So I graduated high school top 8% back in 2013 and earned a Florida Medallion Scholarship (Bright Futures), although my family was going through a financial struggle and I ended up not being able to afford college, even with help from the FMS. I desperately looked at alternatives to college, and have ended up enlisting in the U.S. Air Force.
Today, I was given authorization to initiate use of my tuition assistance benefit, and was allowed to look for the college I want to spend the tuition assistance money on. Everyone told me to spend it on AMU (American Military University), UMUC (University of Maryland University College) or Troy University and they made it sound like I had a limited amount of schools to choose from.
I decided to do research on my own and thank goodness back in Florida, both Florida State University (FSU) and University of Florida (UF) offer distance learning, and offer the degrees I want completely online.
The issue is, I’m stuck between these two choices… Which is the better distance learning school for a B.S. in Computer Science?
The only issue i’m having with University of Florida is that their B.S. in Computer Science is achieved through their College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, not their College of Engineering and I don’t know if that makes it a “weaker” degree or not…
If it is, I might end up choosing FSU (unless a B.S. in CS at FSU is the same as a B.S. in CS through UF’s Liberal Arts/Sciences…)
Not to worry, it’s common for Compsci to be part of the College of Arts & Sciences, at least in FL. I got a BS in CS from FIU back in 1991, it was also part of A & S. It does not weaken the degree in any way, I think it’s because math is a large part of the coursework, and math is A & S. I’m sure you’ll find that the math and CS courses are very rigorous. Most programs are oriented toward software design. If you are more interested in something like Computer Architecture, you could take whatever EE courses are oriented toward that.
Perhaps some folks with a degree from the current century can chime in?
Thank you for the response. I was set to pursue a Compsci degree but wasn’t familiar with the whole A&S thing versus the Engineering version of Compsci. Makes me feel a lot better!
The end result, a BS in Computer sciences from either school will be fine. it’s not uncommon for CS to not be part of the college of engineering.
You should contact an advisor at both schools. Everything below should be check with an advisor, since I’m no expert on distance learning!
The FSU program does require that you take several prerequisites, such as calculus, Physics, Chemistry or bio, and a introductory programming class before enrolling in classes.
The state of Florida is allocating UF millions of dollars to build up it’s online programs. That means UF Online is fairly well funded, but also has some limits imposed on it by the state. For in-state students, UF can only charge 75% of the in-state student rate. With the exception of a few fees, they can’t add any other surcharges, such as FSU’s $90.00 per credit hour distance learning fee. If you qualify as in-state, UF is a much more affordable option (talk with that advisor!). I believe UF also allows you to take all of the prerequisites online. Computer Science is one of UF Online’s offerings to incoming freshman.
I’m not sure how your TA benefits work, but if you get classified as in-state (and I think you would), then UF’s lower rate may make more sense.
I have made the decision and decided to go with UF. It’s a steal at $129 per credit hour!
I was accepted into UF, got all the paperwork done, and am now enrolled in my first class (Pre-Calculus).
I did further research on the differences between the degree offered by the College of Engineering, versus the degree offered by the College of Liberal Arts and Science (CLAS). The only “difference” between the two, is that the CLAS option gives you the flexibility/freedom on taking classes/electives unrelated to the degree. Which gives you a peace of mind if you don’t want to put up with math and science courses all the time.
CLAS’s Computer Science degree is the only one offered by UF Online, but I am going to choose classes so that the classes I take are the exact same, or at least are very similar, to classes a student who went through College of Engineering would take.
I wonder, does the department you got your degree from show up on the diploma? Haha (Not that it matters).
I chose FSU for CS since as you found, the 2 programs are almost identical. The difference for me was that the CS program at FSU was ABET accredited. UF’s is not. It doesn’t make much difference now, but I thought maybe one day it could be an important requirement for CS programs similar to how ABET accreditation is nearly mandatory engineering programs.
I’ve done research on the ABET-accreditation as well. Exactly as you stated, it’s a rather new thing for Computer Science programs. At the present time, I’ve read that it isn’t very significant because:
"Professional accreditation can be very important in fields that are subject to state licensing laws. In this case, an accredited degree often has more legal value than an unaccredited degree. For example, you typically need an appropriately accredited degrees to pursue a career in medicine or law. And you typically need an ABET degree to pursue a Professional Engineer’s license.
But computer science is a completely unregulated field. So there is no legal advantage to an ABET vs. a non-ABET computer science degree. It’s common for universities to hold ABET accreditation in engineering (where it matters), but not in computer science (where it doesn’t)."
-Corbett, College Confidential Forums.
Maybe it will matter in the future, maybe it won’t.
I wonder if you can get grandfathered into a “ABET-Accredited” degree if the school obtains that status for their program while you’re still attending the institution and are in the middle of obtaining your degree.
I assume if it ever become a requirement, they would get accreditation. Not sure why they haven’t pursued it. Nearly every other school in Florida has ABET accreditation for CS. I remember most of the other schools I looked at other states too were ABET accredited. I don’t think it will ever become a requirement though like you said, but still I felt better leaving my options open.