Taking courses outside my degree plan

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by digit, Dec 18, 2002.

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  1. digit

    digit New Member

    Hi again,

    I have been studying via distance education for over 6 months now and I love the experience. I am enrolled at Touro University International in the CS program, undergraduate. TUI is a fine school and I am enjoying my experience and doing well.

    I plan on pursuing a masters degree most likely in computer science as soon as I finish my BS degree, which should be some time late in 2003 or beginning of 2004. My hope is to get into a very good school(b&m most likely) in the United States. Preferably a school that will be very challenging and beneficial to me academically and something that looks good on a C.V.

    Now I don't know how far I can go with a BSCS degree from TUI but I am hoping it will do the job. I have certain doubts however because some schools require some specific courses as a prerequisite for their MS degrees that TUI does not put much emphasis on. TUI does not put much emphasis on math because it is a business oriented school and it doesn't introduce lower level programming languages and advanced math.

    I was wondering because of that whether it would be possible to take math courses, algebra, discrete math, linear algebra, statistics, low level assembly programming and operating systems development in any other schools(RA) alongside my current degree plan? I of course would require these courses to be offered online since they are not available to me locally.

    I am thinking about maybe 3-4 math courses from beginner, intermediate to advanced math and one course with low level languages like assembly(8086,risc)and one with operating systems development. So it is 6 courses that I would like to take in other school(s) during my current studies and the format of these schools doesn't matter so long as they are RA and via distance education.


    I don't need these other courses as credits at TUI but only as something that is both good to learn and possible required by some school that I might plan on applying for once I finish my degree. I would desire to take these math, lower level programming and or operating systems development courses along side my current courses at TUI.

    I would like to stress that I have very little knowledge of math except basic algebra and so I would like to start from the beginning basically. Money is not a crucial factor in this case and I would be willing to spend some money for something that I will actually learn from, because I believe math to be my achilles heel in computing and something I desperately want to learn but also get credits for that I might be able to use for graduate school.

    I would apreciate if anyone could point me to a place where it is possible to take specific courses online without actually enrolling into the school, specifically for the courses I outlined in this post. I am not even sure if schools offer this kind of service online and I am hoping you guys/girls can shed some light on that for me.

    Eager student,

    Theodor Gislason
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 18, 2002
  2. Myoptimism

    Myoptimism New Member

    Sounds like a good idea Theodor. Excelsior's distance learn database is a very good, if not exhaustive, resource for finding dl courses in a particular discipline. DistanceLearnDatabase
    In regards to your question of enrolling in individual courses, I believe that most schools allow this, especially with their dl courses. A letter from Touro verifying that you are currently enrolled will help with the stubborn schools. ;)
    Good Luck.

    Tony
     
  3. digit

    digit New Member

    Thanks Tony! That looks like a good place to start!
     
  4. digit

    digit New Member

    I would like to add that I forgot that I also greatly desire to take a course about advanced algorithms and data structures.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 18, 2002
  5. Gary Rients

    Gary Rients New Member

    Theodor, I hate to say this, but I wonder if you might be better served by enrolling in an undergraduate program that includes these courses in its curriculum, or will at least allow you to include them in your degree plan. I think that Touro's program is great for many people, but it sounds as though it just doesn't really fit your needs, and it doesn't appear to have any room for customization. Honestly, the courses included in Touro's BSCS look like those that might compose an IT curriculum (there's nothing wrong with that, it's just different), so if you're trying to prepare for a rigorous MSCS program that has a long list of typical CS prerequisites, you might not be approaching it optimally. If you were to enroll in a program that includes these courses then you would only need to finish your BS, rather than a BS plus an additional 8 or more undergraduate courses. I actually think that Touro's program looks very interesting, it's just that there are other online options that would probably be more appropriate for you, given your circumstances.

    However, I have to ask, are you really sure that you need to supplement Touro's curriculum? If you might consider a different sort of graduate degree (like maybe IT or CIS), then you're probably just fine with the courses included in your Touro program. It might not hurt to go ahead and select 5 or so graduate programs to consider, and look at the admissions requirements.
     
  6. Steve King

    Steve King Member

    I agree with all of Gary's post. I would add that if you decide to stay with Touro, hold off taking any supplemental courses until after you've completed your degree. First, as Gary mentioned, you may decide to enroll in a different kind of masters degree program. Second, you may not know exactly which courses your master's degree requires until you choose a particular school's program. Even if you choose one school's masters degree program now, and don't change your mind before you graduate Touro, the admissions requirements for that program might change. There's certainly no rush to take supplemental classes.
     

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