Direction

tech7

Hello everyone, I'm new around here and have found this to be an awesome place so far! I had a question, that is probably asked quite often. (appologies if this is true). I've been working in general IT and technical support type areas for the last 5 or 6 years. I started out working towards my A.A.S in networking, before being hired and working tons of overtime I slowly discontinued my studies(bad i know). Now times have changed obviously and its not as busy. I need more money!

Just to get some outside opinions, my thinking as of late is that I should finish getting my AAS. I really like WGU, however I dont have my 2 year yet, and 0 certifications. Ive taken CCNA prep courses through cisco net academy, which they gave me completion certificates for? (took these through continued education @ university close to where i live), not sure if WGU counts those for anything tho.(as far as admission). Anyone know if this would help get accepted? I like the fact I would be able to work towards my degree and certs at the same time. Just want to be able to provide better for my family. My employer pays for schooling as long as its related to what we do. So I figured I should take advantage of that. Im kinda partial to the network security field.. Anyways, thanks everyone!

biggene

Welcome aboard.

I got in at WGU without a full AS or any certs either. They will also accept your application if you have been employed in the IT industry for the past 3 years. All I had to do was send a copy of my resume over detailing my experience.

Good luck, whatever direction you choose to take.

Gene

eholt7

Awesome! Thank you for the reply!

RouteThisWay

If my life wasn't about to explode this year (got married this year, started new job last week, kid expected in January) I would go with WGU.

They have some quality stuff over there from what people I trust on here say. Plus, the old Directory of IT at my last job attained his MBA(and BS) from WGU and also recommended it.

Good luck man, education is worth it. One day I too may be a college graduate.

tech7

Thanks guys, Im going to go with WGU, it appears a lot of the final exams are certification exams (net+,A+, Sec+,CIW, Microsoft).. Do you think they would be willing to work with me if I plan on going there? In other words, say if for now i take some general ed classes at my "local" two year school, would they be able to tell me which courses would transfer over, and while i do those I'm going to work toward some of these certifications to clear some more classes once i do transfer over? If that makes sense.. Thanks!

astrogeek

WGU will accept you as long as you have a pulse...lol come on, this isn't Harvard :P

As far as getting general ed classes out of the way you might want to look into Straighterline.com. It's basically a similar setup to how you do the courses at WGU but for your general ed classes and is cheaper. This is the route I plan to take as soon as I finish getting CCNP certified, (optimally before the end of the year). Alternatively you could do as you mentioned, taking classes at your local college, this might be cheaper depending on what types of grants you are getting but it likely would take much longer. I'm not sure how long the classes at Straighterline can take but I'm hoping I can get through them relatively quickly.

Western Governors University Degree Completion Pathways - StraighterLine
The above link will help you see which of their courses map to which courses at WGU for each degree, so you know exactly which classes you need to take and will transfer to WGU. Everything I've read says WGU is generous with their transfer policy so I doubt you would have trouble with classes from your local college transferring over. I'm sure you have much more to transfer than I do, which is practically nothing, which is why I'm pretty interested in speeding everything up through Straighterline

Legacy User

You can take CLEP tests it'll waive classes also.

tech7

RouteThisWay wrote: »

If my life wasn't about to explode this year (got married this year, started new job last week, kid expected in January) I would go with WGU.

They have some quality stuff over there from what people I trust on here say. Plus, the old Directory of IT at my last job attained his MBA(and BS) from WGU and also recommended it.

Good luck man, education is worth it. One day I too may be a college graduate.

I have one on the way as well, will be here in January 28 lol. Getting married later this year as well.. New house recently, the only thing that hasnt changed is my job lol. Going to work my way into it, one day ill be there too. Thanks!

tech7

astrogeek wrote: »

WGU will accept you as long as you have a pulse...lol come on, this isn't Harvard :P

As far as getting general ed classes out of the way you might want to look into Straighterline.com. It's basically a similar setup to how you do the courses at WGU but for your general ed classes and is cheaper. This is the route I plan to take as soon as I finish getting CCNP certified, (optimally before the end of the year). Alternatively you could do as you mentioned, taking classes at your local college, this might be cheaper depending on what types of grants you are getting but it likely would take much longer. I'm not sure how long the classes at Straighterline can take but I'm hoping I can get through them relatively quickly.

Western Governors University Degree Completion Pathways - StraighterLine
The above link will help you see which of their courses map to which courses at WGU for each degree, so you know exactly which classes you need to take and will transfer to WGU. Everything I've read says WGU is generous with their transfer policy so I doubt you would have trouble with classes from your local college transferring over. I'm sure you have much more to transfer than I do, which is practically nothing, which is why I'm pretty interested in speeding everything up through Straighterline

awesome. Will definitely check this out, thank you!

ptilsen

Unless you are just a few classes from finishing, don't waste another minute or dollar on your AAS. Just go to WGU. WGU pays for the certification exams, so you don't need certs to go in. Even if you have to take most of the degree, it will still go faster than others if you have the time to put into it.

tech7

Thanks for the reply, Im going to use this thread as a log of sorts.., I read over the MTA 98-349 & 366, from the pdf's on the certiport ftp site, these will be easy ones, The others may require a little more reading but, i read both the os fund and 366, might have missed 1 or 2 questions combined on those, and that was from reading the question wrong. Seems to be common sence, Would like to knock out the security at the same time, but i think it will require a little more time studying. Going to check with my work and see if they will reimburse the cost of the certifications, they pay for schooling and stuff so I imagine this wouldnt be a problem