Hello everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster.
I am a Senior in a vocational high school right now (My area of focus being Networking & Cyber Security, both of which I am certified in). I have a 3.7 weighted GPA and an SAT score of 1180, and I would like to major in Digital Forensics or Cyber Security, with a minor in Women’s studies. The problem is not a lot of schools offer what I am looking for. I do not want to major in Computer Science, as I feel as though they are too math heavy and not computer focused enough. I am a national award winner in various areas of IT, and have a large collection of ECs to balance out my GPA. I would like to stay closeish to home (I live in PA and would like to keep it within state, MD, VA, DE, and NY).
Schools I have currently applied to:
Bloomsburg University (Accepted into Digital Forensics)
York College of PA (Accepted into Cyber Security Management, not a huge fan of the school)
Champlain College (Dream School, although in VT)
Robert Morris University
Do any of you know of any other schools within those parameters that would accept me with my scores and that would offer what I am looking for? I would prefer to go to a smaller school, and that it is NSA accredited for their program.
Thank you so much in advance!
Hey GingerScissors. I was just googling to find out more about Digital Forensics in Bloomsburg U and happen to come across your thread. With your GPA being so high and such interesting background. I’d suggest you to look into the link provided : http://www.cyberdegrees.org/listings/
That is how I narrow down to a top 5 Universities I would like to continue higher education at. In fact, I interested with Digital Forensics or Cyber Security as well however I am far much older than you and have been working to save $$ so that I can continue higher education to pursue a B.S. I’ve already acquired my Associate’s degree 6-7 years ago. I do have several years of working exp in tech support and basic networking area.
You may want to consider University of Maryland, I believe they have a cyber security honors program.
Otherwise, try Penn State U. They do have 3 diff emphasis in cybersecurity area :
B.S in Security and Risk Analysis - focus in cybersecurity and information
B.S in Security and Risk Analysis - focus in intelligence analysis & modeling
B.S in Cyber Security Analytics and Operations
I believe the all of them are offered at main campus as well as other smaller campuses in diff city/town within PA. Since you live in PA, you are at a better advantage than I do, where you can go to Penn State U and talk to them and maybe visit diff campuses. I am living in West coast Yuma, AZ. Being an immigrant, got married 4 months ago, filing for adjustment, awaiting for my permanent residency status to be changed, I had to delay my plan of study as I need to consider about moving to closer to Universities that I am interested in should I get a job offer. Work for a year and establish my residency in order to obtain in-state tuition fee prior to continue my final 2 years of bachelor’s degree. That is provided if I have the money to enroll as a full time student. In fact, I may need to spend 4 years to finish the bachelor’s degree if I can only manage to study part time where I am required to work full time make some money so that I can pay to go to school
I have a question for you though, since you got accepted in BU’s digital forensics, have you visited the campus and talk to the professors who teach in that area? What do you think of BU? I would like to hear more about it as I am seriously considering look for jobs in PA and move to Bloomsburg so that I can attend BU. Thanks!
George Mason apparently has a very good program. I think I’d look closely at those schools within commute to NOVA/DC for internship possibilities with government agencies.
Although outside your geographic area, U Texas - San Antonio has a good program through their business department, rather than the CS department. http://business.utsa.edu/it/index.aspx
UTSA was one of the main pioneers of cyber security as a degree program back in 2002. It turned San Antonio into the country’s biggest cyber security hub next to the pentagon.
