WGU : Trying to decide what degree path to take

hardskeptic

Currently thinking of going to WGU to make a proper path for myself into a career. I'd like to get into IT but be able to utilize it towards marketing or business.

I already hold a BA from a State University - graduated 2014. Last 7 years I've created and run a traveling art side business which utilizes sales, marketing, event planning, etc. Currently learning Adwords, Analytics, SQL, general coding on Freecodecamp, and hoping to go for Comptia A+.

I've been thinking BS Data Analytics but I've seem some people mention here it's more programming oriented rather than data oriented? I don't meet the requirements for the MS in Data Analytics but I'd be a fish out of water anyways without foundations. Also math isn't my strong suit - most I've done is college statistics in 2010. Every marketing/business entry level job or internship I've looked at so far reads "required : BS in business, marketing, or data analytics, or related field - mba preferred/mba a plus".


WGU just released their computer science BS which seems much more well rounded overall, except I don't have the pre-requisites. Closest I could do would be take Calculus on straighterline and then apply but again, math not my strong suit.

The other suggestion seems to be Net Ops is a generally good program since it provides a lot of certifications - however I don't really feel like this is the direction I'm looking for.


I qualify currently for the MBA program at WGU so my plan was to pick up an IT degree and then go MBA.

Driving myself crazy trying to figure this all out, looking for some advice - Thanks!

yoba222

My advice is to do the prereqs and do whatever master's degree interests you. When it's done, emphasize this on your resume for the college checkbox and de-emphasize your undergrad if that bothers you.

I think you're not putting enough thought into the "in a related field" part of the ad. A bachelor's is a very expensive checkbox where you also happen to learn a few skills along the way. And you've already got one.

I remember the first courses into my master's degree in information systems. While my undergrad was also information systems, many other students had undergraduate degrees in unrelated fields (marketing, entrepreneurship, psychology for one guy). They had to take 3 or 4 leveling courses and had to work a bit harder than I did (unless they were okay with B or C grades--some of them were, and the end it didn't matter).

Because on graduation day, they received the same degree I did.

Now I work in cybersecurity. At the time there weren't really any cybersecurity degrees out yet. I'm certainly not going to go back and "redo" my degree so it matches my current career trajectory.

hardskeptic

A lot of people said that I'd just be wasting my time and my BA by doing a second bachelors.

I'm overall just worried that I'll be completely in a different ocean or not have base skills going just for a Masters, even perhaps if I did pre-req classes.

Not sure if you know, but does WGU allow you to take leveling classes before a Masters program instead of going through their full bachelors programs? The closest I could think of would be doing Udacity Nanodegree in Data Analytics before the MS - but even then it's been suggested to me that I might be out of place & missing fundamentals still.

Paulieb81

hardskeptic wrote: »

A lot of people said that I'd just be wasting my time and my BA by doing a second bachelors.

I'm overall just worried that I'll be completely in a different ocean or not have base skills going just for a Masters, even perhaps if I did pre-req classes.

Not sure if you know, but does WGU allow you to take leveling classes before a Masters program instead of going through their full bachelors programs? The closest I could think of would be doing Udacity Nanodegree in Data Analytics before the MS - but even then it's been suggested to me that I might be out of place & missing fundamentals still.

I agree, go for your masters. A second BA would be wasting time and money. If you want to migrate to a tech job, assuming you are somewhat tech savy already go for a few base level certifications in the area you want to focus in. IT is very broad so find what your passion is and study a few certifications. Then go for your Masters in IT from an online program provided by a state school. You will get results, so many people have an undergraduate degree in a field totally different than the job they actually work. Think about all of the liberal arts degrees out there, there are so many of them in all types of jobs.