Best online BS IT degree

levensailor

Hello All. If you're like me, you went into college doing computer science because you told your high school counselor you were "good with computers" and shortly after realized programming had nothing to do with computers and more to do with math and logic.

I entered the working world after about 90 credits into my computer science degree and since then have been doing network admin stuff and getting certified in whatever I can, until I realized I'm a pretty good at self-study, why not finish online? So after a weeks worth of research, I applied to 3 schools:

Northeastern - expensive and I would have to take a C# course and 2 statistics i'm not thrilled about but the terms are 6 weeks a piece so I would be able to take 8 courses a year, one at a time and finish in under 2 years.. It is a good school from what I hear, online and not

Umass at Lowell - relatively cheap for a brick and mortar offering IT degrees completely online but it is the traditional semester system so if I wanted to only take 1 or 2 classes at a time and stay working, I wouldn't finish for a few years!

Western Governors - I'm taking a phone call with an enrollment guy today and I'm not sure what exactly to expect.. its 2,850 a 6month term all the classes you can take. are they one at a time? do you get grades? are there any traditional classes or is it just certifications? I guess my qualm with this school is that it is completely online and may hold the stigma and if I wanted to get a masters in IT security I'm not sure it would transfer from a school like this..

Thoughts?

uhtrinity

As to WGU:
You sign up for at least 12 credits of courses that will be staggered over the first 5 months of the term. If you finish early you can then ad courses (1 at a time) up to the last month of the term. You will be encouraged to tackle one course at a time, though overlap is bound to occur if you are waiting for evaluations on papers or exam dates.

There was a discussion in another thread dealing with holders of a WGU BS degree moving onto B/M Masters programs.

Zartanasaurus

Get your CompSci degree and get some certs. I'd rather just get the last 30 credits. The BS is more important than the actual field of study.

levensailor

maybe you haven't been paying attention but I failed out 90 credits into a computer science degree.. Programming has nothing to do with networking and the IT world! These degrees might be relatively new but they will gain weight soon! To quote Mitch Herberg again just as I did on my admissions essay "you're a cook.. can you farm?" .. computers are a broad topic nowadays, you shouldn't want a computer science degree unless your a programmer

veritas_libertas

levensailor wrote: »

maybe you haven't been paying attention but I failed out 90 credits into a computer science degree.. Programming has nothing to do with networking and the IT world! These degrees might be relatively new but they will gain weight soon! To quote Mitch Herberg again just as I did on my admissions essay "you're a cook.. can you farm?" .. computers are a broad topic nowadays, you shouldn't want a computer science degree unless your a programmer

Actually, if you can survive the CompSci degree it's well worth it. That degree is still highly respected, and it will probably be that way for quite a while.

I know that I wouldn't survive the CompSci degree path. Not because I cannot program, but because it really doesn't interest me

jahsoul

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Actually, if you can survive the CompSci degree it's well worth it. That degree is still highly respected, and it will probably be that way for quite a while.

I know that I wouldn't survive the CompSci degree path. Not because I cannot program, but because it really doesn't interest me

Agreed. I was a Computer Science major at Troy and didn't fail out and made a B in the programming class that I took. I just realized that I wanted to work in networking atmospheres (and the programming was the for the birds to me..lol)

sidsanders

check this thread in terms of programming and tech folk (if you havent already): http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/57830-im-admin-why-should-i-learn-code.html

comp sci doesnt have to be all programming -- i had 5 routes to select for 400+ level classes for the major, 1 of which was mostly programming. there was systems (os design, network, sys arch) for example. for sure not all comp sci programs are the same or offer the same options...