Ok I just found this site and have to say so far the information I have read is great, disheartening (more on that later), but great. My situation is as follows. I started college in 1996 @ Purdue University, I was 17 at the time and probably to young or maybe to wild to be there. First semester I basically failed out. Following semester I got my act together after switching majors. Then I took a semester off and worked, took a couple classes at Vincennse University. Back to Purdue for a semester then needed more money so I went back to work full time. I went ahead and finished a degree at Ivy Tech State College here in Indiana. I now have a A.S. degree from there. I continued to work and work getting Certifications. MCSE, CNE and so on, but still in the back of my mind disappointed that I didn't get that BS. Well I started looking online for colleges. Without doing any research at all I jumped into the KW wagon. Not knowing that the wagon was on three wheels and the third was half broken. Curretly I'm just the paper away from the fake BS. Now that I have read a lot of info here I don't plan on finishing that, I'm out the money that I'm aware of and will deal with myself, but I still want a BS. So I'm asking for opinons. What should I look at doing? When it comes to computers I'm good with them, but its not all I'm good at. Work takes a lot of my time so I need something I can do in the spare time late at nights. Can anyone give me some suggestions? Thanks for all the great info on the site, I look forward to reading responces to this post. Shane
It appears the big three maybe the right choice for you. Charter Oak State College Excelsior College (Regents) Thomas Edison State College With your previous schooling and certification you should be close to a RA BS degree. John
I was just looking at Capella. They say I have about 8 classes left to do basically 48 credit hours. So I'll go and look at these big 3 as well. Hope I can come up with something.
If you are still in Indiana you have several viable options allowing you to keep almost all of the credits you have already earned. Check out the Indian Colleg Network particularly the degree completeion part. Also specifically look at Indiana State and their degree completeion program all by DL. Several of the degree completeion programs have options where the Ivy State and Vinceens work directly transfers.
Shane, If I were in your shoes (and my shoes weren't too different a couple of years ago), I would give serious thought to the Big 3 recommended by John and much discussed in this forum. Of all regionally accredited schools, they may give you the greatest flexibility in applying current credit, converting technical certifications to credit and allowing you to quickly test out or take DL courses for the remainder. You may be amazed how quickly you can complete your BA/BS. I went the Charter Oak route and found they were very helpful and accommodating. I completed a BA with about 90 units from traditional college/universities, 15 units DL from Indiana University and 15 from CLEP/Dantes tests. In the end, it turns out I spent more time waffling on what to do and where to go, than I spent completing the degree. Also, the cost was about what it would have been if I had gone the traditional or DL route, even with some employer participation. Best of luck, Dan
I'm looking into the big three right now. Going to see about getting some info from them and see about costs and how much of my credits will move over. I'd love to get a little credit for certifications and work experience. Capella contacted me already, they have a good idea of what I would need to do. Not sure if they are any good or not. Seems the web site likes them any opinions? Of the Big three that you have mentioned is there one I should look at more than the other or any thing? I hate choices. Again Thank you, Shane
I can't answer your question regarding which is best for you, but assuming you your goal is a RA degree fast lets see what we can rephrase your question into. First, each of them are going to have similar requirements for whatever degree your looking for. Each are going to accept pretty much the same credit hours and apply them to the same requirements. Each have similar policy regarding CLEPs, DANTEs, etc.... So what's the difference? IMHO the question ends up being price and how they treat your computer certifications.
Shane, if you're still in the Lafayette area I'd recommend looking again into finishing up at Purdue. Something most people (including Purdue students) don't know is that Purdue offers credit by exam for a great many courses, at no extra charge. The caveat is that you have to take the exams on campus. I wish that I'd known about this while I was still living in Indiana, as it would have made the difference between completing my degree at Purdue vs. finishing it through TESC. My advice is to make absolutely sure that Purdue is no longer your best option before going another route (like TESC, COSC, or Excelsior).
As per what Gary said...there is no doubt that if you can complete your degree from Purdue and it fits within your time and cost requirements (although exams are free there will be some cost) your answer should be easy. There are plenty of GOOD/GREAT RA schools that you can graduate from that you can do from a distance, but name recognition does count. As others will point out though if it takes significantly longer or cost a lot more then just get your BS/BA fast and go for your masters.
Thanks for all the great advice guys. My only issue with Purdue is this. On my orginal post I faild to mention the other reason besides that I ran out of money was that I was kick out of Purdue for bad grades. Acutally missed the cut off my .1. I know after a semester or year I can go back. That wasn't the issue. The last time I looked at Purdue they didn't accept a lot of my Ivy Tech credits. Thats whay I didn't continue to look there. The ISU distance learning is interesting. Though they don't really have a lot in the way of Computer Information systems. I'm more confused now on what to do then before.
I think I have it narrowed down to about 3 now. Indiana Wesleyan University Capella TESC All have thier advantages. IWU - local to me, will take longer to complete. Capella - lower in cost, have only 8 classes to do to complete BS TESC - Cost is good, haven't found out how many courses I need to finish my degree yet. Opinions? Thanks, Shane
Capella - lower in cost Are you sure about this? I thought when I looked at Indiana Wesleyan University it was cheaper.
From what I read on Indiana Wesleyan site the cost was going to be about 18,000 without electives. Not sure how much of my credits will transfer there. But if a lot will then yes I can see the cost being much lower. Capella would be 12000 for me to finish there.
Just got off the phone with Indiana Wesleyan. I would have 17 classes left to do just like their web site says at a cost of about 18000. So it will be a little higher.
