Certification before college?

In February, eight months from now, I'm applying to transfer to a university for the fall.
I plan to major in computer science and I have a basic grasp of how networking works (protocols and networking, tcp/ip, OSI, ports, etc), certainly no depth of knowledge but I understand the basics and learn quickly.

What I'd like is a cert that will get me learning with a clear goal to pursue.
I want to attain it before I apply and put it on my application to demonstrate my interest and competence in my field.
Networking and security is really what interests me the most now, so from my research I thought network+, CCENT, or EHC would be good to get.
Hell maybe all three, but I'll be taking a full class load during this eight months so that factors in.

Which one would you guys recommend personally given above criteria?
I'm not really concerned with prestige. I just want SOMETHING to put on there and to give me a clearly defined goal to learn more about networking and security, and also demonstrate I'm passionate about technology to admissions as the school is pretty selective(UNC).

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Comments

About7Narwhal

Net + and Sec + could easily be completed in 8 months if you apply yourself.

JaneDoe

Many selective schools don't have much respect for anything vendor specific because they don't see it as being truly academic. Net+ and Sec+ aren't vendor specific so that would be good. I would focus on what ever will be valid longest, so it will still be up to date when you graduate. Employers value certs a lot more than academics.

NetAdmin2436

I'd Start with A+ and Network+. Then maybe Security+ and/or the CCENT. I'd put the CEH on the backburner till you get the other ones in your pocket. CompTIA is vendor neutral, so it give you a solid base for anything IT related really. If you can obtain A+, Network+ and either Security+ or CCENT by fall, you'd be doing very very well.

lightersix

Thanks everyone. Thats exactly what I'll do, go for the CompTIA certs. You can close the thread if you want.
So the uni would have more respect for them as they're from a nonprofit trade association as opposed to a certification company?

JaneDoe

I'd do that or the new MS certs, because MS certs don't expire. If you got MS certified now in the 2012 systems, your certification would still be current when you got out of school.

ptilsen

Very few reputable universities take IT certifications seriously. They will do good things for your knowledge and for a career, should you choose to start it while in school, but I wouldn't expect them to do anything for your degree. At best, they'll let you forego a worthless pre-req and take something better (which admittedly is nice). You can knock out all three of the Comptia trio pretty quickly if you're smart, good with computers, and apply yourself. I got my A+ before I was done with high school, and that's really not some amazing feat.

All this being said, keep in mind these will do next to nothing for your career if you want to be a software engineer, which is a common path with a CS degree. Unless you already know you definitely don't want to be a professional developer, it would be wise to think carefully before investing time and money on entry-level IT infrastructure certifications.

NetworkVeteran

ptilsen wrote: »

Very few reputable universities take IT certifications seriously. They will do good things for your knowledge and for a career, should you just to start it while in school, but I wouldn't expect them to do anything for your degree.

+1. If you imagine this will do anything to impress professors or make the school more likely to accept your application, you're definitely off course. Past academic performance and test scores are better predictors of future academic performance, so if you can do anything to boost your grades or test scores, those would certainly help. Also, many universities are not for-profit and thus are looking to admit the people who have a habit of giving back to the community--so community service or volunteer work might help.

If you really want to impress your professors, find out what their favorite research topics are, and study up about those. That might afford you special opportunities to get ahead that others in or outside your school don't have.

sigsoldier

One thing you shouldn't overlook is having them on your resume will definitely set you apart from your classmates when it comes time for internships. Internships are what lead to nice full-time jobs when you get out. Chances are most of your peers won't have any.

blargoe

I don't think any certification is going to make a difference one way or the other getting into UNC; as some others have said, they are probably not going to care or think it is significant.

You need to have a high GPA and need to do well on the admissions essay and the usual stuff like that. I've heard that it is a lot easier to get in there as a transfer student than as a freshman, though.

instant000

If you're in CS but passionate in networking, you could demonstrate a rudimentary routing protocol that you wrote up yourself to get a few 'nix nodes to talk to each other, that would be more impressive than getting a cert, and probably require a bit more work and research than getting Network+.

Hope this helps.

NetworkVeteran

instant000 wrote: »

If you're in CS but passionate in networking, you could demonstrate a rudimentary routing protocol that you wrote up yourself to get a few 'nix nodes to talk to each other, that would be more impressive than getting a cert, and probably require a bit more work and research than getting Network+.

I agree. That is a level of effort/achievement many universities would be impressed by.

About7Narwhal

JaneDoe wrote: »

...because MS certs don't expire. If you got MS certified now in the 2012 systems, your certification would still be current when you got out of school.

FYI, this is no longer accurate after a certain level. I assume it is because some of the MCSE certifications apply to a technology instead of an iteration of said technology.

Microsoft Learning wrote:

This MCSE certification requires you to show continued ability to perform in your chosen solution area by completing a recertification exam every three years.