The University of Tampa will have a new Cybersecurity major come Fall 2015. The major will be made available through Sykes College of Business and will thus be subject to all the requirements business majors have, plus the major-specific requirements (Network Security, etc…).
As expected the program itself is not accredited, UT and Sykes College are.
What can I do to asses the quality of the program? Is the risk of joining such a young program too big?
Sounds like an IT type major, not a CS major.
It’s impossible to assess the major since Tampa hasn’t printed a list of required courses or their descriptions yet.
From what little info is available about the Tampa program, it does look like an IT type major. IT majors tend to be less employable than CS majors, but the Cybersecurity major should be more employable than a vanilla IT program. If you want to do cybersecurity-related programming, like writing encryption/decryption code, then you should find a CS major with a security track or cybersecurity programming classes.
Accreditation isn’t a big deal for CS or IT degrees. I don’t even know if there’s an accreditation process for a Cybersecurity major. It looks like there’s a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam that is supposed to verify that you know what you’re doing after you graduate.
@simba9 Thank you! That’s the clearest answer I have gotten from any of the the sources I have consulted thus far. After doing some research on UT’s program, I have finally chosen the CS path.
Now I find myself in another dilemma. Where?
I have been accepted to USF and will soon hear from Purdue. Assuming Purdue accepts me, I have been thinking whether its good reputation would really be worth going there instead of USF. Especially because, as a Florida resident, attending USF would be far less expensive.
My mother tells me to consider Purdue even though it’s expensive. She has heard from alumni that Purdue’s graduates tend to find good jobs as soon as they finish their studies, and that, academically, the school is very rewarding.
Would you mind sharing your perspective on this matter?
How much is your budget, and how much does each cost after scholarships and financial aid?
For an undergraduate CS degree, it doesn’t much matter what school name is on the diploma. Unless Purdue has a security program that’s clearly better than USF’s, I’d go to USF.
@ucbalumnus My budget is quite limited. USF is under $1000 after scholarships and financial aid.
I don’t have specific numbers for Purdue, but their estimated costs for out-of-state students is $41,954 and, as of today, the only aid I know with certainty I would receive is the Pell Grant. However, I have applied to other private scholarships (awaiting response) and would have to see how much the school offers me in grants, work study, etc…
Purdue is way out of reach cost wise.