Allow me to brain dump for a minute. I've spent the past couple of days reading through many of the various threads on these boards and am continually changing my mind on what avenue to pursue. To give a little background, I've been working in the IT field for the past 8 years and have advanced well based on experience and performance despite having no degree. My career is likely hitting a wall, advancing into the career path I'd like will be difficult with no degree. So I decided last fall to finish my bachelor's and completed a fall semester IT class at UMass-Lowell to get my feet wet. I've not yet officially enrolled however, which as I've learned leaves me with a few more options (CLEP, etc.). My ultimate goal is to complete a traditional Master's and perhaps work towards other advanced degrees. As an IT geek, the thought of offshore outsourcing is always looming, and advanced degrees will give me more options. Having a BSCS or similar CS/MIS/IT degree may not even be necessary, with my experience and career goals a BA would be much better than having nothing. After rethinking me course of action, UMass-Lowell may not be the best option afterall as it may take longer than some of the other options. But the UMass name might have more prestige than some of the other options (more on this alter). I'm guessing that I have 40 or so credits from previous college work a few years ago (transcripts are on the way). That leaves me with 80 credits or so to complete via coursework or testing (CLEP), probably another 2 full years at UML at a pretty costly rate ($795 per 3 credit class). I see that UML does accept some credit for CLEP exams, but I haven't sat down and see how that would work out from a cost and credits remaining standpoint. So here's my dilemna. For that price, I can probably knock-out my Bachelor's degree within a year via Excelsior or Troy State and get a good start on my Master's in the time it would take to complete the UML bachelor's. And I think that the "prestige" thing is taken care of, assuming that the Master's from a traditional college "trumps" wherever the bachelor's might be from (this is my assumption anyways). Are these thoughts valid? On to the next dilemna, Excelsior vs. Troy State vs. some other option. The Florida State CS program is in the back of my mind as the "other option", but probably falls into the UML time/cost scenario. Excelsior would likely be the quickest path and less costly compared to Troy State. Troy State might have a better name (I've at least heard of it outside of these forums, and probably doesn't have the DL "stigma"), and perhaps going through their courses might actually teach me something. But keep in mind that the Master's is the ultimate goal, so that might trump any of these "benefits" of Troy State as I'd surely be learning something when pursuing that degree. This of course assumes that an Excelsior degree doesn't inhibit getting into a reputable Master's program. I'd appreciate any feedback.
80 credits through Troy State in one year - is that a little overly ambitious. If you have looked into them, you know more than me about what they will accept in transfer. My two cents - get a degree through the best school you can. Despite what some people say, school names do count. With that in mind, I would not have any heartburn picking Troy State over UMass-Lowell, especially since your plan on jumping right into a masters degree anyway. In some parts of the country, Troy State is more recognizable than UMass-Lowell.
Rant, Yup. Excelsior College is the fastest way. What you can do, take all the CLEP, DANTES, ECE Exams for General Education. For more information go to http://www.bain4weeks.com . And take some of the certification such as CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, MCP, MCSA, MCSE. For more information about this at Excelsior College @ http://www1.excelsior.edu If you was trained by the company that you are working for, you can receive some credit from there too. Hope, this help you out. excelsior.collegepeople.net
Thanks for the feedback. It is my understanding that Troy State requires only 30 semester hours being obtained while in residency, while the rest could be obtained via CLEP and transfer. From browsing their site, it looks like all 30 of those could be core CS courses (36 hours required) since few map directly to a CLEP test.
I am considering Excelsior's BSCIS degree but am concerned about Discrete Math requirement. For someone who does not have Math credits and knowledge (last Math taken was 12 years ago) it will be very difficult to get. I also have number of years of experience in IT and am thinking maybe MIS degree would be better or one should go for BSCIS ? any ideas/hints ?
etech, how many years of experience do you have? What is your current and planned career path? How secure are you in your current position, and your prospects should you lose it? If you're a hardcore developer then BSCS is probably the best option followed by a business degree, but if you're working towards management after years "in the trenches" then you might want to plan your degree around where you're going rather than where you currently are. As I was raised and started my career in Canada I know that it can be more conservative than the US - but it's also been 10 years since I've worked there so things may have changed. Cheers, Mark
Rant, If your goal is to get your masters then I would recommend that you choose the fastest accredited route towards your bachelors. Just make sure that the bachelors degree will satisfy the admission requirements to the masters program you are seeking. John
Rant, I am a student of Troy State via distance learning doing the BSCS degree program. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I also have 8 years doing IT and last summer I decided the only thing holding me back from moving up the corporate ladder was the lack of a college degree, I looked around and decided that Troy State was the best option for me. I was able to transfer my credits from my old school (Louisiana-Lafayette) and applied them to my Troy State degree. While some credits don't match up directly to a Troy State class, I received "free elective" credits which still applies to my degree. With Troy you have several options a double major, a major and two minors, and a major with one minor and 18 free electives. So far I have enjoyed the classes that I have taken, Troy has 5 terms per year and 6 credits per term is considered full-time. There are some students that take 9 credits per term and find it a bit time consuming. The cost was a factor and it wasn't much more that attending Louisiana-Lafayette but since I work full-time not every class I needed to take was available to take in the evening. I applied for Financial Aid and I received Student Loans which helps pay for my books and tuiton. If you have any questions regarding any classes or attending Troy State, please ask.
Hey Mark, thanks for asking ! I have around 7-8 years in IT (at various companies). Mainly doing System/Network admin, no hardcore programming. I plan to do MS in IT/Information Systems (no Computer Science) and finally get involved in Teaching IT at CC level or if I am lucky get into higher technical position or even management if I survive in my current company. Currently my job is ok but there is no guarantee in IT, one can loose it without a hinch as to whats going on behind the scenes. Things here are still better but IT is being affected. If one looses a job in IT these days its very difficult to get another one, so looking at different options. BTW, what job are you looking into once you get your degree ? Do you prefer any specific. I guess you are doing Business degree, right ?
etech, your last post almost sounds as if I wrote it, well aside from the teaching plans. We have a similar background and career ambitions. I agree with you, with my background (practically same as yours) the CS degree probably isn't the best move considering I'm not a programmer and have no ambitions to become an advanced programmer or designer. I've not yet decided whether to pursue an IT-related MS or go with an MBA as my goal is to move into IT management, which definitely require business skills and knowledge. The MBA would also give me some footing to move into another field should the IT field go in the crapper in the next 30 years. And thanks to everyone for their input, my gut feeling has been validated that I just need to knock out the bachelors as quick as I can and move onto the masters.
Hey Rant .. that's cool. It good to know someone who has similar ambitions and background . When I saw your initial post I thought the same, as if its my situation that you are describing. So you think you will settle with Excelsior BSCIS or even MIS ? and yes its better to move on to Masters degree and once you get that your BS is less important. I plan to get into MS IS/IT because as far as I know it has business component as well. So it gives you both worlds. MBA is also good if you just plan to go to Management (and you know that you will get there ). Let us know what you decide on. Feel free to PM me or send me an email.
Troy State MSM Folks, The 2003-04 grad catalog is not on the web yet. Not listed but available is a Masters of Science in Management with a Management of Information Systems Concentration. I came across it and queried the school. The response was the following course content for this concentration. All other MSM classes remain. MSM: IS 6672 - Information Systems and Business Strategy IS 6674 - Information Systems Management IS 6676 - E-Commerce for Global Business IS 6679 - Management Information Systems If you are wanting to move to management this program may work. Cheers
Thanks again for everyone's advice. I'd be interested to see anyone's test plan for one of the IT-related degrees. I've looked at the BAin4weeks.com site for the BA and Business degree test plans but am having a hard time substituting some of the core business exams with IT exams. I'm also curious if the GRE-CS exam would take care of most of the CS requirements.
etech, Correct - BS General Business at Excelsior. I completed 2 years CS at the University of Western Ontario in the mid-80's and then went the "applied" route, working for a hardware VAR, then my own software development firm, then software firms in the US. I've been working for a large multinational software company for over 6 years which allows me a lot of job flexibility and growth within the same organization. As I progress more into management I'm a lot more conceptual and less technical so a business degree was the logical first step. My next thought is computer and business law, which combined with my 15 years of IT experience, the Excelsior BSBG (and perhaps an interim COSC degree with IT concentration), will make me well-suited for business development (as well as practice law should I so choose). This is not a trivial decision and I won't plan to apply until December 2005. Also, I'm very happy where I work now so job replacement is not the primary issue - job enrichment is and progression to senior management. I may want to teach at some point so a graduate degree is also an option later (aside from the JD). My proximity to NYC (plus a green card) gives me a lot of career options. Nevertheless, to protect myself, I wanted to get the bachelor's out of the way ASAP, because as you say, there's no guarantee in IT (or anywhere else). I haven't needed it for 15 years but the market is more competitive now. I won't go back to coding so a BSCS won't give me anything, but getting the COSC general studies with some sort of IT concentration will at least "fill in" some history - regardless of the graduation date. etech, getting back to your situation, I'd again look at where you see yourself in 3-5 years. If you are looking at technical management, then a business degree with an IT component won't steer you wrong. I'm assuming that you either have or could get MCSE and Cisco certification and apply that to an Excelsior degree. I think the MIS option is a reasonable one, especially if you can knock it out in a year or so. As you have 6-7 years experience, that plus any degree with IT or IS in it will get you through the door in most places. I'd do the quickest, cheapest accredited option and then move the goalposts to the next stage. Just my .02 worth... Cheers, Mark
Mark, Thanks for the info and guidelines. I am getting pre-enrolment evaluation done at Excelsior in the next few weeks and that will allow me to see where I stand in terms of getting the degree, and yes I have MCSE and CCNA and I will send those along too. Thanks again.
etech, Excelsior doesn't seem to give credit for CCNA (although Network+ gives 2 upper division credits). Depending on how solid you are, and if you can find an equivalent course description, you may be able to portfolio out of a bunch of courses via COSC and transfer them to Excelsior's BS MIS. My argument would be that CCNA equates to 2 networking-related courses - one at the beginning level and another at the intermediate level. For the technical track, you'd then be short a programming language, database management (unless you've got some MS SQL certification perhaps) and systems analysis and design. the MCSE will cover operating systems probably. If you've done any project management, try and portfolio out of that as well (just remember that you'll need to demonstrate project management principles such as those given by PMI [www.pmi.org]). With respect to general education credit, don't forget that if you can remember your secondary school French (if you took it) that you can earn 12 pretty easy humanities credits taking the CLEP College French exam. I had 4 years of French Immersion from grade 7-10, but even with less I still could have gotten 6 credits. Good luck with your assessment! Cheers, Mark
Interesting... In the Business manual it says, an MIS project/seminar or internship is also required ?
Seems to me that active employment qualifies as an "internship" - Excelsior will have to clarify that one...
in that case its not a problem then. I will check with them.. BTW, so far I have found them to be responsive. I have talked with Admission advisor as well. I did not face any problem getting to them or getting answers even though I have not enrolled. Thanks.
