Should I bother to finish my A.A.S degree

This past weekend I kept going back and forth about what degree path I should take. My original plan was to complete my Associates in Applied Science in computer studies concentration net admin at Thomas edison state college by transferring the rest of the credits i obtained at an i.t. career school that has an academic agreement with the college which leaves me with 2 more general ed courses left to finish my associates. The 2 classes I plan on taking on straigtherline. Once thats done I plan to transfer over to WGU for BS IT Net Admin.


That all sounded dandy but this weekend I kept thinking whether or not employers would value the degree in Information Technology over or equally to the Computer Science degree. I raised that question once all the job postings i seen just requested BS in cs or ee with no mention of info tech. Which led to more reading other peoples perspectives and etc. Everyone tends to say go for cs better opportunities?!?

Well this morning I woke up and thought should i even bother finishing my associates. Even though it seems I am so close to obtaining some form of a college degree which has been a dream of mine for the last 6 yrs. These are the factors to finish at thomas edison I have to set aside $1500 just to enroll into part time status minus any classes, $225 graduation fee. Sounds easy enough but now that I think of it I doubt the credits I obtain from the training school which taught mcse, ccna, net+, a+ would even transfer over to WGU without having the coinciding certs.

So It seems bitter sweet I could pay to enroll in thomas edison have my associates feel a sense of achievement and add it to my resume but once i am ready to transfer over to wgu half of the credits more then likely wont transfer.

What do you think should I even bother finishing my Associates save the money and just dive in at wgu once i have the money saved up? Or should I just finish my associates and have it just in case something job wise happens and I am prematurely back in the job market and associates looks better then no degree?


Sorry for the long post but thanks for taking the time to read it!

Comments

  • jamesleecolemanjamesleecoleman Member Posts: 1,899 ■■■■■□□□□□
    I think you should finish it. Its been a dream of yours for a while so why not accomplish that dream? It will help you with getting jobs later on while you're working on the four year degree. Lets just say that sometimes things get in the way of completing major goals. So I think it would be safe to have the Associates degree just in case something happens while you're working on the BS degree and you need to stop or slow things down with that. Did you make sure that the credits from the training school will transfer into WGU?
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  • MrBishopMrBishop Member Posts: 229
    Absolutely, you should finish your Associate's degree. IT jobs are looking for people nowadays to have at least their associates as a minimum requirement. I'll say that it's not necessary to have a BS in CS to get a job these days. Basically, all companies will accept BSIT degrees for a 4 year degree requirement for jobs. The transfer of credits is something you need to research further and look at other online schools that will take most if not all credits.
    Degrees
    M.S. Internet Engineering | M.S. Information Assurance
    B.S. Information Technology | A.A.S Information Technology
    Certificaions
    Currently pursuing: CCIE R&Sv5
  • Legacy UserLegacy User Unregistered / Not Logged In Posts: 0 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Well I am not currently in the job market I've been holding my current position for the last 5 months and just recieved a raise :). I am prepping to do a migration in the office over to voip all in a cisco enviroment in the next few months.

    My boss had goals and made promises where he plans to take the business in the next year or 2. Everything sounds great but its been real slow and I am getting doubtful we will get to the level he wants to be. I intend on hanging around for 2 yrs waiting to see if it takes off then I will look elsewhere for a jr. net engineer position. At that point I hope to have my BS degree which hopefully will put me into the running for a position but I cant really predict what can happen and what may deter me from completing.

    I originally figure I save my 1500 instead of spending it at thomas edison state and save another 1500 to pay for a term at wgu and try to knock out as many classes as possible. I refuse to take out any more student loans.

    Well in theory everything should transfer over to thomas edison they state it on the college website (after you go digging for it) and on the training schools site. When i was enrolled there a rep from the college came and it was a whole seminar on the benefits of continuing education and how 36 credits transfer over yada yada yada.

    Edit: I misread your post james. Well I know the gen ed courses will transfer but not sure about the i.t. courses since it states on the wgu program guide that credits wont transfer for the upper classes, mcitp, net+ courses etc unless if you have the cert to satisfy the requirement. The i.t. courses which will be on the transcript from thomas edison will have their description of the net+, mcse, ccna broken down to each individual course ex:directory services, net fundamentals, etc. It'll be great if they transfer to wgu but i wont hold my breath..

    Edit: Also the credits from the training school would not directly transfer to wgu or so i think. as they do have the courses honored by America Council on Education (ACE) College Credit few schools do honor the credits from the training school but i digress. Even if I dont enroll at thomas edison I will still have to pay $500 at thomas edison to do a process called banking credits. Meaning i transfer those credits to thomas edison college they evaluate them and they convert them to there course names. They then have an official transcript with there school name not the training schools name as if i took those courses at thomas edison state college. Which i can use to enroll in another school or directly with thomas edison. Hope i didnt make it too confusing.
  • PsoasmanPsoasman Member Posts: 2,687 ■■■■■■■■■□
    I'd finish the degree. One thing to consider is that even if the classes don't transfer in, you have the knowledge, so you may be able to finish up the classes quickly.
  • JinuyrJinuyr Member Posts: 251 ■■□□□□□□□□
    You should finish it. That's a significant accomplishment in your life.
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