I'm going to try the impossible and try to complete the software engineer degree at 31 years old in 6 months ( to save money of course). I'll be getting a second bachelors degree with my first one being in sports management.

Email I received. Anyone pursuing this path? Any particular reason:

“Fast-Track Your Tech Career Hi,

In the AI era, software drives innovation—making advanced skills essential for designing, developing, and optimizing complex systems.

That’s why WGU now offers the Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering and Master of Science in Computer Science bridge program. This accelerated pathway allows students to earn two degrees in less time while positioning themselves at the forefront of AI-driven technology.

The bridge program provides in-depth training in the principles and practices required to develop high-quality, scalable software systems.

Designed to equip students with both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience, the curriculum covers key areas such as software design, architecture, testing, and project management—ensuring graduates are ready for the evolving tech landscape. How It Works: Earn a Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering

Apply completed coursework toward your Master of Science in Software Engineering

Complete both degrees faster and more cost-effectively”

What’s the difference in the Software Engineering Accelerated Program and just doing them separately all I saw is you get one less cert?

NOTE: I will try to maintain updates to this as it changes.

I am making this post with intentions on helping other people in a similar situation as me. I set a goal to be enrolled in WGU's Accelerated Information Technology Bachelor's and Master's Degree program by May 1.

I have zero college experience, but I already have a fairly decent job in IT. However, if I would like to get promoted or go somewhere else making more cash, I am at the point in my life where a degree would be helpful. It's been intimidating starting school and not knowing where to begin.

I've been working with my Enrollment Counselor at WGU, and unfortunately, any courses taken in High School will not count towards any transfer credit. So, I have a couple options. I can enroll in my local community college, take some classes to earn my associates and then transfer into WGU and start my Bachelors to Masters program. Not a bad option, but also not the cheapest or fastest.

WGU is very transparent on what other colleges and online programs they accept transfer credit from. I have spent the past couple weeks researching each and every online program to see what credits would transfer and at what cost. My goal here is simple: obtain the most amount of credits, for the least amount of time, at the cheapest rate.

For someone with zero college experience, based on my research in 2023, here is the best action plan I have come up with to transfer the most credits for as cheap as possible:

This path would cost you a minimum of $598 (or $448 if you don't go through WGU Academy) if completed within 1 month for each platform. Which, if taken consecutively is pretty doable. To maximize on savings, check below for any coupon codes anyone may share for these websites.

Sophia is the easiest and best program. You should be able to fly through the courses pretty quickly. Majority of the courses only require you to pass an open-book exam, while other courses require multiple essays, PowerPoint presentations, or recorded oral presentations. These are called Touchstone projects. Each Touchstone project takes 5-7 business days to be graded, and some follow-up projects cannot be completed until the previously submitted one is graded. It's best to do these ASAP and get them submitted so you can receive your grade and move on as soon as possible. It's also important to note that you can only have two active courses at a time, so there may be a time where you have completed the course but you are waiting on your projects to be graded. However, you can see the projects of other courses and start working on those ahead of the game, during the wait. The projects are the biggest time consumer (although it's still usually about 1-2 hours of work for a project, in my experience so far). Later on, I will have information on which Sophia courses have projects, and which ones do not. It's up to you to do the Touchstone courses first, or save them to the end. I listed all of the shortest, easiest courses with as few Touchstone projects as possible.

Saylor.org is not a pretty website, and the courses seem to have a lot of unnecessary information that is not pertinent to the exam (not gonna lie). However, you get what you pay for. For only $5 (seriously, $5 per course), you typically have to pass a 50 question virtually proctored exam (passing is 70%) to receive transferable course credit. You don't necessary have to even review any of the course material if you're fairly privy on the subject. The caveat is that the exams are proctored, just like actual WGU courses. Meaning you will have to have a mic and webcam to take the exam to ensure you are not cheating.

Study.com is another popular platform I have seen on here. It can be costly at $199 a month, and only allows for 2 proctored exams within that plan. You can take additional courses, and it’s $70 for each course. Someone mentioned a coupon code below that may work. The code would give you access to Study.com for $140 a month for 3 months. So You could take your time with the two additional courses, if you prefer. Someone mentioned that the WGU Labs are very easy, for Step 3, you could omit the bottom science courses. Someone also mentioned that the Saylor Comp Comm/Networks exam is very difficult, so maybe to take that one on Study.com instead of the labs.

Lastly, WGU Academy is $150 a month, and for the BSIT to MSIT program, you can take one course for credit in Intro to Comm: Connecting with others, then two CompTIA certifications, which are Network+ and Project+. It is possible that the WGUA certs could also give you credit for Network Foundations, tough is unconfirmed. WGUA is cheaper than completing the CompTIA certifications directly, and WGU Academy will allow up to 3 retakes. The reason I labeled this one as optional is because WGU will also have you take these certifications, but someone may be required to attend WGU Academy in order to you get accepted, if you do not have a resume showing two years experience or college. Still, completing some WGUA courses/certs would be cheaper if done here and saving your 6-month tuition for other courses.

If you follow my recommended program (again geared towards the Accelerated IT Bachelor's and Master's (B.S. in IT + M.S. in IT Management)) you should be able to save some time and money before moving on to enrolling at WGU. Keep in mind, if you have any prior college experience, this may reduce your required course count as well.

Here is my overall plan that I pulled from partners.wgu.com and doctored it up to include multiple online platforms. I also added which Sophia courses require Touchstone projects if you're curious. If you follow my researched plan, you should be able to transfer 48% of your credits to WGU, which would be under the 75% transfer credit WGU has in place.

I hope this helps someone out! Again, I'm not a pro in this, I'm still getting started myself, so I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, or feedback. Please also let me know if there are better solutions out there.

PS: If anyone has any input on getting Promo codes (or has any referral codes) for any of these sites, let us know!

Thanks,

Wiener Dog Dad

P.S.S. If you found this helpful, or it saved you time/money, feel free to Buy Me A Coffee. Link in bio.

EDIT 02/12/23 - Study.com's course Computer Science 310 (SDCM-0221) for current and emerging tech will no longer be ACE accredited after 04/30. To receive credit and transfer this course to WGU, it must be completed before then.

EDIT 03/01/23 - WGU now accepts Sophia's Lab courses for the Natural Science Lab competency. Take your pick of either Human Biology Lab or Intro to Chem Lab.

EDIT 06/01/23 - WGU now accepts Sophia's new US Government course to apply towards American Politics and the US Constitution, therefore it no longer needs to be completed on Study.