Best Route to residential University

Hi,

I am new here. I found this DL resource very valuable. I have posted some questions earlier but to no luck. Anyway here is my attempt again.

Has anyone actually taken the route of completing a DL undergrad degree (Computer/IS/anyother) from any of these universities (or other college/uni ?) and have been able to get admission in residential Masters degree program in Canada or US? I am currently considering these universities for Computing/IS/Info Mangement degree (sorted on priority).

- University of London, UK
- Excelsior College, US
- Athabasca University, Canada
- British Columbia Open University, Canada

I need your guidance in this matter. Dont want to pursue some degree only to find out its no good for further studies. Hope to hear from someone.

Thanks,

IA

 

If you're interested in Computer Science, Excelsior sounds like the best of those 4 options, since it awards credit for computer certifications.

Excelsior has an impressive list of "examples of graduate schools accepting our graduates", including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and Rutgers.

Avoid Athabasca, unless you want to take 10 courses from them. Their degree that doesn't require Athabasca courses is only a 3-year degree. Graduate schools would look askance at a 3-year degree from North America (but not one from England, where that is the norm).

The University of London's external program is the same as their residential program: you write exactly the same exams, and a grad school wouldn't be able to tell that you had done it by distance learning. They aren't easy exams, though: residential students are expected to spend all 3 years studying for them.

BCOU has a portfolio mechanism, PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition), to award credit for knowledge earned outside the classroom. But the only non-Canadian credits it accepts are credits for actual coursework.

 

Re: Re: Best Route to residential University

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. BCOU is last in my list and I may not consider that at all. I have read on this forum, discussion on completing Excelsior BS in less time (few months or a year). If done in less time (say 1 or 1.5 year) would that be regarded as a 4 year degree ? although I may have taken less time to do it ?

I believe I would get credit my MCSE and CCNA at Excelsior. Not sure about UoL or Athabasca. What about exam difficulty and overall support of Athabasca, how difficult are the exams? One thing that attracts about UoL is that I have to take less courses to complete the degree as compared to Athabasca or Excelsior (considering I may be able to transfer 30 credits or so). Excelsior also ask that I get ECE credit evaluation done myself, which may be another issue and cost to me. Has anyone else taken up a degree program at UoL and/or Athabasca ?

Regards,

Irfan

 

> If done in less time (say 1 or 1.5 year) would that be
> regarded as a 4 year degree ? although I may have taken less
> time to do it ?

Yes. It might be clearer to say that (from applicants in North America) grad schools are looking for a 120-credit degree, not a 90-credit degree. There's nothing bad about doing it quickly!

> Excelsior also asks that I get ECE credit evaluation done
> myself, which may be another issue and cost to me.

The ECE evaluation is cheap compared with the overall cost of getting a degree. I think you should go ahead and get it done before you enroll at Excelsior.

Please note that, contrary to what Bears' Guide suggests, Excelsior does not allow any appeal of ECE's evaluations.

 

Charter Oak State College

Charter Oak State College may also be worth looking at. They'll give you 24 credits for the Computer Science GRE (which you may have to take anyway for grad school).

 

Does COSC offer BS in CIS or Computer Science ? can I get credits for IT certifications at COSC?

Thanks,

 

Re: Charter Oak State College

The degree would be a "Bachelor of Science, with Concentration in Computer Science Studies". You should be able to submit your IT certifications as parts of portfolios for credit (which would be more work than at Excelsior, which would accept them directly).

 

Re: Re: Best Route to residential University

Wrong! The BSc-CIS is a four year degree (120 credits). A minimum of 30 credits must be taken at AU, with a maximum of 30 credits being accepted under PLAR. There are also some opportunities for transfer credit, depending on the source of the credits involved. You can read more about it at
http://www.athabascau.ca/html/programs/b_sc/bsc_comp.htm

 

Athabasca University

Hi etech,
I did my four year Honours degree in Computer Science at a resident university (Queen's University @ Kingston), but I included 6 courses from Athabasca in my degree program.

I have taken Computer Science courses from Athabasca and I find them to be excellent. They're not easy -- you will learn a lot. There are online conferences to ask questions and tutors usually respond within a few hours to student questions. Each COMP course usually has 3 to 5 assignments, plus a final exam. Most recently, I took Computer Graphics from Athabasca. It was excellent. It was definately very similar to what was learned in class at the Queen's graphics course.

I don't find the Athabasca exams "easy", but with consistent effort and honestly doing the course readings and exercises, you will do fine! I found my Athabasca courses enjoyable. I would highly recommend it.

I find it hard to switch to another DL institution because everything with Athabasca is so smooth. You can always get through to them on the phone and their library is very quick.

Athabasca gives credit for prior learning. Hope this helps!!

Ramona
----------------------
BA (Math) @ Queen's University in Kingston
BSCH (Honours Computer Science) @ Queen's
BED (Math/Comp Sci/Comp Engineering) @ Queen's

 

Re: Re: Re: Best Route to residential University

>> Avoid Athabasca, unless you want to take 10 courses from
>> them. [...]
>
> Wrong! The BSc-CIS is a four year degree (120 credits). A
> minimum of 30 credits must be taken at AU,

Not "wrong". 30 credits = 10 courses.

 

Re: Re: Re: Best Route to residential University

What was wrong about Mark's statement? Your information doesn't seem to contradict his (except for saying "Wrong!"), so I'm a bit confused...

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Route to residential University

It is misleading...that's what's wrong about it.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Route to residential University

Either I"m still confused, or else you are... Mark essentially said that the 3-year Athabasca degree can be completed without taking courses from AU, but the 4-year degree requires taking 10 courses from them. You're saying that's wrong or misleading, though you seemed to pretty much say the same thing. Am I missing something?

 

Re: Re: Best Route to residential University

Hi Mark - I believe that I understand what you're saying here but overall I don't think it's entirely correct. The admissions application process for most graduate schools involves more than simply sending transcripts. They frequently want some form of a resume that includes your work history, etc. It might be difficult for etech to explain how he earned his degree from the U of L and held down a job in Canada at the same time without giving up the DL nature of the degree program. The school transcripts may not have the phrase DISTANCE LEARNING plastered across them but I believe that most grad schools will be able to figure it out easily enough. The real question is, "Will it make a difference?" I'm not aware of anything that indicates the answer to that question is "Yes." The U of L's programs have a good reputation and so I wouldn't worry about the acceptance of their degrees. Besides, unless the school is within a reasonable commuting distance from your home, you're going to have basically the same situation with any DL degree when you apply to grad school. Good luck etech,
Jack

 

Thanks RamonaQ, Jack Tracey, Gary Rients and dlkereluk for your comments. They are very helpful.

As far as I know UoL degree says "External" word on it. So any grad school would know that it is DL. The question is not so much if they would figure out if the degree was DL/External, the question is will it be acceptable for Masters degree and Employers, and from our discussion it seems so.

Whether I go Excelsior, UoL or Athabasca route they will all be considered DL as I am not living in any of those places. I may be wrong but I think degree that has short residency requirements as in the case of Athabasca may seem to be more appealing to grad schools and/or Employers as it ensures that the student has physically attended the college in some form or the other, whether for short period of time. Correct me if I am wrong.

I am not so much familiar with Excelsior but do they offer all the courses to complete the degree ? Is CLEP and other exams available in Toronto, Canada ? How much is the total degree cost? How difficult are the exams ? and do they offer syllabus and past papers for preparation ? I have never taken EX exams so not sure how I will do. Can AU courses count towards Excelsior ? Bear with me guys here, I may be asking questions which may have already been asked on this forum.

RamonaQ, can I take individual courses from Athabasca (AU) and use them for credit towards degree ? I will have to look at AU cost in detail. UoL however attracts me for their low cost and less number of course requirements.

Thanks ..

 

> As far as I know UoL degree says "External" word on it.

Wasn't University of London the place Dr Bear said insisted their external degree was the same as their residential degree to the extent they made a fuss because he used the word "external"?

> I may be wrong but I think degree that has short residency
> requirements as in the case of Athabasca may seem to be more
> appealing to grad schools and/or Employers as it ensures that
> the student has physically attended the college in some form or
> the other, whether for short period of time.

The term "residency requirement" is ambiguous. Athabasca University does not require you to reside in Athabasca, but it does require you to take 10 courses from them for every Bachelor's degree except the Bachelor of General Studies.

> I am not so much familiar with Excelsior but do they offer all
> the courses to complete the degree ?

Excelsior College does not offer any courses. It is just a "credit accumulator".

> Can AU courses count towards Excelsior ?

Yes. In fact, Athabasca University is one of the few non-US universities from which you can transfer credits directly to Excelsior, without going through ECE.

 

I graduated from Excelsior with a BS and was admitted to Tiffin's Master of Criminal Justice program online. Tiffin runs the same program for its on-campus students with the same admission standards. If you graduate from Excelsior college or any other regionally accredited program you will likely have no problem entering graduate school. Often schools will qualify you by your GPA, your GRE scores and the type of degree you have, not whether or not you attended class in a traditional or distance learning program. Excelsior provides a list of some of the graduate schools Excelsior students have been admitted to.

 

Although it wasn't on your list Tourou University International has a regionally accredited Bachelors of Computer Science. www.tourou.edu. Phil

 

Re: Re: Re: Best Route to residential University

Hi etech,

I looked into UoL when I decided to complete my degree. The one negative thing I found was the 3-year rule. In the literature I read, you must take ten to twelve exams (depending on the program), of which only four may be taken per year. Exemtions from exams are available, if you have proof you have passed an equivalent exam. Since their courses are based on a full year of study, and seem to be broader in scope, I doubt that they would accept an American or Canadian semester or quarter based course as a reason for exemption, although I never formaly questioned them on this issue. In any event, their literature states that BA's must be completed in a minimum of three years.

My information is about two years old, so you may want to contact them directly for the current policies.

The positive side, I found, was the cost, and flexibility.

 

Hi ternahan,

I havent looked at TUI yet but I believe it will be expensive. Cost is another concern for me. How much will the degree cost there?