I am looking for a Bachelor's degree program in Computer Science that can be done completely online, accreditted, and able to be used at a reasonably good school(I have found a ton of schools with MS completely online but not BS) to gain acceptance into a master's program eventually. I would also prefer this to be at a school that has a real campus as well as online. Any recommendations on where to start? -mike
The subject index to the 15th edition of Bears' Guide lists dozens, including Acadia, Cal State Chico, Charter Oak State, Christopher Newport, Florida State, Thomas Edison State, and many more.
Thanks, I'll look for that book. Also, I was unaware that FSU had any online degrees, I will have to check those you listed out. Thanks again -mike
Don't know if this would interest you but East Carolina University, www.ecu.edu, also has 2 bachelors programs. One in Information Tech. and one in industrial tech. Not exactly Computer Science but I thought I would mention it. Duff
They have a CS degree with a CS or software engineering major. They also have a BS Information Studies program. These are upper division programs; i.e., you enter them with an AA degree. This is particularly easy if your AA degree is from a Florida community college.
Online Bachelors in CS I believe you will have difficulty locating an undergraduate degree that is classically CS. Strictly Computer Science undergraduate degrees require an immense amount of programming courses and those are not easily done by distance learning. Saint Leo University has a BS in Computer Information Systems which has a limited amount of programming classes in the curriculum. If you are thinking of an MBA later, it is a good selection as there are many business courses required for the degree.
If you search the archives here you'll find an amazing amount of info. The programs I would suggest off of the top my head are- University of Hawaii Troy State University Regis University Again there are many additional programs (15-20 more?). These are simply the ones I like the best. Good luck in your studies!
Re: Online Bachelors in CS There may not be a large number of these programs, but they do exist. The CS/SE program at FSU definitely fits into this category, and is a great option for Florida residents (it's pretty expensive for non-residents). It's true that the coursework may not be easy for someone who doesn't have an aptitude for the material, but that's true whether being taught via DL or in a classroom. DL courses in general seem to be more difficult than classroom-based courses (at least that has been my experience), but I'm not sure that the delivery method affects the rate of successful completion, or even if there's a correlation. Or maybe you meant that it's more difficult for an instructor to create and deliver a DL CS course? Other than the logistics of making the necessary environments available, I'm not sure if that is true either, or at least not any more true than it is for other subjects.
Thanks for all the responses. Turns out the FSU one may not work well with me, as I do not have an associate degree. I've been working with computers one way or another for 10 years (i'm almost 24). I tend to pick things up fast or I would not even attempt an online degree.
An AA degree generally consists of the same courses that you'd need in order to fulfill your general ed. requirements for a bachelor's degree, anyway, so I don't think that you'd be doing any extra work by obtaining one. Many (maybe most or all?) community colleges will allow you to do this almost entirely through examination (CLEP, DANTES, etc.), perhaps with the stipulation that you take at least one actual course through the school. This should be doable through a Florida CC, which should be inexpensive and is likely to provide assistance in articulating to the FSU program. Honestly, if you want a CS degree I'm not sure how you would expect to do it any easier/quicker. I"m not aware of any CS degree that you can complete without significant coursework (unless maybe you can just take exams from a school like Ohio, I'm not sure), and the FSU program is really solid and a great deal for Florida residents. I really liked the FSU program when I was looking, but it was just too expensive for me since I live in TX, and I had a lot of transfer credit that didn't quite fit with their requirements. I went with TESC, but it's not nearly as solid a degree as the one that FSU offers (IMO), and I still needed to take some courses to complete it. If I were a Florida resident, I probably would have gone with FSU, even though it would have taken me an extra semester or so. Of course, if you're willing to consider other majors, your options will open up considerably.
As I read the Charter Oaks catalog, their degrees are in general studies and a bachelor's degree will read Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science without indication of any concentration. The concentration is spelled out in any transcipts sent. Their comp sci concentration is not Computer Science per se but "Computer Science Studies." As with their "Engineering Studies" concentration, the degree will likely serve the needs of some but not others. Guess it's still caveat emptor and readin' of the fine print.
Of course none of the CC's in florida seem to have a complete or almost completely online associate. Because of work schedule and other commitments this is a necessity.
I wouldn't think it would be too tough to find a CC that will let you pick up an AA by taking one online course, combined with CLEP and/or DANTES exams. It should be a really cheap and quick way to pick up an AA (you could probably do all of it in a semester), and then you'd be ready to finish your BS through FSU. If this wouldn't work for you, then I guess I'm wondering just what you're expecting to find, given the criteria that you stated in your initial post... Another option would be to pick up the quickest bachelor's that you can via testing (see BA in 4 Weeks), followed by a master's program. You may find that you'd still need to take some prereq courses for an MSCS program, but you still might be able to end up with an MS in not much more time than it would take for you to finish a BSCS. This isn't what you said that you're looking for, but it sounds as though you might not want to spend the time and effort that would be required to get the type of bachelor's degree that you'd prefer (CS major and "reasonably good school" with a B&M campus). I chose the latter direction - compromise on school name in order to pick up cost-effective degrees as quickly and inexpensively as possible. I'll end up with a BA in CS and Psych (dual majors) from TESC, and an MSCS from Capitol College in just a little more time (probably one semester) than it would have taken me to finish a BSCS from a bigger name school, due to the transfer credits that TESC would accept toward my BA. The cost is also probably pretty close to the same (I think that I will have spent under $15k total, including books, to finish my BA and pick up my master's). If I decide that I want a master's from a bigger name school, the MSCS with a high GPA from Capitol ought to look good on my application, and USC and RPI have both told me that I could transfer some credits from my MSCS in order to reduce the number of courses I'd need for a second master's (so long as the courses fit in with the degree requirements). In any case, I'd rather have an MSCS from an obscure RA school than a BSCS from just about any school (possibly with a few exceptions, such as Stanford).
