<story><title>I got a computer science degree in 3 months for less than $5000 (2020)</title><url>https://miguelrochefort.com/blog/cs-degree/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>blagie</author><text>As two points:&lt;p&gt;1) A GED would be trivial for this kid. So the high school diploma, I&amp;#x27;m not worried about.&lt;p&gt;2) Kid started doing (real, not Scratch) programming in 1st grade. I&amp;#x27;m not worried about coding experience or computer science background. I am worried about software engineering background, but that could come later.</text></item><item><author>suresk</author><text>I think that is a pretty fair and accurate assessment of it. For me, with a lot of experience, the credential + filling in some gaps were what I really needed and the WGU degree was a great way to take care of both.&lt;p&gt;As for recommending it to a super-gifted kid - I don&amp;#x27;t think the program is setup to allow that. You have to have a high-school diploma and at least a bit of work experience to even be admitted. I also think that one drawback of the program is that you can graduate without having written a ton of code, which is fine for someone who&amp;#x27;s been doing it for a long time, but less ideal for someone who hasn&amp;#x27;t?</text></item><item><author>blagie</author><text>I didn&amp;#x27;t read the article that way (although it&amp;#x27;s clear many posters did).&lt;p&gt;The author learned a lot independently. There&amp;#x27;s a question of what to do with that knowledge. A system like WGU does a few things:&lt;p&gt;1) Identify gaps and help fill them. Independent learners almost always develop gaps. One benefits from bringing that knowledge to a uniform &amp;quot;undergrad CS degree&amp;quot; level&lt;p&gt;2) Provide a certification once that&amp;#x27;s done.&lt;p&gt;A traditional university degree takes 4 years, costs $200k, and has mixed quality. Being able to do 75% of that independently, and having an institution gap-fill for a few grand? That sounds awesome.&lt;p&gt;For brand recognition, I don&amp;#x27;t see WGU as any better or worse than the 4500+ other random universities and colleges in the US. It doesn&amp;#x27;t match the top few hundred, but that&amp;#x27;s okay. Most don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not sure who would compare it to Phoenix, ITT Tech, DeVry, or other scams like that.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d much more place WGU as more a competitor to ASU. ASU is awesome, and is really trying to pioneer models of innovative, quality, low-cost, scalable education.&lt;p&gt;I hope one of them succeeds.&lt;p&gt;By the way, yourself being a former WGU student, would you recommend WGU to a super-gifted kid? E.g. having someone start college there at e.g. age 13? That, plus CMU OMSCS, seems like something they could finish by age 17. Socially, I&amp;#x27;m not sure they&amp;#x27;d do well starting traditional college early. Academically, middle &amp;#x2F; high school seems like a waste of time.</text></item><item><author>AviationAtom</author><text>So, former WGU student here, though I hadn&amp;#x27;t completed my degree.&lt;p&gt;Many WGU students HATE these types of articles, because they undermine the legitimacy of WGU.&lt;p&gt;WGU was not designed for traditional students, it was 100% designed for working professionals, where WGU will only admit you with a reasonable amount of experience in your field.&lt;p&gt;WGU is regionally accredited, not nationally, and it&amp;#x27;s a non-profit. So it cannot be compared to University of Phoenix, ITT Tech, DeVry, etc.&lt;p&gt;It was founded by a group of governors out west, hence the name. They realized that there were many working adults who possessed a great depth of knowledge, from long working in their fields, yet they had no paper credentials to show for that knowledge.&lt;p&gt;Their model is competency-based, so you must demonstrate you posses knowledge in any given domain. If you can prove you do then you can test out right away, if you fail to then they offer a variety of resources to allow you to get up to par. In many cases classes are tied to obtaining industry certifications.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not for everyone, but it is a far cry from a &amp;quot;degree mill.&amp;quot; Does it really matter if a person that has knowledge got it from sitting in a seat, paying ungodly amounts of tuition, or if they got it from life experience? As long as a bar is set, and you can meet it, then that should be what really matters.&lt;p&gt;Just my personal experience, from having attended the university. Unfortunately life sidetracked my completion, but I hope to return one day soon, and complete my program.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>leoqa</author><text>I’d be more worried about social development. Of the small sample size of gifted people who didn’t want to be with their peers, how many have formed last relationships, friendships etc.&lt;p&gt;We had obviously gifted kids in my school and they came across as arrogant and entitled. 15 years later, most of them went on to get graduate degrees but don’t seem to be progressing socially (i.e. absent from reunions, weddings, small town bar run-ins)</text></comment>
<story><title>I got a computer science degree in 3 months for less than $5000 (2020)</title><url>https://miguelrochefort.com/blog/cs-degree/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>blagie</author><text>As two points:&lt;p&gt;1) A GED would be trivial for this kid. So the high school diploma, I&amp;#x27;m not worried about.&lt;p&gt;2) Kid started doing (real, not Scratch) programming in 1st grade. I&amp;#x27;m not worried about coding experience or computer science background. I am worried about software engineering background, but that could come later.</text></item><item><author>suresk</author><text>I think that is a pretty fair and accurate assessment of it. For me, with a lot of experience, the credential + filling in some gaps were what I really needed and the WGU degree was a great way to take care of both.&lt;p&gt;As for recommending it to a super-gifted kid - I don&amp;#x27;t think the program is setup to allow that. You have to have a high-school diploma and at least a bit of work experience to even be admitted. I also think that one drawback of the program is that you can graduate without having written a ton of code, which is fine for someone who&amp;#x27;s been doing it for a long time, but less ideal for someone who hasn&amp;#x27;t?</text></item><item><author>blagie</author><text>I didn&amp;#x27;t read the article that way (although it&amp;#x27;s clear many posters did).&lt;p&gt;The author learned a lot independently. There&amp;#x27;s a question of what to do with that knowledge. A system like WGU does a few things:&lt;p&gt;1) Identify gaps and help fill them. Independent learners almost always develop gaps. One benefits from bringing that knowledge to a uniform &amp;quot;undergrad CS degree&amp;quot; level&lt;p&gt;2) Provide a certification once that&amp;#x27;s done.&lt;p&gt;A traditional university degree takes 4 years, costs $200k, and has mixed quality. Being able to do 75% of that independently, and having an institution gap-fill for a few grand? That sounds awesome.&lt;p&gt;For brand recognition, I don&amp;#x27;t see WGU as any better or worse than the 4500+ other random universities and colleges in the US. It doesn&amp;#x27;t match the top few hundred, but that&amp;#x27;s okay. Most don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not sure who would compare it to Phoenix, ITT Tech, DeVry, or other scams like that.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d much more place WGU as more a competitor to ASU. ASU is awesome, and is really trying to pioneer models of innovative, quality, low-cost, scalable education.&lt;p&gt;I hope one of them succeeds.&lt;p&gt;By the way, yourself being a former WGU student, would you recommend WGU to a super-gifted kid? E.g. having someone start college there at e.g. age 13? That, plus CMU OMSCS, seems like something they could finish by age 17. Socially, I&amp;#x27;m not sure they&amp;#x27;d do well starting traditional college early. Academically, middle &amp;#x2F; high school seems like a waste of time.</text></item><item><author>AviationAtom</author><text>So, former WGU student here, though I hadn&amp;#x27;t completed my degree.&lt;p&gt;Many WGU students HATE these types of articles, because they undermine the legitimacy of WGU.&lt;p&gt;WGU was not designed for traditional students, it was 100% designed for working professionals, where WGU will only admit you with a reasonable amount of experience in your field.&lt;p&gt;WGU is regionally accredited, not nationally, and it&amp;#x27;s a non-profit. So it cannot be compared to University of Phoenix, ITT Tech, DeVry, etc.&lt;p&gt;It was founded by a group of governors out west, hence the name. They realized that there were many working adults who possessed a great depth of knowledge, from long working in their fields, yet they had no paper credentials to show for that knowledge.&lt;p&gt;Their model is competency-based, so you must demonstrate you posses knowledge in any given domain. If you can prove you do then you can test out right away, if you fail to then they offer a variety of resources to allow you to get up to par. In many cases classes are tied to obtaining industry certifications.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not for everyone, but it is a far cry from a &amp;quot;degree mill.&amp;quot; Does it really matter if a person that has knowledge got it from sitting in a seat, paying ungodly amounts of tuition, or if they got it from life experience? As long as a bar is set, and you can meet it, then that should be what really matters.&lt;p&gt;Just my personal experience, from having attended the university. Unfortunately life sidetracked my completion, but I hope to return one day soon, and complete my program.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>toast0</author><text>&amp;gt; 1) A GED would be trivial for this kid. So the high school diploma, I&amp;#x27;m not worried about.&lt;p&gt;The test might be trivial, but being able to take it isn&amp;#x27;t trivial if you don&amp;#x27;t meet the age requirements.</text></comment>