Anybody recommend Jay Cross's DIY Degree?

Hello!

I am a high schooler going into my senior year. I plan to study computer science in college. One day I came across this on the internet:
DIY Degree | Get a Bachelor's Degree in 1 Year (or Less)

I am aware that the "DIY Degree" method is self-teaching (there are many websites where I can learn and practice coding languages, etc.) and enrolling on an online college and testing out to get my degree. It appeals to me because of the costs and the potentially faster rate at which I get my degree, but I don't want to do it if it is not the best option for me when it comes to my college education. Has anybody had experience with it, or is anybody able to tell me whether or not it is a good option?

Thanks!

 

I did not look at that site in detail but from what I could see it has no new ideas or resources. Please look here

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/52647-beginners-guide-getting-cheap-fast-college-credit.html

and here

CLEP, DANTES, and Other Exams for Credit

 

I second what Kizmet says.

Also, let me just say that I love a good lifehack. Any home improvement project, provided it doesn't have me messing around with anything structural, I'm willing to attempt on my own so I'm definitely into the DIY thing.

But there comes a point when you need to look at cost versus reward. Testing out of a degree can be a good thing. And it is a good thing for many people. But it depends greatly on your goals.

You talk about wanting to save money. That's fair. But you can also save money by going to community college first and really shopping around when it comes time to transfer to a four year school. You can also save some money by getting accepted to ROTC if you don't mind serving a hitch in the military (It wasn't a bad tour for me and I didn't even have bars on my collar).

You talk about wanting to earn the degree quickly. Why? Do you want to get it out of the way fast so you can get started on that PhD sooner? Want to get college out of the way fast so you can backpack around Europe unencumbered by traditional academic calendars? Or are you just incredibly eager to enter the world of having bills and toiling all day to pay them?

I'm not trying to tell you what you should, or should not, do. But these are all questions you should ask yourself. Lifehacks are pretty cool. But sometimes they take more work than the traditional route and offer you less of a return. For a time I also thought I wanted to graduate "early." Then I realized that I had no idea what I wanted to do when I did graduate.

Had I flown through the rest of my original degree program I would have had a B.A. in Psychology and likely would have floated for a number of years doing crappy, poorly paid jobs as I found them. I joined the Navy mid-way through college, in part, because I felt like I needed to do something drastic to figure out where I belonged in the world. It worked. Quite by accident I ended up as a Personnelman and when I left I stuck with Human Resources. I saw others come in to work as Masters-at-Arms (Military Police) thinking it would be the first step on a long career in law enforcement only to turn their backs on ever wanting to wear a badge again.

I don't think one needs the military to figure all of that out. But it's definitely one path.

So my advice is to figure out, as clearly as you can and using whatever legal means you have, where you hope to go before you work on getting there as quickly as possible. Otherwise you're setting yourself up to get nowhere fast which is decidedly less efficient than getting somewhere slow.

 

Why pay all that money for what you can get here for free. And most questions will be answer quickly if not within 24 hours.

 

The forum linked below specializes in this. It is also more up to date and aware of more options than Jay Cross. A few people there create degree plans for free, and a few people there have completed or are completing a computer science degree at Thomas Edison State University.

CLEP Forum - CLEP Study - CLEP Testing - Study Guide and Strategies

 

My daughter is a very talented writer and reader, so I'm going to have her take some CLEP exams before college, not so much as to save time or money (although that's a bonus), but because I don't see the need or purpose for someone to sit in a classroom to "learn" something they already know.

However, I want both my kids to have the college experience, meaning living on-campus (even if it's within commuting distance) and forming the lifetime friendships you develop with college friends and roommates. I went a different route with the military, and have earned all my degrees non-traditionally (an amalgamation of CLEP & DANTES exams, portfolio credit, correspondence courses, online courses, hybrid courses, evening courses, weekend residencies, etc.), and I sometimes wish I did have the college experience.

 

if the question is whether or not you should accelerate through your college options in order to reduce your cost and get yourself into market 1-2-3 years earlier than someone else leisurely taking 12 credits a semester so they have time for beer-pong, then YES! That's a great plan. Paying someone to do this for you is unnecessary. If you've got the grit to DO it, you've got the grit to LEARN how to do it. People here will help you for free. Just sayin.

 

FWIW, I had both. The two are very similar in a lot of ways. If I had to pick only one of them I would pick the military. I keep in touch with only two people from UofS. I keep in touch with over a dozen from the Navy. And I have a heck of a lot of Navy and veteran T-shirts, hats and other swag and only one pair of UofS shorts.

Consider also which one people are more likely to have tattooed on their person.

Not that I'm anti-"the college experience," mind you. But I have friends who never dormed on campus and had every bit the college experience. And other friends who did dorm who never left their dorms or did anything particularly interesting. And none of my friends went to schools with a Greek system. So the college experience differs vastly from college to college and from person to person.

The college experience, much like the military experience, is exactly what you make of it and nothing more. You can spend your time drinking and getting into trouble. You can do exactly what is expected of you and absolutely nothing more. Or you could find yourself doing something entirely different. My best friend from high school went to college to study psychology but ended up spending more time in the art labs making jewelry than he did studying psych. He ended up getting a B.A. in Psych but that lab time led him to a career as a bench jeweler in New York. I know personnelmen from the Navy who came in, intending to become HR people, and left deciding to become nurses or engineers.

I'm not saying you should rethink how you approach your kid's education, by any means. Just trying to reassure you that the grass on the other side is of equal greenness to your own.

 

Thanks for the help, everyone.