and being free of resposibility as a full time student, but I am concerned about being able to ever get another house like this in a similar neighborhood again unless I made much more money.
Of course in 3 or 4 years I could be married with 2 incomes or the real estate market may be peaking now (meaning a similar home could be around the same price or even less in the future), so it could all work out that way also.