Excelsiors' BS/CIS Program

I have about 70 credits and am considering Excelsior's Web based BS/CIS program. Is anyone here going through that program now, or done so in the past? If so what is your opinion of it? Was it worth the money? Did you get everything you needed to finish your degree there? How helpful were the staff after you entered the program? Any feedback would be very appreciated.

Thanks,
Jwilliamson

 

I did a B.A. in liberal arts from Regents College (now Excelsior College) in 1996; it was a relatively pleasant experience.

One of the benefits of the Excelsior BSCIS program is that it accepts computing certifications (MCSE, ICCP, etc) for credit; 70 semester hours + the MCSE + one or two minor certifications could actually translate directly into a bachelor's degree.

That said, it's not the only fish in the sea; Bears' Guide to the Best Computer Degrees by Distance Learning lists 100 accredited schools offering computer-related degrees, and includes a comprehensive subject index. And the new 14th edition of the general Bears' Guide lists page upon page of computer-related bachelor's completion programs, including a "2+2" B.S. completion program in computer science offered by Florida State University, completely online.

Good luck!


Peace,

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Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

 

A minor correction to Tom Head's response - vendor certifications will get you a few credits, but not a significant number. In my case, my Microsoft DBA certifiaction (4 tests) was worth 4 credits. My Novell Engineer certification (7 tests) was worth 10 credits. There's a list on itdegree.com showing the number of credits you will receive for each certification test, but don't expect to average more than 2 credits per exam.

That said, if you have the certifications, it's a nice bonus. If you plan to get certifications anyway, do so before you enroll and save yourself a little money on enrollment. That also applies if you already have a significant amount of tech credits and will need some free electives or liberal arts credits. You could pay the $4500 and take all your classes through Excelsior, or you could try to knock out 10-15 more credits through CLEP before enrolling and save yourself $1000 on enrollment (by getting under the 40 hours remaining limit). You have to pay for the CLEP tests, but you'd save overall.

When I started, I needed 37 credits to graduate. I'm down to 12. If I chose to, I could have taken a cobination of Ohio University, Excelsior, and ICCP exams and graduated without spending any additional money beyond my $3500 enrollment. That's a pretty good value. For graduate school entrance purposes, I chose to take a couple of specific non-required courses at a local juco.

Excelsior's customer service via email is fair (expect 1 week response times). I have never had the need to correspond with them outside of email. If you're looking for a degree program with very little administrative overhead, Excelsior is good. I do have to warn you though that the ICCP exams are relatively hard. Overall, they are more difficult than other vendor certification tests and the lack of good official study material doesn't help.

let me know if you have any orther questions about the program.